At the right time in the right place - that's what they say in football about a goal scorer when the ball "falls" on his foot for an imminent goal. That's how it is in sport, in life, in fact - that's how the place and time of the educational weekly seminar happened to two Montenegrin coaches, Miloš Vukčević and Srđan Radonjić, right in Bilbao in the days of the biggest celebration - the celebration of the King's Cup trophy after four decades and the launching of the ship "La Gabarra", before one million fans of the home Atlético.
Although Athletic beat Mallorca on penalties in Seville last Saturday (1:1, 4:2), the main celebration was only on Thursday and the regatta that had been waiting for 40 years, more precisely since Bilbao's double crown in 1984.
- Srđan and I were lucky enough to have an educational seminar organized by Athletics just in time for the holidays. Purposeful and incredibly instructive, because the host made an effort to present to us all aspects of their experience in working with younger categories at the daily lectures from 10 a.m. to 18 p.m., and then we spent two hours training at the "Lezama" training camp. It has four pitches each with natural and artificial grass, and the host also hosted us at San Mames for a La Liga match with Villarreal. All of that was somehow in a festive atmosphere. On Thursday, everyone was on the streets, not even pharmacies were open. After the regatta, reception in the center and bus ride, the football players were greeted on the balcony of the City Hall by the mayor of Bilbao, and that club is seen here as a national team in other parts of the world. On the streets, it is quite common for everyone to wear the colors of the club, which is an object of worship in the city and the entire Basque region. And the love for football is incredible - story for "Vijesti" Vukčević.
In addition to the Montenegrin educational seminar, two coaches each from the Czech Republic and Spain, and four from Finland, also attended.
- We received the invitation thanks to the acquaintances of my brother Nikola, who played in La Liga for a long time, in Levante. There is no other way. All club structures involved in the development of young players were involved in our education - junior coaches, conditioning coaches, scouts, coordinators... and it is known that Bilbao relies on its own playing staff and exclusively on players from the Basque Country. Thanks to my brother, I also had a 15-day education a few years ago in Braga, but Bilbao's work is different, in the sense that they give the children football tasks to solve, and even after the seniors' match with Villarreal, they prepared groups and recordings, talked to the children to which they would the way they solved certain football situations. There was also work with young players, which is more typical of coaching training - said the 36-year-old coach of FC Zlatna lopta.
His pioneers are fighting for the title against their peers from Budućnost, and Radonjić is the director of the youth school.
- We were privileged to get to know their system and learn something new, both in the organization and development strategy, but also in the approach to young football players - concluded Vukčević, who is a coach with an A license.
Bonus video:
