One of the advantages of having a world class training facility on your property is that world class teams want to come and practice there. For Disney’s Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resort that means the Atlanta Braves for Baseball and Chelsea FC for Soccer (Football to you non-us blokes). It also means you can give opportunities to younger athletes they wouldn’t have been able to receive elsewhere.
The most recent example of this is the Disney Soccer Showcase which will be sending 18 players to train and compete in England wearing Chelsea’s colors.
(via ESPN Rise)
(Photo: Disney’s Soccer Showcase 2009 All-Star Team: (front l-r) Ryan Brown, James Williams, Jon Guzman; (back l-r) Kevin Campillo (Chelsea Academy Coach), Taylor Hafling, Glen Long, Anton Sealey, Brandon Moore, Malcom Miller, German Mendoza, Darren Grace (Chelsea Recruiter); (not pictured) Layth Masri, Joe Garcia, Kyle Gusftason, Gino Depaoli, Steven Newman, Justin Rosner, Nicholas Spann, Paul Torres, Coner Doyle. By Garth Vaughn/Courtesy Disney)