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Barca academies set up at Pune’s four corners will help cut kids’ travel time, says Carlos Palacin
Pune Barca Academy and Conscient Football have officially announced the launch of four football academies in Pune. The four centres will be at Blue Ridge Public
Pune Barca Academy and Conscient Football have officially announced the launch of four football academies in Pune. The four centres will be at Blue Ridge Public School (Hinjewadi), Don Bosco High School (Vimannagar), Euro School (Undri) and Loyola High School (Aundh). The first round of trials for these academies will be on November 23 and November 24, while the second round will be on December 13 and December 14 across all the four centres.
Pune becomes the fourth city in India, after Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, to launch the Barca Academy centres.
Alberto Lafuente Rincon, who has worked with the FC Barcelona Academy in Spain as an “off-ground” official, is expected to arrive in Pune in the first week of December and will be the technical director of all the Barca academies in the city. The Spaniard will make Pune his home to ensure the academies are functional, and later oversee its activities.
In the absence Rincon, Carlos Palacin, the head of Barca Academy, Asia Pacific (APAC), confirmed the launch of the academies in Pune.
The launch of the Barca academies in Pune comes at a time when India is preparing to host the Barca Academy Asia Pacific Cup 2020 in January. India will be hosting the premier intra-club tournament at the Barca Academy in Gurugram from January 30 to February 02, 2020.
Announcing the Pune launch, Palacin said, “Today, sports and extracurricular activities have become an integral part of a child’s holistic education. If one has to excel in sports, the talent has to be tapped and honed from formative years. The Barca Academy football school is the foundation of creating tomorrow’s footballers. The testament to this is our committed approach in India over the last eight years. We have built a strong foundation for building tomorrow’s footballers from this great nation of football lovers.”
Palacin answered a few more questions in a face-to-face.
How many coaches are going to be a part of these academies in Pune?
FC Barcelona wants the best when it comes to players per coaches, so there will be one local coach for each set of twelve players. I cannot tell you the exact number of coaches who will be present at the four centres as it will depend on the final number of registrations at each of the centres. We have planned to appoint one coach for twelve players, and all the coaches will be under the command of Rincon. He will personally oversee the coaching and training of the young boys and girls.
Is it true that all the coaches have to go through an exclusive Barcelona coaching programme?
Yes. Every time we open a new centre in a city, the technical director of that particular city organises a specific Barca coaching programme for the local coaches which is called “Coaching the Coaches”. The main goal of the session is to familiarise the local coaches with FC Barcelona way of coaching, methodology and the system the club follows. In Pune, we will be conducting the same session once Rincon arrives. There are ongoing sessions for coaches every Friday and we call that “The Formation”. So, it is not that we just train the local coaches once before the season begins. The coaching for kids and coaches goes on regularly throughout the season.
On what basis were these four centres chosen?
We tried our best to launch our centres in the best locations in Pune, so all the players could reach our academy easily. We have ensured that we launch our centres in all four corners of the city, so the kids do not have to worry about long distant travelling in order to reach one of the centres.
