By mandate the day began waaaaaay too early for us. We had arrived back in L’estartit at 2 am after our Champions League adventure and had to get up at 8 am, eat breakfast on the fly to depart to Palamos for the MIC Cup 2012 opening ceremony. Every team is present and it was […]
Club Soccer
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 10 Notes
Barca Day 10 Let the boys sleep in so they could acclimate as much as possible. Team breakfast was at 10am at at the Panorama Hotel (2 blocks from our apartment-like hotel). We then had a light recovery session at a dirt-like field a few blocks away. Light jogging and stretching to relax the muscles […]
FC Barcelona Trip: Day 9 Notes
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 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 […]
A Phenomenal Soccer Education in 12 Minutes [Video]
We’ve been talking on this blog. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Anyone can talk. And anyone does. Just look at all the garbage online, and the monkeys on TV (I guess you’d have to be able to identify it as such). Well, it’s time to do some show. First some things to keep in mind: […]
Youth Teams Playing Up: The Pre-teen Years
Oh how everyone talks as if they know what “development” is, and how to do it. Sigh … Let’s talk a little bit about “playing up” and whether it helps or not. This weekend our U11’s are going to play in a U12 tournament. This isn’t the first time competing up either. The last was […]
College Soccer Recruiting: On Being A Player Advocate
On a lighter note, here’s a post offering some behind-the-scenes insight. The following is our original email sent to the University of North Carolina, arguably the nation’s most prestigious women’s program. I’m sharing this now that our girls team (our first and likely last) has aged out. Hello Chris and UNC Staff, I am writing […]
2 Fundamental and Objective Metrics to Judging a Coach’s Quality
How do you know a coach is any good at player development? I’m specifically addressing those coaches who are implicitly chartered with that goal. Well, here it is: 1) The coach must have a clearly possession-based style. 2) The coach must be a winning one. Metric 1 (possession) First and foremost, if the coach is not […]
Requirement For Mass Player Development
There can be no player development factory without monetary incentive. First let me be clear; without competent coaches, all the money in the world will not develop a quality player. So assuming there’s a capable coach, what makes you think he will do everything in his power to develop his pupils? And I assure you, that’s […]