We are a soccer club in Fort Worth, TX. We have a passion for Spanish style football (soccer) and want to incorporate a similar skill set into our players, focusing on individual as well as tactical play. We feel teams such as FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Ajax FC, and Manchester City have set a new standard to the game of soccer.

Our mission is to develop young kids into collegiate level soccer players and beyond. We realize in order to receive a scholarship to play in college, intelligence, leadership, humility, and discipline are extremely important on and off the field. Cooperation between teammates, classmates, and teachers are one of the many skills we want to help kids develop. Through an open-minded environment, players will learn how to create situations on and off the field that will allow full expression of who they are. Keeping joy for the game alive is at the top of our list.

Our inspiration comes from coaches like Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola. Total Football is a style of soccer made famous by Ajax FC back in the 70’s. Cruyff’s philosophy that the goalkeeper is the first attacker and the forward is the first defender speaks to building the attack from the back and a full field pressure system when the ball is lost. We want to dominate possession. When we lose the ball, we win it back as fast as possible.

Rondos are our main teaching tool. Rondos teach players how to deal with pressure when they have the ball, how to move off the ball when their teammates have it, when to slow down the pace and when to pick it up, how to force the defense toward the player with the ball and when to transition the ball to the other side of the field. Creating passing and dribbling channels in practice helps the player to create them in the game. The goal is to advance past the defensive lines to score goals.

Defensively, rondos help players learn to force their opponent towards a direction, to coordinate with teammates in order to win the ball back as quickly as possible, and to defend with crushing pressure. It’s hard for professional teams to deal with that kind of pressure let alone a select level player. It also helps the defense realize where the open channels are and to work as a tight unit, squandering any creative space for the opposing offense to take advantage of.

Pep Guardiola has made the rondo famous in the recent years. We adopt his philosophy of not passing the ball just to pass it, but to pass with the purpose of drawing the defensive lines in and quickly moving the ball past defensive lines, albeit the opposing forward, midfield, and back lines.

We emphasize building technically brilliant players. Building, not expecting. This is why we begin at the age of 5. Our job as youth select team coaches is to build high calibre players who work within a system that makes them better. This system should be beautiful to watch. This is why we gravitate towards Spanish style soccer.