| ACF Fiorentina Coaching Clinics - Notes |
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| on 24 Oct 2008 | |
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ACF FIORENTINA YOUTH DIRECTOR: Vergine on developing the yearly plan: “We attack each season like we are going to war – the staff develops a plan to win the war – at that time if they do not agree, they can question it. Once we are done with the meeting – which can last several days – once we have agreed to the plan – we go to war!”
Professor Vergine on developing the yearly plan: Coaching Clinics - Notes ACF Fiorentina Youth Development Program Vision ACF Fiorentina CEO Sandro Mencucci on competition: “What we need: competition in all aspects is the most important thing – if you do not have it you are not challenged – create a healthy competition to reach the objective – but the motivation is the competition to reach the top – we need someone to reach the objective so that everyone else can go there!” At ACF Fiorentina a youth player has a huge opportunity to play in the first team. The biggest reason; Fiorentina pays 40 million Euro’s per year on players salaries – AC Milan – spent 120 million. In 2004, the CEO Sandro Mencucci convinced the ownership of ACF Fiorentina to invest in the club’s youth development program. To be able to put this idea into action the club needed to hire a top level professional staff to develop the project. For this project, Professor Vincenzo Vergine and his boss Corvino were hired by ACF Fiorentina from Lecce three years ago. For the last twenty years, Corvino has worked with Vincenzo Vergine at his side - as his youth director. At Lecce the pair had earned a reputation for being able to spot talent and develop it. They were hired to develop the entire technical program - from the first team to the youngest youth team - the U9’s. The Fiorentina Club Structure The entire ACF Fiorentina Youth structure goal is to develop youth players for the first team. With Technical Director Corvino at the top – this structure - insures there is a line from the first team to the youngest youth team. They believe a young player can develop and reach the first team - however - to do this the physical, technical, mental and tactical sides need to be systematically developed. The club is a group working in harmony – they must act intelligently because they do not have the same money as the top clubs. ACF Fiorentina has 12 teams in the youth sector. Before 14 years of age a player cannot come from outside of Tuscany they may come from an area up to 1 1/2 hour away from Florence. After age 14 they recruit players from around Italy and around the world. The work is a project which lasts several years for each player - depending on the age they enter the club. They believe if someone thinks they can create a youth player by looking at the results each week - they cannot develop young players properly! The approach they take is to develop a 4-5 year plan for each individual player. The ACF Fiorentina Youth Development Program Philosophy The approach of Professor Vergine is very scientific. The approach was developed many years ago, out of necessity, because the owner of their club Lecce told them they had no money to buy players, they must develop them from the youth. Because they had to develop players from their own system – all of the energy, all of the research was developed from this basis. Professor Vergine on a good coach: “The more he knows - he learns the less he knows - this is a very important concept” Professor Vergine believes it is much easier to ruin talent than to develop it. For this reason it is very important to have a clear idea of how to work together to develop the talents of the players. The vision of the ACF Fiorentina multi year project is based on the following four areas: - Scouting - Technical (covers tactical, technical, mental) and physical training - Logistic and organization - Medical Scouting: ACF Fiorentina have a relationship with the 100 clubs who work with ACF Fiorentina – that is mainly in the youth system – but they have other clubs who they work with in older age groups. A point of strength for Fiorentina is that when they recruit players, the players feel wanted and they know there is a clear chance to make the first team – which is not necessarily true at Juventus, AC Milan or Inter Milan. In most European countries there is a hiearchy in the soccer world - which benefits the players. There is also a culture of advancing the best players - a club is proud when one of their players goes to a bigger club and they support this movement rather than hinder it. Of course with the top professional clubs this cooperation is not always the case. The partner clubs sign a contract with ACF Fiorentina. Any usage of Fiorentina logo must be approved by the club. In return for assistance in educating the partner clubs - once or twice a year - they must tell Fiorentina about their talent. Fiorentina also sends scouts to see the players at their clubs. If a player is signed, after age 14, the clubs receive compensation for their players. When scouting for players the club believes the most important thing is whether or not the player can play soccer. The player must standout in technical and tactical areas. They believe the very good players can be seen by everyone – but not everyone can see the one who is not so