Lamine Yamal Learned It in the Street. Now Soccer Academies Want It Back
Barcelona gave Yamal an elite soccer education. A hard court in Rocafonda taught him something academies are now trying to recreate.
Athletes World
• BARCELONA, SPAIN - DECEMBER 15: Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona during the LaLiga match
between FC Barcelona and CD Leganes at Estadi Olimpic.
• Licensed Photo: QSP / Alamy
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Before Lamine Yamal became one of soccer's brightest young stars, he played winner-stays-on games on a hard court in Rocafonda, the neighborhood near Barcelona where he grew up.
The games were simple: score twice and your team stayed on. In summer, the surface became so hard that Yamal remembers going home with cuts. There were no perfect fields or detailed coaching sessions. Kids played, adapted and figured things out. (Champions Journal)
Then Yamal entered Barcelona's youth system, where that raw creativity met one of soccer's most famous development programs.
The games were simple: score twice and your team stayed on. In summer, the surface became so hard that Yamal remembers going home with cuts. There were no perfect fields or detailed coaching sessions. Kids played, adapted and figured things out. (Champions Journal)
Then Yamal entered Barcelona's youth system, where that raw creativity met one of soccer's most famous development programs.
