COVID has been a challenge at all levels for clubs, which has forced them to reinvent themselves in all areas due to the consequences of the pandemic. Of course, in the quarry. Due to LaLiga protocol, depending on the facilities, some teams, such as Levante, have had to move to their base in order not to come into contact with the first team. “We could not be in the Sports City by protocol and we began to look for an alternative to locate our players, following criteria that we establish as important in order to continue developing our educational project “, says David Llopis, director of the granota residence, for AS.
In a natural enclave, in La Serrana, in the middle of the Buñol mountain range, a place that is difficult to access even by pulling technology, there is the granota base camp. A circumscribed place where they will remain until the new normal allows it, taking advantage of the facilities of a newly created shelter whose activity has ceased due to the consequences of the pandemic. They are the only tenants.
Players and members of the Levante base football.
DAVID GONZALEZ (DIARIO AS)
“This is a space fundamentally to welcome young people or schools in short stays, but we are adapting very well,” he clarifies. The first impression when entering is to enter a summer camp, in the middle of October.
The cabins where the players are staying.
DAVID GONZALEZ (DIARIO AS)
Ten minutes from the Sports City and a little more from the institute area, indispensable requirement to enter the Levantine residence, The 50 players from the school live in the La Serrana hostel. All of them minors, they all study. The youngest, in the first year of childhood, is 13 years old. The rest, a dozen, already of legal age, live together in a club property in the town of Buñol.
The study area, inside the hostel.
DAVID GONZALEZ (DIARIO AS)
Some changes that have not altered the operation of the club, largely thanks to the human factor. “With everyone's effort, on the part of the workers and on their part, I believe that we are maintaining the same line of work that we had. We are reproducing our working model here, as is, and there has been no variation “, points out Llopis.
Anti-COVID measures in the shelter.
DAVID GONZALEZ (DIARIO AS)
However, despite the isolation of the new location of the school, they are not exempt from the reality that concerns everyone: possible infections. For this they have designed an isolation system as soon as they detect symptoms until the positive is confirmed or discarded. “We have not had any cases to date, but if we do we are prepared.”