Coerver® Coaching kicked off their 2013 European Youth Diploma courses in Spain with a two-day course hosted by Spanish footballing giants, Real Madrid CF at their world class Ciudad Deportiva del Real Madrid training centre in Valdebebas (see below image).

Over 70 coaches attended from all across Spain including Sevilla, Coruña, Barcelona, Madrid, Albacete and Jaén. Ten coaches from the Real Madrid CF Academy and the Head of the Madrid Coaches Association attended in addition to former Spanish Pro player, Diego Camacho, who was attending his second Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma course.

Alfred Galustian, Coerver® Coaching Co-Founder delivered the course and said “I have worked at some of the top football clubs all over the world and have never seen a better training facility than here at Real Madrid. It was fantastic to come back to work here and to see so many coaches come from clubs all over Spain including a large group of academy staff from Real Madrid”.

A highlight of the event was the attendance of Eduardo Oliveira, from the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) Technical Department. Eduardo who also works for Botafogo FC had travelled from Rio de Janeiro specifically to evaluate the course (see below image with Alf & Jimmy Galustian).

Eduardo said “We have of course heard of Coerver Coaching in Brazil, but I did not expect it to be such a high level as I saw on the Coerver Diploma Course that I attended at Real Madrid. I believe that Coerver Coaching is especially effective during the golden ages of skill acquisition (7-16). Alf Galustian the co-founder of Coerver, has a lifetime of experience and is obviously an international expert in technical teaching; we can certainly learn from him and the Coerver program in Brazil”.

Coerver® Coaching were on hand to assist their global partner at the adidas® lab which took place over 5-days during the build up and following the UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley. The purpose of the adidas® lab was to showcase four new, ground-breaking innovations that will launched in future seasons by the world’s leading football brand.

Special guests, retailers, bloggers and competition winners from across the world descended on Victoria House in London to visit the adidas® lab where they had the oppurtunity to test the new innovations which included the miCoach Elite Team System, the adidas® Smart Ball (see below image, Coerver® CEO Jimmy Galustian), in addition to the worlds lightest ever playing kit (630g) and football boot (99g).

Coerver® Coaching CEO, Jimmy Galustian and UK Director, Scott Wright provided coaching expertise during the event within the Smart Ball Zone. The adidas® Smart Ball, which has been in development for the last three years, has been designed to improve technique, power, spin and accuracy through an automated coaching system. Coerver® Coaching have been part of the project team, providing expertise on ball mastery and ball striking techniques.

German great, Michael Ballack and French legend, Zinedine Zidane, who were assisted by Jimmy & Scott, demonstrated their amazing shooting techniques in the Smart Ball zone (see below image of Michael Ballack in the adidas ®Smart Ball Zone).

adidas® ambassador, Zinedine Zidane (see below image of Zinedine Zidane in the adidas® Smart Ball zone) said, “I have been working with adidas for 17 years and throughout my career I have always known they have been leading the way when it comes to innovation in football. The adidas lab shows how the brand is shaping the future of football and is a great chance for fans to see it with their own eyes.”

Coerver® CEO, Jimmy Galustian (see below image – adidas® lab speed test) said “It was great to be invloved in such a high profile event before, during and after the UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley with our global partner adidas. This event highlighted that without doubt, adidas are the leading football brand in the world and are at the cutting edge of football technology. We are really pleased to be assisting with the development of some of this new technology showcased here at the adidas lab that will help to shape the game in the future”.

Coerver® UK Director, Scott Wright added “It was great to be working with different people from so many countries who had been invited by adidas to attend the event. Also having the oppurtunity to assist Zinedine Zidane and Michael Ballack was a fantastic experience, I even had the chance to play in goal againt Zidane, that was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that I’m not going to forget for a long time!”.

Coerver® Coaching delivered the first ever Youth Diploma course to be held in the Czech Republic, during the weekend of 22nd & 23rd June 2013 in the nations capital, Prague. Over 120 coaches from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Tunisia, Croatia and Serbia spent 2 days working under the expert guidance of Coerver® Coaching co-founder, Alf Galustian, at the Czech University of Life Science (see below image).

