10 Years Of German Academy Training.pdf

27
Effectiveness and Permeability
When the Double PASS team
comes to visit the clubs of
the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, there is
a kind of positive nervousness in the air.
The employees of the Belgian company
put the academies of the clubs firmly under
the microscope: everything from the
software to the hardware the clubs use
is scrutinized. They evaluate the clubs’
playing fields, buildings and facilities;
they check the members of staff; they
focus on work philosophy, on principles
and concepts of the education of young
players and measure the results against
these standards. They examine their
organisation, human resource management
and their processes, and thus essentially
assess the overall performance
of the academies with regard to their
effectiveness.
Infrastructure and
Facilities
Communication
and Co-operation
6
Personnel
7
5
Academy
Support and Training
Strategy and
Finances
Organisation
and Procedure
Football Education
and Evaluation
The certification process appraises the clubs’ academies according to eight categories.
8
4
1
3
2
The procedure is called ‘certification’,
a term which has taken on a great
significance since Double PASS arrived
in the German football community. In
many areas of economy and science
certification is a procedure by way of
which it is ensured that certain requirements
are complied with. However, observation
of the academies has shown
that four years after the introduction of
certification they have blossomed not
unlike healthy, fruit-bearing trees, which
when carefully grafted, become even
more valuable. Certification essentially
refined the talent pools and gave them
even more intrinsic value.
“With the certification of the academies
we have taken another step forward
and are providing sustainability in
work with young talent. This is vital,” says
Holger Hieronymus, Chief Operating Officer
at DFL in charge of the academies.
“With this process the examinations,
which we have carried out every year
since introducing the academies to the licensing
system, took on a greater depth
of detail and intensity,” says Andreas
Nagel, Head of Match Operations at
DFL. The fundamental requirements
to be fulfilled by the clubs are set forth
in the licensing guidelines of the DFL.
Andreas Nagel,
as Head of Match
Operations at
DFL, supervises
certification.
Section 3, Paragraph 2, and in Annex 5
defines in detail the duty of setting up
and running an academy. As is the case at
schools or universities, the same general
setup does not necessarily mean that the
same results will be achieved. The quality
assurance initiated by Double PASS
with its project ‘Foot PASS Ger many’ has
triggered a further rise in quality.
During his visits to the academies,
Rolf Rüssman, Chairman of the Academies
Committee from 2002 until his
death in October 2009, realized that the
appraisal of the academies was a complex
thing. “He was the one who recognised
the need to introduce an ordered
system of evaluation. He was the pioneer,”
stresses Hieronymus. Around four
years ago co-operation began with the
team from Double PASS, led by its Belgian
Chief Executive Hugo Schoukens,
whose business idea fitted in perfectly
with the DFL philosophy. The enterprise
was developed at the Free University
of Brussels in 2004 and specialised in
the management of quality in sport. But,
to the experts, it is not just about the
mapping and measuring of criteria of
quality. “We are measuring to see what