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A local gym completes fitness challenge to honor fallen soldiers | News

Driftless CrossFit in Onalaska observed Memorial Day with a special fitness challenge. The gym participated in the Murph Challenge to honor Navy SEAL Michael Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan. ONALASKA, Wis. (WXOW) — Driftless CrossFit in Onalaska observed Memorial Day with a special fitness challenge. The gym participated in […]

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Driftless CrossFit in Onalaska observed Memorial Day with a special fitness challenge. The gym participated in the Murph Challenge to honor Navy SEAL Michael Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan.









Murph Challenge

ONALASKA, Wis. (WXOW) — Driftless CrossFit in Onalaska observed Memorial Day with a special fitness challenge.

The gym participated in the Murph Challenge to honor Navy SEAL Michael Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan.

The workout includes a 1-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and finishes with another 1-mile run. Participants typically use a 20-pound weight vest, but modifications are available for different fitness levels.

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Corporate Money Has Ruined Youth Sports

The AAU, which stands for the Amateur Athletic Union, a US nonprofit organization that hosts a variety of different sports for youth athletes, has drawn attention largely for its influence over youth basketball. Many high-profile basketball players, including LeBron James and Luka Dončić, have taken issue with what they see as its harmful effect on […]

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The AAU, which stands for the Amateur Athletic Union, a US nonprofit organization that hosts a variety of different sports for youth athletes, has drawn attention largely for its influence over youth basketball. Many high-profile basketball players, including LeBron James and Luka Dončić, have taken issue with what they see as its harmful effect on the modern game.

The draw of the AAU is that it provides a venue for the best players in the country to compete during the summer in front of a slew of college recruiters; any player angling for a D1 (the top division of college sports) scholarship must work through the AAU basketball system.

The culture of AAU is hypercompetitive: athletes from the age of seven travel the country and play in shoe brand–sponsored tournaments — a far remove from the (more affordable) culture of pickup basketball long associated with the sport.

Year-round participation in nationwide competition, brand-sponsored tournaments, invite-only camps, and professionalized personal training has replaced an earlier model of youth sport in which athletes played during the school seasons but enjoyed a long offseason during which they often played another sport for fun.

For the players, the AAU offers exposure, putting not-yet-teenaged kids in front of college coaches, agents, trainers, handlers, and shoe executives. These individuals make up the informal rent-seeking class, which makes money by restricting kid’s access to big-time amateur basketball.

Their primary objective is “relationship building” with future stars, or what sports documentarian Mike Nicoll has referred to as ”juice proximity.” The aim of these individuals is to identify young talent, build up that talent’s brand, and funnel them to a set of specific college programs associated with their particular brand sponsor.

It is perhaps unsurprising that American sports are dominated by the same brand of gatekeeping and rent-seeking capitalism common across the rest of American society. But the AAU exists in what is functionally a sports version of international waters, a decentralized space not run by the government but subject to the whims of major multibillion-dollar shoe corporations like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. Within this world, children are viewed as commodities, an asset that could one day be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

And of course, while there are many well-meaning people in these spaces looking out for the kids and their future earning potentials, the system itself creates perverse incentives that inevitably attract bad actors.

Unsurprisingly, this money-driven, individualized approach to youth basketball is at odds not only with the health of the game but the health of the athletes themselves. Overuse injuries, burnout, and financial stress are all commonplace for both athletes and their families. These realities can be especially painful when the likelihood of getting a D1 scholarship for high school basketball players is less than 1 percent.

On a recent episode of his podcast, The Post Game, former NBA player and seven-time champion Robert Horry put things bluntly:

I hate AAU basketball . . . I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. There’s a lot of coaches that are exploiting these kids to try and get a payoff one day . . . I wish they would do something [else], so their bodies won’t get worn down, that’s why you see so many of these kids get hurt so easily now, because they’re overworked.

The justification for this demanding sports environment should be that it produces good results. But in this year’s NBA playoffs and even finals, star players Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton suffered Achilles ruptures. This is an injury often associated with overuse and previously thought to signal the natural end of a professional athletic career, but it is now being experienced by athletes in their physical prime.

The reality of the AAU experience stands in direct contrast with what experts have come to understand about juvenile athlete development. Findings from Norway’s Children Rights in Sport, as well as the Aspen Institute here in the United States, show that earlier and earlier specialization in sports for children results in increased likelihood of injury and mental health issues.

These stresses often harm promising young careers instead of promoting them. Norway has made efforts to reduce early specialization and has introduced age limits for travel, rejecting the path embraced by America. These commonsense approaches ensure that children are exposed to a sports culture that prioritizes experience and skill development, while protecting the well-being of young athletes.

Even in the European club system of basketball, where a level of professionalization and specialization is embraced, kids are brought up through a balanced approach of skill-building, intellectual development, and team-centered training. The US model, in contrast, obsesses over skills, individual exposure, and brand-building. This has proved a recipe for disaster, but things don’t have to be this way.

