The rugby youth system shows its strength and demonstrates why it is worth trusting the national product.

With three matches remaining in the 2009-10 season , the El Salvador rugby team had its first opportunity to clinch the Liga División de Honor title in Valencia against Les Abelles. Two years later, they had the chance to repeat their league title . They achieved this with a squad packed with players who hadn't trained in Valladolid against a rival that was mathematically relegated. "We barely celebrated," recalls Juan Carlos Pérez Delgado, who was the coach of the Valladolid club that season.

"They were professionals who did their jobs very well but didn't feel a sense of belonging to the club," he explains. Just two weeks ago, this time at home, the Pucelanos were crowned champions again. Seven youth players appeared in the starting lineup, plus another five on the bench. The presence of homegrown players would have risen to nine or more if not for the fact that two of them had been suspended the previous week or the fact that two others were sidelined due to long-term injuries.

"That title meant something very different because many of the kids are from here , and in fact, a few days later, some were still celebrating," he adds. The change of direction to focus on boys and girls made in El Salvador came in the midst of the pandemic five years ago. There was nothing better than a winery for Pérez to explain his project to the club's directors. Creating a suitable setting so they wouldn't choke while digesting the novel proposal seemed essential.

The first thing the head of the financial department said when he casually mentioned the possibility of paying seven or eight outside coaches was: "You're a little crazy." The enthusiastic response from the current head of El Salvador's youth rugby team to focus on the youth system ultimately convinced the rest. "I warned them that difficult times were coming, but I assured them that by creating the right environment, things would gradually improve." The club currently has more than 500 players in the U-18 categories, and while it's true that the decision to focus on its own players was partly due to financial reasons, the idea of ​​investing in other sections also played a role. In other words, not everything was going to revolve around the men's first team anymore.

"What couldn't happen was that we always put all our eggs in one basket ," he added. The idea of ​​belonging is the cornerstone of the project. Many of the first-team players have been with the club for more than ten years. After the closure of the El Salvador school more than two decades ago, the coaches began looking for six- or seven-year-olds in schools and high schools to train them. Others arrived through family tradition. What El Salvador doesn't do is mess with the youth academy of its rival, VRAC, or vice versa. "Among firefighters, we don't step on each other's toes." The respect is mutual. " It doesn't benefit anyone; it's another matter when they're already professionals..."

How to solve player leakage?

An event like the 2016 Cup final in Zorrilla provided the final push . "That year we raised the prices by 50%," he says. From then on, the problem was how to address the exodus of young players from rugby when they came of age. Until the age of 18, almost no one hung up their boots, but things changed when they started university. Those who chose to continue with rugby also didn't mind moving to another city because they knew that making it to the first team would be very difficult. "There were a lot of kids from outside , and that meant we lost a lot of players ," he points out. Thanks to agreements with the University of Valladolid and the Miguel de Cervantes European University, they've managed to turn things around and convince more than a few that they can combine rugby and studies without having to move. If you add to that, on the sporting front, the launch of the U23 team as a bridge to making the leap to the First Division, the offer becomes even more attractive.

Pérez has been working with the youth team for two years and has another two under contract. The teaching method to prevent future departures "is to tell them how we can help them, although in the end what motivates them is that feeling of pride in the club where they've been for several years, where they know they can improve, and that they'll be well looked after." No one is fooled. "Here they know we're going to give them an opportunity, but we're not going to give it away, " he emphasizes. The youth players have mirrors to look up to. This year, his teammate Jacobo Ruiz in the boys' squad, and Inés Antolínez, María de Miguel, Bea Rivera, Matilda Toca, and Ángela Ruiz (sevens) in the girls' squad, have already made their debuts with the senior team.

Cisneros' Madrid team, the current league runners-up, arrived in Valladolid to try to secure their first league title with ten youth players, another ten players trained in Spain, and three from abroad. None of them make a living from rugby. "At most , six or seven receive allowances to cover travel or transportation expenses because they work with our younger players, which is what volunteering allows," Juan Pedro Brolese, youth team manager for the blue-and-blue team, is quick to add. Some students from public universities are also provided with accommodation, but not those pursuing postgraduate or master's degrees.

It's all part of a youth-team philosophy that keeps yielding results: four full international players (Nicolás Fernández-Durán, Pepe Borraz, Guillermo Moretón, and Gonzalo Vinuesa) and another four in the sevens : Tobías Sainz-Trapaga, Francisco Soriano , Alejandro Laforga, and Ángel Boza. At Cisneros, youth-team players are considered those who have played at least two years in the lower categories. Due to the club's characteristics, it's "quite common" for boys and girls to come to study in Madrid , "where we provide them with a social rugby environment while also providing a sports program that's compatible with their studies." For example, in the last call-up, there were fifteen university students and only eight players who were already working.