Tomas Klecka, Director of Coerver® Coaching Czech Republic & Slovakia said “We received really positive feedback from all of the coaches. It was great to see that the course is beneficial to coaches at levels of the game, from grass roots to the professional clubs that attended, including The Czech Republic Football Association, Slavia Prague and Spartak Trna”.

Dusan Fitzel, Technical director, Football Association of the Czech Republic said, “It was great to see the amount of detail in Coerver Coaching’s focus on teaching skills. All of our coaches should work with Coerver”.

Coerver® Coaching Co-founder Alf Galustian was invited to speak on leading radio station TalkSPORT this week to discuss the Coerver® Coaching programme and youth development in the UK.

The interview was facilitated by Danny Kelly and Micky Quinn who contributed to a fascinating 60 minute discussion that sparked a huge number of questions from listeners across the world.

Coerver® Coaching held their first ever Advanced Skills Course for Coaches recently in Crans Montana, Switzerland. 80 coaches attended from over 20 countries including a majority of Coerver® Coaching’s EMEA Directors, and a number of coaching staff from their respective countries.

Crans Montana, which is a ski resort in southwestern Switzerland, sits in the heart of the Swiss Alps in the canton of Valais sitting at an elevation of 1,500m above sea level. Due to it’s unique location, many proffesional teams use Crans Montana as a pre-season training base with French giants Olympique Marsellie using the facility only a couple of weeks before the Coerver® Advanced Skills Course.

The facility also hosted the Holland national team in advance of EURO 2012 and the facility proved to be a fantastic location to host this world first course for Coerver® Coaching.

The three day intensive course included lectures and sessions presented by Coerver® Coaching co-founder, Alf Galustian. Special guest experts included former Scotland Captain John Collins, Newcastle United Academy Director, Joe Joyce and Dr Andrei Stoian, MD (see below images).

The coaches received a training session by John Collins demonstrated by youth players from Swiss pro team FC Sion. Joe Joyce gave an excellent presentation into youth development at Newcastle United which was complimented by a top class practical session for attending coaches.

This Summers longest running transfer saga has finally came to an end as Tottenham Hotspur and Wales star Gareth Bale finally completed his world record £85 million pounds move to Real Madrid, signing a six year contract reported to be worth £300,000 per week.

Back in June 2007, the young Welsh wing wonder travelled to Coventry to be put through his paces by Coerver® UK Director, Scott Wright who recalls working with the world’s most expensive player.

“I was contacted by our partner adidas to author a pre-season training guide that was to be published in the up-coming pre-season addition of FourFourTwo magazine. The theme for the training guide was to use the attributes of the new F50 & Predator boots and to design a series of practical training drills that could be used by coaches and players to develop each attribute”.

“To bring the drills to life, I would be working with two adidas sponsored professional players, who were contracted to wear each respective boot. The first player was Micah Richards, who was to be the player representing the Predator boots. At the time he was only 19 years old but had already established himself in the Manchester City first team and he was really making a name for himself in the game, in fact I remember only the month after there being a reported bid for him from Chelsea in excess of £20 million pounds. At the time he was probably regarded as the top young talent in the country and had been touted as a future England captain”.

“The other player I was to be working with who would represent the F50 boots was a young welsh player called Gareth Bale who had just completed his £10 million pound transfer from Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur (see below image). I must admit, I did not know a lot about Gareth, who was 17 years old at the time, before working with him apart from him being a young player with a lot of potential. I certainly knew a lot about him by the end and it was clear to me that he had everything needed to make it to the very top of the game”.

“He was six feet tall, athletic, quick, had excellent technical ability using both feet but the thing that impressed me most was his work ethic and how polite he was. In fact his parents had came with him that day, it was his first campaign as an adidas sponsored player, and you could tell that they were a very close family and were very supportive of their son’s career which I think has been well documented during his rise to the top”.

“I worked Gareth incredibly hard that day, 1-2-1 work can be very demanding both physically and mentally but he just got on with everything that was asked of him and transferred the instruction I was giving him quickly into near perfect actions, first time. We worked on various Coerver topics throughout the day including warm-up movements, ball mastery, speed work, 1 v 1 moves and dribbling technique. We finished off the day with free kick technique which provided me with a story I still tell young players to this day”.

