Wisconsin Soccer Central

Youth coaches from Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen will again visit Milwaukee this summer for the annual International German Fit Camp.

A half dozen coaches from the club, which recently earned the top academy rating from German national governing body Deutscher Fußball-Bund, will join former Bayer Leverkusen youth player Andreas Davi for the five-day camp from June 29 to July 3 at Milwaukee Sport Club's Schwabenhof in Menomonee Falls.

The camp is not affiliated with any club, and boys and girls players of any skill level are welcome to attend. Last year, 181 players from eight states participated, but this year's camp is limited to 150 – 60 for the morning sessions (Under-8 to Under-12) and 90 for the afternoon (Under-13 to Under-18). The registration fee is $250.

Players will spend 30 minutes with a coach and then move on to another station each day, which will end with 30-minute scrimmages. The younger age groups will have 10 players in each group, while the older players will be in groups of 15.

"We want to keep the teaching quality high," Davi said. "I want this camp to stand for quality – this camp is not about money, this camp is about education."

This is the only camp that Bayer Leverkusen coaches participate in each year; after all, in Germany, soccer is played year-round so there isn't any time in the schedule to attend camps. This will be the seventh consecutive year they have joined Davi in Milwaukee; from 2009 to '12, Davi was with Bavarian SC and he's run the camp on his own since 2013.

"The reason why the coaches from Bayer Leverkusen come and do this with me is because they love the attitude of the kids, and they like that specifically they can work with kids that they normally don't work with," Davi said.

The Bayer Leverkusen coaches scheduled to participate this year are youth academy director Roman Klossek, sport psychologist Markus Mueck, soccer-specific fitness coach Kai Braun, Under-13 coach Peter Quast, Under-11 coach Marco Walter and Under-10 coach Oliver Schwartz.

Later this month, Davi will host a presentation for coaches about the Bayer Leverkusen youth academy structure. The presentation is set for 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at German Fit, 2315 West Good Hope Rd. in Glendale, and will cover the club's infrastructure, organization and logistics, support and education, football education, scouting, medical department and efficiency for its youth program.

Coaches interested in attending are asked to RSVP via email.

"We are happy to be presented in the Milwaukee area by Andreas Davi. He is familiar with the club program and the philosophy. The work he does for soccer in the Milwaukee area is underestimated," Klossek wrote in an email. "It's a pleasure for Bayer Leverkusen to support him and his work by coming every year with six of our coaches and be a part of his camp. We feel absolutely comfortable that he presents our program with this PowerPoint presentation to other coaches in Milwaukee."

On Twitter: @fit_soccercamp