Last week, Antoine Guldner, the club’s mental strength coach and Owen Braun, Montreal Impact Academy goalkeeper coach, were in New Brunswick for present to coaches and players from the region.
Welcomed in Moncton on Thursday by Younes Bouida, provincial director of technical development, Antoine Guldner took part in a first session on the mental aspect of the game. Talking about cognitive skill development and reading the game, it was a session that showed the link between fitness and mental strength.
“I wanted to show them how it was possible to use warm-ups to maximize peripheral vision and the capacity to deal with a lot of information,” explained the first team’s and Academy’s mental strength coach.
A symposium organized by Soccer New Brunswick was next on the agenda in Fredericton. In front of 60 elite coaches from the province, the two club’s educators gave presentations on their fields of expertise. Tony Fonseca, Canadian Soccer Association technical director, was also presenting at the event.
“I wanted to provide the means for coaches to improve their players’ concentration,” said Guldner. “When you take care of group management and you refine the identity of play using certain principles, you can facilitate concentration and as a result, the team’s performance. Owen then talked about high level training we have at the Academy for goalkeepers.”
The following day, the key speakers were back in class. Guldner put the focus on explaining some common points between players who have reached the highest levels due to their mental qualities and how coaches can help their players improve these mental skills.
Beyond the presentations, the relationship between the club and New Brunswick soccer is getting stronger every year.
Since there is no professional team in this region, the Montreal Impact is the most logical geographical option for young players from Eastern Canada.
That’s why the Academy and Soccer New Brunswick have been working closely over the last two years. On one side, the Academy can observe and have access to the best players from this province. On the other, the Academy’s technical staff will take part in different conferences on top of friendlies between the Impact youth teams and New Brunswick teams.
“It was fun to meet and exchange with these coaches, who give a lot of time and energy to develop soccer in New Brunswick. There is also a lot of passion and expertise in this province. This relationship is interesting for us and for soccer in Canada in general.”
New Brunswick players are ever more present at Academy tryouts in different age categories. Don’t be surprised if some players from this province join the Bleu-blanc-noir youth teams in the future.
