2014 Recruiting Class

Coach Baarts introduces us to the seven new recruits coming to the Bluff this summer......

http://www.portlandpilots.com/news/2014/2/17/MSOC_0217145607.aspx

  I’m a little surprised we haven’t heard more from Geezer about Quinn Mello-Bastida, who spent three summers training in Argentina with the Club Athletico All Boys and River Plate, and was a summer resident at El Cefar, the FC Barcelona funded training center located in Buenos Aires.

Tell us about these programs, Geez.

I don't know anything about Quinn, and only a little more about most of the youth programs connected with clubs. I think every club has one.

Some accept players that aren't contracted with clubs and sometimes entire teams will fly to Argentina for a week or two of training, usually culminating with some matches against local talent.

There are 9 divisions, I think, below the Primera divisions and some teams field clubs in all of them. Think of it as players on full scholarship. They lodge and feed you, provide an education, and you play soccer. Some even get paid under pro contracts, but I think you need to be pretty talented. If you lag behind on your expected development, they send you on your way. River plate's youth program operates right out of the national stadium! with classe under that stands and practice fields all around it. At most clubs it is a way to provide talented players for the club and to Europe for transfer and training fees and is a main source of income for clubs. One star sold overseas could fund the youth program for a year.

And, of course, they will accept short term "guest" players, usually for a modest fee.

CEFAR ( center for high performance football players, in English) is Boca junior's training center. And partly funded by Barcelona and modeled after la masia, Barcelona's own youth center.

It is located at boca's old training center of la candela SE of buenos Aires in a suburb and is a pretty cushy place, compared to others. Maradona a trained there as a youth.

Barcelona entered into an agreement with Boca to help them set up and train youth prospects in return for first pick of possible transfers. The place was originally run by La masia staff, but I think now Boca provides the staffing and Barcelona still provides guidance. From the looks and description of the place, they poured money into Turf fields and even an indoor venue.
They teach the same schemes all the Barça cubs teach and are standardized at all levels, so in theory! somebody could step onto a Barça squad and understand their schemes.

They also have a rehab center and will accept players who don't have a club contract anywhere, so that's probably how Quinn got there. If he retained any of it, he could be lots of fun to watch. I'll bet it was a great experience, anyway.

Wow, that sounds like a great opportunity for kids with the interest and the prospective talent.  Interesting too that apparently all the clubs have such training programs.  

Your descriptions reminded me of Canarius Basketball Academy....

DoubleDipper wrote:Wow, that sounds like a great opportunity for kids with the interest and the prospective talent.  Interesting too that apparently all the clubs have such training programs.  

Your descriptions reminded me of Canarius Basketball Academy....

Well, it's a little different. It strikes me that Canarias is a college prep setup, but CEFAR is more geared towards putting players into the pro ranks. The PDL sort of functions like that. CEFAR might be like the PDA training center in Florida, with players with amateur and pro contracts.

does anyone know how this recruiting class ranks, or
when they announce transfers?