ACT Under 13 Boys Nationals Campaign Finished - Where To From Here?

The FFA's Under 13 Boy's Nationals finished on Saturday.

The good news for the ACT team is that most who observed the ACT team this year concluded that by comparison to  last year's efforts by the ACT, there had been substantial improvement. The boys gave their best. It was not an easy tournament.

Here is the final position in Group B (which included the ACT team):

Group B                      P    W   D    L    F    A    GD    BP    Pts

1. NSW Metropolitan   5    5     0     0    14   3     +11   5       20

2. NSW Country          5    3     1     1      9   4      +5    3       13

3. Tasmania                  5    3     0     2    18  11     +7    1       10
4. ACT                        5    2     1     2      5    7      -2    nil       7
5. Victoria Country       5    1     0     4      7    8      -1     nil       3
6. Northern Territory    5    0     0     5      4  24     -20    nil       0

Three ACT boys were selected to play in the All Stars exhibition match against the winner of Group B:

• Nathan Alfernik (gk)
• George Timopheou
• Thomas Milicevic

 It's time to reflect on the way ahead to next year's Nationals!

The good news for participation at the Under 13 Boys age group is that most who observed the ACT team this year concluded that by comparison to last year's efforts by the ACT, there had been substantial improvement. Is it enough?
  

It would be easy to say that this conclusion is little more than damning by faint praise - but this is not so, for the following reasons:

• It was so very important that fundamental improvement be evident in 2010, as this was the first Nationals in this age group under the direct influence of the FFA's National Football Curriculum
• The Nationals were for the first time, heavily assessed for technical performance and points awarded to reflect the degree of complaince with the FFA's techncial requirements
• The assessment by the FFA's Technical Assessment Group is directed at Coaches as well as players and team performance
• Capital Football's first full cycle of the High Performance Program is yet to conclude, introduced as it was by direction of the FFA to give life to the National Curriculum and replace the Capital Football Academy system.
• The pool of available talent in the ACT is not large, clearly much smaller than many States and that suggests that identifying and developing them may of necessity, need to be more comprehensive / careful over the age groups that preceed Under 13 than other States. Such a system does not yet exist. Is a smaller number of players a satisfatory answer to all the issues or is it an excuse? One thing is obvious - careless or casual management our scarse football talent dramatically reduces the pool of players able to compete effectively at the Nationals level. You could say the saem for Futsal!
• The connection between Futsal and Football was very obvious among the players at the Nationals across all the teams. We must exploit this advantage in the junior football years in the ACT. Good Futsal is of great assistance to playing good football.
• Coach education has been undertaken by Capital Football with some vigour in the ACT over the last 18 months, supported by new direction from the FFA. However, quality coaching is still at premium as are coaches with the requisite Licences necessary to be allowed to Coach representative teams.
• The boys who formed the 2010 ACT Under 13 team had approximately 4-5 months of training, with a frequency of up to four contacts per week (duration / type unknown). Two coaches supported their efforts - the designated coach for the Nationals and the Technical Director of Captial Football. But what about the coaching in the years since these boys commenced playing at say Under 9?
• Any point of comparision between the teams in Group A and say the winner of Group B (NSW Metro2) demonstrates, as a general comment,  just how far the ACT players are behind at an individual and collective level. Hence, no technical points.
• We have been distracted with debate over the efficacy of playing squads in the HPP, when the real deficiency was and is predominantly of an individual technical nature. Playing squads are not relevant to this deficiency, but you can be certain that you can't play any system without the requisite technical ability. Curiuosly, our Under 13 boys team will now play as a team in the Capital football competition - what a complete waste - they  need to be at Club and the HPP needs to address the technical gaps before they hit next year's Nationals (those that get selected).
• The ACT is where it is now in Group B for some very good reasons and we will stay their unless we are able to assist our young players and coaches bridge the gap over the next few years. Yes years!But the improvement cannot, must not, begin after the selection of the Under 13 team. It begins from the time they begin to play.
• The magnitude of the task in front of our young ACT players was considerable in  Group B and well beyond reach in Group A. Simple as that! Their efforts were as good as we could have hope for in the very short term. They are not good enough going forward and that is not the fault of the players.

The ACT Under 13 Boys team finished the Nationals as follows:

• Fourth in a Group B comprising  six teams.
• Group B comprised teams seeded as less competitive than those in Group A
• The ACT finished in front of Victoria Country and the Northern Territory.
• A goal difference of -2 (5 goals scored for 7 golas against)
• No Technical Points

Again, is this enough?

I would suggest that it is not. Our next move must be greater than 2010 in order to hold our present position. I just wonder what it will be.

Here's a few questions that come immediately to mind :

• What is the plan to make the 2011 team more competitive? When does it start (selection / coaches etc)?
• Is the HPP in its optimum format and is it properly resourced? What can be done to improve the outcomes?
• What do we conclude from our inability to acrrue Technical Assessment Points? How do we rectify this critical shortfall in performance? What were the precise technical deficiencies evident in our players and team performance at the Nationals and how will that information inform the HPP and Clubs?
• Can we get a lot smarter in the way we manage talented players at all age groups, all Clubs, by gender, in order to maximise the success of our limited playing talent over time?
• At what point in the future is it reasonable for us to expect to dominate Group B and move to Group A?

Summary thought -  While we were properly concerned with the urgent necessity of making a better effort than the previous year, the other States had moved further ahead - we have fallen further behind, inspite of our best efforts. So where to from here?