Both the world of football and the world of science have gone hand-in-hand continuously for more than a decade as the top football clubs around the globe understand that this is an integral part of professional advancement and progression which involves scientific analysis. Last week, Antonio Dello Iacono, the Youth Department’s Scientific Director attended a two-day conference in Barcelona that dealt with performance analysis and sports science.
Lecturers included academics who have worked on advanced theories with their football clubs as well as experts in the field of sports science for some of the top teams from across the world including Barcelona, Inter, Atletico Madrid, Valencia and many others.
“Some of the presentations were about new ideas while others strengthened theories and protocols that already are in practice. Even in Europe, the world of GPS is relatively new in the realm of football. It was just last year that UEFA approved its use in official matches and slowly but surely clubs are understanding that this is an absolute necessity.”
How does this system actually help improve player performance?
“Every club has a philosophy as to their football methodology. Each one looks at their performance in a different way. The analysis of our matches is built in a certain way that is different than the First Team and Youth Club. There are parameters that we can determine over two or three years that we would like our young players to get to and this way they can be better prepared from both a physical and athletic standpoint.”
Where do we begin bridging the knowledge gap?
“This coming season, we will be building and getting used to a new system. We will collect as much information objectively and subjectively as possible, so that next year we can compare and understand what my goal will be to continue to improve the team and take them to the next level as well as what the goals will be for team that moves up from the younger age group. For this, we are training the coaches and the fitness coaches on how to understand the data and to be involved in all these different aspects.”
Patrick Van Leeuwen is managing the professional development of the department, how does this effect the area of sports science?
“Patrick has brought a change in how we work uniformly across the all of the different teams. Some of the working principles of sports science is part of the work methodology. Each coach and trainer received physical training methods that need to be placed in the training units. The fitness trainers and coaches speak to each other in a different ‘language’ when it comes to training but in reality they are actually talking about the same thing. I am trying to coordinate between these two ‘languages’ in order that the work that needs to be done is taken care of in the best manner. One of the most important things that we are doing is establishing a database. I will be able to know in advance what needs to be adjusted or corrected in the training regimen.”
If you had to put your finger on the biggest differences on this subject between Israel and the rest of the world what would it be?
“In many clubs around the world there are individuals with academic backgrounds but in Israel that is not the case. The coaches in Israel may have a physical training background but that is not enough. Today, due to the complex demands in football for the highest quality and intensity, we have to know exactly what we are demanding from the player in the most minute details.”
