Since 2002 the RCD Espanyol has a football school. In its beginnings, with 200 students, its social purpose came to attend the possibility for many boys and girls who would like to start in the practice of this sport and also to improve their skills.
The school has been growing progressively until reaching the figure of 650 students, very close to the limit of capacity of the fields of the Dani Jarque's Training Facilities. This evolution has led to the following situation: 56 teams in internal competition, 28 games every Saturday and a total of 36 coaches (18 managers and 18 assistants).
Dani Jarque's Training Facilities and Escola RCDE have a frenetic activity, and especially on Saturdays on matchdays. It breathes a great atmosphere, focusing on aspects such as punctuality, sportsmanship, respect for the referees (who are the educators of our children) and the opponents (boys and girls of the same school). Many times it is the students themselves who give us an example of the lack of relevance that an arbitration error can have and the importance of commitment, respect and sportsmanship.
Boys and girls of the Escola RCDE (in mixed activities) train two hours per week (in one single day or in two different days) and play a match on Saturday mornings. Our competition consists in 9 levels of 6 teams, which during 5 fixtures are playing the possibility of promotion, remain or relegate the level. This system assures us the maximum number of adjusted games, where there is a similar amount of attack actions in both goals. We do not seek to highlight individual aspects; we are looking for collective successes.
Escola RCDE teams are named after players and ex-players of RCD Espanyol.
Each coach has a maximum of 24 students and, together with his assistant, is in charge of the two soccer-7 teams he is in charge of. We work the fundamental contents of grassroots football at all ages. Coaches must be able to see the level of each student and distribute minutes equally. We do a continuous training of our coaches. In fact, many of our coaches of our grassroots have started and trained at the Escola RCDE.
The trainings are all in permanent contact with the ball, optimizing the space with the right exercises for each goal to be achieved. We guarantee during the year about 27 games in the Dani Jarque's Training Facilities and some matches against foreign teams. However, we try to guide the departure of the oldest pupil (the stay at Escola RCDE ends with 14 years old) to other teams, where they can continue their sporting career. Other boys and girls combine their activity at school with their federated team.
We have adjusted the schedules for the 2017-2018 season. With this measure we have sought to finish the activities 30 minutes early, so that our students will leave the facility at 8:00 pm at the latest.
Nevertheless, we open from 7.30pm to 8.30pm, both on Tuesday and Friday, a technical offer for expert pupils (both players and goalkeepers) with small groups. It will be the newness of this next course, following the philosophy of our proposals for Christmas and Easter Week.
You can download the seasonal information attachment to see all the time options.
The link with the youth academy is total: any player who stands out is communicated to the youth academy. Óscar Melendo is a clear example, first player of the Escola RCDE of the Dani Jarque's Training Facilities who reaches the main squad.
Since the beginning of the Escola RCDE, there is no possibility for trials to the youth academy. Therefore, the only access it is through the Escola RCDE or by the recruitment made by the scouts. These observers collaborate with the sporting area, where all the data of the players are evaluated and analyzed.
- Head of Dani Jarque's Training Facilities: Eloy Pérez.
- Escola RCDE Director: Albert Villarroya.
- Administrative: Irene Lapuente.
- Federative issues: Carles Casanova.
- Collaboration of the Medical Services of the youth academy.
- Aimed at: boys and girls between 5 and 14 years old.
When the activity of the Escola RCDE stops for the summer holidays, the Football Camps starts. Usually, in summer we have around 800 boys and girls.
