The coaches of the BVB International Academy North America (BVB IA) have once again spent a week at the BVB Evonik Football Academy. The focus of the visit, which started on 16 October, was on the exchange of information on the development of talented youngsters at Borussia Dortmund.

"The visits of the BVB IA coaches are an integral part of our holistic approach to coach development in the USA," said Florian Ingwersen, team leader for football development and consulting. "They serve as the key to providing them with a comprehensive understanding of Borussia Dortmund's youth talent development and help us realise our vision in the USA," he continued.

Julian Wasserfuhr (trainer and coordinator responsible for talent development) and Vincent Sander (working student in the talent development and consulting department) provided an overview of the development of talented youngsters and the importance of DFB testing at the BVB Evonik Football Academy.

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Torsten Sengteller, head of sports at the BVB Evonik Football Academy, gave the guests as a presentation on Life Kinetik – a method developed by coach Horst Lutz to promote the cognitive abilities of football players. Svenja Schlenker, head of the BVB women's department, presented the development programmes used on the ladies' side of the game in Dortmund.

The guests attended several training sessions of various BVB youth teams and got to witness a "biobanding session", which is a fundamental method of talent development and helps measure the biological age of the participants.

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In dialogue with several coaches of the BVB youth teams, they were able to exchange knowledge and ideas, covering both outfield players and goalkeepers, as well as scouting and recruitment, in order to gain a deeper insight into talent identification and acquisition at the club.

Highlights of the trip included exchanging ideas with head coach Edin Terzic after the first team's public training, and even watching the Bundesliga game between the Black and Yellows and SV Werder Bremen at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK.

Dru Wright, director of soccer development at IA, said the following about the visit: "Our trip this year was very fruitful and gave us plenty of valuable insights about the way BVB operate on the pitch, which we can now pass on to our coaches and players. Our genuine, authentic relationship was expressed by the fact that we had access to the coaches of the youth academy, the senior management and even to Edin Terzic, head coach of the first team." He is also already looking to the future, adding: "I look forward to our next visit as we continue to grow and develop BVB IA North America."

In December, we can look forward to a visit to the BVB IA in Dallas with players from our North American locations as part of the School of Excellence programme, which is part of the "BVB IA Player Pathway" for BVB International Academy North America players and is intended to help develop every player in the best possible way.