meeting Hector
21.03.2012 - Meeting with my friend HECTOR BALDASSI, former world class referee (3 matches ath the last 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa). Hector is a referee legend in Argentina and South America, having officiated several top matches in his career.
Buenos Aires
21.03.2012-Arrival in Buenos Aires, Part I of a 11+ trip in South America. Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, and the second largest metropolitan area (after Greater Sao Paulo) in South America.
Casablanca
12.03.12. Casablanca, located on the atlantic ocean, is Morocco's largest city, with more than 3 millions people. The port of Casablanca is the one of the largest artificial ports in the world, and the largest port of North Africa.
For Hollywood freaks, Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film, starring Humprey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman...
11+ in Morocco
13.03.2012. At the WAC Casablanca stadium we organized an official 11+ workshop for the CAF congress participants.
My assistants were our friends Michiko Dohi (from Japan and JFA) and a Salah Lahlou, conditioning coach of the Morocco Youth National team.
CAF medical congress 2012
11-14.03.12. Casablanca, Morocco. The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) organizes its 4th International CAF Medical Conference, with "Prevention in Football" as one of the main topic. The F-MARC team is actively involved with several presentations and workshops.
Italia & 11+
05.03.2012, Coverciano/Firenze, Italia. Headquarters of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC), Settore Tecnico. Official launch of the 11+ program for the coaching and physical trainer's educational programs. Our friend Carlo Castagna has been instrumental in realizing this important cooperation.
My friend Runco
29.02.2012, St.Gallen (Switzerland). After playing a friendly match on the 28th, the players and staff of the Selecao Brasileira were still few hours in Switzerland during the last day of February. So, I was able to meet our friend Dr. José Runco, since many years head of medical team of the Selecao and Flamengo. José is a great support for all activities of CBF with F-MARC.
BJSM March issue 2012
27.02.2012 - The British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) has dedicated the cover and the warm up of the March 2012 issue to the Swiss Sports Physiotherapy Association. We thank our friend Karim Khan, editor of BJSM to make this partnership possible and to promote sports physiotherapy not only in Switzerland, but internationally through his prestigious journal!
Torwandschiessen
24.02.2012, Kassel, Germany. During the Amateur DFB congress, I got the chance to try out the renowned "Torwandschiessen", which became popular through classical the "das aktuelle Sportstudio" of ZDF (german sportcast).
DFB and 11+
23..02.2012, Kassel, Germany. Official launch of 11+ with the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (DFB) at the Amateur Fussballkongress. DFB will promote the 11+ injury prevention programme within its coaching education and its amateur football (more than 6.7 million players involved!). Germany is the 5th country, after Spain, Japan, Italy and Brasil, to officially endorse 11+: F-MARC is proud of these cooperations, which illustrate the worldwide impact of 11+.
RFEF – Las Rozas
16.02.2012 - Visit to the headquarters of the Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol (RFEF) at Las Rozas-Madrid, to discuss our joint 11+ courses in Spain.
The "Ciudad del Futbol" is a modern and impressive infrastructure, and -besides football pitches, training facilities, hotel, offices- even hosts one of the most exciting football museums in the world (Museo de la Seleccion Espanola de Futbol; open for visits too!).
11 and SUPER BOWL
February 5, 2012 , Indianapolis. The GIANTS win SUPER BOWL XLVI. beating the PATRIOTS by 21:17.
Note that there's a similarity with soccer ... American football is played between two teams of eleven players with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone ... but this is probably the only common detail ...