Beyond Bradenton: IMG Academy takes its training expertise global

BRADENTON, FL — IMG Academy has spent decades bringing athletes from around the world to Bradenton, Florida, to train and develop their skills.

Now, it wants to bring its expertise to them.

IMG Academy+ launched worldwide Monday, Oct. 19, offering families digital development resources and individualized coaching, with college-recruiting services set to be integrated into the app next year.

In exclusive interviews with USA TODAY Sports, IMG Academy CEO Brent Richard and Chief Commercial Officer Chris Ciaccio discussed plans to expand beyond its physical campus and build relationships with athletes earlier in their development.

The effort has been in the making for years. IMG began testing one-on-one coaching through the platform in 2022, followed by a pilot of its Essentials offering in 2024. More than 15,000 athletes have used the pilot offerings, according to IMG Academy.

The platform offers different levels of access. IMG Academy+ Essentials costs $10 per month for access to more than 1,000 resources on leadership, habits and personal development. Its Personal Coach service offers one-on-one nutrition and mental-performance coaching, with packages ranging from $799 for six sessions to $2,799 for 24 sessions.

For Richard, the opportunity extends beyond selling access to training materials. He believes sports can teach life skills and personal development that families increasingly value in a technology-dominated world.

“In a world of screens, social and AI, parents see sports as critical education, developing life skills and building personal connection,” Richard said.

Richard said IMG Academy has spent decades developing that approach in Bradenton. The digital platform is intended to bring elements of that experience to families who cannot attend its boarding school or camps.

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“We have done it for decades, and now that’s what we’re doing online,” Richard said. “The idea is that any family can have access to that if they’re ready to take that step.”

For Ciaccio, a major challenge was figuring out how to scale a service traditionally built around individual attention. IMG’s 2021 acquisition of NCSA helped the company understand how to connect athletes and families with specialized guidance at a larger scale.

“When we acquired NCSA, the industry leader in college recruiting, they gave us the knowledge and know-how to take something that’s traditionally very tough to scale — personal coaching, one-on-one attention — and do it at scale,” Ciaccio said. 

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IMG initially focused on nutrition and mental performance because both disciplines can benefit athletes across sports, ages and levels of competition. But Ciaccio said the idea isn’t simply to add another subscription to families’ monthly expenses.

“We were able to identify a need in a marketplace,” Ciaccio said. “Families and athletes needed expertise. We have that expertise. As the world evolved, as technology evolved, it made it easier to connect expertise with families at scale.”

He compared the service to the kind of individualized help athletes and students already seek in other areas.

“I see this as, you’ve got a personal coach to help you, no different than having a hitting coach, no different than having a reading or math tutor,” Ciaccio said. “I now can bring that to you in a really relevant way to help you with what you’re trying to solve or get better at.”

Ciaccio said families in some international markets have fewer opportunities to access specialized coaching, facilities and organized sports infrastructure.

“Here in the U.S., we have a pretty well built out youth sports infrastructure,” Ciaccio said. “That does not exist once you leave the United States.”

IMG’s digital strategy extends beyond coaching. The company acquired SportsRecruits in 2025, adding to its college-recruiting operations through NCSA. Those recruiting services are already available online, but IMG plans to integrate them into the IMG Academy+ app by the first quarter of 2027.

Ciaccio sees recruiting as a continuation of the relationship IMG hopes to establish with athletes at younger ages. Families may initially seek help with nutrition or mental performance before turning to recruiting guidance as college opportunities become a priority.

“We can build a relationship at a younger age group by providing them the knowledge, the insights, the know-how to help them be successful,” Ciaccio said. “It’s a natural progression to go from developing, if it be I’ve gone from exploration, to my interest, to specialization. Then you’re getting to this perfection. And in those latter two phases, recruiting enters your life.”

The company projects that 8,000 athletes will use its one-on-one coaching services in 2026, generating 50,000 sessions. Ciaccio said IMG Academy has approximately 500 coaches across its campus and online programs, and noted that 25 to 30 people on a 60-person team were dedicated solely to the project over the past two-plus years.

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The platform will continue to evolve after launch, with monthly updates planned and additional coaching disciplines under consideration. Ciaccio said the company has learned that its relationships with athletes can extend well beyond an individual session.

“These relationships are not transactional. These relationships are long term,” he said. “These relationships oftentimes last years, because you become a part of that individual’s developmental team.”

Follow Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X at @AlexMartinUSAT or via email: amartin@usatodayco.com. For additional high school sports coverage, be sure to follow USA TODAY High School Sports on Instagram and X.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Beyond Bradenton: IMG Academy takes its training expertise global