The photo above is of all the kids that are currently playing for Real Mallorca at youth level and all the coaches that are looking after them. The hashtag basically reads “our future”. In one way it’s an inspiring photo, if you look closely at their faces they are all smiling and dreaming of becoming a professional footballer. The truth however is somewhat different. Only 1 or possibly 2 of all those players will actually make it as a top player. The ones that fall by the wayside will be replaced by more aspiring players and the same thing will happen again and again. In my opinion more must be done to help these youngsters cope with rejection. Remember this is just one club, there are many more that will feed players into Mallorca meaning that many more will fall by the wayside.
Professional Clubs the World over will hoover up the best talent and promise them the World, and sometimes it isn’t the best choice for the player. At such a young age, kids just want to and should be able to just play. If you’re good enough, you will be spotted and possibly asked if you’d like to move to a so-called better team. It happened to both of my boys, who started playing for a local team, CD Calvia and were scouted by CD San Francisco in Palma. At that point you have to make a decision whether it’s not only right for your child but right for you as a parent. Now I’m not called “Dad Taxi” for nothing, driving to Calvia village twice or three times a week is very different from driving to Palma, sometimes five times a week. In the case of my youngest, Jude, he has goalkeeper practice twice a week and then training with his team three times a week plus a game over the weekend. It’s a big undertaking and not a decision that should be taken lightly. I get asked by quite a lot by parents, what do I think is best for their child who’s been asked to move to another club. I will give my advice as I see it, but at the end of the day, it’s down to the parents and the child to make the final decision. As I said above, the most important thing is that they are playing regularly and not part of a big squad getting the odd appearance every now and again. Another big part of all this is to encourage them to work hard at school. I know a lot of clubs encourage this, which is good, but it does need to be reiterated by the parents too. Even if a child is rejected, they should be encouraged to look for another club, go back into further education, or if they are old enough to get into the job market. That doesn’t necessarily mean the end of their football dream, there are many examples of players that have been rejected and still made it as a professional.
Probably one of the best players Real Mallorca has produced is Marco Asensio. He started at a local club, Plates de Calvia, followed by Real Mallorca. He then moved to Real Madrid and is now plying his trade at Paris Saint Germain.
I think the feel good factor from Real Mallorca’s journey in the Copa del Rey will be positive for youth football here on the island. I’ve said lots of times that a successful Real Mallorca football team will not only be good for tourism but good for youth football here too. It is important that they remain a La Liga team and with seven games to go they are currently six points clear of relegation.
I lost count last week the amount of people that asked me where to buy Real Mallorca v Real Madrid tickets. I’ve also said it before, buy a season ticket, as the Real Madrid and Barcelona games alone will pretty much cover the cost of the whole season. Whilst Mallorca lost to Madrid, a record crowd of 23,244 were at the Son Moix stadium, which was good to see. Hopefully a similar crowd will be at their next home game against Atlético Madrid on Saturday, May 4th and by that time they will have avoided relegation.
Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com
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Dad Taxi Mallorca 