Talent Day
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Talent Day participants dream of greatness with
Ajax.
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Three or four times a year, the club organizes three-day
"talent sessions" in which between 1500 and 2000 boys eagerly
take part. The participants are each issued an Ajax shirt with
a number, and every one is put through a series of skill and
dexterity tests. The strongest prospects then move on to a
series of trial matches.
If an individual distinguishes himself sufficiently at this
stage, he may be invited to join the Ajax youth program, where
he will sign a contract binding him to the club that normally
runs for five or six years. But such "discoveries" at Talent
Day are extremely rare. In fact they're not even the point of
the event.
"Talent Days is, well, it's more for the name of Ajax," says
Zwamborn. "We have a lot of kids here, and it gives them a nice
day."
© Ajax USA and Jim McGough; all rights reserved.
Reproduction, redistribution or re-use prohibited without
written permission of Ajax USA.
