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The challenge this season in Junior Football in the ACT is to have coahes fully implement the 1-4-3-3 at all competitive levels at each age group. A big job in a volunteer environment!
As a very capable coach in the junior ranks, a coach who has never coached any rep teams, nor does this coach seem to have ambition to do so, who usually coaches Div 2 or 3, remarked to me on Saturday, before the start of the Women's Federation Cup final:
"When I say the "1-4-3-3" , what I really mean is, getting the young players to play a possession style of game, short passing and swift movement off the ball into good space, ready to receive the ball. Keep the ball, don't loose it. When they loose possession, defend as high and as quickly as they can and win it back. Sure, I'll play the 1-4-3-3 structure or its close relative when its 7v7 or 9v9, because that encourages an attacking, possession based game. I refer to Barca because they do it better than anyone else, even the Spanish national team. I know this requires young players with lots of technical skill to play it in a really classy way, and that fact is usually used by some others to justify not playing this system. Well, to my way of thinking, this sort of argument is just crap. Who says you have to the best to want to play like Barca? The real point of it all is that by emphasising the aspects of individual skill and group play that Barca demonstrates, triangles is the big one, and the FFA national curriculum hopes we will implement, players at every level will get better at the game, enjoy it more, get lots more touches on the ball and stay with the game longer. Its fun to play this way. In that environment we produce more of the best for the nation. If every coach in the Junior age groups gets this going, we will make a big change to the character of football over a couple generations. And it will take that long. But it starts with the local club, Div 3 team, if you get my point. Oh yeah, the one thing that Barca shows my young players is that its OK to take the initiative, be creative, assume a position in space that provides a good option for the attack - not just stand in a pre-determined position like a bloody parade. And that happens with the 1-4-3-3 just like any other playing system. But like Barca, I encourage the players change positions (accept responsibility) as the need arises for short periods, that's OK, while others drop in to to cover them. When I watched the National Youth Championships, I didn't see much of that, which is a pity because without it the team plays like a half baked cake. If they played Futsal more, this would be second nature, but there'slenty of experienced coahes who warn young players off futsal. I haven't coached one player (girl or boy) who didn't get excited watching Barca videos, they know instinctively this is the game. ..."
I wish I could remember more of what his Coach had to say, but the game started and we gave that our attention. This coach struck me as being as up to date as anyone I met in the ACT. And Football is not his day job!
My point is this - we have lots of smart people in Football in our community and the real powerhouse in Football in the ACT region is in Junior Football. It's the Junior Football Clubs in the ACT region that need the support from the FFA and Capital Football. But mostly Junior Clubs say they don't hear from or see much at all from Capital Football and the FFA is just an abbreviation.
Worse still, Club officials seem to complain all too often and seemingly with good reason, of their inability to get Capital Footbal to take any notice of their needs and ideas for the conduct of competitions and development.
What do you do at the Junior Club if this year your Club finds itself with a large cohort of players that are graded as Div 1 standard at age, enough say to form two teams? Well the answer is a "no brainer' for the club - enter them both in the Div 1 competition. Give every young player a chance to play to his / her abilities. What then, if you are told by Capital Football that your club is limited to one Div 1 team? A competition administrative rule decision imposed on your Club. First you realised it existed. What do you do with teh team of players that don't get a place in the Div 1 competition? Its a disaster for a Junior Club, lucky enough to find itself in this psosition. Its a disaster for Football! And this is happening right now! How does this approach coexist with the direction the FFA wished to take via the National Curriculum and National Development Plan? Obviously it doesn't and junior Clubs know it and by taking the approach they would prefer in this matter, they seem to demonstrate that they are more in touch with the development needs of young players and intentions of the FFA than Capital Football. As one Club official remarked to me last week - "who makes these decisions?" Who indeed! Good football is underpinned by tip top administrative decision making, responsive to Club needs - and Junior Clubs can't do much about that if they are not engaged in a meaningful and constructive fashion and not by a sub committee or remote adminsitrative decosion making process. However, Zone Reps can, so use them! Sometimes I think the Junior Clubs forget just how much "football muscle" they possess and several of our Junior Clubs are very big indeed.
If we get the national curriculum message across to the Junior Clubs, this pivotal component in our Football constituency, help them to get mobilised to implement it, consult in a more substantial fashion with the Clubs, give them the competition structures that enable it to happen for all players at level, things will change fast.
Coach education and training has made good ground for Football at CLub level and it makes a vital contribution to change and the quality of football outcomes. And that provokes other questions - why not find a way to fund Development officer positions?
The new Capital Football Techncial Director, Royston Thomas made it clear at the Capital Football Annual General Meeting, that he would visit / consult/ communicate/ work with the Junior Clubs. That's a big step in the right direction. We'll hold him to it.
We are not the only ones thinking of these things in Football. This article form the USA, concerning a Club called "Real Salt Lake" who are implementing the 1-4-3-3 makes an interesting read. As they say - we are not alone!
