Last week Pablo Toledo, the Sporting Project Director for Rush Soccer, was invited to a coaching education conference at Merida Rush in Mexico.
Pablo recalls his visit:
“Giancarlo Salazar, the club's Technical Director (TD), invited me to a coaching education conference titled ‘Con El Futbol No Se Juega’ ("Don't Play Games With Soccer"), led by two world class professionals from my home country, Argentina: Fernando Signorini (Diego Maradona's personal trainer for 12 years) and Ruben Rossi (U20 World Champion in 1979, Youth Academy Director in River Plate, Colon de Santa Fe, among others).
I went to Merida with the expectation of meeting Giancarlo, offering help to himself and his club, and learning from these two exceptional professionals.
The experience went way beyond these expectations. Giancarlo has risen from scratch a 400 player club that lives through the Rush Core Values and has now signed an alliance with Venados FC, the local professional team, to provide a direct pathway for his players onto the pros.
His work has been remarkable and restless, matching his human quality. I was proud to see how a low profile Rush TD in Mexico has elevated our brand to the standards we aim for. He deserves recognition.
The second immensely pleasant surprise was the kindness, humility, and social values of Fernando and Ruben. Giancarlo had the three of us stay at the same hotel. In fact, the hotel made us "room neighbours" during our stay. I was grateful to see how these people that have reached the highest level had such a focus on the human component and the usage of soccer as an instrument to create a better society.
Their vision of the sport is very much like ours at Rush: Always remember that the game is the teacher, and that children's job is to play.
Ruben even told me, “I don't call myself coach or teacher, I just say I'm a 'player's helper'. We don't really teach, the game teaches, our job is to facilitate, to help.”
Fernando, the only conditioning coach in history that worked with both World Cup Champions Coaches in the country (César Luis Menotti and Carlos Salvador Bilardo), continuously put the emphasis on the human connection, on a holistic approach to prepare the player, what he referred to as ‘the heart to brain circuit’: “Have you ever seen a team leading 3-0 be completely exhausted? Hard to find. You have to understand the player, love them, get to know them, educate them, tell them about poetry and history, give them books and music records, and don't ever underestimate the power of a hug or a hand on the shoulder. It's not about spending more hours in the gym!”
Rush is proud to recognize Merida Rush as a club that upholds the values of Rush Soccer and pours into the young players in Mexico!