- Title: SPAIN: SOCCER - Barca talent factory marks 30 years of success
- Date: 22nd October 2009
- Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (OCTOBER 19, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BARCA'S NOU CAMP STADIUM, PAN TO 'LA MASIA DE CAN PLANES' TRAINING ACADEMY EXTERIOR OF MASIA STATUE OF 'OLD BARCA MAN' BY JOSEP VILADOMAT OUTSIDE OF MASIA MASIA STUDENT ENTERING THE BUILDING VARIOUS OF STUDENTS EATING IN DINING ROOM VARIOUS OF FRAMED PICTURES ON THE WALL OF PUPILS WHO HAVE GRADUATED FROM MASIA CARLES FOLGUERA, DIRECTOR OF THE MASIA (LEFT) SPEAKING TO BARCA PRESS ATTACHE AT ENTRANCE TO MASIA FOLGUERA AT ENTRANCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CARLES FOLGUERA, DIRECTOR OF BARCELONA ACADEMY, LA MASIA, SAYING: "The Masia is organised with a 24 hour schedule in mind. Fom Monday to Monday. Leaving no free space and always having professionals who can give answers and tend to the needs of kids who have come here to triumph in sport, but who need sporting education. After that, something I think is very important, is that the club believes in this project and that it shouldn't be delegated to other educational institutions. So it should be part of the club itself and its projects. The third and also very important point is that on weekends and holidays, these kids get entertainment, get educational activities, they get to know the city and the country. I think that it's (good) because at no time are there any loosein the effort to make sure they can develop as normal kids" KIDS EATING/ FRAMED PICTURE OF MASIA CLASS VARIOUS OF CLOSE OF PICTURE SHOWING CURRENT BARCA COACH 'PEP' GUARDIOLA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LA MASIA GRADUATE AND CURRENT BARCELONA COACH 'PEP' GUARDIOLA SAYING OF ACADEMY: "It was very important for me. I got there very young, I was only 13. They helped me a lot to grow. I made a lot of friends. They helped me with my education, not just for football but also in life and independence. It was good and I have very good memories of my residency in the Masia. So that's it. I have very good memories and it played a very important part as I grew up" GUARDIOLA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Catalan) BARCA COACH PEP GUARDIOLA SAYING: "I want to say 'happy anniversary' to the Masia for its 30th birthday. It's a very, very important part of the club. Very important. Vital. It receives people who can't afford to live here and enables them to stay there. It's one part of a long process which prepares good players for Barca. And it's one of the things the club has invested in. Something that will improve it. They look to their mistakes and it's a way of looking forward and correcting them. The club is always on the lookout, always searching to generate young talent, to train them and allow them to join the club. This is one of the most valuable things they can do, the cheapest in the long-term. They've had Xabi, Iniesta, Leo, Victor, Gerard and it cost them nothing in the financial sense. It cost them zero pesetas and in terms of signings this is priceless. So it is the thing that makes the club technically. It's constantly auditing. What am I saying? I mean it needs to control this to improve"
- Embargoed: 6th November 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Spain
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA4LAVYQJTBBTFB0QD50311D5GL
- Story Text: The Masia de Can Planes, Barca's talent school and source of some of football's best known players turns 30.
Behind Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium stands a traditional, 18th century Catalan stone farmhouse that has perhaps played an even more significant role in the club's history than the colossal arena that dwarfs it.
Barca began using La Masia de Can Planes as a residence for young trainees on October 20, 1979 and the list of hopefuls who have passed through its wrought-iron gates on their way to the top of the soccer pile is long and impressive.
'Pep' Guardiola, champion of Europe both as a Barca player in 1992 and in his first season as coach last year, moved into the Masia in 1984 at the age of 13, leaving his home village of Santpedor around 70 kms (43 miles) outside the city.
Former Masia residents from his current, all-conquering side include midfielder Andres Iniesta, captain Carles Puyol, goalkeeper Victor Valdes and talented young forward Pedro, scorer of the only goal against Shakhtar Donetsk in the European Super Cup in August.
Around 450 young footballers have left their homes and families to live at the Masia in the past three decades, about half from Catalonia and the rest from elsewhere in Spain or beyond, including Brazil, Argentina, Hungary, Georgia, Cameroon and Senegal.
More than 40 have made it into Barca's first team and almost as many have played for other sides in Spain's top division.
La Masia has become synonymous with the club's famed soccer school, although not all of the stars the academy has produced, including forward Lionel Messi, midfielder Xavi, defender Gerard Pique and Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, have lived there.
La Masia Director Carles Folguera says that as well as learning the club's special brand of stylish, attacking play, recruits undergo an intense and wide-ranging programme of education.
"The Masia is organised with a 24 hour schedule in mind. Fom Monday to Monday. Leaving no free space and always having professionals who can give answers and tend to the needs of kids who have come here to triumph in sport, but who need sporting education. After that, something I think is very important, is that the club believes in this project and that it shouldn't be delegated to other educational institutions.
"So it should be part of the club itself and its projects. The third and also very important point is that on weekends and holidays, these kids get entertainment, get educational activities, they get to know the city and the country. I think that it's (good) because at no time are there any loosein the effort to make sure they can develop as normal kids," said Folguera, a former Barca roller hockey goalkeeper who turned 41 on Monday.
There are currently just under 60 residents of the Masia, 10 of whom live in the farmhouse itself and the rest in rooms inside the adjacent stadium. As well as footballers, there are 11 basketball players and one roller hockey hopeful.
A typical day begins at seven a.m. and recruits spend the morning in school lessons until lunch at one p.m.
After a short rest, they study for an hour-and-a-half and then at six p.m. train for two-and-a-half hours at the club's facility at Sant Joan Despi. Dinner is at 9.15 p.m. and lights out at 11.30.
Asked by Reuters at a news conference on Monday what his time at the Masia had meant to him, Barca coach Guardiola said he had very happy memories and the experience had helped him grow and develop as a player and a person.
"It was very important for me. I got there very young, I was only 13. They helped me a lot to grow. I made a lot of friends. They helped me with my education, not just for football but also in life and independence. It was good and I have very good memories of my residency in the Masia. So that's it. I have very good memories and it played a very important part as I grew up," he said.
Guardiola also said La Masia was vital to the soccer club itself.
"I want to say 'happy anniversary' to the Masia for its 30th birthday. It's a very, very important part of the club. Very important. Vital. It receives people who can't afford to live here and enables them to stay there. It's one part of a long process which prepares good players for Barca. And it's one of the things the club has invested in. Something that will improve it. They look to their mistakes and it's a way of looking forward and correcting them. The club is always on the lookout, always searching to generate young talent, to train them and allow them to join the club.
"This is one of the most valuable things they can do, the cheapest in the long-term. They've had Xabi, Iniesta, Leo, Victor, Gerard and it cost them nothing in the financial sense. It cost them zero pesetas and in terms of signings this is priceless. So it is the thing that makes the club technically. It's constantly auditing. What am I saying? I mean it needs to control this to improve," said Guardiola.
The Masia's days as a residence may be numbered as the club is building a new facility for youth recruits at its training ground, but the project is currently on hold due to budget restraints. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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