From footballer to entrepreneur. After his retirement, Elvis Abbruscato has began two careers. One as a coach, becoming Daniele Franceschini’s assistant for Italy’s Under 20 side, and one as a businessman, founding BeCoach.
Abbruscato, a former Chievo and Torino player with 78 appearances and eight goals in Serie A is hoping to help coaches in managing the training process and the relationships between coach, players, staff and managers.
BeCoach is the first mobile platform to provide help for just this and is available from July 27 and Abbruscato has described to Forza Italian Football how it will work.
ForzaIalianFootball: How did the idea for BeCoach come about and how has it developed?
Elvis Abbruscato: “I’ve realized that there are too many WhatsApp groups connected to a football club. You put together coaches, players, managers, even parents. You start talking about football and before you realize, you’re discussing politics or you’re telling everybody that you’re going for a coffee.
“In this way players lose their focus and they don’t pay attention to details, like a video or simple information like where the training session will be. Nowadays, it’s mandatory for clubs to have efficient communication.”
FIF: So, the final goal is to improve the communication but BeCoach is also designed to increase motivation inside the team.
EA: “The more the players see that there is effective communication, the more they feel they’re part of a mission and if they feel that everybody is speaking the same language, they’re encouraged to give intelligent answers.
“Young players spend between 3-5 hours per day on their phone. It’s the best tool to understand them, especially their personality. With BeCoach, you’ll know for example how much time they spend on a video, how to react to that video. Great communication avoids all kind of problems, like injuries.”
FIF: So, is BeCoach intended for coaches or players?
EA: “Everybody. Anyone involved in a football team. BeCoach helps a team in every aspect of communication. You can discuss planning or you can run psychological tests that will help a coach understand, if, and how much the players are under stress.
“BeCoach is the best way to understand your players. You can understand who’s a leader, and who prefers to be in the background, if you have proactive players, if your players are obsessed by results. You’ll have all the information that you need in order to develop the best system for your team in order to make the most out of it.”
FIF: Do you believe that coaches don’t take in consideration these aspects at the beginning of their careers? Are these topics addressed during the lessons in Coverciano (Italian coaches’ association headquarters)?
“You discuss it but once you leave the classroom you forget about it because you don’t have the tools. It’s really hard for coaches to work on all the psychological traits of their players.
“For example: if you have five players in your team that are more focused on themselves rather than the group, you have to find that out and work in order to resolve the problem.”
FIF: Have you already received feedback from coaches?
EA: “During the lockdown we had webinars about these topics attended by 50-60 coaches. I tried to explain how complicated football is when you talk about communication. Coaches need to understand that they need to find a way to create a relationship in the fastest way possible with their players.
“When I was a player, the coaches I loved the most were the ones who knew how to talk and when. They understood the power of communication, the best tool to motivate a player”.
FIF: Who’s the best coach today at motivating his players?
EA: “Jurgen Klopp, no doubt about it. It’s not only about the way he speaks but also the way he acts towards the players that aren’t regular starters. They feel that they’re important and because of that they are motivated and they give everything they have when they play. He’s the best.”
