Coach Harry earns Premiere Diploma in Brazil

In May of 2007, I traveled to Brazil for the prestigious NSCAA Premiere Diploma, the highest license offered by the NSCAA in the US. I was one of only 30 coaches accepted to take part in this once in a lifetime course. This was a comprehensive, eight-day course primarily dealing with the tactical implications of various systems of play and how to implement and beat each system of play.

Harry with star Forward, Alex Mineiro

We got a chance to work closely with 1st Division Club Atletico Paranaense. We stayed in the same facility as the Youth and professional players so this gave us the opportunity to observe the entire club's development and how the youth players are groomed into future 1st division players.  We took part in the same daily routines as the players, such as eating with them, studying their next opponent (pre-game match analysis), and discussing post game match analysis. This was an incredible experience. It was interesting to compare what their coaching staff thought after each match, with what we thought.

Pool and gym facility

One of the training fields at club headquarters

We watched 2 First Division matches, and 2 youth games throughout the week. We were asked to study the match and turn in a match analysis. It was great to do a professional match analysis, as opposed to the usual High School match analysis we do in the Fort Lauderdale courses. The match analysis is a thorough breakdown of the system of play by each team, the role of each player, and tactical implications on offense and defense for each team. After the match analysis, we needed to devise a practice based on a weakness we observed.
Throughout the week, when we weren't watching any youth or pro games and when we weren't in any of our NSCAA sessions, we were free to observe the youth and professional sessions. The youth Super Skills session was one of my favorites.

Kyocera Stadium entrance


View from Suite

My final exam was to coordinate my backs and midfield to defend in a 4-4-2 formation. What made the final more interesting is that I had the option to choose the Atletico Paranaense U-20 players for my session. I thought it would be challenging and fun to choose them, so I did. The language barrier was not too much of a problem as they were able to understand what I wanted from a tactical perspective. These were extremely talented players so they helped boost the energy level of my session.

U20'S after Final Exam

At the end of the week, we were treated to Paolo Rinks retirement match. Paolo Rink was the first Brazilian to play for the German National Team. Many former international players, including World Cup star Kleberson, played alongside Rink in his final match.

Group on team bus heading to
Paolo Rink retirement mach.

After the intense, 8 day course, I flew to Rio with Werner Dasbach (assistant coach, Columbia Women's) to watch a match at the historical Maracana Stadium. There, we watched a match between Botafogo and Flamengo. There were 50,000 fans in attendance and the stadium still looked empty. Maracana once packed 183,000 fans to watch Pele play.
The match between Botafogo and Flamengo ended in a 2-2 tie, but the atmosphere and passion for the game was unforgettable.

Half-time at Maracana

After being in Brazil for only 2 weeks, I could definitely see and feel why the country is one of the best in the world. The soccer culture I experienced, combined with the Premiere Course curriculum, will help us continue to develop exciting young players at SABA.