In Europe, China, and Australia, club systems bear the financial burden for the child’s participation in sports, providing a more affordable option to parents who in the American system are tasked with paying for some combination of travel, event access, and trainer sessions. This allows players from all backgrounds to enter the sport, an injection of meritocracy desperately needed in an NBA in which, just last season, LeBron James suited up alongside his rookie teammate LeBron James Jr. Some have gone so far as to call basketball the “new golf” because of the cost-prohibitive nature of a sport that has its roots in working and middle-class America.

The good news is that the rest of the world’s approach has shown results: the last seven NBA MVPs have all been foreign-born — a fact that might put pressure on the United States. Media pundits, reflecting on the toxic culture of American professional sports, often express shock at the balanced lifestyle of stars like the Serbian Nikola Jokić and the Slovenian Dončić, who have garnered attention for their behavior during the offseason, which they usually spend visiting family, drinking beer, and racing horses.

This alone should be a damning indictment of the utility of the AAU’s grindset culture. As homegrown athletes continue to fall behind their international peers, it’s clear that the highest levels of the sport can be more reliably reached with a tempered approach that allows young athletes to both professionally excel and enjoy themselves.

AAU basketball is an exceptionally American institution. Some of our largest corporations are bankrolling competitive environments that fetishize the individual at the expense of the team, providing young athletes with a crash course in brand optimization where development is sacrificed in favor of exposure.

This variety of neoliberalism has created a new kind of athlete — one that prioritizes notions of self-entrepreneurship that have done harm to what makes team sports so compelling.

If we want to live in a society in which sports can function as a positive expression of competition, leisure, and meritocracy, it would be in our best interest to learn from our neighbors, adopt a children’s sports bill of rights, and nationalize the AAU system. This would bring long-overdue regulation to an industry that has shown an inability to effectively develop young athletes with their best interests in mind.

Apologists for the system often argue that this harsh environment is responsible for producing some of the NBA’s best American players. But these figures often flourished despite, rather than because of, this grueling system. The late Kobe Bryant, when asked his thoughts about the AAU, had the following response:

I hate it. It doesn’t teach our players how to play the right way . . . it’s just a showcase. It’s absolutely horrible for the game. My generation was when AAU basketball really started becoming shit.

I got lucky because I grew up in Europe, and, you know, everything there was still fundamental, so I learned all the basics, and I think we’re doing a tremendous disservice to our young basketball players right now. That’s something that definitely needs to be fixed.



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New youth soccer, flag football leagues

A new youth soccer league is forming in Riverbank this fall. It will be a recreational league organized under MLSGO, and is expected to have an eight-game season, from Sept. 6 to Oct. 26, with games starting at 8 a.m., at the Riverbank Sports Complex, 2119 Morrill Road. Signups will cost $100, which includes uniforms […]

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A new youth soccer league is forming in Riverbank this fall.

It will be a recreational league organized under MLSGO, and is expected to have an eight-game season, from Sept. 6 to Oct. 26, with games starting at 8 a.m., at the Riverbank Sports Complex, 2119 Morrill Road.

Signups will cost $100, which includes uniforms and a ball. The teams will be 5 vs. 5, and co-ed, ages 3 to 13.

More information can be found at the Riverbank Parks & Recreation Department, 6707 Third Street, in City Hall North. Call 209-863-7150.

Also coming to the city, PAL Sports is bringing a flag football league here.

Organizers say that registration went live this week, on Monday.

The co-ed divisions include second and third grade players; fourth and fifth grade; and sixth and seventh grade. The cost for players is approximately $80, which includes an NFL Play 60 uniform – jersey and shorts.

Games will be scheduled on Saturdays from Sept. 20 through Nov. 8.

Teams will be practicing at Cardozo Middle School, and have access to restrooms there.

They’re expecting to have flyers and registration information this week.

For more information, e-mail hvillafan@stancopal.org.

PAL is a non-profit, so they’re planning on keeping the organization affordable and community-focused. The league will be recreational and low-pressure, but also fun for the players.



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Masters Academy International, a $83 million sports complex, coming to Massachusetts

Had it been around just a couple of years ago, it’s the type of place that might have kept an elite New England talent such as recent No. 1 NBA pick Cooper Flagg of Maine or future NBA top pick AJ Dybantsa of Brockton much closer to home rather than have to finish high school […]

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Had it been around just a couple of years ago, it’s the type of place that might have kept an elite New England talent such as recent No. 1 NBA pick Cooper Flagg of Maine or future NBA top pick AJ Dybantsa of Brockton much closer to home rather than have to finish high school in Florida or Utah.

