Aidan Isherwood reports from Italy at the Montichiari U 13 s International tournament.
The above elite invitation-only tournament finished the other day.16 teams including the academies or equivalents of Milan, Juventus, Chievo, Red Bull Salzburg and Hibernian.
Something New
A prestigious event. Two things impressed him about the way it was organised:
- Firstly, every team was guaranteed the same number of games, six; with play-offs leading to rankings from one to sixteen. So every game meant something. Aidan said “I have seen that before”.
- What he hadn’t come across at any competition “I’ve seen or heard of, was a rule stimulating that every member of the squad, as in the starting 11 plus all substitutes, had to play at least one complete half”. Not just a total of 20 minutes (they were games of 2 x 20 mins) but a full continuous half.
That certainly made coaches think. And made sure no one travelled to the games and sat on the bench. For such a significant tournament, the rule worked simply and effectively.
Just saying “make sure everyone gets a bit of a run out” does not work in the heat of competition. Legislation does.
Research: Aidan Isherwood of http://footblogball.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/montichiari-u13s-international-tournament-italy/
