MADRID, 5 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
LaLiga and ‘Wakatake Group’, a Japanese company with the mission of contributing to the development of young soccer players in their transition from children to adults, completed last weekend the third joint ‘stage’ for young athletes in Spain within the framework of its long-term alliance to promote grassroots football in the Japanese country, launched at the end of 2020.
As LaLiga indicated this Wednesday, the intensive training stay for 36 Japanese youngsters combined training sessions with LaLiga coaches and friendly matches with youth teams from Athletic Club, Deportivo Alavés and Getafe CF.
The ‘stage’ took place between September 26 and October 2, beginning with friendly matches in the Basque Country and including visits to the sports cities of the clubs and to San Mamés and Mendizorrotza. During their stay in Madrid, the group stayed and trained at the Centro ESC LaLiga & NBA sports complex, where the ‘LaLiga Grassroots’ programs are developed in Spain, including the long-term sports-academic program ‘LaLiga Academy Spain’, and they went to the Coliseum to witness Getafe-Valladolid live.
The Japanese players were able to play friendlies against homegrown teams from these three clubs, which help them polish technical details and learn from the inside how the Spanish youth academies work, which are recognized for their prestige throughout the world.
This fruitful collaboration that has lasted two years has brought great benefits to both parties with a clear focus since to date more than one hundred young Japanese players from the ‘Wakatake’ program have been trained under the LaLiga methodology in the different concentrations held in Spain and Japan, which has repercussions on the increase in competitiveness in grassroots football in the Japanese country.
In addition to the three teams mentioned above, Villarreal CF, Rayo Vallecano, Sevilla FC, Real Betis, Valencia CF or UD Levante have also collaborated on different occasions, which has contributed to giving visibility and supporting the development of the clubs at an international level. .
LaLiga’s unique methodology and the high level of its coaches, who have degrees in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, with international experience and a UEFA Pro license, help athletes to detect areas for improvement in their football training through the tactical-cognitive, technical-coordinative, physical-conditional and psychological-socioaffective areas.
“Our goal is to create training contexts where we can offer young athletes and coaches tools with which they can develop their potential with a holistic approach, taking into account not only sports but also academics, mental health or what we call ‘training invisible’, which includes nutrition or rest”, emphasizes Juan Florit, head of sports projects at LaLiga and the sports area at ‘LaLiga Grassroots’.
The manager believes that “in short experiences such as the ‘stages'” they cannot “talk about radical changes”, but that in these “knowledge can be provided that makes a difference and helps improve the skills of the players”.
For his part, Guillermo Pérez, delegate of LaLiga in Japan, points out that “the duration” of his relationship with ‘Wakatake’ demonstrates his “commitment to the development of grassroots football in Japan”. “Both parties obtain a lot of value thanks to mutual learning and the exchange of knowledge. Also, the involvement of the LaLiga clubs has always been excellent, which has managed to create a direct bridge between the football of both countries,” he adds.