Javi Chica: “As a coach, you suffer more than as a player”

Francisco Javier Chica Torres (May 17, 1985, Barcelona), known as Javi girl, football is sweating on all four sides. After almost 200 games in the First Division wearing the shirts of spanish and the Legs, He hung up his boots in 2019 but has come a long way from football. He went to the band, and from there he currently leads the Juvenil B parakeet, enjoying this passion every day.

What is your balance in the years you have been a coach?

Very positive. Learned a lot. Evolution is good. My goal now is to help young soccer players and also grow as a coach.

At what point did you realize you wanted to be a coach?

Being a player, because of how he was on the field and in the dressing room, everyone told me so.

If you hadn’t been a footballer, what would you be doing now?

I think about it many times. I have a CAFE degree (‘Ciències de l’Activitat Física i l’Esport’), but at the same time I really like numbers, physics and mathematics, and I think I prefer the world of economics.

15 years have passed since his professional debut. How has football changed since then?

Right now there is a lot to learn and the teams are very busy. Yes, it is true that we used to watch videos, but now everything is more detailed.

That level of studying everything in detail, does it reach grassroots football?

Yes, since childhood they have been doing this. In our youth league there is commitment on the part of the teams that participate. The home player records the game and then shares it with others.

Do you suffer more as a coach than as a player?

I am very poor. It was as a player, when I brought home the defeat, and as a coach I was even more. Players win and lose matches, but the coach makes decisions that influence it and the players have to improve.

How would you define yourself as a technician?

I’m persistent and I don’t stop moving on the bench. As a player I am very heavy and as a coach I am the same. Style wise, I like my teams to push up.

Of all the coaches you’ve had, who has marked you the most?

During my training phase, Albert Villarroya. I remember a phrase of his dinner, when he was a fry, when he told his parents ‘I hope I’m wrong, but no one will come’. This is a way of opening the eyes of parents. As a trainer, this marked me a lot. Later, ‘Tintín’ Márquez in the youth team, then Rubi, who was with me in the subsidiary and in Valladolid, and also Pochettino, with whom I have very good memories.

What is the daily life of a parakeet youth soccer coach?

Many jobs. It’s not just training. You have to prepare tasks, make videos… It is very important to know how to reach the player with the resources you have.

Do the players mark the system and the game plan or the other way around?

In Spanish youth football there is a common method and we almost all defend and attack in the same way, but I think in the end the coach must know how to adapt the system and the game plan to the players he has. I have experienced, for example, that one year the 3-2-4-1 worked wonderfully for us and the following year we couldn’t use it.

So far you have only directed grassroots football, but do you see yourself doing it with older footballers?

As a player, I achieved what no one expected (10 years in the elite) thanks to my persistence. I always say I’m a pawn. I consider myself a club man and right now I’m focused on helping the boys. But obviously I want to train with the elite.

Among your teammates, who are you always with on your team?

To Moisés Hurtado, for his persistence and his knowledge of how to be. Then also Albert Riera, Raúl Tamudo and Iván de la Peña. They are very good.

There are two types of players, those who go home and disconnect and those who eat football all the time. what are you used to

In the second group, he used all the time. Now I can disconnect a little thanks to my children, and sometimes I tell my husband that we should have them as a player.

Are Diego Martínez’s Espanyol short of points?

Of course. There is only one game where I think the Spaniard has not lived the whole game: against Osasuna. For the rest, he did not lose face. The team competes very well and I think it’s very strong on a mental level.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

No idea. I don’t even know where I’m going tomorrow. I hope I grow a lot as a coach and help the club a lot. I came here at the age of 9, I’m from Spain and I feel very familiar with the club.

Coaching the Spanish first team one day will be…

Amazing. Amazing. I remember the year we lost the UEFA Cup final. So, at the age of 20 and having won everything in the lower categories, I told the journalist Iván Álvarez ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be back’. I want to win the Europa League as Spanish coach. It is a dream more than a goal. I hope that day comes!