Capital Football Academy: Value for Money?
Questions raised after National Championships by one onlooker.
The National Under 13 Boys competition finished yesterday. Girls and Boys results below. Also below is a post from one "Anonymous" poster.
I have no view on the Capital Football Academy of any real expertise or depth so I won't comment.
But the person who wrote this clearly does and the questions raised are in my view not unreasonable, indeed should be discussed and answered after every National Champs or end of season review.
I'm sure they are.
Anyway thought it was worth posting in full in it's own blog so read below.
Cap Football Tech Director Ian Shaw will be on the Nearpost Radio in a couple of weeks so we'll go through some of these thoughts with him. And indeed if you have any others please email or post to the blog.
From Mr Anonymous:
The Natonal U13 Boys competition is over and there was a lot of terrific talent on display among the teams and a lot of first rate football games.
Sadly, the ACT team were an example of neither of these.
It must have been a hard week for these young ACT players. The best that can be said is that they were playing the same at the end as they were at the start. Someone is bound to say something empty headed like "its character building" or " they'll be better players for it". Not likely, and lets hope they have good seasons with their clubs.
Capitol football must as a matter of urgency, must review the Capitol football Academy structure and in particular, the U11 / 12 and 13 Boys age groups. What they are doing isn't working and if they do the same for next nationals as they have for this one, we may anticipated the same outcome. In which case, don't bother to send your chidlren to the U11, 12 13 age groups, and certainly not for the outrageous fees they charge.
Has it ever occurred to those that run Capitol Football that the price they put upon attendance at the academy is descriminatory? Because it is.
Any review of this nationals performance must look closely at the conduct of the U11 / 12 squads, because the U13's for next season are likely to come from this group if nothing else changes at the Academy.
Capitol Football should speak to as many parents as possible from these ages groups to establish their feelings on the quality and usefulness of the programs to date. A very hard headed and independent technical review should be done of the programs being conducted with these young players, and importantly, examine whether the coaching staff up to the task and in sufficient numbers to do anything that approximates "development", as opposed to endless "games" with precious little feedback. If results speak for anything, there is regrettably. every reason to think they are not.
The much used and often abused word "curriculum" springs to mind. More observed by the ommission than the observance one suspects.
The coaching staff of the U11 to the U13 players own this result far more than the players.
It all leads to one big question - what sort of "academy" should we have for U11 - 13 players?
The U13 boys are clearly not to an acceptable standard and that was there for everyone to see from around the nation. It says more of Capitol Football and their Academy system than it does about a group of young boys, who must have started as proud as punch to be an ACT representative player.
Capitol football owns this outcome. Lets see if they are up to fixing it.
The ACT U13 boys last game was against Tasmania, a team who till today's game had faired no better the the ACT. I had not seen Tasmania play this Nationals, but those I knew that had, remarked that they were not a bad team.
I attended the ACT's last game in the hope that they would find there way to victory. To that point they had not been much of a team to watch.
Before kickoff parents told me that the ACT coach had been given a suspension of one match for abusing a referree's assistant. New coach at the controls. Not a good start. A number of players in the team looked like they were playing in different positions, which was curious adjustment. But the "new" coach may have had new ideas or perhaps the collective brains trust at Capitol Football had simply run out of ideas? Talk about your chickens coming home to roost! Who really knows, but it seemed to this observer that giving the lads a few new variables in the last game was either inspired or a desperate gamble.How many times do we see this in football. It so often fails and all that some care to talk of is the rare game when it worked. As they say "hope is not a method'! Nor was it today.
As I watched I found it hard to believe Tasmania hadn't won more games. This game went the way of the rest of them for the ACT - they lost and never really liked they were a threat. That left Tasmania second last and ACT dead last.
Conclusion: Tasmania was the entry level to this competition and the ACT fell well short.
It's no good blaming the young players. That's not say that the players should be excused poor football - but they are young and prone to error. That's what is important about the quality of their preparation.
Captiol Football and their academy carries the weight on this one. They failed to identify and prepare the players for a very competitive environment and as a consequence, the players were not "developed" as Capitol Football said they would be.
It will be interesting to hear Capitol Football's analysis and explanation for this unsatisfactory performance, and how they intend to ensure they have a more competitive squad in future nationals.
Perhaps Capitol Football could refund the parents in the U11/ 12 and 13 squads the fees they have paid. Job not done!
