| Hey US Coaches......."At Atalanta , the ABILITY to play SOCCER is 1st and the physical side is 2nd" |
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| on 21 Sep 2008 | |
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European Coaches Education Tour – 2007 – Blog #7 Atalanta and Champions Leauge at San Siro – Tuesday, December 4th , 2007 Visit www.farpostreport.com for all the blogs of the Euro Tour 2007. After breakfast, we drove directly to Atalanta, the number one club in Italy for youth development. We were met at the main office by a youth coach and given a tour of the facilities and then went to a field with coach Luca, one of the 97, 98 and 99 age group coaches. Luca was great, very animated and gave us a personal clinic of some exercises that they use for the younger age groups. 6 of our group (Ian, Jaime, Marc, Scott, Dave and Kai) all stepped up to be the demo group in jeans and non – soccer shoes. We then went to a small restaurant next to the club and had a lecture and lunch with Stefano Bonoccorso, who is the coordinator of the age groups 91-95. Stefano is 45 years old and has been at Atalanta for 18 years. He was very clear and knowledgeable about the Vision of Atalanta. Information on the Youth of Atalanta Bergamo Calcio 1907 : The club logo is a profile of the goddess of hunting and speed. The club was formed in 1907, which makes this year the centenarrio. Aim of the youth development – The aim is to place 3 players per year into the Atalanta 1st Team. 60 former Atalanta youth players are currently playing in Serie A and Serie B. Budget – The entire club budget is 25 million euros. The youth budget is 2.5 million euros with close to 500,000 going to transportation of the players. Structure of the Youth Development – Overall Youth Director coaches the Primavera (top youth team and reserve team). Stefano is Director of ages 91-95. They have one more Director for ages 96 and below. Stefano spends 5 hours per day off the field and 3 hours on the field. All teams train at the same time. They do not have lights at the facility. From ages 94 and below all coaches have a degree in Physical Education. From ages 93 and above coaches are former professional players. Atalanta has 2 coaches per team, each with an average of 15 players, 3 Physical Fitness coaches, 3 Goalkeeper coaches. System and Style of Play – Atalanta wants to play good soccer. The base is at 11vs11 to always have 4 in the back playing flat and leave the midfield and forward line up to the personnel of the team. They prefer to use wingers and attack from the sides, but in different systems. Philosophy on Education – When training you have two ways to go!! WIN or DEVELOP THE PLAYER. They conflict with one another so the club must choose the way that fits into their vision. In Atalanta they choose to develop players! If a CLUB chooses to WIN at early ages, they need to work on Physical, Tactical and Positional aspects, which are not natural for younger children. If a CLUB chooses to DEVELOP players at early ages then they will focus appropriate to their age on the Technical aspects and coordination. The tactics will be learned by playing the players in all the positions. YOU MUST BELIVE IN WHAT YOU DO!!!!!!!! DEVELOP THE PLAYERS OR WIN!!!! WHAT DOES YOUR CLUB WANT!!! Example- If you see that a young center forward can not score from crosses, you can move another player to that position , or you can keep him there and create exercises to work 30 minutes every practice that have a lot of crosses and stick with him until he can do it. TRAIN AND DEVELOP THE PLAYERS AND BE PATIENT!!!! Technique is #1 for Atalanta at all levels!!!! Up until age 13 it is mostly about technique and coordination. After 14, then more tactics and physical aspects are developed. Education and Evaluation of Coaches – Atalanta is responsible for coaches education for the Italian Federation in the area of Bergamo. The staff are learning from doing this and confront each other on a daily basis. The directors meet every day and the staff meet daily in groups. One time per month, each director meets with the coaches and they get information on the games, players, injuries, what they did in relation to the year plan per age group and discuss what they need to work on. At this time the director also looks at the trainings that the coach prepared on paper. Facilities – Atalanta has 5 fields – one for the first team and ½ of field for each of the other teams, locker room per team, weight room , a dirt field with walls around it to work on tempo and speed of play. The goalkeepers have their own area. There is a hill for fitness. Training sessions – Ages 95-99 train 2 X per week for 2.5 hours Age 94 – Primavera train 3 X per week (2 hours + or -) Primavera train 4X per week (2 hours + or -) They are thinking about adding a 3rd day for the youngest ages because the kids are playing less and less on their own (street soccer), but most of the players play at school and after school on a daily basis. Players on the field – 99 – 97 – 7V7 in a 1:2:3:1 system 96 – 9V9 95 and above play 11V11 At the 97 age group, they for two teams out of one group and play two game simultaneously across the field. At the end they add the scores of the two games. This is to get less players on the field and have more playing time. It was difficult at first for the organization, but vital for the development and they can see the results in development of players. Atalanta demanded that they Italian Federation make a natural progression for the numbers of players on the field. At age 6 the kids start at 5V5 and take 6 years until they play 11V11. 