Unlike in El Salvador or other teams , the Madrid team manages to retain a good portion of its talent when they reach the age of majority. "If at other clubs the ratio of players who leave rugby is 70%, at ours the pyramid is inverted because it's the same percentage of kids who continue," he points out. The handicap that existed before without a competition for the under-23s made the leap to the elite very difficult . "Not all the kids were like Vinuesa, who was already ready at 18." Now, with the new competition, the club can see the development of other players "who may take longer to develop but who can ultimately play in the First Division without problems."

Cisneros's coach is saddened by the fact that other clubs opt for foreign talent rather than accommodate young players who haven't yet completed their training, "and that's why there's a high dropout rate when they turn 18 because if they don't find a rugby with a social component, they'll normally quit." That's why Brolese likes to highlight the club's social rugby. "If you look at it, in Valladolid, everyone in the club was there." That social component is, in his opinion, "very powerful" and is what keeps Cisneros going strong. "It gives us a plus," he emphasizes .

"It's unlikely that one of our regional players will make it to the First Division, but he creates an atmosphere and his behavior is motivating for everyone, which, in the end, also helps retain talent," he adds. Cisneros has long been proud of his "training people through rugby" approach. He's been doing so for more than eighty years . "Rugby has extremely powerful tools for developing young people because it's a team sport that requires sacrifice, hard work, and solidarity ." The boys and girls who don the blue and blue jersey know that "first comes the effort, and then comes the reward."

All the players who reach the First Division have that same mentality. It's the hallmark of a club that last season, in the senior men's category alone, had 130 players spread across seven teams and boasts that 80% of that group are youth players. The Royal Spanish Rugby Federation (RFER) has launched an ambitious plan to retain young talent that is expected to yield results in the medium and long term. For now, the reality is different . In the squad for the U20 World Cup later this month, half of the players play for foreign teams.

Gabriel Sanz, head of the federation's sports, planning, and strategy department, believes that "from now on, our potential will be further optimized and the enormous efforts made by the clubs will be better channeled." In this regard, he explains that for years there have been "lost generations" of players who only came together to compete in a European Championship and then disappeared. Some because they quit, and others because they ended up in fifth-tier French clubs without great expectations, "so the urgent need was to seek out children or grandchildren of Spaniards in Europe or Argentina with the idea of ​​forming a group that never managed to consolidate."

The plan to detect talent

For several months now , a talent detection plan has been in place , led by Toni Giménez, who, in turn, relies on a network of coaches who inform him about the progress of these players in whom he has placed his trust. Those selected enter the High Performance Centers opened by the Federation in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​and Valencia (Level 1), as well as in the Basque Country, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, and Castile and León (Level 2). Regional centers have also been created in other specialized locations for youth between 18 and 20 years of age, "where four days a week their physical, tactical, and technical aspects, as well as their nutrition, are carefully monitored to develop authentic athletes."

Once a player joins the U18 national team, the group is provided with a suitable training environment that it didn't have before. The plan has already yielded its first results, following Spain's invitation to participate in the Six Nations Festival , "where we beat Scotland and managed to finish the first half tied with England."

The next step is the jump to U20, where the idea is that little by little the team can spend more days concentrated, with higher-quality training sessions and the possibility of playing more matches against strong national teams. If the player remains within the federation after completing this learning and development phase, next season he will have the opportunity to join a group of 30 contracted players , who, along with another fifteen currently playing for French clubs, will be able to play with the national team or the Iberians franchise in around 25 high-level matches a year "to develop with the idea that they will be with us until they are 25 or 27 years old, and if they are very good, they will then be signed by a Top 14 or Pro D2 team," Sanz explains.

The RFER has also launched a mentoring program so that a 17-year-old "doesn't feel alone" when a French team makes a pass at him. For example, the U18s' recent victory in the Six Nations Festival against Scotland didn't go unnoticed by French scouts, "and some have received offers that often aren't serious ." This mentoring program aims to convince youngsters that the Federation can provide them with the appropriate structure "and give them the impression that staying in Spain represents an investment, not an expense."

The formula seems to be starting to work. "Recently," Sanz recalls, " Portugal beat us in everything , including sevens, knocking us out of the World Cup, and this year the tables have turned in all categories." This success, according to the vice president of the RFER, is also due to the generosity of Spanish clubs "who have understood that if the national team does well, they will do well too."