special but has some good qualities which can be developed. This is the strength of their club. Their scouting also relies the players body type they – which determines their position on the field. For instance; the central defender – must be tall – must have good technical ability, tactical ability and an ability to concentrate; Goal keepers must be tall – then they work on the other qualities. “Look at his face when he has lost a game – when a good player loses he remembers for two days.” Yearly technical plan: “We attack each season like we are going to war – the staff develops a plan to win the war – at that time if they do not agree, they can question it. Once we are done with the meeting – which can last several days – once we have agreed to the plan – we go to war!” At the beginning of each season, they have a general meeting with all of the coaches; the technical, the physical, the goal keeper, and the team coaches. At this meeting they set the plan for the season. The idea is to set up a plan addressing what the team and the players need - rather doing what pleases the coach after each weekend. They believe this approach is the only way to work within youth development properly. Every top youth development club has this approach. The most important concept is: do not concentrate on the match on Sunday rather focus on the players development over 5 or 6 years. To be clear - the game is not the objective – they use the games to improve the player. The most important thing is to develop the player over time and the game is an instrument in this process. The club does not have a set system of play for each age group. The system depends on the characteristics of the players in each team. If the group has special talent up front they will play a 4-3-3 or they might play a 4-2-3-1. If not they might play a 4-4-2. The main purpose is to play each team according to the qualities of the players on each team. At this first meeting, which can last several days, they evaluate each player and each team – the first goal is to give each team and player a development plan for the season. They go over the weakness of each player and create a development plan for each player – it is a lot of work but it is the only way to work. The yearly plans for each team will have different goals depending on the age, the level and potential of the group - depending on the age you concentrate more on one area or another. The areas are technical, physical, tactical and agromisio- mental ( will to win). During this time they believe it is important to remember how much a a top youth player can work a year - they believe it is about 300 hours - per player - per season. It is important to distribute these hours properly. If you ask the player they want to play but if you only play games you will not develop properly. If half the time is playing games you will not be able to develop to the potential of the individual. For this reason they play games, up to 14 years of age, primarily in the Tuscany region – with clubs who can compete against other professional clubs or clubs known for youth development. Beginning in late July or early August, they play 24 games - one per weekend - over 7- 8 months. Once the league season is complete in April they play friendly matches or tournaments during April and May. They do not play more then one game a day – except at a Dallas Cup or Nike Cup! After the U14 age group they begin to compete in the Italian National Division – the first phase is regional – if you win your regional phase you can go to the national tournament at the end of the season - which lasts one week at one site. The Italian Youth League take a break – the youngest have a two month break in the summer – the U14 and over have about one and half month summer break - Italian soccer clubs also take a two to three week winter break around Christmas. Individual Player Development: “Winning is a byproduct of working the proper way – never win using the wrong strategy just to win – this is a mistake in youth development. “ The principle aim of the methodology is the individual player’s development. The club does the following: 1. Evaluate the individual 2. Decide the amount of work according to the age and age group 3. Make the plan specific to soccer During the season, the players are evaluated continuously – every week – again, the project for each player is five to six years. During each year they will train each player approximately 240 hours a year and play about 60 hours worth of matches - of course the players also play soccer on their own. The primary focus is for the club is always “educate – educate – educate”. To accomplish this program they have specialists for different areas. They have a coach, physical trainer and a goal keeper coach for each team. With four different coaches working with a child over a few areas – the scientific approach is created to study and understand what each player needs so you do not waste time or money. They believe only in this way can they do what is best for the players. They begin to focus on positions when the players are 10 - 11 years old. At that time they will have a discussion about the characteristics of the players and gradually decide where they might best develop. Constant evaluation - Approximately every two weeks they discuss the development of each player – and evaluate the vision for