It’s a model proven by the pioneer in this realm, IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla., which for decades has consistently sent top-flight athletes to the college and pro ranks.

“We’re trying to create the IMG Academy of the North,” said Peter Masters, the founder of MAI. “New England has the best private school market in the world and so many students that are heading to private schools are just looking for better athletics than their public schools can offer, but all the schools are still doing the same training that they’ve been doing for the last 80 years — three sports, three-month seasons, shorter schedules, history teachers and admissions directors as coaches and they don’t have full-time professional people.

“You cannot, over a four-to-six-year period, compete with kids who are doing 4,000 to 6,000 more hours of sports. Just anecdotally, I can tell you that’s impossible.”

Masters spoke after giving a tour of the grounds and the 312,000-square-foot former Bose headquarters where classrooms, dorms, dining halls, a robotics lab, esports, and strength and conditioning spaces will eventually be filled with more than 600 students.

Peter Masters, founder of Masters Academy International, gives a tour of the former Bose property.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

In Year 1, MAI will offer majors in ice hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, figure skating, golf, fencing, and esports to a class size of around 300 students, a mix of boarders and day students of middle school and high school age.

For each sport, the school has hired sporting directors with established résumés, a list that includes former Northfield Mount Hermon coach John Carroll for basketball, and Mike Anderson and Topher Bevis, who are both coaches in the Boston Junior Bruins program, for hockey.

A separate basketball pavilion, turf fieldhouse, baseball diamonds, soccer and lacrosse fields, and a pool will be built.

Plus, USA Fencing is moving its main operations from Colorado Springs to Stow in order to have its own high-performance training center for aspiring Olympians located far closer to the sport’s primary Northeast recruiting grounds.

A typical school day at MAI will feature three hours devoted to skill-building and internal competition in a student’s sport, with another hour for strength and conditioning, both the physical and mental variety.

This intensive multi-sports component to MAI is what will distinguish it from any of the private boarding and day schools in the region.

Given New England’s deep academic roots, Masters and everyone connected to MAI understands that the academy also has to offer a comparable education to every other school before any family commits to shelling out an estimated mid-$50,000 a year for day students and low-$70,000s for boarders.

To that end, MAI has brought in Rich Odell, the head of school at IMG Academy from 1999-2016, and Michael Schafer, head of school at The Newman School in the Back Bay, to collaborate and advise on creating a five-hour-a-day curriculum and hiring faculty.

“We have to have a really good academic program. The New England area is the hot spot of education, and hence we have to do the best to get the best and stay the best,” said Odell.

The school also plans to be sensitive to the reality that not every MAI student will graduate with the ability to make an athletic impact at the college or professional level.

An exterior view of the former Bose property where Masters Academy will be located.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

“We have to look at ways to make sure that they are being stimulated in the value of having that sport focus, which comes to a piece that I’ve not done elsewhere and we’ll be doing here, which will be the nonplaying sports majors,” said Odell. “Sports medicine, sports psychology, sports management, which are all similar in terms of time commitment to actually playing the sport. A student will be instructed in that through a partnership with universities who offer sports management majors and with professionals in the Boston area.”

Schafer sees MAI as filling a new niche for parents already paying plenty, a la carte style, to get their child maximum exposure to their sport without sacrificing a college-preparatory education.

“Walnut Hill School for the Arts, for example, is a school that is basically for high-level performing artists, and they have a specific high school curriculum for those students — and there’s ski academies, soccer academies, hockey academies,” said Schafer. “I think a lot of schools would like to lean into more of this but they’re afraid to give up the integrity of their mission.”

Like other private schools, MAI is not cheap. Making it affordable for those who need help is part of the plan.

“There’s a significant number of people in New England private schools that are paying the full rate, but we know that if we want to compete on a national stage, we’re going to have to have a strong financial aid program,” said Masters, who said MAI’s financial assistance offerings will be at similar levels of comparable local institutions.

Masters and his brother, Chris, are co-owners and directors of the Junior Bruins. They have first-hand knowledge of hockey parents, as good of a sports parent cohort as any when it comes to understanding the lengths families will go to to provide their kids with the best possible athletic experience.

When the brothers decided to explore creating a multi-sports academy, they already knew that the business of youth sports was in growth mode.

The Aspen Institute estimates youth sports in the US brings in $40 billion in revenue a year. As a point of comparison, the NFL generated $23-plus billion last year, according to Sports Business Journal.

The brothers quickly learned that the real estate aspect to the project was easily the highest financial bar to clear. The Bose campus features the main building, a modern warren with a utility infrastructure as well as lights, chairs, tables, white boards, dining hall equipment, and even its own water treatment plant.

Dorms still have to be built, but having a virtually turnkey building at the Masters’ disposal meant the project could dodge expensive start-up construction costs.

Last May, MAI purchased the 82-acre parcel for $2.2 million.

