Soccer Camp Manhattan – FFF Academy
- Manhattan - New York, USA
- from 650 $
Bookings for Summer 2024 are open!
The Féderération Française de Football (French Soccer Federation) has arrived in New York for one reason: to bring the best parts of French soccer development to the States. The FFF is in charge of everything to do with soccer in France. It manages and organises the French national teams as well as amateur French soccer. Having won the World Cup in 1998 and 2018, France as a soccer nation has taken it to the next level and its youth development is recognised worldwide.
The shining symbol of French excellence is the INF Clairefontaine centre, which has hosted superstar names like Kylian Mbappé and Nicolas Anelka. All French coaches spend time at the INF Clairefontaine centre where they learn the excellent methodology for training young players. The World Cup victory with a very young squad was the high point and culmination of French youth development.
For a long time, Brazil was the country that produced the most professional players. However, since the 2000s, France has taken over this title. There are French players at all the biggest clubs: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus, Bayern Munich and many more. FFF has decided to bring its development methodology to the USA and New York, by creating the French Football Academy (FFF Academy New York).
The development methodology and the FFF Academy New York’s training programs were devised by Jean-Claude Lafargue, who used to the INF Clairefontaine’s director. He is now the FFF Academy technical director and organises soccer camps in the FFF way. Zohair Ghenania, his right hand man, manages the academy. He used to be FC Lorient’s coach and holds the BEPF coaching diploma.
The FFF Academy Manhattan camps take place on Randall’s Island, a magnificent island to the east of Manhattan. Your kids will train on synthetic pitches with FFF trained coaches. They will help your kids improve and prepare for university.
If Manhattan doesn’t suit you, you may be interested to know that there are FFF camps in two other New York locations:
- FFF Academy soccer camp – Brooklyn
- FFF Academy soccer camp – Hamptons
Find out more about the camps
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The available camps
Manhattan - Summer Camp - Half Board - Mixed
- Manhattan - New York, USA
- 4 to 17 year olds
- Girl / Boy
- 5 days
- Day camp
- Leisure / Improvement
- French / English
Camp specifics
- 5 day FFF camp
- More than 20 hours of training sessions
- From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Focused training sessions in the morning and matches in the afternoon
- 1 Nike FFF Academy kit for every camper (shirt, shorts, socks…)
- End of camp graduation ceremony
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Camp facilities
The essentials
- An authentic FFF soccer camp with a personalised kit
- 25 hours of training a week
- The official “FFF” methodology courtesy of FFF’s technical director
- Magnificent artificial pitches on Randall’s Island
Location
Manhattan is New York’s most famous and reputable borough. Central Park, located right in the centre, is Manhattan’s heart and lung. People go to picnic, play sport or just for a stroll. All of New York’s biggest sights and monuments are also in Manhattan, such as the Empire State Building and Times Square. New York’s most famous borough is one of the most cosmopolitan places on Earth, with modern neighbourhoods and effervescence 24 hours a day (after all, New York is the city that never sleeps).
Go to the north of Manhattan and behind the Harlem River, you will spot the FFF Academy New York’s soccer pitches. Cross the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge and you are on Randall Island. The island is entirely dedicated to sport, particularly soccer with many artificial turf pitches. The FFF Academy New York pitches can be found in the south of Randall Island, with a fantastic view of New York and Mill Rock.
If Manhattan doesn’t suit you, you may be interested to know that there are FFF camps in two other New York locations:
- FFF Academy soccer camp – Brooklyn
- FFF Academy soccer camp – Hamptons
The sporting Facilities
Your kids will spend a week on Randall’s Island for an authentic FFF soccer camp. The island, located on the East River, is one big sport complex. There are 60 pitches on the island, which make up half of Manhattan’s total pitches! You can play all sort of sports at Randall’s Island: soccer, softball, football, lacrosse, field hockey and rugby. There are some natural grass pitches as well as artificial pitches, which means that people can play and train regardless of the weather. The pitches are also floodlit, allowing for evening training sessions.
