LAS VEGAS - The backdrop is a Nike youth tournament open to more than 500 teams, the date is a memorable one: Inter Academy, the Nerazzurri international youth football school, has renewed its partnership with Crossfire Premier until 2017: Crossfire will spread the philosophy of Inter's youth academy and work to involve other teams on the west coast of the United States.
Their technical director Bernie James spoke to us: "Inter Milan has one of the most advanced and effective youth programs in the world today, and we have seen tremendous benefit from the partnership. With both Crossfire Premier Academy teams topping the ranks in their leagues, the benefits in youth development from our partnership with Inter Milan has been noted by many in the United States and we are excited to now help broaden that youth development to other elite soccer clubs and coaches in the western United States, and we expect to announce the first expansions shortly."
His thoughts were echoed by the technical director of the Inter set-up, Marco Monti: "We're very pleased with the technical results we've been able to achieve thanks to our collaboration with Crossfire Premier. The coaches have been extremely keen to understand and adopt our youth football philosophy. We've also seen a good level of technique from the players during the practical sessions in Seattle and we're convinced that there's huge potential for technical improvement and success in US youth football."
So, as of today, it will be up to Crossfire Premier to pull other teams into the Inter Academy project.
