Cebu City—Now the deliberations start.
After receiving a glimpse of what world-class football training is, 160 boys and girls from all over the country graduated from Year 2 of the MILO-FCB Road To Barcelona program and now await if they’re part of the seven standout campers, who will train with others from around the world at historic Camp Nou.
The participants, divided into two groups (morning and afternoon sessions) tested their skills in the training camp at Cebu City’s Sport Center under the guidance of two coaches from La Liga giant FC Barcelona’s Youth Academy.
But all those technical know-hows that may have impressed the coaches from Catalonia is only 30% from the bigger 70% criteria based on the campers’ attitude and values during the camp, which local coaches who helped in the camp and the expert panel composed of PFF representatives, will deliberate on to choose the seven players to be added to the 12-man pool bound for Barcelona next month.
Though if you ask the visiting coaches, the kids, aged 10-12 and composed mainly of Cebuano youth, were excellent in both attitude and aptitude.
“I was surprised by the level of attitude they have for the game as well as the technical level of all these players,” said Albert Batalla Fernandez, one of the FCB Youth Academy coaches handling the training camp.
His fellow coach Jordi Aguilar Roca appreciated the effort put forth by the kids.
“The kids from the Philippines are good, so nice and they have good discipline. It’s so easy to work with them,” said Roca, who along with Batalla, is a UEFA A Licensed Coach.
“The important difference from kids here compared to the other camps in other countries is really the attitude and discipline. Because here, if the kids finish their drills, in 5-10 seconds, they fall in line immediately, picking up after them in every drill,” added Batalla.
FCB, along with MILO, believes in the shared values in the word HEART, Humility, Effort, Ambition, Respect, and Teamwork, which they hope every kid in the camp will imbibe.
“The most important thing in all our camps is values and attitude. More than the skill, more than the methodologies and tactics, FC Barcelona is renowned for the values it teaches in its Youth Academy and in the MILO-FCB training camps,” added Batalla.