12 QUALITY AREAS
The working processes connected with the Professional Connectivity Quality Area include:
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PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIVITY Academy participation in domestic and international community; contacts with other clubs; external visits
Do scouts recieve instructions regarding desired positions which are wanted for each age group?
Do they receive instructions regarding desired characteristics of player?
S uccessful Professional Connectivity within an academy setting involves the construction of a living working interface between the club and its professional community. It is firmly connected to other Quality Areas such as Cognitive Care and Human Capital because it serves to bring in new knowledge and practices to create professional exchanges, or to identify staff to enhance the working team.
Are there group meetings with agents?
An academy cannot exist in its own bubble for a long period of time. Instead, it needs to be an active part of the professional environment to keep at the cutting edge of development, and this is difficult without regular exchanges, study visits or other outside contacts. A lively community can be formed around individuals, ideas or facilities, and can be developed in a purely organic or semi-managed way, but it requires a degree of freedom in order to provide a platform for creativity. Ultimately, any activity by a person within an academy setting has an element of professional connectivity, but not all activities have the same value.
Do you conduct regular meetings with agents?
Do you educate coaches in your partner clubs?
“Once you play six years in the Ajax Academy, you become a member of the academy club”
Are coaching methods within methodology formally transmitted to new coaches?
Are coaches sent on other education courses besides football license courses?
Edmond Claus, AFC Ajax
It is key to ensure there is a process of record keeping and knowledge transfer in place, so that new knowledge is circulated within the organisation rather than kept by individuals without being passed on. The quality of an academy’s Professional Connectivity can be measured by the number of internal or external academy visits, and the level of visiting/visited clubs. It can also be measured by the number of professional exchanges carried out by staff members, individually or as part of a group; by the implementation of potential employee scouting databases based on specific profiles; or academic output by staff, such as publications or conference presentations.
Do you offer employment to parents if they are from another city and consider moving their child to your club?*
Do you have agreement with schools about sharing player information for their development?
Do you have joint projects with academic/ scientific community in research & development? Are scouts educated about specific criteriums by coaches from the club?
Do you have coach educators who visit partner clubs?*
* this question represents a second-order connection between a working process and the QA
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YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
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