5V5 to 7V7 to 9V9 and play 11V11 at 12 year old. In the 97 age group they start against the other Professional teams in the leagues. Before then they play locally against teams 1 year older. The club needs to balance the competition. It can be too much when they are playing Inter, AC Milan, Juventus etc. because sometimes the rivalry’s are too intense for the age group, but it is part of competition and necessary for development. The club needs to communicate and keep the proper perspective for the players and parents and keep the long term objectives of player development first. Season Timeline – Begin in August (early for the olders , later in august for the younger youth) and end in mid April and play tournaments from mid April until early June. Scouting – There is one new team each year. This year is 2000 age group. Atalanta will have scouted 10,000 players for this age group. 10-12 will be selected. Atalanta has over 100 scouts. Most are loyal and have been working for 20-25 years. They are paid a bit, but are fans of Atalanta. They have saved a lot of money, because they want to do it for their club. It is impossible to pay 100 people. The youth program recently saved the club from bankruptcy. Because of the strength of the youth, Atalanta sold several players and made enough money to pay off debts and stay alive. Criteria to Select Players – The real question is always, do you look for a great athlete (a marine) or a soccer player that is less athletic. At Atalanta , the ABILITY OF SOCCER is 1st and the physical side is 2nd. How do you judge a player to see if he is good enough? 1st Part – Technical – all aspects on the ball are important, but 1st touch is by far the most important. Passing is also important, because once you control the ball then……… Tactics – at age 7-8 you can not see tactics, but they look at 2 moments. When the team has the ball and when the team does not have the ball. Atalanta selects the player who touches the ball a lot of times. They are either moving and being active to get the ball or winning it themselves. 2nd Part- Physical part – Speed is most important. If you are slow, you must be more active and run more. 3rd Part – Mentality and personality They must have a strong personality to one day play with the pressure in the stadium. The club hires a child psychologist to work with the coaches. The main focus for the coaches is : A – Emotional part – the player can not be too high or low, too positive or negative and needs to perform consistently. B – Dealing with the group as individuals and group dynamics. Small groups develop and one wants to be more dominant than the others. C – Responsible – Teach the players to deal with themselves in every aspect : showering, care of equipment, take care of the uniform (put it in the basket), get all of the equipment for the coach after training (without him asking). If the player masters the responsibilities off the field, it will translate to on the field. Coaches - Qualities – The coach needs to have a broad expertise to be a good coach. Some main points that Stefano made: - Organization of the training. No lines and high intensity training - Observe technical mistakes and correct it clearly - Relationship with the player / team –you MUST transmit to the players that you love to be there. You need to give them the feeling that you really care about them. - You must bring the message across so that the kids understand it. You can coach two ways : 1 – Tell them everything like a surgeon. Give them the answers. 2 – Propose a problem and have the kids figure it out. Neither is right, at Atalanta they use both ways. Motivation is important from both sides, the PLAYER and the COACH. The coach must bring desire across to the kids and the kids need to give it back to the coach. If you only have one giving and not the other, it will not work. Some questions we asked: 1 - What is the best system for youth development? What ever system it must have wingers. If you have 2 forwards and attacking midfield it is too much in the middle of the field. You need to use the outside channel and create 1V1 with wingers, wide midfielders or even outside full backs. 2 – Have you been influenced from other coaches? Brandelli from Fiorentian and Varesori from Atalanta have been the biggest two, but I learn from all coaches that I can be exposed to. 3 – Have you been influenced by other countries? I have visited many countries. I have been to Barcelona, Ajax and am very interested in studying in France. 4 – What are the most important aspects of your job? A – Select the right coaches B – Make a team out the coaches. Create a group of the staff. After the lecture with Stefano, we ate lunch together with him and then went back to the club. What happened next at 3:00pm on the training ground of Atalanta was SPECIAL, all the groups from the youngest to the 1st Professional Team came out of the locker rooms for training. We spread out and watched the sessions and took notes. After the trainings, we drove to San Siro for the AC Milan – Celtic FC. Since AC Milan had advanced, the stadium was only ½ full. The game was not that great until the last 30 minutes, but never the less, we had a great time. On Wednesday, 1/2 the group went to Venice, and then we met at the airport. The group now would change. Sadly, Marcus and Benjamin Ziemer, Ian Mork, Chuck Barr, Paolo Bonomo and Kelly Fricks all either traveled some more in Europe or went back to the U.S. The rest of us flew to Amsterdam and were happy to be joined by Chad McCarty, Daniel Bote and Teale Matteson. We had a night free and went to Leidesplein to watch UEFA Cup games. The environment was incredible since there was 8 different games on 8 different televisions. |
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