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 […]
Education
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 […]
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: […]
Marcelo Bielsa: Slapping American Faces!
I swear I remember it like it was yesterday. My parents, brother, and I were at a a barbecue hosted by longtime family friends in Chino, California. My dad and his buddy Edwardo were in the backyard tending the grill, and I (13 years old at the time) was right there trying to be – you know […]
Caleb Porter Took A Dump All Over US Soccer
Here’s the number one lesson to take away from the U23 performance against Mexico: People have a lot to learn about this sport. I mean A LOT! Stop making excuses for not being able to play dominant possession-centered soccer. You can’t play that way because this is college soccer. You can’t play that way because […]