Students of Science of Physical Activity and Sport attend the training session of the first team of Valencia CF

Last Thursday, we had a fantastic opportunity to visit the training facilities of Valencia CF. When we first arrived at Valencia CF, we were met by Luis Vicente Mateo, Head of Academy at Valencia CF. Here, Luis explained all the different issues relating to the structure and operation of Valencia CF and also answered all of the students questions with lots of detail. As an international student here at UCV, Luis also came over and spoke to me in English, which was very nice of him.

After the talk by Luis, we went over to the first team training area to watch the first team training – a unique experience and something which is usually very difficult to do, especially in England! Here we seen Marcelino and the other coaching staff deliver a session to the first team players, which was very interesting. All of the students were allowed to watch the training session in full, and we could listen to the coaching staff instruct what they wanted within their coaching session – a fascinating experience.

Once we had watched the first team training session, we were taken into the Valencia CF fitness area. Here we were given a tour by Ismael Fernandes the first team physical trainer and Pascual Casan who is first team Doctor, who is also a professor at UCV who I have seen around! After this Ismael and Pascual explained to us the most important aspects of fitness and conditioning for elite level first team football, which was unbelieavble to listen to and we got so much information from it. Ismael also spoke about working in the elite environment and the skills you need, some great practical advice for students!

Finally, we met with Jesus Oliva and David Barrachina, Physical Trainer and Coach of the Valencia Femenino first team. Here, Jesus and David both spoke with us about the growth of womens football, and the demands of the womens game. They also spoke about the work requried to get to the top positions, which was very helpful and interesting as I am sure we all have aspirations to work in similar poisitons to them in the future!

Finally at the end of a fantastic visit, we got to speak with Luis (Head of Academy) again, were some of us asked questions about our research and our interests, which was great for us being able to talk to top professionals within elite football!

Overall, this was a unique opportunity to visit an elite level football teams facilities, and actually watch a first team training session and speak to top professional staff working at the elite end of football. It was an experience I won’t forget and I took so much information from it, to help with my development of wanting to work in football in the future!