AAGS 2021

12 the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and in collaboration with the Italian Olympic Committee to work on a joint project on Football Players Specific Movements. Experts from football and athletics collaborated to define practical guidelines and produce a series of video tutorials on how to improve running techniques and specific movements. The improvement of running technique is a key aspect for football performance since it helps players move faster, more efficiently and with better running economy during training and competition. This aspect is also fundamental to mitigate injury risk and contribute to a players’ career longevity. The kick-off of this year Aspire Academy Global Summit features the voice of football by The Professor Arsene Wenger, and Bora Milutinovic, a World Cup legend. will feature or The Summit will count with the participation of our invited speakers from other sports providing their insights on three key aspects relevant to athlete’s performance: how to manage the training, how to manage the competition, how to manage the athletes. The level of our invited speakers from other sports is attested by the several gold medals they won at the Olympic games. I’m sure this constitutes an added value to our learning experience at this Aspire Academy Global Summit edition. Following the two Star Chats, we will move to the first Round Table on how to manage the training featuring Lorena Torres and Barry Fudge as experts from basketball and athletics, respectively. Contrasting team and individual sports is central to better understand their differences and commonalities. With Lorena, we will talk about the challenges of NBA during the congested periods, as a problem now common in professional football. With Barry, we will discuss about the importance of training endurance. Is endurance a relevant aspect for football performance or not? How can peak performance be reached for one team or one athlete in a specific moment of the season? Quite often, even in football, teams need to get ready to perform at highest level in a particular period as during World Cups. After this first Round Table, we will address aspects relevant to competition demands together with Ashton Eaton and Luis Scola. Ashton is an American athlete, gold medal winner in the decathlon. Luis is an Argentinian basketballer, a gold medal winner at the 2004 Olympic games and NBA player. What is the key to success? What happens in the minds of the athletes during the game? What are their emotions? How do they manage the moments before and after a competition? How do they deal with pressure? All these aspects are fundamental and important to the final performance outcome in that particular discipline, whose understanding can help us gain deeper insights into our players. The last round table will feature Coach Karch Kiraly, a legend of volleyball and gold medal winner as an athlete and coach at the recent Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. He is a fascinating person to learn from. He has a lot to share about the moments, personal philosophy, and approaches that shaped his successful career. With this seventh edition, our community crossed the boundaries transferring specific knowledge from different sports to the football world. We strongly believe that this novel approach can be considered a successful strategy for improving specific aspects relevant to team and the individual football player performance. Valter Di Salvo Executive Director Aspire Academy Global Summit