Community » Hattrick Press

At school with John_Spartan_84: youth team

Written by Migna

We have already dealt with the subject in a superficial way but today we have the opportunity to deepen it thanks to the availability of the new head of the U17 of Wales.

We have experienced a period of great change that has brought with it a breath of freshness, novelty and enthusiasm around the Welsh national teams and in the community itself.
The creation of the Wales National Forum (117642) specific federation for Wales lovers, the sharing of the choices of our coaches and the constant and qualified presence of "experts", in addition to the growing participation of native and non-native users, have allowed this "numerically small" nation to grow exponentially and thus begin to make itself known worldwide as a team and rival worthy of respect.

Among the results born of this new and strong interest in the nation and the representative teams we cannot fail to mention the two great victories obtained by MisterAndy85 (186942) against Belgium (finalist team of the last U20 World Cup) which allowed us to arrive within a whisker of qualification for the world championship.
All this was the result of a maniacal planning by Romanian_Cracka (11657353) (world champion coach with Romania) who acted as a glue between the various staff members, organized the scouting work as well as being very present also in supporting our highly respected U20 coach Andy.

Growing up means paying the utmost attention to our players from the very first steps, which is why we chose to try to emphasize this aspect by trying to understand, from the new head of the youth project Ivan (aka John_Spartan_84 (11433110)), training logics and some of the little "tricks" that can help us to churn out valid players, from a national perspective or simply for the mere individual gain.

Welcome Ivan and thank you in advance for the time you are dedicating to us,
despite you are a manager known in Wales for being a U20 scout, president of the WNF federation, as well as for your legendary team The Divine United (1627410) ... tell us a little about yourself
Hi Matteo and hello to the whole community, I am a 36 year old "young man" living in Almese (a small mountain town to which I have dedicated the name of my main team (1933756)) and in life I work as an optometrist.
My debut in Hattrick dates back to 2011 and, apart from a short break during 2015, my presence has always been assiduous and constant. The return to the game (dated 2016) allowed me to get closer to the world of national teams (in particular the U20) and to collaborate with the staff of different nations with the most varied tasks; to date I know for sure that I have acquired a respectable experiential baggage that I like to be able to share with people who, like me, dedicate energy and passion for this game.

After this overview I ask you to tell us how and when your passion for Wales was born
We need to go back to a few seasons ago, when I took a Welsh TDF and started coaching him for the U20 national team (WC29) this allowed me to get in touch with this community and get passionate about this country so much that I decided to open my 3rd team here. with the aim of being able to contribute, through the experience acquired, to the development of the U17s, an aspect that I really love about the game.

How do you feel about being made responsible for U17 Wales?
I am simply enthusiastic, it is a goal that I finally managed to reach after so many years of work and dedication!
For some time I have followed many Welsh managers in the management of their academies but having been officially appointed head of the young project gives me the opportunity to follow many more to develop Welsh talents or as I usually call them Young Dragons.

I must admit that, thanks to you, I first approached the youth teams, this world still rather unknown for many users…. How did you start? Did you have a guide and / or a point of reference?
Until some time ago that of the youth teams was unknown to most, but today we find different guides on many forums and federations but the truth is that however there are not many users who can be defined as "experts" on the subject. As far as I am concerned, the growth of young people has always been my passion, which is why I started reading and studying many guides also in a foreign language, I also worked with the best Hattrickian managers and after many experiments and attempts I acquired a "method of work ”that works and that we are currently using in the Welsh reality.

Speaking concretely about youth teams: we dictate the basic rules for the optimization of training
The conditio sine qua non is certainly not to believe in youth teams; opening them and not exploiting them to 100% makes little sense .... in my experience with the youth teams I managed to exceed 40kk only with the sale of my young champions. One thing that not many people know is the existence of the "mother team bonus" that is a percentage that is recognized to the club of origin once a young player is resold (as long as he has played at least one minute in the main team), and this happens to any transfer; myself for example last season I collected more than 1.5kk only from the resales of my former young players! If you think about it it's not bad as a cash-in, without any extra work!
The basic dictates for youth teams are pretty simple to follow:
- hire 3 scouts in 3 different regions (better if small)
- always look for any type of player (avoid a specialist search)
- always play in international series made up of 4 teams because once the tournament is over you can immediately sign up for another one (starting within 2 days) and thus have an additional training session (which is gold in the youth teams)
- remember to schedule a friendly match every 3 weeks
- at the beginning the discovery of primary skills is preferable: parries - defense - direction - attack
- always give priority to players with specialties even if less strong (this is to be considered more a tip than a real rule)
I would say that these are already excellent foundations for setting up a job well done.

Another hot topic are the much coveted catches… when to call? Which players to accept and / or discard?
We could talk about it for hours, everyone in this area has their own idea ... I sincerely choose to always favor young 15-year-olds even if the scout does not tell us about high-level skills.

Still on the subject of calling, a big dilemma is the 16-year-old player ... do you risk the catch or not?
There is no sure answer to this question 😊
Risking sometimes pays off and sometimes not but, of course, after some calling experience and thanks to a good intuition, you will learn what is best to do

HYC (http://www.hattrick-youthclub.org), do you use it? Is it useful for a coach? Would you recommend it?
Absolutely yes! I personally believe it is a necessary and fundamental tool to better organize the rotation of training sessions and discover the specialties of the players that otherwise we would only discover at the time of promotion.
I also allow myself to suggest to all managers who have youth teams to constantly use this portal also because it allows me, specifically, to evaluate young prospects from a national perspective.

How to choose the type of training?
Training in the youth teams is young centered in the sense that training is decided match by match on the basis of team prospects, while in the main team the reasoning is exactly the opposite: you choose the training and you adapt the team

How is a training report drawn up?
The youth coach will give a training report once a week (immediately after the match). Specifically, a skill trained as primary training will be shown (of one of the players trained in the correct role), a potential skill set as secondary training (always concerning a player positioned in the right role to obtain the training) and a randomly chosen skill for any player on the pitch.

I open the youth academies, what do I find myself dealing with?
The economic impact certainly weighs on the company's biweekly balance sheet, but we must not be stopped by this aspect because a good player is really enough to repay years of investment in the youth teams. It must be a deliberate and deliberate choice, a real project that, passing through unexpected disappointments and joys, allows you to take away a lot of satisfaction both as a reservoir for the first team and as a function of a possible call-up to the national team.

Last question before saying goodbye, do you have a dream in the drawer?
Of course yes, I would like to see an even more active community on the youth front and, to tend, I would like to experience a close collaboration between local users and not also at the level of collaboration in national teams.
I don't think it is utopia and the basic dream remains to be able to create a "family" in which to grow our little dragons

In this short chat, in my opinion, all of Ivan's passion and dedication for this world emerges in its entirety.
Fortunately, his appointment allows us to enter a little more into what are the logic of this aspect of the game.
I have had the opportunity several times to speak with Ivan and one aspect that perhaps hasn't leaked much is his total willingness to help and support anyone who may have a doubt or just a curiosity.
I take responsibility for it but do not hesitate to contact him directly or via post in the WNF !!!
We thank John_Spartan_84 once again and…. always go Wales.