For the past 15 years, the People to People sports ambassador program has sent athletes from all over the United States and Canada overseas to partake in an international soccer competition.

According to Bill Bland, the director of sports for People to People’s ambassador programs, the program was redesigned last year with the elite athlete in mind.

So, who exactly is the elite athlete?

For Bland, that means: “An athlete that hopes to one day play collegiately and is aspiring to become a Division I athlete.”

In charge of this new plan was Steve Sampson, the former head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

“We got an expert in soccer in Sampson, and really let him design the program for us,” Bland said.

Sampson’s philosophy stems from getting good athletes and surrounding them with other good athletes; training them with great coaches and facilities then competing against the best athletes in order to impact them in the shortest amount of time possible.

Bland expressed that the program was fortunate to get Sampson on board, and that his arrival changed the way they recruited athletes this year. They focused on national showcases and coaching recommendations.

Four teams, two boys and two girls squads, travel to Brazil every summer to compete against U16 and U18 Brazilian squads in the four-to-five day tournament.

Before the tournament begins the squads train for six days, a feature that Bland finds to be similar to playing for a national soccer team.

“We’re taking individuals in a short period of time and putting them together on a team,” Bland said. “You’re giving them uniforms, practice time, coaches. They’re not traveling with their own individual teams.”

The tuition cost for the program is $6,500 and is all-inclusive and raised entirely by each athlete through fundraising. Bland said that People to People works with athletes to secure their visa and takes care of them through the length of the trip.

One of the program’s main goals is to make sure that they deliver on the expectations. People to People has worked with its partners in Brazil for over five years.

Through programs such as the sports ambassador program, Bland believes they are helping bring the soccer community together.

“We’re truly a developmental program and that is how we designed and built our program,” Bland said. “We’re designed to be able to have top players in the program.”