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Arriving from Spain was a familiar face that brought great joy to the football boys at the Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA). He was former Sant Cugat Esport FC football coach Julian Marin, who has been to the ASA along with his former club on a few of their annual coaching camps.
This time though he represented Soccer Services, a renowned football training company, known for its work with famous football names like Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, Jordi Alba, FC Barcelona, the Japan Football Association, Catalan Football Federation and many more.
Beginning last Sunday, July 18, Soccer Services kicked off a three-day camp for football coaches at RDT’s ASA. The coaches included ASA Head Coach Miquel Llado, Asst. Head Coach P Vijayabhaskar, along with four local coaches.
These four coaches were carefully selected, as they have been with Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA) football program for quite some time, initially as young players, later having grown through the football program, giving back to the academy as coaches from their respective Mandal clubs and development centres.
Apart from these were three very experienced and highly qualified coaches who came from Bangalore; two from the Jain School of Excellence (JSE) of the Jain International Residential School (JIRS), and one from Roots Academy. These coaches were invited as a goodwill gesture towards their respective organisations for their continuous support to ASA and its football academy.
The clinic was based on Soccer services’ ekkono method “a method that works towards the development of intelligent players”. It functions on basic principles such as preparation of games, building of perception, football concepts of space making and utilisation, passing intelligently and effectively and supporting teammates.
It also encouraged the coaches to compare between analytical and global methodologies of football. There is, however, another element that the ekkono method encourages strongly and that is “asking questions”.
Understanding the difficulties
The first day began with the introduction to the course, with Soccer Services trainer trying to understand the difficulties that the coaches experience as well as sharing of the coaches’ ideas and how the course could help these coaches in their football sessions.
Soccer Services trainer Julian briefed the coaches about the company and its reach in football and briefly explained to them the company’s ekkono method. The camp was conducted in three major
parts: Master Classes - discussion based sessions, Audio-Visual sessions for a better understanding of the master classes with the help of videos as well as practical training sessions on the pitch.
The second day consisted of a detailed insight into the ekkono method, its concepts of football, its focus on perception of the game for excellence in play, use of this acquired perception and knowledge in various game formations. The coaches also explained about the importance of a gradual build up into the game with the ekkono method.
They were taught about normal gameplay, introduction of the ekkono method into this gameplay, then the use of perception along with the ekkono method, and finally formation based gameplay along with the use of the ekkono method and the use of perception.
Getting technical
The third day was highly technical, with the soccer service trainers explaining to the coaches more intricate details about the ekkono methodology of training football, the importance of being able to innovate, utilizing technology during training by recording training and analyzing it later as well as analysis of various offensive and defensive scenarios during a session.
Soccer Services is also conducting a 2-day clinic for 42 mandal level coaches, part of RDT’s ASA. The idea behind this clinic is to create the ideal learning environment in football, targeted more towards the grassroots level of football to encourage more player participation.
We are thankful to soccer services for their support and look forward to all our coaches benefitting greatly and developing the game of football in a manner that is ideal for us all here at the ASA and for the game itself.