Under 13 Boys
Western Australia 5 (B. Hombert 1’, P. Mckee 26’, 39’, D. De Silva 32’, G. Crawley 42’) Tasmania 0, Queensland 2 (M. Willet 8’, R. Dalton 9’) Northern NSW 0, New South Wales 2 (B. Appiah 3’, G. Camera 7’) Victoria 0, South Australia 3 (B. Warland 13’, 24’, D. Smith 30’) ACT 0
Boys 13 P Pts
New South Wales* 7 21
Victoria 7 16
Queensland 7 13
South Australia 7 13
Western Australia 7 10
Northern NSW 7 6
ACT 7 1
Tasmania 7 1
*New South Wales win Boys 13 National Junior title
Under 14 Girls
Queensland 3 (I. Wyman 10’, S. Boller 12’, S. Maguire 21’) Western Australia 1 (K. Stanbridge 46’), South Australia 0 Victoria 0, Northern NSW 1 (A. Jones 24’) ACT 0, New South Wales - Bye
Girls 14PWDLFAGDPts
New South Wales*651080816
Northern NSW6420102814
Queensland62137707
South Australia621339-67
ACT61324316
Victoria613256-16
Western Australia6015111-101
*New South Wales win Girls 14 National Junior title
6 comments:
In my previous post I mentioned that the ACT played its last game against Tasmania. Not correct, they played against SA. My apologies. Remaining comments stand. The ACT played against Tasmania the previous day and a draw was the result. Tasmania really were the entry level this year. The ACT were below it.
I offer some further observations, though not original, as many spectators commented upon them during the competition.
The WA team was a delight to watch. They were a very skillful, but fell to a strong NSW team by 5: nil. A big surprise given their previous matches. It was match that was very instructive, and spoke in many ways to "development" of young players around this age group. The WA coach insisted his team play out from the back on any Goalie restart. The goalie never kicked long. According to the parents of the boys, this was a very specific instruction from the coach, one he would not budge on and his reason was cogent - this competition was about "developing" his players. That is not to say they did not play to win - they did. To that end he wanted them retaining possession and playing the ball. It was hard road against NSW, who clearly understood his tactical preference and pressed WA unmercifully, causing great difficulty for them. WA were not permitted to relieve the pressure and kick long to transfer the game out of their defensive third and so the great majority of the game was played deep in the WA half of the field. As I watched I thought that the WA team had passed from "development" to something other than that. But I had reason to rethink that notion, as the parents of the WA boys near me, while not entirely comfortable (and pretty football savvy) understood their coach's position. The WA team lost the next two games and it seemd to me that thier buffetting by NSW had shaken their confidence. They lost any chance of winning the competition, but they did regain their composure and play wonderful football int helast matches. So, perhaps the WA coach has a point.
The question that this situation prevokes for U13 players, is just what constitutes "development" in the context of a national competition at this age group. Allowing the boys to follow their instincts or giving them simple and workable tactical solutions to get them out of common on field difficulties must surely also be part of the development process. In the context of a national competition, winning must count for something.
For NSW there seemed no such confusion or sublty of approach. They went for the win, had a good proportion of large-for-age boys, skillful enough to do the job (though not more so than some other teams), tactically savvy and a composure that belied their young age. And they got better the further they went. That is surely "development" as well.
These and other approaches should inform Capitol Football when the reflect on the ACT team's performance. Because the sad reality is that the word "development" just does fit with the outcomes of the ACT team. And this leads us to the front door of the Capitol Football Academy and from there - well who knows where.
Unfortunately it's sad but having also witnessed the ACT U13 boys team play this week I have to agree with the first Anonymous. I felt sorry for those boys who were obviously trying to do their best. It looked like a team that had not been prepared properly for such a tournament, with no tactical know how either in attack or defence, and unfortunately some of the boys were also not technically good enough for this level nor fit enough. They were clearly the worst team at the championships despite finishing in front of Tasmania on goal difference. When I think of the talent that one sees on any given Saturday in these age groups you have to wonder what has gone on here. I also have to say that the coach's behaviour towards the referees is clearly not acceptable - maybe he was the problem? But I don't think that explains it all - Capital Football Academy needs to look at its selection processes and preparation methods because it is clearly not attracting or selecting the best talent nor is it preparing those boys well enough to have any hope of competing at this level. Yes Capital Football needs to take a long hard look at itself (something it's not renowned for)because this wasn't good enough, nowhere near it. Heather Reid - time to act. Anonymous 2.
On reflection probably the perceptions are too harsh. Maybe ACT just came up against some very good teams (and many from much bigger states) during the week and perceptions of ACT's performance are coloured disproportionately by direct comparisons. I'm also sure that Capital Football does have the desire to do better, and if things need to be done differently then I'm sure that Capital Football will do whatever it takes to improve ACT's performances next time. Anomymous 2.
Is there an academy program for the U14 girls in the ACT? If so - what the approximate costs?
$1300 a year approx I think.
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