Nearpost Football: junior football

Showing posts with label junior football. Show all posts

Showing posts with label junior football. Show all posts

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

USA 3 Australia 1

News just in from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

And the reason for this result:

Americans were more technical - Coach Landon Donovan said, "we've been doing small sided games to death - not the mickey mouse version you have in the Land Down Under.

In 2011 we had:

Great (for the US) to see us using very small SSG for the different ages. Guess you Aussies couldn't come at it - not properly.

3v3 U8

6v6 U10

9v9 U12

11v11 U14

You guys, used the Dutch model, with an Aussie twang and it was half-baked.

Nice try...see you at the next World Cup.....maybe!

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

Majura FC newsletter

I edit my local club newsletter; and here it is!

Open publication - Free publishing - More majura fc

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Majura Newsletter: World Cup Edition

I edit my local junior football club, Majura FC's newsletter and here it is. Kai Thornton's, (aged 12), World Cup quiz is worth a look for kids of all ages. Feel free to use it on your websites but please acknowledge Kai and your source.

Open publication - Free publishing - More soccer

Thursday, 4 March 2010

Majura FC setting the standard?

Is there a better junior sports newsletter in the country? I'd like to know. Please forward a link to any newsletter from any sport even the AFL, League etc

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Nearpost Canberra show

Peter Funnell writes:

This weeks program covers two very interesting themes – but related! What is a football curriculum anyway? The US organisation SoccerPlus FC has some very useful information.

Then we move to someone who has a lot of interesting things about building a footballer and being a coach. None other than Arsene Wenger, coach of Arsenal FC.

Download local show

The Futsal Nationals are underway in the ACT this week and we have a lot of young players representing the ACT. There is a galaxy of good games to go to, mens, womens, boys, girls, junior, youth, open, the lot and from all states in Australia. Go to Futsal Nationals for all the draws, times, locations and scores – pick a game and go and see it.

The program covers two very interesting themes – but related! What is a football curriculum anyway? The US organisation SoccerPlus FC has some very useful information.

Does your club or your age group in the High Performance program have a detailed curriculum they can produce for you to consider? And I don’t mean a few scratching on a scrap of paper or a few generalities, phrases, colloquial expressions! Ask them! If we want a technical revolution, there needs to be detailed planning and documention and resources available to be used and evaluated and amended as we go forward. How else can you make it work? . Given the new FFA National Curriculum, we need to start seeing this sort of detail emerge and quickly if coaches, players and parents are to make any meaningful use of the glossy FFA publication. In our case, it starts with our peak body, Capital Football, the Premier League clubs and the major Junior Clubs in the ACT. Then of course we go to “periodised training programs”, but that’s another story. This is one that the Near Post is only just beginning to get it’s teeth into in 2010. More to come.

Then we move to someone who has a lot of interesting things about building a footballer and being a coach. None other than Arsene Wenger, coach of Arsenal FC.

This coach knows plenty and all of it is applicable to all of us at every level of football in the ACT. We learn form the best at every level.

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Nearpost World Cup Draw and young players transfers

Download

We cover the World Cup Draw, why the AFL Leader is an idiot, all the W-League Semi Final coverage and of course the unleashing of Australia's new full-back Troy Hearfield and are Sydney back, is Aloisi really back, will The Jets win three in a row, can the Mariners do it again and Andrew Baresic follows Ned Zelic, Joe Simunic, Stephen Lustica and Kofi Danning all from the same Junior Canberra Club.

Hear it all here.

And locally Peter Funnell has another stunning show on one of Football's hot topics.

This week we have a special edition on the “International transfer of young players”. All players under 18 years of age will not be granted an international transfer to join and play for overseas football clubs.

In this special on this important subject we hear from the President of FIFA, The President of the English Professional Footballers Association, the CEO of the Australian Professional Footballers Association, FFA Head of National Teams and Development and the father of a young Australian Player (aged 16 years) who is currently with an EPL Academy but has clearance to play. If you have a young player who wishes to pursue professional football, you need to hear this program.

