Media release

Christchurch United brings acclaimed Barcelona Academy coach to Christchurch

Christchurch United Football Club (CUFC) is proud to host internationally acclaimed coaching mentor Todd Beane to the Garden City next week.

The American coach runs the high-profile TOVO Academy Barcelona, which was founded on the philosophy of Johan Cruyff, the Dutch master who created the Barcelona and Ajax football dynasties, who also happened to be his father-in-law.

Christchurch United coaches and President Slava Meyn earlier this year attended a coaching clinic by Beane in Wellington and were so impressed by the American that the club has invited him to Christchurch.

“I have worked with some top professional coaches back in the Netherlands, but what Beane presented to us really fascinated and impressed us,” says CUFC Academy Director Colin Williamson who has worked with some high-profile managers during his eight years at Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven.

Christchurch United has invited Beane to evaluate the club’s academy structures and coaching programmes during his week at the Christchurch Football Centre in Yaldhurst to provide recommendations to improve the club’s player development programmes.

Williamson explains how the TOVO Training method is based around developing players’ intelligence and their ability to learn and understand complex challenges.

“But how do we train intelligence? Todd has worked out an effective way to train a player’s capacity to understand simple principles and apply them,” says Williamson. “When implemented it appears simple and logical compared to the chaos and clutter of traditional training methodologies.”

Club President Slava Meyn is passionate about improving player development in New Zealand, and not just at his own club, and has decided to invite coaches from around the region to a coaching clinic with Todd Beane on May 4.

“After hearing him speak, I spent some time at the TOVO Academy in Barcelona earlier this year to see with my own eyes how he develops his players,” says Slava Meyn. “It opened my eyes on how we can do things so much better and I want all coaches in Canterbury to be able to get access to such an amazing coach.”

For 14 years, Beane worked alongside Johan Cruyff, who also happened to be his father-in-law, and led talent development projects at Barcelona FC, Ajax Amsterdam and Mexican glamour club Chivas.

During his years with Cruyff, Beane says he was exposed to some of the biggest football geniuses of his generation.

“It’s pretty hard not to sit around the kitchen table with the likes of Johan Cruyff and (Manchester City manager) Pep Guardiola, (Dutch national coach) Ronald Koeman or Frank Rijkaard and not be like a kid in a candy store,” Beane told the Stuff website earlier this year.

“These are my heroes. I never played at that level and all of a sudden you’re hearing a mastermind of the game, I think one of the brightest minds football has ever known, who is your father-in-law whom you are working, talking about the game in ways I had never been exposed to before.”

Any coach who wants to want to hear from Todd Beane and his coaching philosophies, please register for the full-day coaching clinic on May 4 on http://cufc.co.nz/tovo-academy-barcelona

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