In the fourth episode of the Endimoniats podcast coach of RCD Mallorca's Juvenil División de Honor Carlos Muñoz reflects on the development of the team and last season's historic Copa del Rey Juvenil victory.
The coach, who became the first to lead the club to the Copa del Rey Juvenil title, offers a detailed insight into his team's current challenges and objectives.
"We are very happy with the new group," says Muñoz. "Very few players are returning from last year, but they have grown very well during the pre-season and the start of the competition. You know that the top four qualify for the Copa del Rey, and day by day, match by match, we are trying to grow as a team’.
During the conversation at Mallorca Sports Bar, hosted by Damián García and Llorenç Diego, Muñoz also discussed his approach for this campaign: "We normalise that it's another year, other players and another identity. Our main objective is to prepare the players for possible promotion, whether to Gustavo Siviero's team or even Jagoba Arrasate's'.
"If we have a lot of capacity for work and assimilation, and we connect with the group, they also contribute to their own improvement. That's what impacts on performance,’ he says, stressing that joint effort is fundamental to the team's success.
As for the emotional management of the players, the coach acknowledges that this stage of development presents specific challenges.
"It's a complex age, where the environment can help or complicate things. We work closely with psychologists and other specialists so that the players learn to manage their emotions and know how to anticipate them."
Regarding the Copa del Rey victory, Muñoz confesses that it was a difficult achievement to take in at the time: "I didn't enjoy the process. It was all very accelerated, game by game. I think that the boys did live it to the full, and they showed it with their competitiveness and quality in every training session,’ admits the coach, who sees the experience as a learning experience for the present.
"I've been here for fifteen years and I've seen a very positive progression. We have gone from having few resources to having a youth team with almost all the coaches professionalised and an infrastructure that is constantly improving."