Last month, Cognita, a London-based global schools group owned by private equity firms, closed on its lead investment in the project, which will join MAI with more than 100 other Cognita schools around the world.

“We are incredibly proud to be a founding partner in Masters Academy International,” Frank Maassen, Cognita’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said. “MAI embodies the Cognita spirit — combining world-class education with real-world preparation and personal ambition. With its focus on academics, athletics, life skills, wellbeing and leadership, it offers a truly holistic education that nurtures the whole student.”

Individual co-investors comprise the remainder of the ownership group.

If future planned phases pan out, the total investment at MAI is expected to exceed $100 million.

For Phil Andrews, CEO of USA Fencing, MAI came out on top in a competition among New York, Bradenton, Fla., and Salt Lake City to become his sport’s new home because it had everything going for it.

“There isn’t really a high school right now, or middle school for that matter, in the US that balances really high academics and really high-end fencing training,” said Andrews. “We have some very high-level coaches in the area, which gives us a racing advantage here, we like the style of the project that’s being put together by Peter, Chris, and Rich, we like the location, the financial agreement works well for us and ultimately, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, has made us some commitments that they will make every effort to really embrace fencing.”

When Bose shut down its operations in 2020, the town of Stow lost its biggest employer and taxpayer.

Other entities, including industrial warehousing, affordable housing, and a nonprofit school, expressed interest in the property, but MAI was the best match, said Denise Dembkoski, town administrator of Stow.

“I joke that Peter rolled in here four years ago and I have not let go of him,” said Dembkoski. “This will put us on the map a little bit, maybe more than a little bit. I think USA Fencing is going to put us on the national map.”

Property taxes, as well as tuition taxes, paid by MAI are expected to eventually exceed the nearly $300,000 annual payments from Bose, said Dembkoski, who hopes that the school also will help spark new businesses in the town and region, from restaurants, ice cream shops, and barber shops to perhaps even a hotel.

When Bose shut down its operations in 2020, the town of Stow lost its biggest employer and taxpayer. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

“It’s such a benefit to this community,” she said. “It’s like a jackpot for all the benefits we’ll see. There will be some growing pains with school traffic or fencing traffic, but that’s really it. There’s not a lot of downside.”

The 190 full-time jobs MAI says it will create caught the attention of the state. This summer, MAI was one of eight projects the Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved for participation in the Economic Development Incentive Program.

Over five years, the school will receive $2.85 million in tax credits.

State Representative Kate Hogan of Stow, along with Driscoll, helped steer state support to MAI, citing it as one of the “strong private-public partnerships that are critical for the Massachusetts economy.

“It’s a project that will have a transformative effect for my small town and also will be an incredible asset to the Commonwealth. It’s all good, and we know in this economy and where we are right now that wins are important, and this is clearly a win.”

The notion that MAI or another academy like it could have kept a talent such as Flagg, Dybantsa, or a top prospect from any sport from leaving the area is not purely hypothetical.

Carroll led the acclaimed basketball program at Northfield Mount Hermon for decades before leaving three years ago.

He heavily recruited Flagg, but in the end, as Carroll knew and Flagg’s parents confirmed to him, the Montverde Academy near Orlando offered more basketball opportunity than Northfield Mount Hermon could.

“We were close, but in reality, in the end it wasn’t close because the opportunities for him to really chase basketball were just more available to him at the other school than it was at mine,” said Carroll, speaking the same day Flagg was picked No. 1 in the NBA Draft by Dallas.

When Carroll heard about MAI’s mission and philosophy, he understood immediately how the academy could fill a vacuum.

“The market is telling us that they want a higher level of access to academics and athletics without apologies, and I think that’s what Masters is going to offer,” said Carroll. “It’s going to offer the highest-end athletics-academic combination on the terms of our market, and I think it’s going to be really well received. I think the timing of it is perfect for what’s happening in college athletics, what’s happening in professional athletics, and the opportunity to really see a return on investments that families are putting into their child.”


Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.





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Kenai Peninsula represented by 3 in 2025 Summer of Heroes

Kenai Peninsula represented by 3 in 2025 Summer of Heroes The program spotlights Alaska youth driving change in their communities. The Kenai Peninsula is represented by three of the six young people awarded for their community service by Alaska Communications’ “Summer of Heroes” program. Grace Kahn and Xiling […]

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Kenai Peninsula represented by 3 in 2025 Summer of Heroes

The program spotlights Alaska youth driving change in their communities.



The Kenai Peninsula is represented by three of the six young people awarded for their community service by Alaska Communications’ “Summer of Heroes” program.

Grace Kahn and Xiling Tanner, both of Kenai, and Seward’s Lola Swanson, were among six recipients announced Monday.