“We set up a full size goal with a 4 mannequin wall positioned in front (see above image). After working on the actual striking technique, I set Gareth a challenge where he would strike 10 free kicks from 25 yards out but he would have to hit the part of the goal that I called. I started with a call of “Top right”, Gareth quickly approached the ball and made contact with such power that it sounded like a canon ball flying through the air, the ball also swerved over the mannequins and into the top corner as I had instructed”.

“He then turned to me with a smile ready to take the next free kick. Was the first strike lucky or was this something he could repeat on demand, I was about to see this first hand. I worked my way through 9 further calls, “bottom right”, “top left”, “bottom right” and I have to admit to my surprise he hit every one as powerfully and as accurately as the first. In fact, by the end of the ten free kicks, such was the power he had used, the screws on the frame of the goal had been loosened to such an extent that the goal looked like it was about to collapse! (see the below image)”.

“After we had finished I asked Gareth what a normal training day would look like for him. He went on to explain that he would take part in his normal training session in the morning but would work on his own with the ball every afternoon for at least an hour and in his own words said “You can never be good enough with the ball”. At this point it was clear in my mind that he had the potential to go to the very top of the game. This type of work ethic and mindset to be the best that you can be, in tandem with the obvious attributes that he had, could be the difference between him being a good player or a great player and this has proved to be the case”.

“We even had time for a game of heads and volleys at the end with Gareth and I against Micah Richards who was unbelievable in goal, I think we only scored once past him!. I have followed Gareth’s career ever since and after a challenging initial few year at Spurs, he has really flourished into the player that I thought might be possible six years previous. I particularly remember the two performances against Inter Milan in the Champions League that really announced him on the world stage and he has progressed every year since (see above image). To see him now as the most expensive player on the planet and playing for Real Madrid is fantastic and I couldn’t think of a better role model for all young players here in the UK to follow”.

“The scary thing is that he is only 24 years old and if he can develop half as much over the next six years as he has over the last six years, he is going to be a true global megastar of the game and that is even more special as he is British and can hopefully inspire a whole generation of players here in the UK which I am sure he has already started to do”.

“Who would have thought that the 17 year old boy who arrived in Coventry that afternoon would be the world’s most expensive player, playing for the biggest club in the world just six years later (see below image). That shows to me that with hard work, determination and dedication, anything is possible”.

Coerver® Coaching Co-Founder, Alf Galustian has recently worked with the National Women’s Coaches and Players at the Japan Football Association (JFA) Academy which is located in Gotemba, Shizuoka prefecture near Mount Fuji. 120 Girls under 17 years old have been especially selected from across the country to attend the JFA high performance academy (see below image).

Japan are the current FIFA Womens World Cup Champions and are known for their highly technical style of play and will be one of the favourites to win the U17 Womens World Cup in Costa Rica in 2014 with the squad being made up of players from the academy.

The girls live and study at the academy and have daily training sessions with the JFA National Coaching Staff. Last week, Alf Galustian conducted a training session for the female players at the request of the JFA Vice-President, Mr.Tashima Kozo. Tashima san asked Alfred to work with both the coaches and players at the Academy.

Alfred has conducted several coaching education courses for JFA National Training staff in the past, but this was the first featuring the Women’s elite players and coaches which included Japanese FA Women’s Director of Football, Ueda-san (see below image with Alf Galustian), Japan U-19 Women’s National Team Head Coach, Hiroshi Yoshida and JFA Women’s Committee Chief Eiji Ueda. Japan FA Women’s Director of Football Ueda-san commented that he was very impressed with Alf’s training session and that he will recommend more sessions in the future.

Coerver Coaching is extremely proud that 12 of the academy players are Coerver Coaching school graduates, some already playing for the U-16 Women National team squads (see the below image – session action).

We are delighted to announce that the Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma course will take place at Livingston FC on 26th-27th October 2013, presented by Coerver® Coaching Co-Founder Alf Galustian and Scotland Director Gordon Craig. (Gordon and Alf pictured below with Scottish Legend John Collins at The Coerver® Advanced Skills Course in Switzerland).

The Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma has been developed from 29 years of knowledge and work with the leading federations, clubs, managers and star names in International Football. Coerver® Coaching has a 20 year history in Scotland and we are very excited to have Alfred deliver the Youth Diploma Course here this month.

