Sunday, January 9, 2011

Quarry Barcelona: The factory gold

The Barcelona's best kept secret is hidden in the walls of an old building in 1702: La Masia. The houses are houses typical of Catalonia, used by small local farmers who cultivated the surrounding fields. But this Mas is different. No resemblance to the bucolic home that was one day. After becoming a store during the construction of Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, in the mid-twentieth century and later served as headquarters of the club, a new Mas renovated and refurbished in 1979 became a residence for young talented players and Spanish world.

The Farm is now the icon of the Barça youth system in which the Spanish grew Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi. All three are candidates for Golden Ball that FIFA will announce on Monday in Zurich. Last year's winner was Messi, so whatever happens, the prize will remain for the second year in the Catalan capital.

Rarely, the most prestigious award to an individual in the world of football had been interpreted as a collective recognition. In this case, the Barcelona, attractive football and his inexhaustible proposed mill talent. "It's a generation of players that will be difficult to replicate. Xavi, Leo (Messi) and Andrew (Iniesta), when they were young, they were balls of gold.

They have achieved through their careers and the patience she had the club with them, "said coach Josep Guardiola shortly after the announcement of the finalists." Success is a terrible and incalculable dimensions. "Seven of the 11 starters Barcelona, who won the Champions League Final to Manchester United two seasons ago in Rome were trained in the club's own academy, as Guardiola.

Nine of the 23 players who gave Spain their first World Cup 2010 story came from the Barca academy, including players such as goalkeeper Pepe Reina and Cesc Fabregas, who succeed in the Premier League for Liverpool and Arsenal respectively. Barcelona live the golden age of child and youth soccer.

But behind Messi , Iniesta and Xavi there is the invisible work of dozens of anonymous people who make up the training structure of the boat, from coaches and scouts to educators. Only they know the years of effort and dedication behind the scenes and the number of youth who stay on the road until there emerges a figure like Messi.

The big teams in Europe or South America also have large quarries. The Argentine or Brazilian Santos River Plate and Boca Juniors practice of exporting live young talent to the league on the continent. are well known French academies of football training. Teams like Milan, Real Madrid and Liverpool also leading talent recruitment programs.

But it is strange to see a phenomenon like that of Barcelona, where they live in your template for many the best player in the world, Messi, and great players from different generations. All emerged from its own academy. Is there a formula for success? Barca have yours. On the one hand, an undeniable football idea, based on an identical game system shared by all teams, from youngest to oldest.

Furthermore, capital values for the formation of his players: happiness, sacrifice and humility. And the two concepts are inextricably linked to confidence. "What young people need are opportunities. Everyone needs time. That being equal, they bet more on the player home, than outside," summarized the former Barça player, Guillermo Amor "Los Xavi or Iniesta take 10 years to get where they have come, "he said.

More than 200 children, between 7 and 18, comprising 13 teams of different categories of football at Barcelona. And all the better or worse, play the same system as Barça de Guardiola: four defenders, three midfielders and three points. In addition, work is a philosophy of possession and attack almost obsessive in force for 30 years, but the Dutchman Johan Cruyff propped during his time as Barca coach (1988-1996).

Love, 43, knows the ins and outs of the academy. He spent nine years in the ranks of Barcelona and became successful in the first team, where he played between 1988 and 1998. Since last year, is the Director of Formative Futbol Barcelona. "It has always been a lot of youth players in the first team, but now there are many who are very good.

It is not easy, but we work to keep repeating this," he said. "Barça is a club that focuses on people in the house. He has shown, demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate." The recruitment of players for Barca is the most important part of the process. Teams of scouts all over the world dedicated to track pledges, the younger the better.

According to Love, success lies in trying to build good templates. Teams over individuals. When he gets a report on a talented player, Love and technicians are in place. Up to four or five different observers studied the signing before making a decision. "If we have a player of Barcelona's great, because we will not look to Australia," he said.

"But here we look for the best players anywhere. And if Messi was at that time to 13 years old from Argentina, but thought it was very good, because you have to give up." According to statistics, more or less general, who runs the club, only 10 percent or 15 percent of its youth players to reach at least the first team debut.

30-40 percent, with luck, will be devoted to professional football clubs in other Spanish and foreign. The rest will probably never play football. "When I played in childhood (12-13 years), we won all regional and national level. We were 20 and at the end of the season, were down to 12," recalled Love "is perhaps the hardest part.

You can load the race of a person in a minute, what it takes to notify the boy who will not continue at the club. " Therefore, coaches and educators make a special follow-up studies of each of the young players of the club. A follow-up is much more extensive in the case of La Masia, the jewel in the crown of the Barcelona academy.

Live in La Masia 60 young athletes aged between 11 and 17. Currently, 48 players, 11 are promises of a basketball and roller hockey, a very popular discipline in Catalonia. These young people are great talents, living 10 months a year with scholarships from the club, because their families are far from Barcelona.

Almost 35 percent of them are foreigners. Here grew Iniesta, Messi and Pedro Rodriguez, among others. In this eighteenth century house breathing Barça. The view from windows directly overlooking the Camp Nou and on its walls hang the fringes of all sales outlets in La Masia. More than 500 young people since 1979, including himself Guardiola.

Carles Folger, 42, runs from 2001 this high performance, the first modern residence for athletes who were in Spain. He is the link between the families of young people, their teachers and coaches. "The boy's training progression and sports training have to go together. Here we speak the same language," said Folger.

Life on The Farm is not just sport. Young people are going to a school in Barcelona in the morning, train in the afternoon and also have kind of reinforcement if they fail in a subject. Barca organizes lectures on sex education, drugs, tell them about fame, the effort. "We are talking about values in quotes are not negotiable.

That will make them better players and better people: respect, friendship, humility, sacrifice, commitment, compromise, "he said." We want to be happy, but know strive to respect equally the coach and the cook, for instance " . At The Farmhouse we evaluated the formation of children. not so much the notes are valued, but its progression.

If you have managed to overcome the level at which they arrived. And, in agreement with the families, do not hesitate to punish for breach rules. At the end of season, the coaches decide which players may or may not continue in La Masia. is a difficult time, but considers La Masia Barcelona an investment, though often sunk.

"I'm proud of two things . Of people coming into the first team and conveys a way of being I can be proud. And those who have not come, who are the majority, that time they have been in the Masia enabled them to at least one route to enable them to earn a living, "he said. And with that philosophy, the club continues to evolve, according to Folger without resting on the laurels of the Ballon d'Or in 2012, The Farm will close its doors after 30 years of service to the quarry.

Your tenants will move into a new residence, most modern, up to 80 people and located in the sports city of Barcelona. Times change, but not the ideas of the club. "The idea is clear: sign young guys on a football idea itself and not going to sign players already established with an evident increase in cost," he said.

"The fact make you, as a symbol of identity, a boy, because you've made you is priceless."
at

No comments:

Post a Comment