The Summer of Heroes, according to a release, spotlights Alaska youth who are “tackling real issues like fighting food insecurity, advocating for mental health, expanding access to youth sports and the arts, and creating more inclusive communities.” Each of the awardees will receive a $2,000 scholarship. Summer of Heroes has been marked for 15 years, and this year’s recipients make 94 total who have received scholarships through the program.

“Our young people are driving real change in their communities,” says Paul Fenaroli, president and CEO of Alaska Communications, in the release. “They lead with compassion, courage and creativity. We’re proud to shine a light on their achievements. Congratulations to this year’s honorees. Your actions inspire all of us to serve more boldly.”

A donation of $30,000 will also be directed to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska. Alaska Communications donated $15,000, according to the release; supplemented by $5,000 donated by employees of the utility that was matched by both the company and by Fenaroli to reach the total donation.

Kahn, who recently graduated as salutatorian of the Kenai Central High School class of 2025, is recognized for her work in youth sports — as a referee, coach, role model and cheerleader. She also does tutoring and volunteers at the food bank.

Swanson teaches dance in Seward, and is recognized for working to bring arts into Seward classrooms and helping to make dance “financially accessible for all families,” provided information says.

Tanner, who currently serves as the student representative to the Kenai City Council, is recognized for his work to support food access and sustainability through advocacy, mentorship and work with the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H and Kenai Local Food Connection.

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche serves on the judging panel for the Summer of Heroes. During a July 8 meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, he said that the then-announced winners included “high-flyer students” from the local area.

“The Kenai Peninsula Borough did very well,” he said.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

Salutatorian Grace Kahn speaks during the Kenai Central High School graduation ceremony in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)Salutatorian Grace Kahn speaks during the Kenai Central High School graduation ceremony in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Salutatorian Grace Kahn speaks during the Kenai Central High School graduation ceremony in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)





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YOUTH SECTOR: THE TECHNICAL STAFF FOR THE 2025/26 SEASON

Football is back! Here are the staff members for all the men’s and women’s youth teams of the Rossoneri, who will be in action at the PUMA House of Football: U20 MEN’S PRIMAVERA Official start date: 7 July Advertisement Vito Antonelli (vice manager) Edoardo Caroglio (team coordinator) Luca Castellazzi (goalkeeper coach) Andrea Caronti (fitness coach) Arturo Gerosa (rehabilitation specialist) Marco […]

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Football is back! Here are the staff members for all the men’s and women’s youth teams of the Rossoneri, who will be in action at the PUMA House of Football:

U20 MEN’S PRIMAVERA

Official start date: 7 July

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  • Vito Antonelli (vice manager)

  • Edoardo Caroglio (team coordinator)

  • Luca Castellazzi (goalkeeper coach)

  • Andrea Caronti (fitness coach)

  • Arturo Gerosa (rehabilitation specialist)

  • Marco Gabrielli (video analyst)

MEN’S U18s

Official start date: 4 August

  • Francesco De Francesco (vice manager)

  • Antonio Asile (goalkeeper coach)

  • Pietro Ladu (fitness coach)

MEN’S U18s

Official start date: 4 August

  • Marco Merlo (vice manager)

  • Luigi Ragno (goalkeeper coach)

  • Maurizio Buriani (fitness coach)

MEN’S U16s

Official start date: 11 August

  • Nicola Matteucci (vice manager)

  • Simone Invernizzi (goalkeeper coach)

  • Antonio Sechi (fitness coach)

MEN’S U15s

Official start date: 11 August

  • Pasquale Desiderio (vice manager)

  • Riccardo Ventrella (goalkeeper coach)

  • Andrea Moscovini (fitness coach)

MEN’S U14 REGIONALS

Official start date: 18 August

  • Alessandro Artusa (manager)

  • Gianluca Manes (vice manager)

  • Alessandro Guzzetti (goalkeeper coach)

  • Andrea Spini (technical assistant)

PRO MEN’S U13 BEGINNERS

Official start date: 23 August

  • Giuseppe Vuono (vice manager)

  • Mirko Pigozzi (goalkeeper coach)

  • Francesco Santoro (fitness coach)

MEN’S U12 BEGINNERS

Official start date: 24 August

  • Mattia Proserpio (manager)

  • Marco Broggi (vice manager)

  • Mirko Pigozzi (goalkeeper coach)

  • Francesco Santoro (fitness coach)

MEN’S U11 BEGINNERS

Official start date: 25 August

  • Andrea Carbonara (manager)

  • Riccardo Pozzi (vice manager)

  • Alessandro Vanini (goalkeeper coach)

  • Elena Vagni (technical assistant)

BOYS’ U10s

Official start date: 26 August

  • Luca Tettamanti (manager)

  • Lino Marzorati (vice manager)

  • Alessandro Vanini (goalkeeper coach)

  • Elena Vagni (technical assistant)

