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Wolves Academy
This week saw the first press conference held by new youth academy coach ex Argentinian international Rafael Baptista who joins the club’s staff with a remit to get the youth academy back on track after what was a chaotic inaugural season.
First up he was asked what he thought of the existing players in the youth setup?
To say they had a bit of a torrid time of it previously is an understatement, so I’m impressed to say that this set of young players are still very keen to learn and develop. They all see that carrot of maybe joining the first team squad and one day becoming a starter. All of them want to make the most of their footballing opportunities.
Secondly, he was asked on how his approach will be different to last season?
Unfortunately, there was no real structure to the previous weekly training routines and consequently the players suffered and didn’t develop as they or the club would have liked. Going forward I fully intend to get things onto a more professional basis and tailor what we are doing to benefit each individual player rather than have a “one size fits all” approach. I also intend to get these youngsters in for far more sessions than they were used to previously. They need to get used to a more intensive regime that more mimic’s the first team squad’s training and preparations.
Are their any players that you feel will make that step up?
It would be very unfair of me to pick out any individual over the rest, especially at this very early stage in my assessments of them. They all have potential in their preferred positions, but it is going to be down to each one of them to make the very most of the coaching we give them. Certainly, my understanding is that potentially three of these young players may be elevated to the first team squad come the end of this upcoming season to cover for the three retiring players. I will be ensuring that if any of them are fortunate enough to be promoted to the senior squad then they are ready to fulfil that role. But it remains to be seen whether that will be the case or not or whether the cub decides instead to enter the transfer market to fill those squad slots.
What do you make of the two new players that have joined the academy?
As you might imagine it’s a bit early to tell, but they both come with glowing reports from our scouting team so I’m confident they can fit in here and develop as we’d like.
Are there plans for the future of the academy?
Well, very early days from my point of view as I’ve only just arrived. But, in the meetings I’ve had so far I’ve expressed a preference to extend the coaching staff in the future so that we can be even more intensive but also be able to provide more individual skills training based on positions as well as general play development.
Have you anyone specific in mind to join your coaching setup here?
If I do get the option in the future to extend the coaching staff here, then I have a few names in mind that both myself and the manager have worked with in the past. Any of which would make a huge contribution to the development of these young players.
Lastly, he was asked why he plumped for the Wolves academy in particular?
As you know I was a player for a long time with the likes of Aero Galaxy, Dynamo Spartak, Lokomotiv Spartak amongst others and spent most of my playing years in those teams managed by Ray Wallace so there was no hesitation on my part to accept the offer of this role when it came along. We’ve always had a great player/manager relationship over the years with plenty of the usual highs and lows along the way so it’s great to team up again and help to forge the future of this club. Whilst I was a player the manager encouraged a few of us to take our coaching badges and now I’ve retired from playing, here I am to start a new chapter in my footballing career.
Word count 717
This week saw the first press conference held by new youth academy coach ex Argentinian international Rafael Baptista who joins the club’s staff with a remit to get the youth academy back on track after what was a chaotic inaugural season.
First up he was asked what he thought of the existing players in the youth setup?
To say they had a bit of a torrid time of it previously is an understatement, so I’m impressed to say that this set of young players are still very keen to learn and develop. They all see that carrot of maybe joining the first team squad and one day becoming a starter. All of them want to make the most of their footballing opportunities.
Secondly, he was asked on how his approach will be different to last season?
Unfortunately, there was no real structure to the previous weekly training routines and consequently the players suffered and didn’t develop as they or the club would have liked. Going forward I fully intend to get things onto a more professional basis and tailor what we are doing to benefit each individual player rather than have a “one size fits all” approach. I also intend to get these youngsters in for far more sessions than they were used to previously. They need to get used to a more intensive regime that more mimic’s the first team squad’s training and preparations.
Are their any players that you feel will make that step up?
It would be very unfair of me to pick out any individual over the rest, especially at this very early stage in my assessments of them. They all have potential in their preferred positions, but it is going to be down to each one of them to make the very most of the coaching we give them. Certainly, my understanding is that potentially three of these young players may be elevated to the first team squad come the end of this upcoming season to cover for the three retiring players. I will be ensuring that if any of them are fortunate enough to be promoted to the senior squad then they are ready to fulfil that role. But it remains to be seen whether that will be the case or not or whether the cub decides instead to enter the transfer market to fill those squad slots.
What do you make of the two new players that have joined the academy?
As you might imagine it’s a bit early to tell, but they both come with glowing reports from our scouting team so I’m confident they can fit in here and develop as we’d like.
Are there plans for the future of the academy?
Well, very early days from my point of view as I’ve only just arrived. But, in the meetings I’ve had so far I’ve expressed a preference to extend the coaching staff in the future so that we can be even more intensive but also be able to provide more individual skills training based on positions as well as general play development.
Have you anyone specific in mind to join your coaching setup here?
If I do get the option in the future to extend the coaching staff here, then I have a few names in mind that both myself and the manager have worked with in the past. Any of which would make a huge contribution to the development of these young players.
Lastly, he was asked why he plumped for the Wolves academy in particular?
As you know I was a player for a long time with the likes of Aero Galaxy, Dynamo Spartak, Lokomotiv Spartak amongst others and spent most of my playing years in those teams managed by Ray Wallace so there was no hesitation on my part to accept the offer of this role when it came along. We’ve always had a great player/manager relationship over the years with plenty of the usual highs and lows along the way so it’s great to team up again and help to forge the future of this club. Whilst I was a player the manager encouraged a few of us to take our coaching badges and now I’ve retired from playing, here I am to start a new chapter in my footballing career.
Word count 717
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