OBSERVATION SCHEDULE
You will be working all the time as a member of the team. Training will be a combination of progressive maintenance and match preparation, mostly tactical. This is not an intensive technical skill upgrade program which you would get at a soccer school. The reason is that, in a Club, the players have been working on skills since they were 6 years old. They are expected to have the skills already, and you are slotting into their development progression.
Our program is broken into 2 phases to recognize your decision-making process. In Phase I, while our Technical Director determines your current level and your immediate potential, you are determining if this life is for you. In Phase I, you begin to understand what it means to be a footballer; how much effort is involved, and do you really want it. For Phase 2, you now know where you will start and your path will be mapped out. And once you know this, you can then decide about the investment required to make happen.
Phase 1 takes two weeks, starting with a medical on Monday, then 4 days of gym in the morning and on pitch training in the afternoon. We expect to have up to 3 lectures – What the Scout Does, Cross Cultural Acclimation, and one on Tactics, led by a well-known former-player/technical specialist. We hope to have another former player speak with you, bringing his World Cup trophy and presenting a special training session, or maybe 2. On the weekend, one day we will go for match (Serie A/B/C/D), and the other day we will figure out, depending on where we are. We always know the program beforehand, but we might change the activity/venue, determined by what works best and taking into account how tired everyone is.
For the second week, Monday through Thursday/Friday, the schedule is expected to be the same regimen, although we always try to schedule at least one non-league match which takes the place of one of the training sessions. You should arrive in your home country on Saturday (unless as a group we decide to change the schedule), beginning your preparations for Phase 2.
