05 Jan 2016
Doha, 5 January 2016. In the course of the games between Celta de Vigo’s U17 team and Aspire Academy, the Youth Director of the Spanish club, Carlos Hugo Garcia Bayon, gave a lecture on his club’s “Youth Development and training methodology” on Tuesday in the Academy’s auditorium.
The Spaniard stressed how important it is that young players live the right values. “Values are the basis for everything. Of course, training sessions and all the support they get are important in order to reach a high level, but the mentality has a very high importance as well. For me, humbleness is one of the most important skills that you need to have when you want to become a professional player.”
In a world full of potential distractions, he is well aware how challenging being humble can be for young people these days. “It’s difficult. That’s why it’s important that they have good role models. I just read an interview with the British singer Ed Sheeran. He said that his parents didn’t allow him to play video-games and he could only watch TV for one hour a day. So he focused on his creativity and music. And this kind of focus on something can make the difference.”
According to his impression, Aspire Academy is working with similar examples. “I have noticed a lot of sentences of successful people and athletes on the walls of the Academy. This is a great way to present role models to the student-athletes. Aspire Academy has a clear philosophy, clear objectives and the Academy itself is a magnificent place.”
Looking back at the close 1-0 win of Celta’s U17 against Aspire on the day before, he talked about “a close game that could have ended with a victory for the Qataris if they had been more effective. There are obviously some very talented players in this age group of Aspire.”