Young Lions - First Season - 2011/12

TIme for an update.

Young Alex has now played two full seasons with teh Lions of Munich and grown immensly, both as a player and as a person. I make that comment as it is clear that the whole club sets great store on the behaviour of their players. There is an expectation of respect for their peers, their coaches, their support staff (yes they have access to doctors and physiotherist who ensure they are physically  looked after during this period in their physical development), the parents of all the players and their opponents. And of course the referees and linesmen (or ladies) also are given the appropriate respect.

This blog will cover the season 2011/12 and I will give some insight into the season 2012/13 at a later date.

At the start of his first season Alex appeared in an international tournament. It took place on the border with Ausria and  involved teams from Austria and Italy as well as German teams. I remember that his first touch of the ball resulted in him passing the ball down the line where it ended up resting against the corner flag. Not the most auspicious start but amunsing to look back on. The Lions ended up victorious and for everyone, apart from one young lad who broke his arm, this was a great start to the season.

The next experience was the Training Camp in August, held in Obertauen which is the home for the national sports center for Austria. Everton had been guests the year before and that alone confirmed its importance in Alex's mind. The boys set off in great spirits, not realising that it was not entirely a "holiday". Of course it would be fun to be together, getting to know the new team and making new friends. But for the trainers there was a more important goal - to assess the players they had and to create a team.

To create a team a trainer must first know what players he has at his disposal and the new players had only had three weeks in July to prove themselves. Young Alex was on the trip but the aformentioned corner flag was still standing sentienal close to the border between Austria and Germany. Of course he had so much to learn and the policies at the club meant that he was to be given time.

But for a twelve year old time does not count. And when he was informed, half way through the week in the training camp, that he was not expected to be in the starting eleven his world fell apart. The telephone converstaion that evening was between a boy who was trying to hide his disspointment and a father who could hear it in every word spoken. You feel completely helpless in such situations and words on the telephone cannot resolve the issue. I gave reassurance and told him to keep a "British" stiff upper lip", that he should keep performing to his best and it was not a coincidnece that he had been asked to join the club. I do not know if it is in the genes (and his Mother is German - with a liberal mixture of other European blood) but the boy seems to have that charater trait. Somewhere along the line he seems to be able to "stiffen the sinews and summon up the blood" . Anyway we agreed to speak the following night and that conversation went much better.

He had realsied that the criticism he had been given had been constructive. There had been a game against a top Austrian team and he reported how well he had played.

German youth football at this level is incredibly well organised. It is based on club teams rather than school teams and there is a definite heirarchy. Leagues are organised with promothin and relgation and the result is that strong clubs develop and it is they that take the best players to ensure thier continued success. As a result the better boys are already being challenged to play against players of an equal caliber.

Near the top of this heirarchy are the "Stutzpunkte". These are based at one of the stronger clubs for a specific catchment area and gather together the best boys in a particular year for extra training. Each year trials are arranged to which trainers send their best players. It ineveitably means that those chosen will migrate away from their local club to join the stronger club in that region but the trainres, perhaps unwillingly, accept that.

Of course, that the best players are training together has a positive affect on all those taking part. The coaches are chosen by the DFB (the German FA if you like) and report back into that organ. Alex was selected for this special training in 2009 and subsequently underwent a test that all the Stutzpunkt players under go annually. Here I am proud to report that, in the section testing Technical ability he scored a level that put him in the tpo 0.5% in the whole of Germany. I have to put that in to perspecitve by pointing out that this is the top 0.5% fo those boys chosen to take part in the special trianing sessions. Something that the boy should be proud of - the father certainly is!

Alex's team at 60 now consisted of boys who were all to become 12 years old in that year (2011) and they were to play in a league where teams could select players up to the age of 14. So there was going to be a considerable difference in size! Amongst his peers Alex is not the biggest and given that he was joining a very good team he found himself warming the bench for many of the games at the start of the season. But training was playing an important part in his development. Whilst not playing a full game on a Saturday he was training with some of the best players of his age drawn from Munich and the surrounding area. And being coached by trainers holding A Licences. You cannot help but learn something and Alex is a good learner.

An expectation of the DFB is that every player involved in one of the acadamies receives feedback on their development. This takes the form of a half-yearly meeting between player, trainers and parents. At the first such meeting Alex was challenged. It was a very open assessment of what he had to improve, what were his strengths and what he could hope for in the rest of the season.

As is always the case with the young man, he took every comment to heart. Long discussions ensued at home for him to ensure he fully understood what was expected. To gain insight in to some aspects I had to invlove a good friend associated with Alex's school in order to understand some of the German terminology for ceratin aspects of the game. (Specifically "Ball an- und mitnahme" which is their way of saying "first touch" but has a far more extensive expectation behind).  This friend has proved an invaluable soource of background as he himself has a C Licence but he is sadly undervalued by the school.

The second half of the season saw Alex starting to make some appearances in the starting eleven at full back. He had been "discovered" plaing in mid-field but was not a good enough player to displace the incumbents at the Lions. Nevertheless the trainers thought it worhtwhile to develop him as a full back, taking advantage of his speed, two footedness and unexpected levels of aggression in the tackle. Soon he was featuring well and growingin in confidence.

