Under-14 youth phase lead coach Adrian Ganchev and youth development phase coach Ryan Howard are reaping the benefits of a recent trip to Italy, suggesting that competing in a different country has given them fresh learning experiences and the ability to adapt in unfamiliar situations.
The duo took their academy youngsters to Gallipoli, a coastal town in Apulia of southern Italy, to compete in the Caroli Hotels Trophy which provided a highly competitive experience for the old gold who came up against giants Juventus in Group B. Wolves had one of, if not the youngest squad at the tournament and went with the aim of showing an identity of togetherness and determination, which are key values throughout the club.
With two wins and a draw, the under-14s recorded a commendable third-place finish in the group stage, only behind Juventus and finalists Lecce. Ganchev and Howard have explained how the six days away from Compton Park offered a unique change of scenery for the players, who were made to show characteristics of adaptability and flexibility throughout the tournament, resulting from coming up against a style of football far less common on English soil.
On the aim of the tournament
“When the tournament came through, we saw the level of teams was quite high and Italy was an interesting place, somewhere we haven’t taken the boys before.
“It was a great opportunity for them to experience playing against opposition of that level and against international teams. From our previous experience, we always know that the games are a bit different and there are things the players can learn.
“The overall aim was to go there and as a team, compete in every game. We realise that the boys don’t have a league to play for so once we go to these tournaments it provides them with a competitive experience.
“We don’t want to take that away and we went there with the idea to compete as best as we can but also recognise that, in terms of age, it was a 2009 tournament and we have quite a few 2010s in the squad.
“We knew it was going to be hard and it was more about how we can compete as a team, show the values of the club in terms of togetherness and determination to actually get past some of the challenges we were going to face.”
On the learning experience for coaches
“I’ve (Ryan Howard) never been to an international tournament in Italy before, so that was a good experience for me personally.
“It’s a good learning experience because when you’re coming up against more physical players in a different style of play, more direct than we’re probably used to back home, it challenges yourself as a coach and helps your learning.
“Particularly now, I always look at the effect of tournaments after and the effect of that since we’ve come back, we’ve actually come up against that a couple more times but dealt with it a lot better.
“We’ve taken things from teams we played out there and put it into our own practice.”
On adapting as the tournament progresses
“The big one for me (Adrian Ganchev) was being able to adapt. When you go to these tournaments, you have a plan and an idea or philosophy of how you want to go about it, but there’s so many things you’re unable to take into account.
“You need to adapt on the spot and every time we go to these tournaments, it really stretches that part of you.
“If you want to be competitive, you need to adapt and make the best out of what you’ve got.
“Coming back here, I’ve actually felt a lot more flexible in being able to implement the stuff I learned out there in terms of my own practice.”
On competing with a young squad
“We had the youngest player at the tournament, Leon Huxley. I thought that highlighted just how young we were and you could see it when the boys were lining up before games.
“We had a couple of birthdays that weren’t far off him so if you looked at the youngest five players, we’d probably have all five of the youngest there.
“To show the level of performance that we did, I thought was really positive.”
Stay tuned for Adrian and Ryan’s day-by-day tour diary.