BOYS’ U9s

Official start date: 28 August

  • Andrea Colombo (vice manager)

  • Alessandro Guzzetti (goalkeeper coach)

FIRST STEPS – BOYS’ U8s

Official start date: 29 August

  • Derege Mazzoccato (vice manager)

  • Alessandro Guzzetti (goalkeeper coach)

WOMEN’S PRIMAVERA 

Official start date: 22 July

  • Georgia Gatti (technical assistant)

  • Laura Fusetti (team coordinator)

  • Mattia Salvador (fitness coach)

  • Sofia Candela (fitness coach)

  • Filippo Parodi (goalkeeper coach)

WOMEN’S U17s

Official start date: 18 August

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  • Ilenia Prati (vice manager)

  • Andrea Sirtori (goalkeeper coach)

  • Matteo Campetti (fitness coach)

WOMEN’S U15s 

Official start date: 18 August

  • Roberto Bottiglieri (manager)

  • Angelo Bottiglieri (vice manager)

  • Alberto Maria Valsecchi (goalkeeper coach)

  • Nicolò Bellotti (fitness coach)

WOMEN’S U13s

Official start date: 27 August

  • Sara Condotta (vice manager)

  • Alberto Maria Valsecchi (goalkeeper coach)

WOMEN’S U11s

Official start date: 29 August

  • Alessandro Greco (vice manager)

  • Denis Rota (goalkeeper coach)

WOMEN’S U10s

Official start date: 1 September

  • Matteo Angelo Bergomi (manager)

  • Paolo Benelli (vice manager)

  • Denis Rota (goalkeeper coach)

Base activities

  • Martina Mapelli (fitness coach)

  • Gaia Missaglia (technical assistant)

  • Gianfranco Faillo (observer)

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Inside the Transfer Portal Phenomenon

A popular mantra of recent years is to “Be where your feet are.” AJ Storr is good at that, even if his feet don’t stay still for very long.  “I live in the moment,” Storr says. “I just try to enjoy where I am. It doesn’t seem like I’ve moved this many times.” Storr is […]

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A popular mantra of recent years is to “Be where your feet are.” AJ Storr is good at that, even if his feet don’t stay still for very long. 

“I live in the moment,” Storr says. “I just try to enjoy where I am. It doesn’t seem like I’ve moved this many times.”

Storr is a college basketball player. He is 21 years old and has attended eight different schools in eight different states since 2020, when he was still in high school, hopscotching across the map to chase an NBA dream. He is one of the faces of a Migration Generation of young athletes, navigating an impermanence unlike anything previously seen at the preprofessional levels. Have game, will travel.

The Migration Generation is unbound by NCAA transfer regulations and free to move about the country annually in pursuit of playing time and NIL cash. From 2019–20 through ’23–24, when NCAA transfer limitations were struck down by the courts, Division I portal entrants nearly doubled, from 13,689 to 24,399. Football portal entries rose 138% in that span, while women’s basketball increased 132% and men’s hoops elevated 111%. Final figures are not in for ’24–25, but the expectation is for another significant year-over-year increase in D-I transfers.

AJ Storr in St. John's, Wisconsin, Kansas and Ole Miss uniforms.

| Photo Illustrated by SI Premedia; photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated (Body, Ole Miss uniform); Mitchell Layton/Getty Images (St. John’s uniform); Michael Hickey/Getty Images (Wisconsin uniform); Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images (Kansas uniform)

The standard line from college sports leaders for years was that athletes transfer less frequently than the general college student population. According to a 2025 study from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, transfers represented 13.1% of all continuing and returning undergraduates. In men’s and women’s basketball, that percentage has been surpassed.

Yet even before reaching college, many athletes are part of a culture that encourages player movement. Transfers have become routine at the high school level as well, particularly among elite prospects looking to maximize their college options—and in some states to take advantage of the NIL opportunities now available. Six of the top seven men’s basketball prospects in the 247 Sports rankings for the class of 2025 transferred at least once in high school, and three of them transferred three or more times. While the majority of top-50 football prospects attended just one high school (per 247 Sports), in boys’ basketball the number who have transferred at least once before heading off to college is 50%. Football and especially basketball players increasingly are itinerant workers.

Within this transient ecosystem, there are rational explanations for many of the stops on Storr’s journey from home in Kankakee, Ill., to Las Vegas to Chandler, Ariz., to Bradenton, Fla., to Queens, N.Y., to Madison, Wis., to Lawrence, Kan., to his present location, Oxford, Miss. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down basketball seasons at both Kankakee High and his next stop, athletic powerhouse Bishop Gorman, in Vegas, where his dad lives. Storr graduated from Compass Prep in Arizona after playing for a stacked team there in 2020–21, but he was only 17 so he took a postgrad year at another prep power, Florida’s IMG Academy.

