(OPENPRESS) October 2, 2007 - You could easily mistake Antonio Saviano for a model instead of a soccer coach. With devilishly good looks and a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Antonio could more likely be every Italian mother’s number one son. Born in the United States, Antonio’s family moved back to Italy at a very early age. He grew up in the town of Pomigliano D’Arco in the province of Napoli. He started playing soccer about the time he could walk and began playing organized soccer at age 8. At the age of 16, Antonio signed a professional contract with Castel Cisterna where he played as a keeper.
Fast forward to 1996 to Wilmington North Carolina and Antonio has founded Soccerkix and Soccerkix Academy, a clearing house for the Italian experience. Antonio offered teams a chance to travel to Italy for tournament play and to participate in local camps, training as many as 500 players per camp. In Italy, professional soccer clubs run their own development systems or schools. They also establish “affiliate” schools throughout Italy with regional clubs. While the “affiliated school” concept is common in Europe, it was Antonio’s initiative that brought the concept to North America. Working with a Serie A club, Antonio put together a program that saw teams travel to Italy, Italian coaches travel to the US and Canada and US and Canadian coaches travel to Italy. Antonio soon became the North American coordinator of the program with his duties encompassing overseeing the affiliates program and scouting new talent. He has been the North America Director for many Italian professional soccer clubs, including Ascoli Soccer Academy, AC Parma Scuola Calcio and AC Perugia Scuola Calcio. In that capacity he has been helping, leading and developing coaching and player development programs for over 100 affiliated soccer schools across North America and Europe.
“I know of no one who can coordinate soccer events and has a vision for soccer talent and player development like Antonio Saviano”, said Gianni Borano an Italian Professional Scout expert and also an expert in the youth soccer player development field. “He is masterful in creating vision with such high value for each individual player that brings out commitment and passion from them until they see their accomplishments”. Mr. Borano went on to say, “his willingness to take responsibility for each club he works with is limitless and he is the most knowledge coach you ever get to meet and talk to”. “This is a coach who finishes what he starts and leads players and coaches with the same level of commitment and determination he has”.
Antonio is an extraordinary coach. His knowledge, love and passion for the game are so infectious that you cannot help but be drawn in. “Young players must learn through fun and games. They have to have fun and the reinforcement must always be positive or they will not come back. The game format keeps them interested while they are developing essential soccer skills”, says Saviano. “Drills need to be progressive. They need to be presented at a base, fundamental level and slowly have elements added, making sure that the students comprehend each addition. If the student doesn’t understand what is expected of them, they cannot effectively participate or make informed decisions for themselves”.
Antonio has written several books on youth development, among them, “U-6 – U-12 Development Theory”, “U-8 – U-10 Soccer School Development Manual”. He co-authored “Playing to Learn to Play, Didactic Progression for the Development of the Technical-Tactical Fundamentals in the Soccer Schools” and has produced a training video.
“Antonio Saviano is one of the top ranked coaches in the nation today”, said John Flirreni, Italian Premier Division Team’s Manager, I have personally seen him work with players and coaches, his coaching development ideas are easy to understand, he transmits what he believes to players on the field and to coaches in the classroom so they can take the information and become better in all areas of their soccer career”.
“The results and success of Scuola Calcio speaks for itself”, said Dana Siervertson, a long time friend. “This is a soccer service company that is moving forward with their many different soccer programs”.
Programs such as: All-Year Soccer Boarding School, Three weeks Soccer Camps in USA and Italy, Soccer Coaching Symposium, International Soccer Team Tour Travel, Monthly Professional Soccer Training, and much more are all offered to serious soccer players and coaches. Perhaps the greatest qualities and commitment is to develop and improve the players and coaches.
About Scuola Calcio
The Italian Scuola Calcio (Soccer School) has consolidated the experience developed from its technical staff and the experience acquired within the last few years from Ascoli Soccer Academy, A. C. Perugia Soccer School and A.C. Parma Soccer School program's technical staff. The Italian Scuola Calcio has included in the search, its own formation and exploitation of the youth soccer players, the mission is characterized to adopt an innovative politics and dynamics in the development of the actual activities. The Italian Scuola Calcio has built a network of more then 100 affiliated soccer schools, some of which in Italy and other abroad (North America) and other foreign countries such as Ghana and Brazil, and an organization of 80 professional scouts-observers, 20 regional coordinators and 5 International coordinators. These are people in charge of different areas, all of them coming from an extensive carrier in the professional youth soccer sectors. Each sportive season the Italian Scuola Calcio technical staff conducts over 400 technical visits to the affiliated soccer schools and organizes over 50 yearly selections (try-outs) for young soccer players between the age of 12 to 16, monitoring over 13000 players. The result of this complex and organized activity allows the technical staff to individualize the better players from each affiliated soccer schools therefore introduce them to the professional clubs such of Serie A, B and C (Italian Premier, First and Second Division). At the conclusion of each sportive season, young soccer players chosen from the Italian Scuola Calcio are introduced in the professional youth sector areas of the professional soccer clubs.
The Italian Scuola Calcio is a consortium of football organizations located on National and International territory that proposes to put its network and experience of scouting and its skills in making the most of young players at the availability of those professional clubs which request this service. Italian Scuola Calcio’s technical structure specializes in scouting, supporting the ‘Youth Sector', and teaching basic activities, paying particular attention to youth soccer players between the ages of 6 to 16. Italian Scuola Calcio’s structure represents all the non-professional organizations that develop new talent. Its activities are aimed to promote the technical growth of soccer schools, as well as increasing the value for their ‘youth sector'. Italian Scuola Calcio's activities maintain a permanent focus on scouting and monitoring the National and International territory. The network of affiliated soccer schools guarantees that the both territories are fully monitored.
The following is an overview of the Scuola Calcio consortium:
- 85 National and International Affiliated clubs (Europe - USA - Canada - West Africa)
- 15 Technical Area Manager
- 80 Technical Observers
- 400 Technical Stages for Players of Affiliated Clubs
- 40 Formation/Development Stages for Instructors of Affiliated Clubs
- 50 Yearly meeting to scout new talent
- 13000 Athletes involved in the organization