Download

Thursday, 13 August 2009

NSW HP PRogram: It's free

Launched last night and apparently it's free so I'm told.

Saturday, 18 July 2009

How many boys in your girls team?

PASCOE Vale soccer club says it was just making up the numbers when three boys helped to win a junior girls' match.

Just love junior football don't ya. If we're not slagging the ref, the opposing coach or worse still our own players, we're manipulating the offsides, teaching our kids to foul but this Melbourne club takes the annual award I reckon.

Talk about taking winning seriously....gotta larf at this Melbourne Club. They put three boys in their Under 12 girls team and won the game.

PASCOE Vale soccer club says it was just making up the numbers when three boys helped to win a junior girls' match.

But its opponents insist the club had 15 players and up to four girls on the bench at any one time.

Sandringham City complained after Pascoe Vale fielded three boys in its Under 12A girls game on June 28, which Pascoe Vale won 2-1.

A boy kicked the winning goal with what was described as an "unbelievably super-hard kick".

While Sandringham Soccer Club said the result was not important, it wants Football Federation Victoria to close a loophole allowing boys and men to play in girls' and womens' teams.

Pascoe Vale Soccer Club refused to comment yesterday, emailing a brief statement at 11.08pm.

In it, club president Lou Tona said he was disappointed it had been insinuated that the team fielded boys to try and win the game.

"I strongly deny that this was the agenda ... if the boys did not play the game, it would not have gone ahead,'' he said.

"We are very comfortable that all the work and communication required had taken place before the game, and had Sandringham not been happy with that they could have not started the game, In fact we were prepared to forfeit that game if required.

"The bottom line is that there was an under-12 game to be played and our club did everything it could for that to happen.

"It is also quite disappointing that the girl players in our team have been totally disregarded for this match and that the points have become the main focus.

Sandringham officials insisted they were not at any stage asked permission for the boys to play and that Pascoe Vale had more than a full team of 11 without the boys.

The officials said they complained to the referee several times but did not forfeit as it would have cost their team $500 and a 3-0 loss.

Football Federation Victoria's Junior Standing Committee will meet on Monday to discuss the issue and push for the loophole to be closed.

The organisation says it will look at the issue, probably for the 2010 season, but junior standing committee chairperson Graeme Smith insists action is needed now to prevent further problems.

He wants the FFV to apply to the Equal Opportunity Commission to have boys excluded from girls' comps.

"It's wrong. It's a win at all costs mentality," he said.

"These boys are more experienced, they're stronger, they're rougher. I don't blame the kids at all. It's the parents and the officials that do this.

"The three boys wouldn't have come up and said 'We want to play today in the under-12 girls'.

"This win at all costs attitude is really detrimental to the development of kids."

The loss could cost Sandringham City, known as The Matildas, the premiership, which is decided on ladder position.

But Sandringham officials said losing the game was not the issue.

Coach Georg Robers said his girls felt intimidated and did not want to play against the boys.

"One girl was really upset. She was tackled very hard (by the boys). I think the FFV should show leadership on this issue," he said.

Sandringham girls co-ordinator Ken Montgomery said he complained to the referee but there was nothing he could do.

"The way it is at the moment any club could do that to gain an unfair advantage," he said.

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Er just quietly Canberra down Queensland

Powerhouse in women's football Queensland got beat by the ACT in the Under 15 Championship which started on Saturday.

