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:

1. 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”.
2. 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/