The FFF Academy trains on the pitches located in the south of the island (pitch 84). The FFF camps take place on 11-a-side artificial pitches, which of course also mean that you can play 7-a-side too.
Catering and food
Kids need to bring lunch with them for FFF Academy camps. There will be a one hour lunch break every day so that the campers can eat.
There will be bottles of water available, but it would be better for each camper to bring their own water bottles, which we can of course fill up onsite.
Safety and security
There will only be FFF Academy staff and campers on the pitches and the staff will take care of your children from the moment you drop them off to the moment you pick them up. The campers will therefore be under the supervision of professionals with experience in taking care of kids.
The camp program
Training
France is widely regarded as being the best country for developing young players and is also the country that produces the most professional players every year. The FFF Academy wants to expand and export this expertise so that young players from all over the world can benefit from it.
Jean-Claude Lafargue, who used to be the director of the Institut National du Football en France (the National Institute of Soccer in France), is now the FFF Academy technical director. He has designed and implemented training programs from the FFF Academy for these camps, based on how the French national team youngsters train at Clairefontaine.
This means the campers will be following the same training program as young professionals training at the INF Clairefontaine. The camps aim to increase each player’s potential and take them from playing at an amateur level to a professional level and prepare them for university.
A training day is 6 hours on the pitch, with a 30-45 minute lunch break and a few breaks. So there are 5 effective hours of soccer per day.
For April camp, there will be two training sessions a day:
- A session in the morning from 9 AM to 12 PM, which will be dedicated to technical exercises (passing, dribbling, shooting, explosivity…). There will also be drills and exercises in tight spaces to develop speed of play, transitional play and speed in execution.
- A session in the afternoon from 1 PM which will entirely comprise of matches on big pitches. This allow the campers to put into practice all the skills and techniques they learnt in the morning.
For Summer camps. The program is simply shifted as the days start earlier to avoid the heat.
- First training session from 8am to 11am
- Second, calmer training session, based on technical workshops, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. before departure.
It is not just soccer however: human values are also given a lot of importance at FFF Academy camps. Shared by the coaches, values and morals will be at the heart of every training session and each camper must respect them: enjoyment, respect, tolerance, solidarity and commitment. It is very important for the kids to develop and progress on the pitch, but it is just as important for them to be good people off the pitch. Everyone will need to buy in to and respect the FFF values.
Coaches and coaching method
The FFF academy camps methodology was developed by Mr Lafargue, ex-director of the Institut National du Football en France. All the FFF Academy coaches are highly qualified and have been trained by the FFF Academy technical director. The five day training program is based on technical training drills and exercises that are then applied in matches and games. This allows the coaches to make sure that each child is assimilating and understanding the exercises properly, and that all the objectives, aims and goals of the camp are being met.
This methodology is used at Clairefontaine, which has produced some of the world’s best ever soccer players, like Mbappe, Henry or Matuidi.
Typical day
Summer camps schedule :
Practical information
- 5 days of FFF camp
- More than 20 hours of training
- Focused training sessions in the mornings and matches in the afternoons
- 1 Nike FFF Academy kit given to each camper (shirt, shorts, socks…)
- End of camp graduation ceremony
- Transport non-included
- Lunch
- Personal insurance
- Extra Nike FFF Academy kit
- Bus transfer from Manhattan
Arrival
- For the April camp, arrival is at 9am on the grounds
- For summer camps, arrival is at 8am.
The kids must be in their training kit, with their soccer boots and shin pads on. The Nike FFF Academy kit will be given to each camper when they arrive on the first day.
We equally recommend making sure your child has a cap and sun cream as it will be very sunny.
Departure
- For the April camp, departure is at 3pm from the grounds
- For summer camps, departure is at 1pm from the grounds.
Parents must arrive on time to avoid disrupting the organization.
The Camp in photos
The camp at a glance
Features of the camp
- Manhattan - New York, USA
- 4 to 17 year olds
- Girl / Boy
- Day camp
- Improvement / Improvement
Available dates and price of the camp
-
24th to 28th June 2024
650 $
-
From August 19 to 23, 2024
650 $
-
From August 26 to 30, 2024
650 $
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