Under 15 Girls – Group B: Capital Football 3 (G Yeoman-Dale 8’/39’, H Wilkins 56’) Queensland 2 (C Teveluwe 13’, B Lewis 55’), NSW Metro 16 (R Soutar 12’/17’, D Osman 13’/25’/44’, H Makrillos 31’/33’/39’/40’/42’/43’/46’/49’, C Fitzharris 39’, S Brown 55’, C Sciberras 58’) Northern Territory 0

WESTFIELD NATIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR GIRLS 2009

BCU INTERNATIONAL STADIUM, COFFS HARBOUR

Results Day 1 – Saturday 11th July, 2009

Under 15 Girls – Group A: Football West 1 (T Eastman 11’) Tasmania 0, Northern NSW 3 (M Parfitt 9’, C Smith 25’, S Stapleford 33’) South Australia 0

Under 15 Girls – Group B: Capital Football 3 (G Yeoman-Dale 8’/39’, H Wilkins 56’) Queensland 2 (C Teveluwe 13’, B Lewis 55’), NSW Metro 16 (R Soutar 12’/17’, D Osman 13’/25’/44’, H Makrillos 31’/33’/39’/40’/42’/43’/46’/49’, C Fitzharris 39’, S Brown 55’, C Sciberras 58’) Northern Territory 0

Under 17 Girls – Group A: NSW Country 1 (L Lloyd-Jones 51’) Football West 0, Queensland 2 ( B Whitfield 43’, 70’) Tasmania 0

Under 17 Girls – Group B: Northern NSW 11 (L Hudson 3’/17’, R Dobson 10’/15’/25’/69’, G Burt 22’, M Sochacki 23’, G Pearce 42’, 53’, A Harris 60’) Northern Territory 0, NSW Metro 2 (A Horafios 19’, F Urkanci 24’) Victoria 2 (J Nicolaci 34’, L Donnelly (og) 28’).

Monday, 22 June 2009

FFA: But how do our children benefit?

The FFA Technical Report, on the FFA website this week, it's a great start, but it's already taking us backwards..for the most important people...our children...particularly the 99% who will never play for Australia.

In Canberra we've been playing small-sided games for a number of years. In particular Under 10's play 7 v 7. Works well, really well. And in a few years you can see improved players moving into Under 11's with a heap more skill across the board than previous generations.

But the FFA are going to change this age group BACK to 9 v 9. They are joking.

And there is only one reason and one reason only why they could be doing it. They are clearly focussed on the elite, the top-end of our players...ie the one per cent.

Most of our players...maybe 97% of boys and girls are technically challenged and need the games, the very small sided games the FFA argued for, to be maintained.

Few if any boys teams, and I would maintain no current girls team in Australia will benefit from this change.

Why?

Well I've watched 9 v 9 last year, and 7 v 7 this year with Under 10's. The technical ability of our players will clearly improve if we continue in the smaller games.

If, and it's big if, if all players are playing from the age of 6 or 7 and doing the so-called 3 sessions per week PLUS a game when they are 8 or 9 then clearly they may be able to move to 9 v 9.

But no-one in Canberra, or I suspect Australia is doing this. And I'd dare to suggest no club will do this in coming years. Certainly not in numbers across a club, a city or region to enable the players to step-up to 9 v 9.

Aussie kids, the huge majority need skill improvement, they need small sided games maintained as long as possible.

Can anyone tell me how any child in Australia will benefit from switching to 9 v 9 games. Will any player become technically better?

So why are we doing it.

For the small elite pool of players that we need to tear each others guts out so they can trample over each other to get into the all new Aussie boys and girls under 13 side. A requirement of joining with Asia.

Clearly to play well at the 13 age group the FFA need players playing in bigger side games as early as possible so position and tactical awareness can begin to be entrenched.

But clearly the majority of our players will be dis-advantaged by this change.

Love to hear the logic for the change, and love to hear it while you're walking around my local club, some 1200 players, and look at the quality, some stars, some athletes, some beginners, and some challenged by that whole kicking thing.

Will they benefit from the change?

No.

Sunday, 10 May 2009

Club Newsletter.

I've taken on my local junior club's newsletter where my daughter plays.

Happy for any comments, positive, negative or thoughts on how a club newsletter club be improved, what would you like to see at your club etc..

