Messi takes a Corner (Photo: Gary Rowan)

Recently I was allowed permission to study Barcelona and their world class youth system. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement. I am going to go into detail about five things I was amazed by during my study.

1. La Masia – Housing the World’s Best Players
Located next to Camp Neu is La Masia, or as I like to call it, “Barcelona Player Generator.” La Masia is housing base for all Barcelona players who aren’t already from Barcelona and don’t stay in the city of Barcelona. As an example, Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas….pretty good players, right?

When I arrived at La Masia, I was greeted by Carles Folguera (La Masia Director) and I was immediately blown away by his passion for Barcelona and for youth development. I asked Mr Folguera to describe La Masia in one short paragraph and this is what he said:

“La Masia is the foundation of Barcelona’s success. It provides the Barca DNA to all youth players no one is made favorite. Players learn to play one way, the Tiqui-Taka way. The way the beautiful game should be played 1 – to pressure, 2 – to keep possession, 3 – to attack.”

This seems to be the way forward for youth development soccer within professional clubs. All youth players are being raised as a family unit. With your team, no matter your level, you must create a bond and make the team become a family with one main goal – to be in the first team. A family develops together, supports each other and  there is no timetable for a team coming together as one.

What aspects of “family” are you imparting to your team to ensure they play together and stay together?

2. Coaching Philosophy

It is obvious when you watch Barcelona at any level that they play with the same philosophy: Positive soccer. The club’s total soccer philosophy is taught from ages seven years old – all the way to the first team! Within a club, you should have all age groups playing the similar style/formation/strategy as they will start to understand their own roles and responsibilities within the system.

“We’re always looking for a type of player who’s not physical but a very good thinker, who’s ready to take decisions, who has talent, technique and agility. Physical strength is not important.”

This quote is from Carles Folguera and I am also a keen believer of this description of an ideal youth football player. Why have someone who can run a marathon in your squad if he does not want to express himself with the ball at his feet?

Barcelona does not do any fitness sessions with their players until they are over the age of 16. All practices are with a ball. Even once they are over the age of 16, all fitness related sessions are with a ball at your feet. This theory from Barcelona gave me great pride. My own Youth Development Philosophy document contains the saying “a ball at your feet improves technique.”

Research shows that focusing on technical skills is more important than fitness related work – especially at younger ages. And, the work should shift as players reach ages past puberty – around age 14. If you want to create a fitness machine, then enter him in the Olympics. But, to play soccer you need to be technically gifted. And, at a young age, it is vital that you allow a child’s physical fibers develop naturally.

Another part of that singular guiding philosophy is positive player development. Teams and coaches need to place a renewed emphasis of player development over winning. To play poorly and win is nothing at the youth level! Personally, I assess my teams by the quality of their play – not the end result. At every game I coach at youth level, I take two clickers with me. One is to count the opposition’s passes and one to count my team’s passes. To me, this is what is important.  Players need to be educated that when they have a ball at their feet they are in control. They have the opportunity to express their talent and they can have the confidence to retain the ball until the opportunity is created.

How does your coaching philosophy compare? Have you developed a coaching philosophy?

3. Soccer Training

Luckily enough, I was invited to coach and analyze Barcelona’s U16 training. I have never seen so many technically gifted players in my life! Wherever you look, you were seeing passing varying from 1 touch, 1-2’s and even players not looking when passing! One thing that was mesmerizing was the level of coaching quality in the session. Barcelona is a firm believer of the “less is more” theory. It is more beneficial to players. The coaches want to create an atmosphere which is high intensity rather than focused on 10 different drills. An obvious favorite of the coaches was the piggy in the middle drill where the players try and keep the ball from the player in the middle. This helps players gain responsibilities within keeping possession and gain the hunger to want possession of the ball. Many coaches give up on this game as “too juvenile” and here is Barca using it at U16 training.

There are 3 key points of a youth training session. These are:

1. Development
2. Fun
3. High Intensity

Planning and preparation are central to creating an awesome training session. Coaches should plan sessions well before the session takes place, so you can “pre-evaluate” your session to ensure it meets your own expectations and team needs. Coaches who can create an environment where players turn up to training knowing they are going to get a high quality session from a high quality coach will develop players who are dynamite.

How much time do you put into your training sessions? Or do you just turn up and wing it expecting a positive result? How is that working for your team?

4. Education

Players who stay at La Masia surprisingly spend little time playing soccer – at most 2 hours per day. Instead, there is a really high focus on school work. Players are expected to do more school work when they return from school! They are expected to attend extra classes with tutors at La Masia. Carles Folguera explained to me that Barcelona believes that they have the responsibility to develop intelligence – while developing soccer – at this critical stage of life. La Masia employs many teachers, psychologists and nutritionists. It is truly a total soccer experience.

An example of a player’s daily routine at La Masia:

06:45 Wake up and must make bed

07:00 Have breakfast at La Masia

07:30 School bus picks up players from La Masia

08:00-14:00 School

14:15 Lunch at La Masia

15:00 Free hour to do whatever player likes, Table tennis is a favorite with the players

16:00-18:00 School work with tutors

19:00-20:45 Training

21:00 Bus back to La Masia

21:30 Dinner at La Masia

22:00 Players are allowed time to watch the TV or go on the internet

As soccer coaches, we have a responsibility to provide as much as we can for a player to develop. Part of that responsibility is caring for our players as complete individuals and we must encourage school work. You can also use tents of education and analysis within soccer. For instance, you can give players an individual to analyze during a game.

What are you doing to cultivate complete soccer players and impart the important life lessons that soccer can teach us?

5. Personal Success and Gratification

My work at Barcelona was amazing. I was humbled by the opportunity to learn from the best in the world. I took great satisfaction and pride of the similarities between Barcelona’s methodology and philosophy and my own. The one core aspect:

Soccer at a youth level MUST be positive. If we aren’t positive, we can create a negative mindset for a player and stall development.

With positive coaching, we can develop confident, thinking and creative soccer players who will experiment on the field to do amazing things. We should all strive for this!

How are you faring in this most important aspect to help our players flourish? Are you staying positive and supporting at the most important times of training and soccer matches?

Conclusion

Obviously, Barcelona is world class for a reason. My work there demonstrated how far I have to go – and how far I have already come. I hope you’ll consider your own philosophy – physical content, training quality and your developmental environment. Does your philosophy match with your goals and daily presentation of topics? In what areas can you improve to create a better soccer experience for your players?