Valencia's ‘Quarry Project’ explained by its director

Valencia is a quarry project. That is the slogan or the header phrase that the entity has been transmitting both internally and externally since the end of last season the club turned 180 degrees and restructured a large part of its sports plot. Beyond the exits of Alemany, Longoria or Marcelino, in January 2019 Luis Martínez was appointed as director of the Academy, thus replacing Luis Vicente Mateo. The change, in Alemany's words, was carried out to “restructure grassroots football and improve”, but Martínez's curriculum specialized in asset development already gave some clues to the idea he had in mind.

With that restructuring, one of the names that gained prominence was that of Sean Bawho until then had headed the office of President Anil Murthy. From Singapore and in relation to Murthy, Sean was first in charge of supervising all the changes that took place in the Academy and currently shares and supervises the work of Luis Martínez. Although he had no previous experience in the world of football, he already feels like his the philosophy that Meriton wants to apply to the youth team and in conversations with ACE explained where the club is intended to go, the 'jewel in the crown' of the club.

If it were necessary to carry out a reductionist act of a large project in which Sean repeats the idea that it is “long-term”, the manager considers that there three main guidelines that define the Academy project: the recruitment of talents, individual training and global development. Those key parameters do not only apply to the footballers closest to promoting the first team, but are for all club teams: “For many clubs, it's easy to focus attention and resources on the categories closest to the first teamBecause that's where the immediate results are seen. However, as in schools, training starts from the youngest age groups. And we want to capture that “says the president. Who also considers that for the quarry to be the cornerstone of the project you have to work it out completely: “It would be cynical if we wanted to make the quarry the cornerstone of the project but we only focused on developing the categories close to the first team, we must focus support on all categories.”

The Valencian quarry has always been a talent center for the Valencian Community, but you want to take this idea one step further. “Our fans love local players. Why not capture all that talent?” Sean explains who points out that these Valencian footballers “grow up with values ​​and affection for the club, something very difficult to reproduce and that brings wealth to the entity “. For this the club offers external training sessions throughout the Valencian Community.

For the individual training of promising footballers A new department has been created in the Academy specialized in developing their skills. “Reaching the highest level requires additional sessions on the training ground to help talents adjust to the new level of intensity and also to reduce the risk of injury. So These soccer players have an individual plan of extra work, physical preparation so that they improve in the sections that need it, psychological help and indications regarding nutrition“Bai relates. In conversations with several players from the Academy, all of them point out that this new facet of work has been very good for them, especially everything that involves the physical section.

And precisely that physical section can be worked on more specifically since lThe Academy has its own gym a novelty introduced by the club from the beginning of this season. Sean Bai believes that the quarries should transcend football and in a way act as a school that trains people whether or not they reach the first team: “We have organized relevant workshops and introduced a strict code of conduct to ensure that our players maintain the standards and behavior expected of them. “

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Based on these three lines, Meriton and, ultimately, the Valencia Club de Fútbol want to give more importance to a club asset such as the youth team which has always been of paramount importance. In any case, Sean does not hide that the soccer industry “is going to change” due to the Coronavirus pandemic and that young talent will be revalued in a market marked by uncertainty.

As a long-term project only the time and the results will expose if the path is correct, but currently there are three soccer players from the Academy in the first team such as Guillamón, Ferran and Kangin Lee with peculiar situations that require short-term solutions.

Promotion to the first team

In the words of Sean Bai, the move to the first team “It is the greatest test for soccer players”, This is why the club has adopted a new strategy that explains: “Many of our promising youngsters have the opportunity to train with the first team on a regular basisThis helps calm the nerves and develop familiarity with the teammates. “The idea is that beyond a youth squad training with Celades and his colleagues when the coach needs to 'get hold' of the subsidiary, the opportunity is given to the kids from participate in sessions with the team so that, when the time comes or in an emergency circumstance in which they must debut, they have overcome or at least reduced the classic adaptation phase that requires “the pressure when they arrive will always be there, but we want to help them reduce the technical, physical and mental gap that separates a professional from a youthful one “.

This measure has been one of the most celebrated by the youth squads who admit that it has been useful for them to get loose and gain confidence with the first team: “you used to go up once or twice a year to train with the first team and you did it with a lot of respect and a little fear“Several players point out. Not surprisingly, this experience has already been proven by more than one youth and affiliate whose names have hopes, such as Jesús Vázquez, Carlos Pérez or Hugo González himself, who currently works with the first team for the restart of LaLiga.