As the season neared its end the team had a chance of promotion and draughted in players from the team two years above. To see how they played was an eye-opener with regards to the level that these boys were expected to achieve within 24 months. Alex had sucummed to an injury which meant he to sit out again. But I know that he was in awe of those lads who came in for the final two games and was filled with aspirations of what could be achieved if he would only be given the chance.

Alex's injury was typical for a boy going through a rapid growth phase but the club's doctor had experience of such problems and insisted that Alex not be brought back too quickly. Physiotherapy with teh clubs Physio and regular visint to the quack becmae the order of the day from Easter 2011 thoguh till the end of August.

In parrallel with these personal issues promotion was assured for teh team. Now came the awful wait to know if a place was to be offered for the following seaon. Well, despite the injury la-off at teh end of the seaon  Alex was asked to continue although hopes were dashed for a number of boys. The club had recognised a potention in the lad and wanted to see how it might develop.

It is an unpleasant part of the whole process that some boys are released and different boys (and their parents) deal with in different ways. One day further up the line Alex will be told he is suplus to requirements and he will have to deal with it - as will I. But for these young boys it was a bitter pill. My old House Master would have called it character building. How trite we could be in the England of the 60s - still living with such old fashioned values.

That about deals with season 2011-2012 but I will maybe add to it once I have re-read.

Starting Out - or how an English boy came to be a Young Lion of Munich

This is about how my boy became a young lion. This is a translation from the German "Junglöwen" which all young players at TSV Munich from 1860 are known as and you can therefore deduce that he plays for the one of the youth teams at the traditional club of Munich.

Alex has been football mad since he was born - or soon after that anyway. A key reason for that must be that I am also of a similar ilk. Where we differ is that he has a significantly higher degree of talent which is why he has made it to be a player with what many better qualified persons than I,consider to be the best youth set up in Munich - and one of the best in the whole of Germany.

And I wanted to record his experiences.

Last year he was playing for one of the top local sides. We live to the NE of Munich and he was playing for Freising where he spent two years having previously been at Lohhof for three years.

In the autumn of last season (20010/11), whilst watching a game against Alternerding (who subsequently won the league in which Alex's team was playing) I was approached by a very pleasant man who sat next to me and just started chatting - about football and the game we were both watching. Eventually - after quite some time and with maybe 15 minutes left to play he came clean and announced himself as a scout for 1860 and then explained his specific interest in young Alex.

He asked for a contact number and subsequently (maybe two weeks later as I sat in a meeting in BMW) I was contacted by the Head of the Young Lions development who asked if Alex would like to come for a trial. "Is rain wet?" does not translate into German and, if I had said that I am sure, knowing the German sense of humour as I do, that it would not have enhanced Alex's chances.

The phrase "many are called but few are chosen" seems appropriate but Alex did enough to get a second invitation. That was followed by a promise of a third trial in the spring, the invitiation for which finally came in March. By this time Alex was inclined not to pursue it but, unsurprisingly, his desire to play for such a good team - he had of course by now met and trained with the players - proved enough for him to accept the invitation. This trial led to a (final) promise of an invitation to a  fourth trial which was to be observed by the trainer's who would be taking over the team for the following season and an assurance was given that a final decision would be then made.

We had by then discovered that another player from his team had also been for a trail and been refused. The boy is a good player and much bigger than Alex. However, my opinion of his weaknesses are that he is not as technically sound and does not have the ability to pick out a pass so my confidence in a positive outcome was not dented.

On Judgement Day I picked Alex up once again from school and drove across Munich to the training ground where his fate was to be decided. I think I felt reasonably confident as we crossed town as this was his fourth appearance in such exalted company but my confidence drained when I realised four or five other trialist were also there. I watched every exercise very closely to see how Alex compared with the other young aspirants and could see strengths in each of them. But Alex was his usual compact efficient self when passing and controlling the ball and his elegance as he moved was there for all to see. They were timed over 20 meters and subsequently Alex has told me that he put in one of the faster times. All too soon the trial was finished and the boys were drifitng away to the showers with Alex happily in their midst. By now he had got to know the players already there and seemed to be liked. Without doubt this was a key factor in the decision making process which was clearly now being finalised amongst the knot of trainers on the far side of the ground.

I withdrew to stand under a tree and watched as the parents of each hopeful were approached and given feedback on how their young prodigy had fared. One boy (we know him now as Luca) skipped away from the short meeting between him, his parents and the trainer. Another had his head down as his parents clearly attempted to change the trainers' decision.

One more group was spoken to but I cannot remember how it turned out for them as I knew my own sword of Damocles held on its last thread. Would it fall - with all the implications that would have for Alex's love of the beautiful game - or would the thread hold.

Well it did hold and the trainer's positive step and smile as he approached me was the first indication that it would. A short feedback about Alex's strengths as a player and a person was followed by a direct invitation for Alex to join the Munich Lions next season.

Alex was still in the changing room and when he finally emerged - I have no idea what he finds to do for such a time - he fell into step with me as I headed for the exit gate. He asked the obvious question and I told him the answer. He burst into tears of relief and hapiness and I immediately followed suit.

We made a fine pair as we left the ground but we knew we would be returning again and this time not in uncertainty but confident in the knowledge that Alex's hopes of a future in the game we both love had not been dashed at the first big hurdle he had faced.