Open publication - Free publishing - More soccer

Sunday, 3 May 2009

The Junior Coach is vital.

In my view any Coach taking on a junior team is a hero.

That said who you get as a Coach impacts on your learning, development and enjoyment.
Imagine being coached Piano by someone who had never played or learnt a note! And imagine paying for that!

Watching three teams warm up in the Under 9's this weekend was interesting.

Team 1: The Coach did 20 minutes of passing, dribbling and various ball centred drills. Each kid having their own ball.

Team 2: Also did 15 minutes warm-up or so. One ball, all players in a line and each player got to shoot about 5 or 6 times before the game started.

Team 3: Coach was delighted everyone got to the pitch before kick-off and handed out the shirts just before the whistle blew.

Imagine this has been going on with the three teams for the last three years...which players would you expect to have improved, natural ability aside, the most. No brainer innit.

Now when you see how many boys and girls can't pass with the side of their foot (both feet), the most basic football skill, by the age of twelve, you really wonder how it is possible that a child playing football for so long can't perform this simple task.

Well as I watched the warm-up scenarios for the teams above.....I guess I have my answer.

Of course they could all be getting great practice in training....I doubt it.

You also wonder given the lack of skilled coaches across our clubs, and lets face it with 12,000 juniors it is not possible for every team to have a good football coach if there is a better way.

If anyone knows of one being implemented at their club....let me know.

Thursday, 30 April 2009

Junior Football: It's back

How long before you hear one of these comments:

Loitering, yes we're talking about the lazy striker planted by the other coach.
Small Sided Games...whatderyermean it's good for em, just boot it will ya.
Hey Ref...where's your specks.
Hey Coach..what about my son..oh so I am the Coach now!
Who's got the whistle, any whistle.
That didn't go in, where's the net.
He's offside I'm telling youse. What is offside anyway?
Don't dribble it, pass it (to my kid)
I'll be back, what time does the game finish?

Oh yes Junior Football is back, over 12,000 kids in Canberra will do their best, can't wait....but steel yourself..and not just for the early starts and cold mornings.

May the kid have fun.

And remember the Ref's, the Coach and the Club Volunteers..it's only a game and we need them everyone of them and more.

Canberra boys: Not good enough?

Canberra has produced a number of Socceroos, A-League players and currently has 4 Canberrans in the Joeys squad.

So when they announced the first Under 13 boys Australian team ever....thirty spots mind you..I felt sure with thousands of kids playing football, Coerver Coaching, and various Academy and Clinics around town surely we'd be able to get one or maybe two players into the squad.

Our kids have never had so much coaching....

But not one made the list of 30....oh well, not all is lost, the local lads can always transfer to AFL, League and Union..where the skill set is less demanding.

Qantas Australian Under 13 Boys Squad Selected for Training Camp

Qantas Australian Under 13 Boys Head Coach, Ante Juric has selected thirty (30) players to participate in a training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra from 7-10 May 2009.

From this training camp, a final squad of twenty two (22) players, will be selected to represent Australia at the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under 13 Boys – Festival of Football which will be held in Sabah, Malaysia from 24 May to 6 June 2009.

Juric, along with Football Federation Australia (FFA) National Technical Director Han Berger, selected the squad from the recent 2009 FFA National Junior Championships in Canberra.

Juric was impressed by the standard of players and is excited about selecting the final squad of players.

“The players at the National Junior Championships had very good technical ability and game sense, in that they were very aware of the positions they were meant to be in.

“During camp, we will focus on intense game play and formation. It will also be important for the boys to get to know each other, as we will have only a limited of time together before the tournament starts.

“For the final 22 that are selected, the opportunity to play at an overseas tournament, like the AFC Festival of Football, is huge in terms of their development and experience,” concluded Juric.

FFA Technical Director Han Berger was also pleased with the process for selecting Australian Football's youngest ever national team.

