I have always been drawn to creativity. When I was a kid, I took for granted that “creating” was something very important for this world. Perhaps because it had something to do with the origin of life, its meaning, and love. I was in love with soccer, and through the ball, I saw the universe, the sky, the earth, the flora, the fauna, art, words, the invisible world of passions, mysteries, the magnificent, and the future.
Playing soccer used to be the space where I found myself creating emotions and moments that took the form of goals or dribbles. Creating my life. While this was a noble individual feeling, it was completed by belonging to a collective of people who, in the end, were one single fist, one single foot, one single body. The game taught me that in order to truly play, I needed to be part of a team.
I found myself signing my first contract as a professional soccer player; it was quick. I looked at the signature on the paper, a strange scrawl that seemed to have nothing to do with a game. But it did. My time rolled on with the ball, I was creating a mark, and that primary feeling of a young boy transformed into a way of seeing life and living it.
During one of Agustín Pelletieri’s many visits from Buenos Aires to Portland, my former teammate at Lanús and my older brother in this soccer journey, we talked about the possibility of starting an individual technical improvement project that he found appropriate to offer his son: “I did it with Leandro Sime,” he told me. Leandro was part of the coaching staff at Lanús in two different cycles: one in 2004 and another in 2011, during which both Agustín and I were part of the team. “How great it would have been to do this type of training since we were kids, even while being professionals. Why not offer this type of complementary training to everyone?”
The discussions began, the meetings occurred, and the idea started to take shape. We understood the importance of creating a training “methodology”; going beyond mere planning. It was then that we contacted our dear Mayte, an experienced educator, to provide structure to the theoretical foundation of our methodology. “The Maestro Method” was born—a way of being, seeing soccer, and training. A path.
César Luis Menotti taught us: the only thing that accompanies us until the end of our lives is learning. We are convinced that every soccer player can incorporate and perfect technical fundamentals until the last day of their career. The reference of the “maestro” and individual technical perfection is far from becoming a focus of individualism. The maestro is a beacon, a reference in our journey to reach the best destination. That’s why “methodology” is the last name of this team called Maestro Method. It seems obvious to note that the title carries the languages of our history in soccer and in life. In itself, it carries the dualism through which we see the game: individual and collective, concepts and technique, basic and specific technical fundamentals. Body and soul. Complementarity. Integrity. A creative act to be the best of ourselves.
The search for the method is for the soccer player to have in their playing toolkit the greatest resources possible to solve what the game or the opponent presents to us. Playing is the “only” way to improve the player. At the same time, Maestro Method understands that personalizing training is key. That’s why the methodology creates variable scenarios in small groups and repeats sequences as similar as possible to the match. To acquire or improve all technical fundamentals and learn to make the best decisions depending on each game scenario.
Although Maestro Method is a project related to soccer and starts in Portland—where I have lived almost my entire adult life—for me, it is a new world. Creating a play outside the field. Hoping that you score the goal. A maestro of soccer. An invitation, that’s who we are.
It’s time to create your signature.