The purpose of the Coerver® Coaching Youth Diploma is to give attendees, whether you are a professional academy coach, junior coach, teacher or parent a greater understanding of how to plan & deliver more effective coaching sessions (see below image of Coerver® Scotland Youth Diploma).

Coaches you will get:

• 2-days of tuition based on four Theory/Practical based modules
• A Course booklet with drills and games developed over our 29 year history
• A copy of the 5 Set DVD Coerver® Coaching “Session Planner”
• Essential tips on how to improve your coaching & make your sessions more effective
• Youth Diploma Certificate of Attendance

Coerver® Coaching are delighted to launch the new Coerver® Partner Club programme which aims to provide professional support to grassroots clubs up and down the country. The Coerver® Partner Club programme covers a range of support to include coach education, player coaching and session planning with all areas being underpinned by a cutting edge, web based support platform.

A handful of carefully selected clubs have been chosen to pilot the first phase of the grassroots programme which will take place over the course of the 2013-14 season. Coerver® UK Director, Scott Wright travelled up to Hessle Sporting JFC in Hull last week to officially launch the Partner Club programme with a presentation to all club members (see below image with Rich Fisk & Damien Wright – Hessle Sporting JFC).

Scott Wright said “It has been well documented in the media that changes need to be made if we are to develop better coaches and subsequently players in this country. Over the last 3 years, we have been working on developing a support programme for clubs that we believe can help towards achieving this goal. We launched a pilot programme at Premier League Club, Stoke City FC during the 2011/12 season and we have been really happy with how things have gone moving into our third season at the club. Stoke City achieved EPPP Category 1 academy status at the start of last season and under the assessment criteria the club actually finished the third highest ranked academy in the country and we are really proud to have played a part in that process”.

“We are now very excited to be providing our new Partner Club programme to grassroots clubs and I believe that we can have a big impact on coach and player development at the clubs that we select to come into the programme. The range of support that we are providing has been put together from feedback from many clubs and coaches that we have engaged with in advance of the pilot grassroots programme launching. There were a number of common support areas that were highlighted by the majority of the people we spoke with and high on the list were coach education and session planning and these are two fundamental components of our Partner Club programme with both areas supported by a web based application that we have been developing for a number of years”.

“We will only be working with clubs and people that share the same long-term vision as ourselves, such as Hessle Sporting JFC, and there is a stringent process that clubs have to go through to be granted Coerver Partner Club status. This starts with the club hosting a Play Like The Stars Roadshow were we come to the club and spend the day working with all of the players and in the evening with the coaches and parents (see below image with Hessle JFC Players).

“In addition to the core components of the Partner Club programme, we will also be opening up our wider network to the clubs that we work with. This will include benefits such as free adidas training equipment for the club, access to discounted adidas boots for coaches and players and the oppurtunity to take part in training camps at some of the world’s leading clubs. To give an example, we travelled to AC Milan at Easter and have previoulsy visited clubs such as Real Madrid, Chelsea and Liverpool but to name but a few so the benefits of becoming a Coerver Partner Club go further than coach and player development. I’m sure that the total package we will be providing for selected clubs will give them a real point of difference in their local areas, both on and off the pitch”.

Scott added “I would like to thank everyone at Hessle Sporting JFC in Hull for being so hospitable during my visit and special thanks to Damien Wright & Rich Fisk for working so hard to make this happen. We are really looking forward to working with the club and with the assistance of Damien, Rich and new club chariman, Shane Appleby, I’m sure we will make a huge success of the programme”.

Hessle Sporting JFC Members Comments:

Kath Gay – Hessle Sporting JFC Parent
“The Coerver presentation was well delivered by Scott and the whole concept is fantastic. We are all really excited about the benefits it will bring to the club and can’t wait to get started”

Paul Riley – Hessle Sporting JFC Parent
“Our teams coach has been using Coerver with our players for the last 6 years and we are seeing the benefits that this method of coaching brings to our players, to get a partnership with Coerver takes us to the next level and is a fantastic opportunity for all at the club”

Rich Fisk – Hessle Sporting JFC Coach / Treasurer
“After lots of dialogue, hard work and effort Hessle Sporting are very excited to sign up to the Coerver Partner Club Programme. The benefits of using the Worlds No.1 Coaching method within the club will bring massive benefits to all of our coaches and players and will help us to raise our standards across the board. This will include producing more technical players and assisting the coaches with session planning & delivery. There will be benefits for all members of the club and this is a very exciting time for our club, the region and for English football”

Coerver® Kid Joe Elliot has proved that the best things come to those that wait when he recently made his first team debut for Romanian giants Dinamo Bucharest who have won the Liga 1 national title 18 times and the Cupa României 13 times since being founded in 1948 (see below image).