each player. Obviously Fiorentina is operating at a high level and their goal is to develop players for the first team - players who can play in the Champions League. Therefore they are especially focused on the special players in the club to make sure they are properly developed - for instance push the best players up an age group if necessary. The job of the trainer is to develop and improve the player but only the club decides if the player is a good or bad player. The coaches stay with the team depending on the goals of the age group. If the coach has some special qualities so they stay in that age group. Those who have more experience and can handle a high-level team coach at a higher level or higher age group - where the level is similar to the age group. The Fiorentina Player Development Philosophy - The Scientific Method - Focus on the quality of the training ACF Fiorentina believes after five years the body can be transformed to be ready for a sport. With quality training the body will adapt to the sport - They develop the body for soccer. When training the two most important things to remember are the objective and the intensity. There must always be intensity – intensity – intensity. This is intensity in training and intensity in games. The first thing we notice when a new player comes to us is he does not touch the ball because he is not used to the intensity. You reach intensity in two ways – speed of the execution and movement and how you manage the breaks. The players must do everything at a top speed and you must take breaks to allow them to train in this manner. If you work too hard over too long of a time, the intensity will drop. Instead the intensity should drop because you, the coach, wants it to drop - not because the player is tired. The most common approach of teaching technique is repetition. However within the training you must recognize what needs to be corrected. For instance there are three components of juggling - static balance - ability to differentiate or touch - rhythm of the body. You must evaluate each player and create an approach according to their weaknesses. One player may have solid static balance but lack touch. One may have strong rhythm of the body but need work in their balance. Each of these areas need to be evaluated and then improved in a scientific way to make them better. You know and reach the objectives by knowing what should be taught at what age. Professor Vergine has developed a curriculum for developing young players based on the: Technical Tactical Physical Mental - Agriosiment Each aspect of these areas is very specific for each age. The Directors and coaches job is to understand at each time what area of each age needs intervention - education and training. Every year the time we coaches have with players is very limited. If you do not take advantage of that time – it is clear you will not develop professional players. The Director of Coaching has the responsibility all the way down in the youth structure. Every thing is organized with the objective of developing players for the first team - with long term planning overseen by the Director of Coaching. The Director of coaching must know these foundations and make the coaches train the foundations by the hierarchy of importance and the age. The following table shows the areas of concentration for the Fiorentina Youth Program. A zero means no such training is done. A one means some training is done in that area. The important the area - the higher the number. Psychomotor skills/Coordination/Endurance/Involuntary/Flexibility/Technical/Team Tactics /Individual tactics/Training/Training per week 10 years 3 2 0 0 0 3 0 2 1 1/2 3 times 12 years 1 3 1 1 1 3 1 3 2 hours 3 times 13 years 0 3 2 2 2 3 2 3 2 hours 4 times 16 years 0 2 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 hours 4 times 18-19 0 1 3 3 3 2 3 2 2 hours 15 min 5 times U9-10 Age Group - Developing the Foundation for the Future Professor Vergine on the technical problems soccer players have in the United States: “ I think I have discovered the problem with soccer in the United States - you put a rabbit inside your ball”. The number one objective in the U9 - 10 age group is the ball. The work begins with the technical side - when you see a player who makes a mistake in the technical side the coach must understand why he is making this mistake and understand how to intervene and correct. The number two objective is individual tactics – which means how to move into a space – how to close to a player – mark a player . Don’t waste your time to teach them tactics with the team – you have only so much time with the player and you have to use the time appropriate to the age. The primary focus for this age is training the players ability with the ball. The number three objective is the physical side with a concentration on physco-motor skill development, and coordination. U9-10 U11-12 U13-14 U15-16 17-18-19 Instant 1 2 3 3 3 Strength/Explosive 0 1 2 3 3 Maximum 0 0 0 0 1 Resistance 0 0 1 2 3 Perception 1 2 3 3 3 anticipation 1 2 3 3 3 Speed decision 1 2 3 3 3 reaction 1 2 3 3 3 pure speed 1 2 3 3 speed of movement 0 1 3 3 3 action speed 1 2 3 3 3 intervention 1 2 3 3 3 Aerobic 0 1 2 2 3 Endurance Anaerobic lactic 0 0 1 1 2 Anaerobic 1 2 3 3 3 We will send Part Two — ACF Fiorentina Clinics - soon! |
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