When, in February 2011, Michel Huff left Brazil to become the new fitness coach at Ukrainian club Metalist Kharkiv, he was unsure as to how long he would be staying.
“I packed a suitcase for two or three months, and though I went with the intention of staying there, I wasn’t certain about it,” he told FIFA.com a little sheepishly. “Let’s face it, it’s hard to have things clear in your mind when your life changes so much from one day to the next.”
A new country and an unfamiliar climate were not the only challenges facing Huff, who found himself the solitary Brazilian in a coaching team made up entirely of Ukrainians.
Yet, nearly three years on from making the move, Huff is still in Kharkiv, having since taken on the duties of assistant coach, tourist guide, translator, cultural attaché and barbeque cook, not to mention half a dozen other posts, all of which he happily spoke about in an interview with FIFA.com.
That radical transformation in his job description is one that has taken by Michel and his club by surprise. When he arrived in Ukraine no one could have foreseen he would become one of the most vital cogs in the northeastern club’s carefully planned and ambitious project.
Seeking to emulate Shakhtar Donetsk’s recent success, Metalist decided to invest in South American players in a bid to increase their standing on the domestic scene. And when they began drafting new players in, the club decided that it made sense to have Huff take charge of training sessions, given his ability to switch between Portuguese and English and mix in a little bit of Spanish, albeit on an interim basis only.
View the Original article
No comments:
Post a Comment