On November 7, Impact Academy director Philippe Eullaffroy and the Academy coaches presented in front of over 500 coaches from Quebec’s elite at a conference hosted by the Federation de soccer du Québec. Demonstrating the way the Academy works was at the heart of the presentation, including some training sessions to display reference exercises.
“It’s really important for us. It was the first time we did this exercise [with the Fédération de soccer du Québec],” explained Impact U16 head coach Wilfried Nancy. “People are conscious that the Impact is a club with a clear goal. The idea was to give a general synopsis on our work, whether it’s the technical, tactical, physical or mental aspect. We talked about the key points.”
It was a first for the club’s Academy and with so many topics covered, it wasn’t always easy to give details about every component, but the primary message was delivered.
“We talked about the way we work at the Academy, from the performance and development level, but also from the player and individual perspective,” added Nancy. “We wanted the audience to understand that everything is linked, on and off the field.”
These expositions were done by different speakers. Philippe Eullaffroy talked about the development philosophy and the Academy’s mission; mental preparation coach Antoine Guldner talked about the mental aspect and physical preparation coach Yoann Damet talked about the physical aspect, always making sure each topic was interlinked with the other one.
“People reacted positively, they took notes and showed their approval,” says Wilfried Nancy. “In the future, we would like to have more opportunities like this to elaborate on specific points.”
There was also a second message on the day, showing the importance of cohesion between amateur clubs from Quebec and the Montreal Impact.
“This professional club is everyone’s club in Quebec,” added Nancy. “It’s important that they know how we work. We have different goals then the amateur clubs, but at the same time, we need these clubs. We are not competing against each other; it’s more of a logical extension.”
After the success of this first experience, there’s no doubt that this is an experience the club will look to repeat in the future with its partners at the Fédération de soccer du Québec.