"I was positively surprised by the skill level of players at the championships.

"The players in the squad have been selected based on their technical ability and potential and not necessarily their physical development as that will happen in due course anyway.

"This is one example of a new National Curriculum that FFA will be introducing over the coming months in regard to identifying and developing talented players," concluded Berger.

-ends-

Qantas Australian Under 13 Boys Football Team
Training Camp
7-10 May 2009, Australian Institute of Sport, Bruce, ACT

Leo Athanasiou (Cockburn City/ WA), Thomas Beadling (Perth SC/ WA), Richard Blanco (Sutherland Sharks/ NSW), Jordan Brown (Monash City JSC/ VIC), Noah Chianese (Blacktown City Demons/ NSW), Daniel De Silva (Stirling Lions/ WA), Jerome Dunphy (Noarlunga/ SA), Vincent Giannini (Sydney Olympic/ NSW), Pasquale Gioffre (ECU Joondalup/ WA), Thomas Hector (Adelaide City/ SA), Benjamin Hombert (Inglewood/ WA), Adrian Lara (Sydney Olympic/ NSW), Anthony Laus (Melbourne Knights/ VIC), Brandon Lundy (Manly United/ NSW), Kevin Ly (Blacktown City Demons/ NSW), Dimitar Mitkov (South Melbourne JFC/ VIC), Jordan Nadalin (Blacktown City Demons/ NSW), Aiden Naughton (North QLD Football/ QLD), Matthew Ntoumenopoulos (ECU Joondalup/ WA), Conor O'Neill (The Gap/ QLD), Reece Papadimitrios (Newcastle Football/ NNSW), Milos Ridesic (South Melbourne JFC/ VIC), Christopher Skull (Birkalla West Torrance/ SA), Lewis Smirlis (South Melbourne JFC/ VIC), Haralambos Stamboulidis (Essendon Royals JSC/ VIC), Jordan Thurtell (Sunshine Coast Football/ QLD), Okan Nabi Tuna (Richmond SC / VIC), Dylan Vandenberg (Wollongong FC/ NSW), Jaiden Walker (South Lismore/ NNSW) and Benjamin Warland (Campbelltown/ SA).

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

Football: Most popular in which State or Territory?

It's Canberra of course..with the highest percentage of registered players. Surely a base to build long-term local football support for an A-League side...

but NSW have 232,000 players whereas Victoria has just 37,000 players. Now we know the Vic's won't allocate pitches to football, away from their beloved AFL but the difference in numbers between the two states is incredible. See numbers below.

The FFA 2008 Annual Report shows the players per state and if you add the NSW & ACT player number you get 58% of Australia’s total player numbers refer to the chart below. http://www.producegroup.com.au/docs/ffa_fact_sheet.pdf

State ......Player No....... % per State..... Aus Pop ........% of pop
NSW ....... 232,897 ............... 55% ...... 6,967,200 ...... 3.34%
QLD ..........65,270 ............... 15% ...... 4,279,411........ 1.53%
ACT ......... 13,147 ................. 3% ........ 344,200 ........3.82%
TAS ......... 13,579 ............... 3% ......... 498,200......... 2.73%
VIC .......... 37,964............... 9% ........5,927,600 ......... 0.64%
WA .......... 32,117 .............. 8% ....... 2,163,200 ..........1.48%
SA ........... 25,365 .............. 6% .......1,601,800 ...........1.58%
NT ..............2,773 ...............1% ........ 219,900 ...........1.26%
Total ........423,112 ...........................22,001,511 .........1.92%

Sunday, 19 April 2009

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

Tuesday, 14 April 2009

Is this your dream job?

Imagine teaching football all week. Not a bad job if you are a teacher!
Imagine Coaching a National League side, throw in an FFA Scholarship which includes an annual trip overseas to find a mentor, National Under 14 Selector, and Assistant to the first Australian Under 14 team heading to Vietnam in June.

