Gallacher and Urquhart are leading the way for da Vinci Graduates
Saturday 31st December 2011
Third Division Queen’s Park will complete a unique European hat-trick next week just three days after the New Year has been ushered in. Youngsters from the Hampden club’s Under-19 squad enhanced by some of their Under-17 side are swapping the Scottish winter for a two week training camp in the Turkish sun, and for the third year running, the amateur club have secured a place on the European Community funded Leonardo da Vinci Initiative.
The SFL Newsletter focused on what this initiative is all about two years ago, when The Spiders headed for Portugal’s Algarve and 12 months ago, we previewed their trip to the Adora Hotel complex in Antalya with the then recently appointed Head of Youth at the club, David McCallum.
This year we have turned our attention to two players who have progressed to the Queen’s Park first team due, in part, to their participation at da Vinci camps – Paul Gallacher and Alan Urquhart.
Gallacher was in the original batch of players who enjoyed some winter sun two years ago in January before making his first team debut the following month and looked back at a pivotal period in his career and said: “I knew the da Vinci programme was a great opportunity and like the rest of the boys, I was really excited about it. The weather here was terrible and pitches were frozen hard and we escaped that for two weeks of playing football every day.
“It gave everyone a taste of what it was like to be a full-time professional and I am sure I am not alone at Queen’s Park in saying that is my dream and I lived it for that time.”
The training camp is no holiday with defender turned midfielder Gallacher saying: “There were double training sessions every day. You had to get up early and eat a good breakfast and be out at the training ground ready to start. You then had lunch and then were back out working again in the afternoon.
“We also had games against a university side, a Dutch amateur team and a young Ajax side and we trained on those days as well. We had education and tactical sessions in the evening so it was hard work but really enjoyable.”
The Hampden club had every training session as well as their games filmed and they were viewed by Head Coach Gardner Speirs on their return. The hard work Gallacher put in saw him moved up from the youth ranks to the first team squad on his return.
The weather had also worked in Gallacher’s favour as he explained: “I was training every day and the players that were here couldn’t get any work done because of the frost, so I was really fit when I came back. I had also played in games and was full of energy and within a couple of weeks, I was in the first team squad when they had a couple of injuries.”
Gallacher was listed as a substitute against Forfar Athletic in February and his elevation continued as he was sent on five minutes before half-time to help shore up the home defence after Ricky Little had been sent off.
“I have been in and around the first team squad ever since and I put that down to the disciplines I learned over in Portugal. I learned what is required to be a successful player in terms of the hard work and dedication required. It is not all about how you play, you have to rest well, eat well and have good meals.”
The club has added their support to the healthy eating approach with McCallum saying: “We have a Sports Scientist that helps the players at all levels of the club who provides information of what to eat. At any part-time club, you cannot control what the players eat. You encourage them when you have them but the discipline to do it has to come from the players.”
Gallacher is on board and he explained: “Da Vinci taught me about responsibility. No-one there tells you to get to your bed, no-one gets you up and really it is all about having a grown up approach.”
There was time taken off for the cultural activities with Gallacher adding: “We went on a tour of the old town of Faro which was good and helped us practice some of the language we had been learning. You had to pay attention as there was a quiz on it that night.”
Gallacher’s move into the first team ranks denied the now 20-year-old the chance of a trip to Turkey 12 months on and he said: “I am in the first team squad which is great so I could hardly complain about missing out.”
Midfielder Alan Urquhart did make it on both trips however, he has been denied a hat-trick due to his own involvement in Speirs' first team and like Gallacher, he views missing out as a bonus.
Urquhart said: “I have been twice and that is great as the training every day whets your appetite to become a full-time professional and you work harder when you come back. I am now in the first team pool after my time on da Vinci and that is what it is all about in my career just now.
“The cultural side of things was interesting as well as I could compare it to what we had seen in Portugal. We visited a market in Turkey and you could see the differences between the two countries but we were able to converse with people there and at the hotel as we had learned a bit of the language.”
Help was on hand when it came to practising the Turkish language with Urquhart saying: “Our goalkeeper on that trip was Paul Cankaya and he is half Turkish. His knowledge of the language certainly helped.”
And McCallum added: “Paul is no longer a player at the club but he has come back in to help the boys particularly with their pronunciation this year.”
In 2011, the young Queen’s Parkers played against a local Turkish side and then faced Locomotiv Moscow as well as Dutch side Den Haag and the games are still fresh in Urquhart’s mind.
The 18-year-old said: “Den Haag were really good at passing the ball about and they had players who were full of flair whereas Moscow were really strong and athletic. A couple of their players were Russian Under-19 internationalists and we did okay despite losing 3-1.”
McCallum confirmed Urquhart’s view saying: “Moscow were a really disciplined side and what you got from them was an incredible focus. Their life from what we saw was totally dedicated to making it as a football player.”
As well as his football boots, Urquhart had to pack his school books for his trips away in order that he could cram in some much needed studying as he explained: “I had prelims to sit as soon as I came back so I took study materials with me. I had time set aside every day after the afternoon training session and before the evening meal so like Paul, I learnt a lot about self discipline.”
Urquhart has plenty of tips to pass on to the youth squad that are leaving next Tuesday as he said: “What I would say is try your best, work hard every day and the benefits will come. You come back stronger and fitter than other teams and Da Vinci helps you throughout your League games when you come back.
“A big part of the programme is the tactical meetings that are held most nights by the coaching staff. You need to listen to them as they are all about what the first team do in terms of roles and responsibilities. If you break into the first team, you know what your team-mates will be doing and the work done on this initiative gives you a great insight for when you start featuring at that level for the first time.”
McCallum is well placed to explain the benefits to the Third Division club as he said: “It is fantastic that Queen’s Park benefits from da Vinci and it is not just the players that benefit as the coaching staff do as well. They learn from other clubs as they watched from coaching sessions carried out by Schalke, Rubin Kazan and Spartak Moscow. You do not get the chance to watch these sessions often and being in Turkey at the same time as these squads were having a winter break or preparing for their new season allows that to happen.
“We get the majority of our coaches over and having spoken to the hotel recently, we know that Torpedo Moscow, Rubin Kazan as well as teams from Germany and Holland will be there at the same time.”
The players that are going have been challenged to follow Gallacher and Urqhart’s example and become first teamers with McCallum saying: “Players should see this as part of their preparation for the first team. They should see this as an opportunity to start knocking on the door at least.
“Owen Ronald has broken into the first team recently and he is still part of the youth programme here and another da Vinci graduate. Kieran Kennedy was just breaking in before an injury affected him so the work we do on these trips pays dividends.”
McCallum added: “We can test the boys fitness before they go and after they come back but that is not what this is about – it is about the development of the boys as players and people.
“It is three months of work condensed into a fortnight and a huge asset to us and we are grateful to the support we get from the SFA to help make it happen. We are determined to make the best of the opportunity both on and off the park.
“This is training with a purpose.”
The work off the park has included further Turkish lessons and will also see a return to the local Roman Aspendos Amphitheatre which McCallum describes as ‘a stunning arena’ whereas on the park, there are two games against local opposition to be played as well as one match lined up against a team from Kazakhstan.
McCallum finished by saying: “It is certainly no holiday as there is very little in the way of downtime. Our plans are already well documented between training, recovery time, team meetings, cultural activities and games. Last year you could see the boys sleeping before they got to their rooms.”
*View Queen's Park FC vlogs from previous trips to Portugal in 2010 and Turkey in 2011 HERE
