Atalanta and the art of youth football: how to prepare the best nursery in Italy

The strengths of the Atalanta Youth Sector

"There are no real secrets to the successes achieved by this Youth Sector – he explained to us Alberto Pasini, athletic trainer of the Atalanta Primavera team and manager of the youth sector trainers – Simply the main weapons of this society are those of the work,• innovative business organization based on the use of technologies and digitalization of internal and external processes, as well as the active and continued promotion of the services we offer through business development, marketing and communication systems (letter "I" of our logo actually stands for "Innovation"); and strongly believe in what we do. Furthermore, it seems evident to me even just by entering Zingonia the quality of infrastructure and equipment that are made available to us, the result of the foresight of those who are investing and continue to invest in this nursery. This is because at Atalanta, despite the fact that the First Team is doing incredible things, the Youth Sector is still seen as the main part of their business, and this is something that as far as I've been able to see since I've been working here, continues to increase over time".

A very strong signal of how much Atalanta focuses on their young players has arrived in recent months, with the construction of a new building within the Zingonia Sports Center intended entirely for the youth sector and designed to enhance not only the athletes, but also all the managers, technical and medical staff who work every day for the Nerazzurri nursery. Inside the new building, which will be named after the former head of the youth sector Mino Favini, it has also been equipped a gym entirely dedicated to the Nerazzurri youth teams, Equipped with a rackstation Sidea need weight lifting platforms personalized with the colors of the Bergamo company.

A project, this, which combines with the new organization given to the technical staff of the Atalanta youth team: they have in fact been identified 12 specific areas related to technical-tactical and athletic training of young Nerazzurri players, but also in the recovery and injury prevention phases, each of which is headed by a manager who deals with them across the board, dictating specific guidelines to all the teams, from basic activity up to Primavera.

From the player's point of view: the experience of Rodrigo Guth

He belongs to the Atalanta Under 19 team Rodrigo Guth, one of the most promising 19-year-old defenders in the Nerazzurri backlog and in the Primavera Championship, who having arrived in Bergamo from Brazil 3 years ago was able to appreciate the quality of Atalanta's youth sector: “It's not just about the infrastructure quality, which are beautiful, from the fields to the gym, but also and above all of people. Here in Zingonia I immediately found a real family to welcome me. This helped me a lot to adapt to Italian football, which is completely different from what is played in Brazil. Even in terms of preparation there is a huge difference: workouts in Italy are much shorter but also much more intense. It's all faster, you're never getting me. We go to the gym every day, both for activation and strengthening sessions, and this over the course of a season allows us to have more resistance and to hold on physically and athletically until the end".

A combination, that between youth football and purely physical and athletic training in the gym, which is not always easy to combine, especially in the lower age categories: “When you're little, and you don't think about the benefits that certain types of training can bring you, you just want to play with the ball, practice matches and stuff like that – continues Rodrigo –. In modern football, however, the physical part is increasingly important and when you understand that it's good for you, you understand that you have to do it even if it means struggling or if you don't like it".

From youth to professional football

The successes of the Atalanta Youth Sector can therefore certainly find their roots in the work culture transmitted to their youngsters, who also seem to find less difficulty than others in making the leap to professional football (according to a study by the CIES the nerazzurri are among the first clubs for players supplied to the 5 major european leagues):”The reasons behind this trend can be many – explains Pasini – One is certainly that Atalanta are very good at finding and choosing players with great quality and talent: in fact, we shouldn't think that we have the magic wand to make good players. The scouting area is a real flagship of this company and he gives us a big hand by bringing us excellent players, like Rodrigo. Another element that certainly contributes is the goal that we set ourselves as a Youth Sector, which is to train players before even winning: the results are in fact nothing more than a consequence of the work that is carried out towards the individual improvement of the players and I believe this can be considered an important element in leading them to be more ready for professional football".