His first college stop was at St. John’s. Coach Mike Anderson was fired after Storr’s freshman season, so Storr returned to his Midwestern roots with Wisconsin. The 6′ 7″ wing led a 22-win NCAA tournament team with 16.8 points per game, then made a decision that ended badly: He left for blueblood Kansas. Whatever Storr might have gained in NIL money, he lost as a basketball player. His playing time and productivity plummeted as the Jayhawks struggled through their worst season since 1988–89.

Which is why Storr is now at Ole Miss, relocating to the Deep South for the first time after touching all the other major geographic areas of the United States. “It’s a unique town,” Storr says. “It’s literally a college town—that’s all there is. But I like it. I’m just trying to lock in.”

Storr’s latest—and presumably last—college coach does not want the player to be seen as a cautionary tale, pointing out the reasons for his transfers. “AJ’s story is one of the most misunderstood stories ever,” says Chris Beard. “I’ll do my part, making sure everybody understands the truth. Maybe just the one transfer from Wisconsin to Kansas [was questionable], but none of us can live our lives knowing everything. And it’s Kansas. So with AJ specifically, [I have] no concern, because I think he’s hungry for just a home and an opportunity to thrive.”

Storr has managed to do something many other members of the Migration Generation have not—remain at the power-conference level with every move. A 2024 study by AD Advisors and Timark Partners concluded that 65% of D-I basketball portal entrants moved down at least one competitive level or did not find a new home.

Ole Miss basketball player AJ Storr shoots a foul shot during a practice.

From St. John’s to Wisconsin to Kansas and now to Ole Miss, Storr has managed to stay at a power-conference school with each transfer, a feat many other portal hoppers can’t claim. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

The conclusion from a white paper on the subject, by former Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs and Mark LaBarbera of Timark Partners, states: “The data in this study reinforces a clear reality: the vast majority of NCAA Division I men’s basketball players who enter the transfer portal move down or out. The portal isn’t the place to rise, but it is the place to find more playing time, albeit at a lower level.”

This isn’t just a basketball phenomenon, though. It is a football reality as well. AD Advisors found that 60% of FBS transfers move down a level as well. For every Jared Verse, who went from FCS Albany to Florida State to the first round of the NFL draft, there is more than one Jaden Rashada, whose path has gone from commitments to Miami and Florida to suiting up at Arizona State and Georgia to his current home, FCS Sacramento State (after having attended three high schools).

“I think the issue that we miss is the number of young people lost to the system because of the transfer freedom,” says SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. “We can all report stories of, ‘Wow, wasn’t it great that somebody went from Point A to Point B and it worked?’ But there’s attrition, and there’s academic attrition—lost credits that our young people talk to us about. And then there’s loss of connection, loss of opportunity. 

“So it’s not all a bed of roses. There’s a lot of people in the ears of young people telling them it’s going to be better. That’s not data driven. I think one of the underreported realities is really aggregating not only the data but the stories about young people who said, ‘Well, the grass is going to be greener,’ and that wasn’t the case. Or promises or representations that went unfulfilled.”

As Sankey notes, an axiomatic by-product of increased player movement is decreased academic progress. College sports has admirably improved its graduation rates over the last three decades, but the wide-open transfer market will inevitably lead to a statistical downturn.

The tension inherent in the current landscape stems from restraint of trade arguments vs. the educational underpinning of college sports. The NCAA has ceded ground over the years, from its longtime stance that transfers in football and basketball had to sit out a season, to a one-time free transfer rule, to the current reality of constant free agency. That was forced upon the association in December 2023, when seven state attorneys general sued for athletes to have a virtually unrestricted transfer marketplace in pursuit of NIL opportunities.

But what’s theoretically good for business opportunities isn’t suited for academic success—which, once upon a time, was of primary concern (or at least a primary talking point). The latest academic progress rate and graduation success rate statistics from the NCAA continue to paint a positive picture, but the data for that report in November 2024 covers a six-year window that closed on Aug. 31, 2023—a few months before all transfer regulations were effectively tossed out. So the largest fundamental changes have yet to be factored in.

Sources at the national and campus levels in college athletics who have access to some more recent academic data for transfers say a single change of schools usually slows progress toward a degree. Additional changes compound the slowdown, as difficulties transferring class credits multiply. “A second or third transfer can only exacerbate the situation,” one source says. “It can’t make things better.”

Storr says a second transfer meant changing his major from communications at Wisconsin to liberal arts at Kansas. Now he’s “still figuring out” what his major will be at Ole Miss. He’s hoping to graduate in the spring of 2026.

Villanova guard Devin Askew, who is embarking upon his sixth college season at five different schools, received his undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies at his third stop, Cal. He studied consumer affairs in 2024–25 at Long Beach State but is vague about his course of postgrad studies at Villanova. “I’m in a certificate program in, uh, I want to say communications?” says Askew.

