Earlier this month, Red Bulls Academy commenced on a new venture for the most talented young players at the club. The individual development program (IDP) is designed to significantly increase the amount of training time the Red Bulls technical staff have with a select group of players at Red Bulls Training Facility.
In addition to the on-field component, a fully dedicated tutor from our preferred education partner, Scholar Athletes Leadership Academy (SALA), also provides in-person academic support for each player after each training session.
Samuel Castellanos, IDP Coach, Red Bulls Academy:
“It is our responsibility to develop more impactful professionals that move up to the RBII and First Team environments. The transitional process needs to be seamless, and the acclimation period needs to be shorter than it currently is, as this will help prepare our players to be more ready to compete at the highest level
The IDP initiative is a fantastic addition to bridge the gap in terms of achieving these key objectives, as we are now able to accelerate the rate of development within our players via extra contact time together for analyzing video, breaking down individual techniques and tactical tendencies, and most importantly, providing extra repetitions on the field.
Through increased contact time, we now have the bandwidth to collaborate more closely with each individual player in designing a tailored plan that is specific to their own personal strengths and needs. We believe that the IDP plans should be collaborative in process, so that each player takes full control and ownership of accelerating their development.
Additionally, as we provide transportation and food for the players, we can train early in the morning and also ensure the players have a sufficient amount of time to recharge and study between IDP and team training sessions. After each session, a fully dedicated SALA tutor is on-site to assist the players from an educational perspective.
We are now not only creating a high-performance soccer environment on the field, but we are also nurturing our players to become much better student-athletes off it as well.”
Sam Gough, School Founder & Director of Outreach, Scholar Athletes Leadership Academy:
"There is an implicit expectation on young players to prioritize their education or their sport – instead of both. The confluence of school seat time requirements and the increased club contact time necessary for accelerated development can place a significant burden or stress on the families of gifted players.
The IDP initiative at Red Bulls Academy aims to safeguard talented young people from said conflict by unifying both worlds through aligned programmatic commonality and a contemporary instructional design that is grounded in a personalized learning paradigm. SALA’s bite-sized units of inquiry, small group academic instruction and one-on-one tutoring support offers a differentiated, engaging, and flexible learning pathway that motivates, engages and inspires young people towards their goals."
For more information on SALA and upcoming enrollment opportunities, please click here:
