Italian Soccer Team Training

Soccer teams in Italy feature a fluid, patient build-up toward the goal that involves the entire team. Midfielders and forwards of great technical ability and flair play in front of dogged defenders, exemplified by Gennaro Gattuso, fullback for AC Milan, and Gianluigi Buffon, goalkeeper for Juventus. Italian team training methods work to create a different style than is found in the more physical play of Northern Europe and in the offensive focus of Brazil. Training in "calcio," the Italian term for soccer, produces accomplished players, able to snag four World Cup victories, second in number only to Brazil.

History

In the early years of Italian club soccer, training consisted of desultory kick-abouts, in the words of John Foot, author of "Winning at All Costs: A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer." Genoa was the first Italian club to appoint a professional manager. In 1912, William Garbett, a former player for Reading in England arrived in Genoa and instituted then-modern techniques from England, including poles in the ground for slalom dribbling exercises. He had players conduct jumping exercises -- today known as plyometrics -- and started hot showers in the dressing room after matches.

Practice

The sport in Italy quickly grew to produce its own domestic masterminds of soccer. In the current era, managers, the equivalent of coaches in U.S. terms, learn soccer tactics and methods at the esteemed national training center in Coverciano, near Florence. The training center acts as a mecca for Study Abroad students from the U.S. aiming to learn more about soccer. In "The Miracle of Castel di Sangro," visiting American journalist Joe McGinniss describes training sessions of an upstart lower-division team. Coaches order scrimmages involving five-on-five games of the first or second team; they observe play and jump in with tactical advice. Foot describes such scrimmages as extremely competitive, with players quite invested in winning.

Behind the Scenes

The Sky 1 HD reality series "Football's Next Star," filmed largely at the lavish Inter Milan training grounds, gave a glimpse of Italian team training methods to U.K. television viewers in 2010 and U.S. viewers in 2011. No-nonsense Inter Milan youth trainer Marco Monti puts 10 teen players from England, Scotland and Ireland through their paces to determine one who will win a contract with Inter. The boys are shown performing dribbles, sprints and drills in which they stand back to back and twist their torsos to pass off a medicine ball. Monti stresses hard work, quick and sound decision-making and utter dedication in practice, as well as technical skill. During scrimmages against top Italian youth teams, the U.K. players are again evaluated for intensity above all else.

Team Retreats

Italian soccer training includes a wrinkle not seen in other countries: team retreats, called "ritiro," held as part of pre-season and also during the season if the team hits a crisis. Players are told to back their bags for a visit to an isolated mountain retreat, without family and distractions, to focus solely on soccer. The practice, which dates to the 1960s, meets with resistance from younger and foreign players, with English players particularly baffled and used to more freedom at their home clubs.