29/12/2025
End of Year Reflection | National Team Program
This has been an intense year.
For me, it has been a year of learning, as a coach and as a leader.
But also a year of confirmation.
I had the opportunity to fully apply my coaching philosophy within the national team program and experience my first elite international flag football competition.
It was an experience unlike anything I had felt before — intense, demanding, and highly rewarding.
It strengthened my belief in what I want as a coach and in what a national team program must be in order to grow and compete internationally.
At the same time, it exposed clear limitations and the areas we must address if we are serious about moving forward.
My learning as a coach did not start when I received a title.
It started long before, shaped by every coach I have worked with, every environment I have been part of, and by my own experiences as a player, coach, and member of this community.
Those learnings are now tested daily within the national team program.
Working with ambitious players, pursuing a demanding long-term goal, and trying to build and align a culture with high standards pushes everyone involved — coaches and players — to lead better, think deeper, and understand complexity.
For many years, my life has been deeply connected to the sport that helped shape the person I am today.
Even with uncertainty around some of the projects I am currently involved in, one thing has not changed:
The drive to pursue an ambitious goal for 2028, with 2027 standing as the decisive year.
Our result at the European Championship was far from what we expected.
But it was invaluable.
It confirmed that the cultural pillars we believe in — athletic development, football fundamentals, and character — are the same traits shared by the teams that dominated the tournament.
It also made very clear the areas we must prioritize if we want to compete with them.
What became impossible to ignore is that these pillars are not concepts.
They are daily behaviors.
Athletic development is not something we introduce at camps.
Football fundamentals are not a shortcut around preparation.
Character is not what you say you value, but what you live by when no one is watching.
Moving forward, physical preparation, continuous improvement, and personal responsibility are not optional parts of this program.
They are the entry requirements.
Unfortunately, we did not reach our qualification goal for the 2026 World Championship.
At the same time, this gave us something extremely valuable: time.
Time to plan with intention.
Time to develop the program.
Time to develop our players — physically, technically, and mentally.
Time for us as coaches to grow, learn, and raise our level as well.
Time to recruit and develop new athletes who share our ambition and are willing to commit to the work required.
We often tell our players that character is revealed in adversity, in what you do when things get hard.
This is that moment.
This is the year to show character, the coaching staff’s character, and our collective commitment to building a national team program that reflects the hours, knowledge, experience, and dedication being invested by everyone involved.
2026 will be a year of opportunity, but opportunity will belong to those who are already doing the work, not those waiting to start.
As in all sports, results can never be guaranteed.
But I am confident in this:
If we do the work properly, with honesty and intention, we will finish 2026 in a better place, and we will be a stronger program heading into 2027.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey.
When I accepted this role earlier this year, I knew it would demand every part of who I am, as a person, coach, player, father, son, friend, leader, and learner.
That is exactly why I took the job.
I wish you a 2026 that challenges you and makes you better.
If I can help, reach out.
And if I need your help, I will do the same.
/Carlos