Devin Askew with a basketball in his hands.

Devin Askew, the peripatetic Nova forward, who’s entering his sixth season at his fifth school, is coming off his best year on the court, averaging 18.9 ppg at Long Beach State. | Villanova Athletics

Speeding down the no-limits autobahn to more revenue, college sports remain tethered to higher education, which sometimes seems like an inconvenient add-on that interferes with aerodynamics. But many athletes, their parents and anyone else in their ear might well be steering along an unrealistic career path long before college.

This spring Project Play, an initiative from the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program, released findings from a survey of youth-sports parents, showing that 22% believe their children will compete in college sports and 11% believe their children will compete professionally and/or at the Olympic level. The reality is that a tiny fraction of those kids will advance that far athletically, but that belief can help fuel a huge investment of time, money and emotion on youth sports.

“There’s nothing wrong with dreaming, right?” says Jon Solomon of Project Play. “But what happens when reality sets in? Especially when there’s this idea of wanting a return on investment over the years? The vast majority of high school athletes aren’t going to reach the next level.”

Sometimes, the response to a lack of success is neither to accept a lesser role at a current school nor to refocus on a different activity. It’s to change schools, change coaches, find some other reason why little Johnny isn’t the starting quarterback or little Janie isn’t the starting point guard.

For high-level prospects in football and basketball, a move doesn’t necessarily mean going to a neighboring school. It means uprooting to attend one of the major prep schools or athletic academies that dot the landscape. In previous decades, boarding schools like Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and a handful in the Northeast were talent magnets. Now it’s the likes of IMG and Montverde in Florida; Link Academy in Branson, Mo.; Sunrise Christian in Bel Aire, Kan.; Wasatch Academy in Utah; and Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif. (which is relocating to Florida).

Here’s the problem: School connectedness, defined as the “belief by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning as well as about them as persons,” was associated with lower prevalence of every risk behavior and experience examined in a 2021 study conducted by the CDC. While data specifically addressing the high school athlete transfer situation is sparse, it stands to reason that a school change could endanger an athlete’s sense of belonging every bit as much as a student in the general population.

Research indicates that may be the case at the college level. In a 2020 paper titled “College Athletes and the Influence of Academic and Athletic Investment on Sense of Belonging,” researchers from VCU and Cincinnati found transfer athletes “feel a lower sense of belonging on campus than non-transfer student-athletes.” Transferring isn’t a simple process, either: A survey published by Public Agenda in February found that more than half of respondents who have tried to transfer credits reported some degree of credit loss.

Multiple transfers can also disconnect athletes from other advantages to be gained from putting down roots on a college campus such as a friend group built on relationships developed over time and a familiar support network. NCAA literature on mental-health best practices stresses the need for professionals to “foster trust with athletes,” which can be difficult if they are moving from school to school.

“Sooner or later in life, you’re going to need your buddies,” says Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo. “You’re going to need your friends. I am worried about mental health. I’m worried about what these [transferring] players are going to do in a year or two. If I’m wrong, that’s a good thing. But if I’m right, that’s sad.”

“I am worried about mental health. I’m worried about what these [transferring] players are going to do in a year or two. If I’m wrong, that’s a good thing. But if I’m right, that’s sad.”

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo

At many of the bigger athletic programs with successful teams, loyal alums are willing to extend job opportunities to former athletes—not necessarily stars, but those who put in four years at their shared alma mater. 

“You’re going to be a former player for 50 years, don’t be a fool,” Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter said at the 2024 Final Four. “Understand that your education from Purdue will take you a long way. But also the contacts that you will make and how you treat people will take you a long way.

“If you change [schools] three or four times, you don’t get your degree, don’t become a pro, don’t have any contacts, you didn’t take that opportunity and get any better, then what are we doing for young people?”

For all their movement, both Askew and Storr say they wouldn’t change their paths. Askew entered college young, reclassifying in high school and skipping his senior year to enroll at Kentucky amid the tumult of COVID-19—a time when in-person recruiting was difficult, and many initial prospect evaluations were misguided. He was thrust into a starting role on John Calipari’s worst team and was overwhelmed, then spent a year at Texas before returning to his home state of California. “I’ve learned something every place I’ve been,” Askew says. “I definitely feel older and wiser.”

Storr feels largely the same. He says he doesn’t regret any of his transfers—not even from a starring role at Wisconsin to being the target of fan criticism as a well-paid backup at Kansas. What looked like a one-season springboard to the NBA instead led to a fourth stop in college. Like many other members of the Migration Generation, big dreams have been deferred as the search for the right fit goes on.

“I’ve learned from every step I’ve made,” he says. “Everyone has something to say about it, but it’s cool. It’s totally fine with me.” 

Asked what his best move has been so far, Storr laughs and says, “To be continued.”


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