IMG Florida High-Performance Football Academy 2025
Professional high-performance football academy located in Florida offering a variety of courses throughout the year.
Available for intermediate, advanced, or elite-level players (boys and girls) between 10 and 18 years of age.
Who are the ideal candidates?
Located in Bradenton, Florida, this high-performance football academy has been training elite athletes since 1978 and working passionately for over four decades to fulfil players’ potential, both in academics and athletics.
The ideal candidates are intermediate or advanced-level football players who are looking for a highly-intensive physical training programme and a first-rate academic plan that will help them get opportunities to study and compete at an American university (90% of university coaches come to this academy to recruit athletes).
Programmes Available at IMG Florida High-Performance Football Academy
The academy offers short and long-term programmes throughout the year:
Short-Term Programmes
The academy offers short tailor-made programs of flexible duration.
Long-Term Programmes
Programs from 3 months or 6 months to one or several years of training.
Short-Term Programmes
Click on the programme for more information
The academy also offers tailored short-term programmes of flexible duration. For more information, please contact Ertheo.
What are the Short-Term Programmes for?
IMG Florida Football Academy’s short-term programmes are designed to meet the following objectives:
- To achieve considerable improvement in a short amount of time thanks to highly-intensive programmes focused exclusively on football.
- To prepare for a tournament or competition.
- To get into shape for the next season.
- To access a long-term programme.
Long-Term Programmes
Programmes ranging from 3 or 6 months to one or several years of training.
What are the Long-Term Programmes for?
- To provide the necessary training to help students make the leap to professional or semi-professional football.
- To allow students to continue their academic studies while training.
- To provide guidance on physical, psychological, technical, and tactical aspects in order to improve students’ athletic performance.
- To provide the opportunity to participate in national or international competitions attended by football club scouts.
- To get football tryouts with professional or semi-professional teams for the most prominent students.
IMG Florida High-Performance Academy's Professional Staff
The IMG Florida football academy features an expert team of professionals with extensive experience training elite athletes. The academy staff is made up of the head coach, the sports director, coaches, goalkeeper coaches, sports psychologists, nutritionists, physical conditioning specialists, and other professionals.
Essentially, everything you need to improve your technique, physique, and performance as an athlete!
Learn more about the academy’s professional staff:
Don Cameron – Director
An experienced executive director and coach educator, Don has been part of the academy since 2018.
He was the head coach of the ECNL U15 national champions and has successfully led multiple teams to national, regional, and state championships. He holds both UEFA A and US Soccer A licences, as well as the US Soccer National Youth Licence.
As Lonestar’s football executive director, he helped over 1000 players access university football programmes.
Mel Mahler – Head Coach
Mel arrived at the academy in 2018 with 40 years of coaching experience.
He has a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and a master’s degree from Akron University, and he holds a USSF B Licence.
In the states of Ohio and New York, he worked as a club coach and as an ODP chief coach for U15 and U18 teams. He is the former regional chairman of the NSCAA All-America committee (now United Soccer Coaches) and was a member of the NSCAA regional classification committee. He also served as an administrator at the USSF National Coaching School and as director of the U.S. Olympic Development Camps.
Brittany Lee – Sports Psychologist
Brittany holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a specialisation in Coaching, and a master’s degree in Psychology with a specialisation in Athletic Counselling.
She is also a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
As for her professional experience, Brittany has been working with university-level student athletes for the past 7 years. She has also worked as an assistant coach in women’s football, focusing on leadership development and team dynamics.
Academic Training
The IMG high-performance football academy aims to develop student-athletes who perform at their best both in the academic and athletic fields.
It has its own on-site school, which offers a wide array of academic options to suit students’ needs based on their age and objectives. The academic plan follows the American educational system, with face-to-face programmes from grade 6 to 12, as well as some postgraduate options. It also features a specific language programme designed for international students who wish to achieve a high level of English, so that, for example, they can gain access to an American university in the future.
In its aim for academic excellence, and to support students who might need an extra hand, IMG has its own Learning Resource Centre, which provides personalised guidance and training to assist with goal setting and management, organisation, and self-awareness.
Academy Facilities
The IMG academy is not exclusively dedicated to football, it is a high-performance school that specialises in training elite athletes from multiple disciplines. To do so, it has a vast 66-acre (26 hectare) venue that features an array of state-of-the-art facilities, including running tracks, tennis and basketball courts, sports halls, and stadiums, among others.
The football-related facilities include multi-purpose fields with natural and artificial grass, first-class changing rooms, personalised meeting spaces, and a stadium with parking.
¿Need more information?
Download our PDF with more information about the academy:
Sports programme, education options, prices, dates etc.
Accommodation
The IMG academy features different high-quality accommodation options that are all on-site, including hotels, student dormitories, and villas. Students can choose from a selection of services available, as well as between private or shared rooms.
Students usually stay at the academy’s dormitories.
The Ascender Halls East, West and South dormitories feature furnished rooms that include bunk beds, desks, closets, and private bathrooms, as well as a full housekeeping service once a week. Dormitories also include a break room to relax and socialise, a communal area for both students and academy staff, a snack room, a mailroom, study rooms, and laundry rooms.
Each campus and hotel has its own restaurant that caters to all students’ nutritional requirements.
Prices
Signing up for an annual programme at a soccer academy is an excellent investment in the future.
■ Before deciding to make a significant investment and sign their child up in a football academy for a whole year, many parents prefer their children to attend a short-term programme to see if it’s the right academy for them. Besides that, the academy’s coaches will take the opportunity to assess your child’s abilities and recommend the best options for them.
■ Alternatively, as parents, you may feel confident enough in this academy and would like to sign your child up for a long-term programme.
Whatever your case may be, we invite you to fill in the form you’ll find below and we’ll get in touch with you to discuss the different enrolment options for your child.