Joe’s dad, Mick Elliot, who has worked in proffesional football club recruitment for the last 25 years, recollects the journey that Joe has been on since first attending the Coerver® Coaching Performance Academy at 12 years old.

“As a young football player, Joe showed lots of potential and was signed as a 10 year old at Leicester City Academy but after 2 years was released. Then over the next couple of years he signed for Derby County, Coventry City and a few other league clubs but unfortunately he was unable to make a proper impact despite his undoubted potential”.

“Joe began training with Coerver in 2008 at the Bluecoat School Performance Academy in Coventry under the guidance of director, Scott Wright. Joe soon began to improve his technique and skill levels as well as gainining in confidence in his own ability on the ball. He attended regular weekly sessions for a period of over 4 years which proved to be the best decision we have ever made regarding Joe’s football development”.

“The principles of Coerver enabled Joe to improve his skill levels without the pressure applied within the academy football environment” (see below image Mick Elliot & Joe Elliot far left with Coerver® UK Director Scott Wright far right).

“In November 2012 Joe, who was now 16 years old, was seen by a Spanish scout and invited to play for CD Sobradillo in Tenerife which is a feeder club for the likes of Barcelona and Athletico Madrid among others. Joe spent the next 5 months there playing football and learning the Spanish way. At the end of the season he was offered a new contract by CD Sobradillo but at the same time was seen by a Romanian scout and then received an invite to trial at Dinamo Bucharest”.

“Joe spent a week at Dinamo in May 2013 and after impressing the coaches and reserve team manager, he was offered a 1 year contract to play for the reserves in Division 2. He returned to England over the Summer for a break and was asked to join the Dinamo Bucharest first team squad who were on a tour in England at the time”.

“He trained with the first team squad and on Sunday July 7th, he was asked to join the squad and came on as a 2nd half substitute to make his first team debut against Ayr United at the age of 17 and 3 months. Dinamo were 1-0 down when Joe stepped on to the pitch and the manager asked him to play a defensive midfield role to protect the defence and use his great passing ability to set the wide players free. Joe managed to do this effectively and not only impressed the Dinamo coaching staff but also on-looking scouts from Rangers and Man City. The game ended 1-1 and in my opinion, Joe put into practice everything he had learned at Coerver during this game which was great to see”.

Joe said of his debut “I was a little nervous being so young and making a debut for a top European team but once I made a few good passes I felt very comfortable playing for the first team. Attending Coerver has made the difference not only to my playing ability but also to my confidence on the pitch and I would like to thank Scott and all the Coerver coaches for their part in my development to this point”.

It might have been a different career path for Joe having turned down the chance to be a professional musician in order to pursue his dream to be a footballer. He had been playing the trumpet since the age of 11 and was offered a full time position to play with the 1980s ska band Bad Manners. The band achieved three top-10 hits during the ’80s, including Special Brew, Can Can and My Girl Lollipop (My Boy Lollipop).

Coerver® UK Director, Scott Wright said “We are really proud of Joe’s acheivements and it is great to hear the comments of Joe and his dad Mick that they feel that Coerver has played such an important part in his development to date. Joe joins a long list of players to graduate from the Coerver programme into proffesional football and his story is one that shows that you have to keep on going even when you face setbacks which inevitably will happen to young players trying to make a career in the game”.

“The fact that Joe turned down a proffesional career in music and left the comfort of home to go abroad to chase his dream shows the desire, attitude and sacrifice that is needed to succeed not only in football but in life. Joe’s story is an example to all aspiring footballers out there, if you have a good attitude and work ethic along with the footballing ability then you will get your chance. It is then about making the most of that chance which is exactly what Joe has done and I am absolutely delighted for him and his family”.