Fellows Book Online Version 2020

55 period as an alternative way to keep our athletes still linked and trained. We redesigned the way to work, trying to maintain the connection with our colleagues remotely. The ability to adjust quickly to the new context, to think outside the box, to learn a new way forward with a positive attitude, can turn this challenging period into an opportunity to push our boundaries. Football strengths are the relationship, the chemistry, the team spirit that connect all of us as one entity, only an unbreakable stone can attain success. The day-by- day player and staff connection builds the magic factor called “team”. It is difficult to perform at high level, without this magic factor. Today, we are facing a worldwide challenging situation that is stressing everyone and the football industry included. The distance build distances, increasing the difficulties to find connections. All of us are trying to adapt to this change and present environment. As Aspire Fellows community we had the capacity to work together around the difficulties producing the new book on the previous edition of the Summit , a webinar on “Crisis and Uncertainty”, sharing on the Aspire in the World Fellows website, each Monday of the year, the Clubs/Federations presentations, developing the research project on “Youth to senior transition: managing the leap”, organizing this edition of the Summit and preparing the next Aspire Fellows roadmap towards the World Cup Qatar 2022. As Aspire Fellows group, we took the responsibility to open new paths. An unprecedented situation calls for unprecedented measures and by lining up five inspirational talks from outstanding diverse speakers, we put together a wide range of expertise and experiences across the board for the benefit of the participants. This year the Summit moved from Roundtable to TED Talk format as we listened and learnt from inspirational speakersfrom different sports and fields. Our Aspire Fellows Community members from 50 leading Clubs and Federations found worthy take-aways from former Italy international player and coach, Gianluca Vialli who shared his personal history, on leadership and failure. There were equally inspiring speeches from Paralympian Fencer Bebe Vio, eSports World Champion Sébastien Debs, former Sprinter Jean-Charles Trouabal and NASA Astronaut, Mike Fincke each with an enterprising presentation. The 5 speakers brought us into their personal stories relayed with such emotional intensity that let us feel part of those moments. We travelled from football, fencing, athletics, e-sports and into space. These stories represented the core discussion of the small group workshops performed during the second half of the Summit. The groups discussed on the inspirational stories with keen participation and interest before providing conclusions of the outcome of what from those stories we can bring to the football environment. The day’s session culminated with a presentation of the Research Fellows Survey recently designed by the Aspire Fellows Scientific Committee on “Organizational structures and working practice of elite youth football academies”. This research project shows once more the capacity of our Community to keep working together stretching the field of interest with the aim to provide answers to the performance area of football world. As per our tradition, the end of each Summit represents an opportunity to look ahead and give a sneak peek at the next edition and its goals. The 2021 edition will be entitled “Aspire Fellows Meet Other Sports” and is aimed at tapping into the benefits gained from introduction of sharing concept from expertise coming from sports other than football with the Fellows community. Then the 2022 Summit will be themed, “Aspire Fellows in the World Cup” and being held close to the FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022 finals, will harness the energy of this major sporting event and bring in the 32 qualifying Nations on board for an extravaganza edition of Aspire Academy Global Summit on Football Performance and Science. Once more we can say that Aspire in the World Fellows community is a consolidated team based on trust, human relationships, and willingness to be part of a modern concept and community that represents a footprint for the football performance. Valter Di Salvo Executive Director of Aspire Academy Global Summit