Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa’s head coach, Ruben De La Bariera delivers a lecture to coaches during a winter training camp at Aspire Academy yesterday.
On the sidelines of their winter training camp at Aspire Academy, Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa’s head coach, Ruben De La Bariera, delivered a lecture to a number of distinguished coaches at the Academy.
The lecture addressed topics related to football coaching methodologies such as planning and implementing strategies based on players’ skills, developing players’ individual and collective performance, analyse opponents’ tactics, foundation of a successful player-coach relationship and ways to keep players’ motivated during routine training sessions.
Speaking during the lecture, La Bariera said: “Players are the backbone of the team, and it’s the coach’s responsibility to develop their skills and keep them motivated to give it their best on and off the pitch.”
He added, “The coach’s responsibility is to identify players’ strengths and weaknesses to find the position most suited for their skills, so as to help them reach full potential. The coach must also challenge his players by placing them in difficult situations in training, as that will teach them independent thinking.”
Playing in the Segunda División B in the Spanish league, Aspire-owned club, Cultural Deportiva Leonesa’s remarkable performance earned them top spot throughout the first half of the season, with 46 points in 19 games, comprising of 14 wins, four draws and one loss. Since the Club was acquired by Aspire Zone Foundation in 2015, excitement about the club’s future has grown enormously amongst fans and members of the local community.
It has led to an influx of international coaching expertise and an influx of players from Aspire Academy, providing opportunities for them to develop their talents in a new footballing environment. This is an important part of Aspire Academy's mission to become one of the world's best football development programmes.
Commenting on their well-deserved achievement, la Barrera commented after their first training session in Aspire Academy: “The most important thing is that we continue to do things as good as we can and keep growing as a team. Then reaching the play-offs for the second division is a realistic target.”
Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa came under spotlight in recent months after they drew against Spanish Giants Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey's round of 32. The home and away matches provided a great opportunity for the team’s players to play against one of the most world-renowned teams in the world, including Aspire Academy’s graduate, Abdullah Abdulsalam, who became the first Qatari footballer to ever play in a Copa del Rey match.
Commenting on his experience, Abdulsalam said: “It was a true honour and an unbelievable experience to play in front of a large crowd in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.” He also pointed out how important his move to Spain has been for his development so far, saying that he benefits from every training session and every game provides a valuable experience.
On the sidelines of the training camp, Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa’s players will face QSL-club Al Saliyah in a friendly match today, at 5.30pm. The delegation comprises of 39 players, coaches and staff members.
