Natasha continues to train hard as she organizes her next team and today as a part of training she did a new PB in the Yo-Yo test arriving at level 17 which puts her in the very good category. She also included alot of dribbling, controls and shooting.
Congratulations Spain Women’s Football
As it stands right now, Spain Women’s football is clearly the best country in the world for women’s football. They are current World Champions in the U17W and U20W and just last week the Spanish Women’s team defeated a full strength reigning World Champions USA team 2-0. Add to that, FC Barcelona won Champions League last season and were runners-up this season with a team that composes mainly local juniors and the two time winner of the Balon d’or, Alexis Putellis grew up playing her football in Barcelona.
Numerous times on this site we have provided evidence of the strength of the Women’s football in Spain and especially the Barcelona province as the U19W age group has over 120 teams across 3 divisions with the first division loaded with quality players. When we arrived in Spain the Spanish Women’s team were ranked 23rd and we knew that was changing as we could see the talent developing. During that time they have climbed from 23rd to 6th place and are likely to climb further. Simply by good luck Natasha grew up playing nearly all her teenage football in the Barcelona first division and developed into one of the best players in that competition. Lucky to be in the right place at the right time and being able to compete against incredibly talented football players every weekend which has been major in her becoming the player she is today.
Well Done Spain!!
Back at Barcelona and Training!
Natasha has arrived back in Barcelona after a great time at Adelaide United. While the season was somewhat frustrating due to government covid restrictions, Natasha got to train with a great group of players and coaches and improved her football skills noticeably. Now she is back in Barcelona working hard with her usual training partners and getting ready for her next assignment. More news soon.
Making History!!!!
While this season has had its frustrations, Natasha is a part of the history making team at Adelaide United. For the first time in the history of the club, Adelaide United Women’s team has made it to the finals. What a fantastic achievement for everyone involved. Good Luck with your very first finals campaign!!!🥳
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Training Patiently!
Natasha continues to train strongly as she awaits the covid restrictions to ease in Australia so she can begin playing with her team. While she waits, her team is performing well and sitting in 3rd position currently.
Debut and Win!!!
Natasha made her debut for Adelaide United in the A-League Women in Adelaide’s first win for the season. While Natasha only played for a minute or so and didn’t have time to touch the ball (lucky for Canberra United) it is her 3rd top league she has played in at only 20 years of age. She has played Barcelona U19 (Spain) U19 first division, Eredivisie Vrouwen (Netherlands) first division and now A-League Women (Australia) first division. She was happy for the teams win and is working hard to adapt to the Australian conditions and looking forward to more game time.
Finally Training with the Team!
After months of dealing with the craziness of our current world, Natasha finally got to train with her new team. Although she was rusty she got a really good feeling and thinks that she will adapt alot more quickly to everything then she did in the Netherlands. She was happy with her first session and is extremely glad to be able to get into the daily routine of training and playing.
Finally Training!!!
And so the adaptation begins. What many people don’t realize is the big challenge when changing countries for football and the adaptation process that the body has to go through. For Natasha changing from the super hard artificial grass surfaces in Spain to the soft grass surface at Adelaide puts a huge strain on her legs. The key is to control your training load. Everything is focused on adjusting training so she can arrive at the game in good condition. It will take her legs about a month to adapt but she can still train and play in that time but she needs to be clever and patient with increasing her training loads. It takes alot of work and clever management to avoid any injuries yet still play well.
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Training Partner Delivers…
This is a video of Natasha’s training partner (Tim Caroutas) scoring a goal against FC Barcelona U19A on the weekend for a 1-1 result. Tim came to live with us as a 12yo because he was given an opportunity to play in Spain but his family could not make the change. We refer to him as a step-brother or step-son because he has become part of our family. These two have trained with each other nearly every day for about 5 years and they follow each other closely. Two outstanding young football talents.
NEW PB!!!
Natasha continues with her longest pre-season ever as she navigates the process of getting flights to Adelaide and all the rig moral that goes with it now she hammered out an INCREDIBLE new Personal Best on her Single Leg Partial Squat. She easily belted out 3 repetitions at her previous 180kg on each leg before nailing 200kg for one rep. In fact the weight was so heavy that we could not fit all the weight onto the bar so we had to tie the extra weights onto the bar.
3 x 180kg | 1 x 200kg |