Giovanni Savarese couldn’t wait to add to his growing notebook.



The Venezuelan forward would show up to training as a young player for Caracas-based Deportivo Italian not knowing what to expect. His coaches would often treat him to training sessions that were, in Savarese’s estimation, “outside of the box.” As a teenaged player, Savarese would record details of every training session in a notebook, and would spend hours afterwards trying to unpack the meaning behind each exercise.



At a time in his career when many young players are more concerned with establishing their footing in the squad, Savarese couldn’t contain his interest in coaching. He was never satisfied just hearing the decisions his coaches would make. He wanted to understand them.



“At that point I always felt like learning about the game, and teaching the game, was something I was going to do at some point,” said Savarese.



Throughout his 18-year...