For this last part of the first season of SL16 Inside, Ingrid Vanherle, operational director of the Liège training center, talks about the latest innovations.
Ingrid, can you retrace your journey at SL16 Football Campus?
“I arrived in 2015 at the request of Bruno Venanzi who wanted a female presence at the training center. I took on the role of general manager and we quickly saw that there were too many tasks between the athlete and the administration. A choice had to be made and I went to the second branch. Today, I am the operational director.”
Exactly, what does it consist of?
“There isn’t really a typical day. You never know what will happen. For example, a canceled match results in a change of pitch, modifications for the shuttles bringing young people to the training center from schools, etc. We must always be in action and reaction. As I always say, I have to do everything that those on the ground don’t do. If the athlete is happy, it’s because our job was well done upstream. The goal is that athletes, by which I mean young people but also trainers, only have to think about football and nothing else. This requires good organization and structure. It’s my Flemish side that comes into play (laughs). I’m pretty sharp, I like everything to be done down to the smallest detail. It’s a plus but it can cause some stress for the employees I manage because I am constantly in control. The athlete needs that the administrative and the operational are at the top to function well. »
