Sacramento Republic FC’s Video Analyst and Camps and Clinics Coordinator Chris Malaneb is on a football operations trip on behalf of the club in Ghana. As he works to scout new players and builds relationships, Malenab is also blogging his experiences.
Day 3
With our schedule being very similar on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the morning started off with a treadmill run for me, due to the fact that it was very smokey and humid out just before 6AM. With a pretty tight schedule while I am here in Ghana, I will have to go with what I can get in regards to my own personal fitness and training for the upcoming California International Marathon.
After a quick bite with the other representatives from the various clubs, it was time to jump back on the shuttle to make our way to the fields. This morning we were excited to see some matches which included the same teams as yesterday. However, we would start off the day with one of the matches we were excited to see, which pitted Soccer Masters vs. Wa All Stars. The 2nd and 3rd matches included All Stars B vs. Brekum Chelsea and All Stars C vs. Tudu Mighty Jets.
While yesterday involved us just watching and taking notes, today we had a little more influence in the matches in regards to the personal on the field. As other club reps and myself wanted to see a little more of a certain player or various combinations of players on the field, those request were accommodated to.
A few new faces joined their respective teams, which allowed us to evaluate a couple of new players. However most of today and tomorrow is to see consistency of the players each representative wanted to look at, but also confirmed the legitimacy of the player if there did show their quality on more than one day of playing.
After the heat and humidity beat up on us at the fields, it was time to get back onto the shuttle and head back to the hotel. While leaving the fields we got caught in a little traffic that was due to a traffic census being done. The person working asked our driver where we were headed and other routine questions at these census traffic stops.
Finally we got back to the hotel, where we were joined for lunch (a late lunch about 2:55PM) by the President of the GHA once again.
With further chatter, we had a quick break in the day which I took advantage of by taking a little nap. Most of the other staff did the same.
In the evening we had a staff dinner at the hotel before we were back to the soccer grind discussing the teams and format for tomorrow. On the final day of the combine we will have complete input on starting rosters, based on our evaluations on the players. Ideally we have matched up the best forwards going against the best defending players as well. Tomorrow will make for some excellent soccer to get a final look at the players we were brought out here to see.
3 days into the trip and it continues to be a truly fantastic experience. During my day here today, one thing I did notice was the handshake that the people of Ghana do always ends with a snap … and everyone does it from the young kids to the older folks in that I have observed.
Sacramento Republic FC’s Video Analyst and Camps and Clinics Coordinator Chris Malaneb is on a football operations trip on behalf of the club in Ghana. As he works to scout new players and builds relationships, Malenab is also blogging his experiences.
Day 3
With our schedule being very similar on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the morning started off with a treadmill run for me, due to the fact that it was very smokey and humid out just before 6AM. With a pretty tight schedule while I am here in Ghana, I will have to go with what I can get in regards to my own personal fitness and training for the upcoming California International Marathon.
After a quick bite with the other representatives from the various clubs, it was time to jump back on the shuttle to make our way to the fields. This morning we were excited to see some matches which included the same teams as yesterday. However, we would start off the day with one of the matches we were excited to see, which pitted Soccer Masters vs. Wa All Stars. The 2nd and 3rd matches included All Stars B vs. Brekum Chelsea and All Stars C vs. Tudu Mighty Jets.
While yesterday involved us just watching and taking notes, today we had a little more influence in the matches in regards to the personal on the field. As other club reps and myself wanted to see a little more of a certain player or various combinations of players on the field, those request were accommodated to.
A few new faces joined their respective teams, which allowed us to evaluate a couple of new players. However most of today and tomorrow is to see consistency of the players each representative wanted to look at, but also confirmed the legitimacy of the player if there did show their quality on more than one day of playing.
After the heat and humidity beat up on us at the fields, it was time to get back onto the shuttle and head back to the hotel. While leaving the fields we got caught in a little traffic that was due to a traffic census being done. The person working asked our driver where we were headed and other routine questions at these census traffic stops.
Finally we got back to the hotel, where we were joined for lunch (a late lunch about 2:55PM) by the President of the GHA once again.
With further chatter, we had a quick break in the day which I took advantage of by taking a little nap. Most of the other staff did the same.
In the evening we had a staff dinner at the hotel before we were back to the soccer grind discussing the teams and format for tomorrow. On the final day of the combine we will have complete input on starting rosters, based on our evaluations on the players. Ideally we have matched up the best forwards going against the best defending players as well. Tomorrow will make for some excellent soccer to get a final look at the players we were brought out here to see.
3 days into the trip and it continues to be a truly fantastic experience. During my day here today, one thing I did notice was the handshake that the people of Ghana do always ends with a snap … and everyone does it from the young kids to the older folks in that I have observed.