This is the life of Perth Glory W-League Coach Nicola Williams and she's just 26.

http://www.lynwood.wa.edu.au/ is where Nicola teaches; and check out Lynwood high School in West Australia. Itis one of five high schools in the West with a football program.

If you get into the football program you get to do 5 hours football a week in school time. That's more than Canberra's weekly Academy training program....in school time!

Time for Canberra to match or improve on the West? I'm sure we can. We just need a Public School with vision and energy.

Now anyone know a teacher in a High School with a passion for kids, education and football.

Monday, 13 April 2009

Aussie football: It's too expensive

FFA Technical Director Han Berger talking at the National Junior Championships in Canberra yesterday said there is a chapter in the National Curriculum (coming soon) about the financial barrier for football.

Football became the World's game because it's so easily accessible for everyone, rich or poor, everyone can play. So if there is a financial barrier, which I think there is in Australia, we have to do something about it and make football accessibly for everyone

Amen Brother!

Sunday, 12 April 2009

Heading to England for a trial? Good luck.

There seem to be an increasing number of stories of young Aussie kids been "tapped on the shoulder" and then asked to pay to go and trial in England. The boys/families thinking they maybe onto something good...well let's put it in perspective.

10,000 boys trial in the UK every year for positions in the EPL, Championship, Div 1 and Div 2.....getting a trial is not hard.

Of these 3% are signed up.

Of these only 3% ever get more than 3 years pay from football.

So before you pay someone to get you a trial consider this.
Did Viduka, Kewell or Emerton have to pay for a trial in England/Europe?

And also what is in it for the guy "recommending you?"

Thursday, 9 April 2009

Easter is a great time to bonk......

No I haven't gone mad..research shows if you want your kid to succeed at football in Australia or indeed any other sport this weekend could be the one.

The next and newest Australian National teams are about to be picked. Australia Under 13 girls and Under 14 for boys! With the girls heading to Vietnam and the boys to Malaysia in the coming months, both historic sides will be picked from the week long tournaments which take place in Canberra this weekend.......

But what has this got to do with bonking?

Scholars of the game, who have studied national teams across the globe of ALL ages, found that most players were born in the first half of the year.

In Australia's case all players play in age ranges that start at the beginning of any given calender year.

For example take my daughter. She's ten.

In her class, year 5 at school, she goes quite well and today was her Cross-Country Carnival.

It's a small group say 25 girls but twenty of her class mates were born in 1998 so she doesn't run against them. Some of them are eight months older than her. So given she's only been running for about 5 years, eight months is a lot of extra development in terms of lung, and muscle capacity.

But my daughter is born in January 1999. Thank the Lord and no it wasn't planned! So she gets to run with the five or so kids who were born in 1999 from her class and another 20 or so from the younger class. School Class years start April/May in Australia, but sport rep teams run from Jan/Dec.

So when compared to a kid who is born in November 1999 she has 11 months..or nearly a full year of additional development. In a physical sense this is huge....genetics aside.

So come to football.

A player born in January has a much better chance of getting into a Rep side than a player born in December.

It's simple isn't it.

Two players of similar ability. The one who is older will have more time to develop therefore is more likely to get chosen in the Grade A Club side and likewise the Youngest Representative sides.

So what you might say.

But as we all know these kids benefit from the best coaches at Club and State Level. You'd expect their skills and physique to improve at a faster rate than the younger kids who missed out....and when the next selection camp comes the following year given they've had an extra years quality training...they'll probably get picked again..and again.

At any age, 11, 14, 17 or 20 a player born in January will have almost a full years further development in terms of physique, motor skills and practice therefore it is no surprise to see the national rep sides of ALL countries full of players born in the first six months of any year.

So if your kid is born from August-December forget your Aussie sport and make sure they study at school or failing that try for another kid...this weekend.

For the record my daughter won her race today!

And of course there are always exceptions...just not as many as you might think.

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