Barca Day 9 Monday saw the entire U10 expedition depart in the early hours of the morning to return home. Danny and I had a free day to relax and recharge our batteries before meeting the U11 group that was arriving at 7:15 pm. A labor strike in France delayed them for over an hour […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 8 Notes
Barca Day 8 Woke up to a pleasant surprise on Sunday morning. We were able to have photos taken with the replica of the Champions League trophy. After the Champs League photos, there was some last minute shopping, lunch, and then off to Almeda to play in our final game. Almeda has a beautiful facility […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 7 Notes
Barca Day 7 No need or urgency to wake up early as there were no planned activities in the morning. Ben Lederman First thing on the agenda was attending Cuitat Esportiva to watch Academy games. We arrived at 4pm to watch the FC Barcelona Alevin A (2000’s) team vs Sant Andreu. The highlight for our […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 6 Notes
We began the day at the training field doing the coaching course for our partner clubs from Nor Cal, New York, and Arizona at the field adjacent to the Camp Nou and Mini Stadi. Coach Jordi Vinyals and Arnau Navarro were running a little late after their L’Hospitalet training session so the coaches took the […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 5 Notes
Barca Day 5 Day five commenced much the same as the previous day with Barca B training. Rondos for 10 minutes then some warm up exercises and straight to 11 v 11 action to prepare this weekends game against Nastic. Coach would pause and rehearse certain scenarios of what to expect on defense and offense. […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 4 Notes
Wednesday, March 28 Day 4 began with Barca Atletic (Barca B) training at 10:45am at Cuitat Esportiva. They started with the typical rondos (circle keepaway) and dynamic stretches. Second activity was tactical training preparing for this weekend’s opponent who will likely press them off their goalkicks, marking all 4 of there options closely so they […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 3 Notes
Tuesday March 27th Woke up at 9 am sharp to prepare the day’s morning session to correct some errors we saw in game vs Junior. The two major problems were our build up out of the back off restarts (goal kicks and when gk gets the ball) and our front 3 pressuring and denying the […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 2 Notes
Monday March 26th Woke up beat to hell but forced myself up and skipped breakfast (no time). Left hotel at 9:30 am to walk to turf field across the street from Camp Nou for coaches course with Jordi Vinyals and Arnau. Coaches ran sessions and they critiqued them to improve. Paul and I went to […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 1 Notes
Sunday, March 25th Arrived in Barcelona around 8am local time after a long exhausting trip. 9:30am – 10:30am Went straight to Barcelona Academy at Ciutat Esportiva to tour the facility and watch games. 10:30am Watched a u9 game. Barca won 9-0 11:30am Watched Benny’s 2000 team play 11 a side for the first time this […]
Full Access to the Greatest Club in the World! Yes, we’re in Barcelona, Spain!
Once a year for my coaching staff and I at the Barcelona-USA Academy, it’s all about “THE TRIP!” The last four years I have been traveling to Barcelona to further my coaching education – all possible through our network of contacts and through Barcelona-USA. Full access to Barca’s youth Academy training sessions, Barca B (professional […]