‘It’s a fantastic opportunity’: Spanish soccer academy working with Moncton players

New Brunswick footballers learn Spanish-style soccer from Valencia Academy.

The artificial surface at Rocky Stone Field in Moncton may have been scorching hot Wednesday morning, but dozens of young soccer players still took to the pitch for some world-class coaching.

Members of Codiac Soccer are participating in a week-long summer camp held by Valencia Academy Canada.

Spain’s Valenica Academy offers elite training techniques to help improve a player’s skill level and they have branches all over the world, including Montreal.

Codiac Soccer technical director Derek O’Keeffe said having coaches from Montreal and Spain to help the kids is a big deal.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for the players to learn from professional academy level coaches, especially in a place like Moncton. The guys are loving it and we’re very, very grateful to Valencia for coming out here,” said O’Keefe.

The young players are learning some of the same techniques used by Valencia CF, a team in La Liga, Spain’s top league.

“We’re just trying to give them a taste of what it would be like to train like a Valencia player,” said Miguel Monge Mateus, a coach from the Valencia Academy in Spain. “Obviously not as intense, not as competitive, but still try to teach them something. But most of all make sure they have some fun playing football.”

Monge Mateus was joined by fellow coach Malcolm Chidoub from Valencia’s Montreal academy.

“We try to bring the methodology that we have in Spain directly here to Canada, to Moncton, to Montreal,” said Chidoub.

Chidoub said every training session has a structure and an objective that allows the players to develop and learn a more European-style of play.

“We noticed obviously that the North American mentality is very unidirectional because of hockey, American football and these sports, so we’re trying to give them that Spanish, that European mentality,” said Chidoub.

Young player Matthew Manzi said he’s enjoying the different style of coaching and drills.

“It was really fun. Mostly the shooting and scoring ones. I like the shooting drills,” said Matthew.

His buddy Owen LeBlanc said they’re learning a lot.

“That we have to make quicker decisions and get the ball off fast,” said Owen. “It’s a lot of fun because there’s people with different skill levels and it’s fun playing with people that are really good.”

Camp finished a bit early on Wednesday and this week’s heat warning is keeping them from practicing in the early evening.

It was 30 C when things wrapped up just before noon and the temperature was expected to hit 40 C with the humidex.

“Just straight up clear safety,” said O’Keefe on why there are no sessions later on. “It’s been a challenge. As much as we love the hot weather, player safety is first and foremost. Especially at younger ages. When it gets to a point where the humidex is 34, 35, 36 it’s just too hot for the kids.”

Originally from Lisbon, Portugal, and now working in Valencia, the hot weather wasn’t really an issue for Monge Mateus.

“This is fine,” he said. “Honesty for me, it is warm, but I am used to it. But honestly, I know the kids are not used to it. Even our kids in Spain, they struggle a bit. We need water breaks, we need constant hydration.”

Training staff from Portugal’s Benfica will be coming to Moncton in early August for Codiac Soccer’s next summer camp.

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