The FFA's new National Football Curriculum requires coaches at the Junior Football level to be focussed on "development". A Junior coach who pursues "Winning" as the sole objective is of no use at all. If you sign up to coach on the basis that you will "develop" players, you are certain to find it is a hard road - but stay with it and you will find it incredibly rewarding.
You will know from an earlier post that the NPL local has introduced the ACT Under 13 Girls team and they are currently preparing for the National Youth Championships to be held in the ACT in early April. They are coached by a highly experienced Junior Football Coach - Colin Johnstone. Colin works with the CF Technical Director (Ian Shaw) and the Coach of the ACTAS Women's Program and Coach of Canberra United (Ray Junna). Colin does fantastic work at Woden Valley Soccer Club, spending large amounts of time coaching the coaches. He has also coached ACT Futsal at the last Nationals. So the ACT U13 Girls are in good hands for their National Youth Chmpionship campaign.
A parent told me they were playing a game this weekend and why not come and have a look at how they going. I went and watched this ACT rep team play a training game against an ACT Boys Selection (coached by Eddie Senatore) this morning at Kambah. Watching what they do is the acid test!
Well let me tell you, the girls are good. And the boys also played in good style. Both teams played 1-4-3-3, played out from the back and focussed on retaining possession. It was just as you would imagine a training game might be, with experienced coaches bringing the FFA National Curriculum to life. If the "technical staff" at the FFA had been running the ruler over both coaches and players, I have no doubt the score woul dhave been high for compliance with the requirement of the FFA National Curriculum. And that is really important!
But I will focus on the ACT U13 Girls.
The players were always looking to pass to a player in space, staying reasonably compact, forming triangles, making angle passes where possible and moving forward in support. Ball retention was a priority in their play. And I could go on. It was impressive. No panic, no fuss and they looked like they enjoyed the way it was going. A cohesive group of young players. So many good football habits so young!
Parents seemed to feel that they were a bit "flat" after last week's successful tournament in Bathurst. The Coach seemed to feel this was true, at half time made some careful remarks and they made the adjustments. No ranting and raving from the sidleine, just well timed adivce during play and let the players work it through and solve the problems. The game was the teacher and the Coach was the mentor and guide in the process. It was enjoyable to watch. Good self realisation among the young players, appropriate and patient coaching corrections and the players demonstrating an ability to excute the changes during the game. They may have been tired, but I thought it was impressive.
I left happy, it was an excellent start to a day of watching football and I felt that I had been well entertained by two teams of good young ACT players. Then I thought about the Parents - there was none of that mindless verbal coaching advice from the sideline. They watched and gave encourgement, preferring just let the Coach and players get on with the game. They would get their childern back when the Coach had finished his work after the warm down.
Something else had to be happening here!
And so it was. The Coach provided me with an email he sent to all the Parents. Colin engaged the entire playing squad in his task - players, parents and supporters. He made it cyrstal clear how he would approach his football task, what he expected from players and parents, and finally, made it clear that he expected their individual and collective support. One footballing purpose - develop! One team! One Coach!
It reminded me of the group of parents that supported the WA Under 13 Boys team who played such wonderful football at the 2009 Nationals. Coach, players and parents were of one mind and purpose. And it was about "developing" the young players. The same could not be said for the ACT team at that time. We have come a long way in a short time - at least for the U13 Girls!
Then it struck me - we really are beginning to change things by example. Colin makes the observation "a good football culture". That's it! And changing "culture" in any context is a long term process and you must always be vigilant.
Read Colin's email to his squad, It speaks for itself and follow his example. You may not "win" everything, who knows, but you will certainly "develop" good young players and good citizens!
I have no idea whether the ACT U13 Gilrs will "win" at the Nationals, but I know what they are experiencing is good and directly in line with the FFA National Curriculum and I know something else - they will "triumph"!
ACT 13G
The purpose of the Bathurst weekend is to continue building the team and give the girls experience in a short tournament against strong opposition. We can expect very hard games against U14 country representative, NSW State League and NSW Premier League teams on both days.
Like the nationals, it will be treated as a development tournament.
All players will receive plenty of game time and as a team we will be committed to playing good football with the emphasis on how well we play, not on results.
The aim is to encourage player and team development towards a good football style of play based on effective possession, playing out from the back, building flexible attacks through the midfield predominantly through short passing.
To reinforce learning of good technical and tactical skills and habits over a period of time (years), players need to consistently try to play the right way regardless of the score or match situation. One of the game's real tests at any level is how well players and teams respond and perform when under pressure on the pitch and on the scoreboard.
At the nationals, in addition to the normal competition points system for wins, draws and losses, Football Federation Australia will award bonus points to teams that play the best style of football as defined by the national curriculum and assessed by technical staff at the championships. One of our goals is to be the best team we can be at keeping the ball, playing out from the back, continually moving the ball to players in space and building attacks predominantly through the short passing game.
Working towards this goal has already started, but will be tested and highlighted this weekend at Bathurst in a competitive environment against strong opponents.
The goalkeepers will be expected to mostly play quick balls to any of the backs in space. In turn, the backs should try to play balls into the midfield and then push forward to provide support to their team mate in possession. Very rarely should we see clearing kicks from the back or long balls for the forwards to chase. As much as possible, and even when under pressure in our own half, we will try to keep possession and play forward moving the ball around with short, angled passes.
The development of a 'good football culture' within a team comes when the coach, manager, players and parents are all aligned with the same goals, support each other and pull in the same direction.
Everyone needs to understand and accept that, along with learning this style of play comes risks of losing the ball in our half which can lead to the opposition creating more scoring chances. The challenge is to persevere with this approach even while under pressure and not become anxious about the risk of conceding goals when inevitably mistakes will be made and we can't always keep the ball.
Your total support is appreciated and expected.
- No instruction from parents during games is allowed. Relax, enjoy the game and just let the girls play. Low key encouragement and support is what they need most.
- Be relaxed when we sometimes lose the ball when trying to play out from the back and through the midfield. We know it will happen. It's a normal part of learning. We must be patient.
- Don't focus on the score, the results and the competition. Instead, focus on the girls efforts to play good football and applaud it as much as when we do score or stop goals being scored against us.
This can sometimes be challenging to parents and supporters as it goes against our natural urge to win but a supporting culture that understands and promotes this philosophy, leads by example and fully supports the goals of the team will greatly benefit your daughter, the team and their long term football development.
Thank you for your support.
Colin
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