We have the pleasure to inaugurate our INTERVIEWS section with Jonatan Angulo, current director of local project of the BARÇA Academy Varsovia, the biggest in the World. He receives us, telematically, in his house in Varsow where he explains his daily life in the Academy and how are the ways of communication from a methodological point of view with Barcelona and the rest of academies. Jonatan receives us with his arms open and with a big smile, always talking about challenges rather than problems. Here goes the full interview!
Sonrisa de Gol (SdG): ¿Could you please introduce yourself for our readers?
Jonatan Angulo (JA): I currently lead the BARÇA Academy Varsow as Director of Local Project. Previously I have had the chance to coach in several places such as the Canary Islands, Barcelona, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
I consider passion as a differential aspect to face new challenges and learnings, and sharing it with a human group that keeps a constant loop of positive feedback permits to generate a high degree of curiosity and admiration between the components of the group that makes it possible to enhance the relationships taking place.
SdG: Given that you have coached and played in so many places in the World, what differences have you seen in terms of coaching and understanding the game?
JA: You take home unforgibable experiences that you cannot even imagine. I have the pleasure to be part of a club where we see, daily, how it is possible to optimise an idea of play in different cultures. If we speak in general terms of football, aspects like communications, management of emotions or even the possibilities to interact with each other are part of the culture during the game.
Hence, it is possible to see Japanese players that optimise their communication or their interactions in a different way that Americans do, for instance. This is something that we already know, but here comes my reflection: if we have given expectations or pre-established ideas from a cultural perspective when we start a sports adventure, we may have a problem. I share this idea because I have been in that same position and my ways of dealing with it in the past, but it is not a negative at all. Maybe we could generate contexts within the game that allow the player to express in an open way without constraining, right from the start. 'how we should' act or communicate with that culture. Maybe the starting meetings can have a more holistic approach that generates behaviours that we did not expect of that culture. It is simply a personal reflection that I make from a personal perspective when starting a new adventure in a new environment.
If we take a deeper look at these aspects, we may be able to see that the interaction environment-player will surprise us and we will see unexpected learnings. I mean, we could implement these contexts in all cultures. Of course, occasionally, we will need to adapt to it and act efficiently and eficacy within its characteristics.
SdG: ¿How is your daily life in the Academy?
JA: I try to base my role in confidence towards the group that works with me. Currently we have more than 1000 players, 70 teams, and 6 training grounds in Varsow. We have a wonderful staff in which 35 coaches try to optimise each and every one of the tasks of the Academy with multiple ideas and constant debates.
I try to organise myself in such a way that allows me to enjoy the multiple experiences that keep coming up, from aspects related to the technical area where I try to approach the coach during, before, or after the practice, to other aspects that are more related to market strategies participating in National and International tournaments, managing human resources, staff educations, promotion of the project, etc.
Generating curiosity and empowering the staff is my daily challenge in this project. I relate the success of the project with that of the people who are part of it. From this idea is where it comes that many of my objectives are oriented towards the quality of relationships that allow us to grow every season. Intentionally delegate permits to enhance proactive and ambitious profiles that are open to help at any time and/or situation, whether it is a positive or a negative situation.
SdG: ¿How it is to manage sucha a big Academy with so many players and coaches?
JA: Our staff is full of talent and experience that allows us achieve the objectives that we have every season, and even acomplish many others that were not in our initial plans but have turned out as great surprises.
The magnitude of the Academy allows me to know many people, learn from them, and even have a relationship with them where the fulx of information, feedback, challenges, and variability is very high. This makes everything multiply by a hundred and make it really thrilling.
SdG: ¿What do you focus on during meetings? ¿Do you talk about new ways to optimise football training?
JA: We promote that each meeting takes place in a bilateral manner, where I can have a bit more of a managerial role, but where coaches bring knowledge, observations of the game, reflections, or even personal proposals that we receive with our arms open.
We can do meetings where the coach can feel and live in a practical manner the player's emotions in given situations of the game. We try to understan, in case that is possible, the possible and multiple behaviours that generates the game as a function of the interactions of the player with the environment and the others.
Sometimes we try to promote that the game is related to neuroscience, psicology, philosophy, emotions management, and even with the culture, as I said before. Hence, it is possible that observing the behaviours and sinergies from a holistic perspective where chaos is beautiful and welcome within the game, helps us optimising football training.
SdG: In a more personal tone ¿What does it mean for you to be a coach? ¿What coaches are a reference for you?
JA: The game is ludicrous and natural, where spontaneity and improvisation are part of it. That's the reason why players love it and enjoy it. Dante Panzeri says that "football is art of unexpected and dynamics of unthought".
In the game we find emergencies where the players try to optimise their performance during the self-organization processes. Therefore, I take the role of the coach from a perspective where I have to facilitate and accompany the player during these processes through optimum communication as well as managing the different contexts.
In football we can talk about ubications, heights, axes, channels, and so on, but it is also important to speak about sensations, hypocampus, somatic markers, mirror neurons, synergies, etc.
The role of the coach may start to understand that more than being taught, players learn with the context. Therefore, it is in that case where it will be important to facilitate them scenarios where their own creativity comes up, and the beauty of it is that every player will have their own creativity and ways to learn.
If we try to make given things happen, we can find ourselves in a position where many other things do not happen. Every situation is different from the previous one and from the next one, even though it has the same elements. I consider that practise is our best ally and, if it is massive, better. I like being a coach because individuals are complex systems that live, experiment, and feel the game.
Talking about coaches, I would like to mention Rubén de la Barrera, Óscar Cano, Abel Mourelo, Natalia Arroyo, Kevin Vidaña, and Fran Beltrán among many others. Especially them because I am ´closer´to their vision and understanding of the game rather than elite coaches like Pep Guardiola, Roberto de Zerbi, Domènec Torrent, Maurizio Sarri, Mikel Arteta or Imanol Alguacil.
We say goodbye to Jonatan with a wider and deeper knowledge about how BARÇA Academies work, and with the promis to repeat this meeting to discuss further subjects with a person full of positivity and good energy.
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