FFA Youth Development Review
In the midst of the FIFA Review and in the aftermath of the World Cup First Round exit, the FFA Technical Director Eric Abrams has stepped down, prompting FFA to initiate a Youth Development and Coaching Review.
However the review is not public and has been mostly kept in house with FFA staff and with ex-Socceroos acting as advisers.
The move to Asia prompted a change in playing style as well as change in Coach Accreditation and course delivery. The much maligned National Curriculum, Football Coaching Process are great documents and starting points for most beginner coaches in the country, however the FFA needs to accept responsibility for a failure to implement the National Curriculum nationally quick enough and to get buy in from the football community. The very fact that we are still discussing the National Curriculum, 1-4-3-3 etc means that the purpose was never fully understood. It was also not updated annually, or updated quick enough in line with current world football trends. The digitalisation of the document also took far too long and didn't provide enough online content or videos that beginner coaches were crying out for. In fact the current online content is still not upto sufficient standard and some has been outsourced to a third party (PDP).
These documents were followed up by the Whole of Football Plan which again was a great document but not specific enough to provide details and the practicality of how to engage all stakeholders within the football community to improve the game, and as a result was another failure.
Australia reacts very slowly to trends in the World Game - seen in last 5 years - importing Spanish coaches and players following the success of the Spanish national teams and Spanish club sides in the UEFA Champions League, Europa Cup etc, followed by more recent appointments of German coaches and players coming to the A-League following the success of German sides, and the importing of a Belgian Technical Director.
Instead we should be learning from these latest trends as they are happening or just after they have happened by sending the best Australian young players and coaches to train and observe and report back (this is part of the reason behind the success of Belgium, Germany etc). Sending coaches and players to countries that over perform based on their size such as Iceland, Denmark, Croatia, Uruguay etc may provide clues as to how we can compete beyond the first round of the World Cup with limited resources in the competitive sporting landscape that is Australia.
Using academic research and best practice instead of relying on books like Outliers, The Talent Code, No Hunger in Paradise or articles from the Guardian as your references is crucial as these are dramatised and don’t always show the full truth nor some lessons that may be vital to improve football in Australia
Questions still remain about the importance of extra training, isolated training, goalkeeping as well as modified versions of the code such as futsal and beach soccer and where all these vital elements fit into the development of players in this country. To flippantly disregard them, where they have been proven to work elsewhere is not the mindset that will develop world class players. School football is an opportunity to add value to club programs and test and use these add-ons, Abrams did have some pilot school programs which were re-badged Westfields & Maribyrnong programs that were previously successful.
Coach education is an area that to a certain extent has been successful seen by the increase in young coaches working overseas but seeing other young coaches lose out to Assistant coaches from overseas for local jobs means more needs to be done - such as increasing the hours or increasing course work through better use of online modules and attachments with professional clubs as currently FFA has failed to provide enough opportunities for football players, football coaches and football administrators nationally at an elite level that will prepare them for the game at the professional level.
This is an opportunity through this review to improve what has been built, but other Asian countries are investing more and being more proactive in making quicker changes, so we must make the right decisions now to move forward.
Happy to receive feedback - email: [email protected]
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1 年James, thanks for sharing!
Director: Rise Sports Management
5 年Hi James. Having worked in the Oceania region years ago I found the knowledge of youth coaches and indeed so called experienced coaches very limited. The trend of following Spanish, German and Belgium coaches because they have fleeting success never works and is followed all over the world, particularly here in India. Many Spanish coaches have unrecognised qualifications. Australia needs to develop its own youth programs and its own style of play. Be a leader not a follower!
Retired. Almost.
6 年I can't say this often enough. All the drills and sessions designed by academies and the national curriculum are aimed at increasing the number of touches kids get from an early age. All good. However twice a week sessions 1hr sessions are a waste. Kids in poor countries don't get that and yet, some of them produce the best players on the world. How? They get to an open space, often with no grass cover and just play with their mates. Every day! It produces players like Maradona who probably never got coached to use his right foot for anything other than for standing on. Today, some coaches might have rejected him because to get into an NPL junior squad you have to be a two footed player. It's a game! It allows room for creativity. Regimentation at an early age restricts inventiveness and imagination. Pointers is what kids need not instructions. Playing every day for more then an hour just for fun is where they get their touches. Parents in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, etc, don't pay thousands to academies that promise results they can rarely if ever, deliver. Try it. Pick a country town & organise kickabouts all summer every day Mixed ages within 5 year. Supervised by parents. Only rule is last goal wins See the results
Retired. Almost.
6 年You want to know how Uruguay does it? One of the things that helps is the fact that they have early starting schools that allows kids to play football every afternoon. They start off with playing in mixed aged groups kickabouts. Those are not organised. Just kids that think the best trick wins the session, hence the skills. In due course, talent is recognised and kids are recruited by local clubs and the very best go to the pro clubs. It's the fun element and the fact that a 12 year old is actually coaching a 7 year old as they have fun.(do this, pass it early, look for runs, pass into space, can you do this trick? etc.) Then the 12yo gets coached by the 16yo next day. (go hard into tackles, time your tackles, don't dive in, look to play forward, let's keep the ball, don't worry about what they say to you, give it back to them). When clubs get those kids, they're streetwise, they're ready for the battles and they have the swagger which comes from being good in a game they've played played 5 or 6 days a week every week since they were 5 or 6 being tested by bigger kids Encourage summer kick abouts and forget focusing on futsal. It destroys vision even if it helps with skills. They can come from playing everyday for fun.
Retired. Almost.
6 年As a coach, I tend to think you look at where you're aiming to get to with the sport and with players and then work backwards. We are going to be wasting tens of millions of dollars every four years beyond 2022 to qualify for a world Cup where, if we're successful in doing so, we'll be guaranteed what will essentially be two sudden death games. With the new format the team that loses a match on a group of three will almost always be eliminated. In 2026 it'll be a WC where you'll have to attack, score or perish. If our standard does not improve to be at least twice as good as it now is, we'll be spending those millions for a one week visit to the country/ies hosting the initial 16 groups. Unless we develop players withe kind of vision that enabled Daniel Arzani to execute that pass against Hungary that reseted in the winning own goal for Australia we will get nowhere fast. Unless we develop players with that kind of vision all over the park well never develop strikers that can see the eye of the needle and hit it to score. It's called a football brain. Players that can see the park and assess possibilities on a flash... Football for the kids starting out is just a game to have fun with not a classroom. play every day