The Yellows side are a compact, solid side, focused on possession football
Being a team is a lot more than just wearing the same colours or wearing the same badge on your chest. In a true team, understanding is breathed between all of the team-mates, who fight, with hard work and dedication, to achieve a common goal, one that is more important than individual objectives.
The U10s E (Benjamín E) is a clear example of cohesion. Everyone is together, they fight to get a positive result every weekend. “Endavant, let’s win, let’s be triumphant, Villarreal! 1,2,3, Villarreal,” the Yellows shout after forming a huddle before the game.
“They’re a fantastic group with real unity. They’re formed by a nucleus of footballers in their second year of Benjamín (NB. Benjamín is U9s and U10s in Spanish football). There are also four or five younger players, and even a new boy, it’s his first year at the club. To get a compact group, during pre-season, we did dynamic exercises with the aim of our boys getting to know each other well. That generated a link of trust that can be seen positively on the pitch,” explains Sebi Holerga, one of their two coaches.
For the U10s E, like every other Yellows Academy side, learning goes beyond the pitch. They are also taught values, such as tolerance and sporting behaviours, while academic effort is also a key feature of the identity created by the Yellows philosophy: “The players’ sporting evolution is crucial, but we also focus on other aspects, such as an improvement in attitude of the little ones, or on improving their academic side. All of that has the aim of them coming with a smile and having a great time playing their favourite sport.”
During this season, the coaching team, made up of Holerga and Pablo de la Vega, has decided to instil basic football aspects, both on a technical and tactical level. “It’s important that the children have a solid knowledge base that they can use with or without the ball. From there, they know who to play, when they need the ball, and when they need to be more compact. Our philosophy, alongside that of the club, is to try and have the ball as much as possible, but also taking into account that we need to know what we can do when we don’t have it,” explains Holerga.
Finally, the coach underlines his boys’ passion for Villarreal: “They’re all massive fans of the club. They regularly go to the Estadio de la Cerámica and follows the games away from home too. On Tuesdays, which is when we have our first weekly session, they are always speaking about the last first team game in the changing room.”
The U10s E is made up of the following players: Diego Zirio, César Jorquera, Joaquín Yuxuan, Hugo Jornet, Pasqual Gil, Jordi Orenga, Hugo Gómez, Ianis Stefan, Joel Espel, Manel Trenco, Vicente Yuhao, Leo García, Mario Rubert and Héctor López.
