One of the perennial debates surrounding the concept of achievement is the question of whether someone is born with genuine talent or whether talent can be learned.
Within sports education, Colin McComb insisted that young soccer players can come to the game with minimal skills and learn the strategies needed to score goals.
“I really believe it”™s something that anybody can learn,” said McComb, academy director at FC Malaga City New York, a preparatory school for middle and high school students in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County. “It”™s the most widely played sport in the world, so it must be pretty easy to pick up if we”™ve got the rest of the planet playing it.”
Originally launched in 2020 as Pathfinder Academy, McComb”™s institution is a preparatory school for middle and high school students that rebranded after securing a partnership with Spain”™s FC Malaga City Academy, one of Europe”™s most prestigious soccer programs.
McComb”™s students receive soccer training by Union of European Football Association-licensed FC Malaga City Academy coaches. A three-month yearly residency at FC Malaga City Academy is included within their $22,000 annual tuition.
McComb acknowledged that there is no universal standard for playing soccer, although his students are being tutored in a manner that differs from the other major soccer nations.
“I think every country or region kind of has its own uniqueness in the way they play the game,” he said. “Germans are very structured. Italians are very defensive minded. South Americans are very creative. The Spanish style became famous 10 years ago with Barcelona”™s play, which they call the ”˜tiki taka”™ ”” it”™s a fast-passing style of play centered around keeping possession of the ball. That”™s a style that we try to emulate and it goes into the training programs that we teach the players.”
The Covid-19 pandemic forced McComb to hit the pause button on in-person soccer educations and students were off the playing field for several months after the health crisis took root last March.
“We weren”™t able to really get started until late July,” he said. “We followed the guidelines for New York state and we were able to practice and play this whole time. What we were able to do is get the entire student body to Spain in January, and that”™s no small task in the in the current environment.”
