Talent and desire are theirs. Everything else — strength, speed, skill, mindset, confidence — we build together.
A young athlete’s progress should come down to two things: how much they want it, and how hard they’ll work for it. Everything else — strength, speed, skill, mindset, confidence — can be built. Most kids just never get shown how.
So we built one complete system to show them — online, affordable, and open to any family. The goal is simple, and it’s big: become a world leader in youth development, and grow great people as much as great players.
Let desire set the ceiling. We’ll build everything underneath it.
Hi, I’m Mike. Since I was six, football has been a huge part of my life — so I don’t come into this as an outsider looking in. I lived every part of the gap I’m now trying to close.
I came up through the Newcastle Jets youth system, made my first-grade NPL debut at eighteen, and played around 150 games before retiring in 2016. Underneath that whole pathway, I was running the same broken experiment most young athletes still run today. I’d do sprint training and never get faster. I’d grind in the gym and never get stronger. I got handed leadership roles with no idea how to actually communicate or lead. Nobody was doing it on purpose — it was all left to chance.
Then, in my late twenties, I found proper strength and conditioning, and the right people to learn the mental side from. The difference wasn’t small — it was chalk and cheese. And it taught me the thing this whole academy is built on: almost none of it was talent. Strength, speed, the mental game — it can all be built, when someone shows you how.
Over the ten years since, I’ve coached young footballers, built two gyms, and started a men’s-health charity — going deeper into what it actually takes to raise a strong, well-rounded young person. The 97 Academy is all of that in one place. I built it so no kid has to leave their progress to chance the way I did.
“This wasn’t talent I was missing. It was method.”
— Mike Holt, founder
We’ll make you faster — that’s the easy part, and we’ll keep the promise. But health comes before performance, and character comes before both. Get the person right and the athlete looks after itself.
A body that moves well, sleeps well and recovers well. Everything good is built on top of it.
Speed, strength and skill — real, measurable, and yours. The fun part, done properly.
Confidence, character and how you treat others. It outlasts the sport, whatever the kid goes on to do.
Health before performance. People before players. Get those right, and greatness has somewhere to grow.
The full program — The Game, The Edge, the Pilot’s Code and the Standard — then choose in-person or online.