Hi all,

First time and apology if this is not the right forum. Been looking around for parent football forum for Australia and can't find one, so thought maybe good people in this forum can helped.

I'm a father of an 8 yrs old who is confused in how the different league works in Australia, I'm trying to find the right pathway for my son who is 8yrs old. Understandable he is still very young but I want to nurture his passion to make sure that he is going in the right direction. I read about academy system in EU and Spain and I can't see we have something like that here.

Recommended by a friend I took him for a trial at Blacktown Internation Soccer Park as there were 2 clubs that have trials for ages between 8-16yrs old. He got accepted to join the squad for U9 but I feel the routine and price they are asking for was too much. The squad trains 3 times a week and it will cost $1500/per child, and training will start Jan 2018 all the way to July. The other thing that surprises me was that every year he need to do the same trial to move to next year age group, which to me seems weird. At the end because of the heavy 3 days (1.5hrs per session) routine + the money I decided not to put him in as I feel it's too much for his age.

Can anyone with some experience help me and tell me what is the best way to go about for my son ?. I know that getting advice like this is not easy but I'm open to some ideas and suggestions.

Wow $1500 , I use to coach my kids teams for free, were is all that money going?
Anyhoo can't help you much, not 100 % but I think Tommy Rogic played both field football and footsal , regardless throw him in a team, see how he goes and spend a year forming an opinion after sussing out other clubs.

Sounds like thats in the npl system. My son is a year older, he'll be starting u10's next year but in our local country amateur league, not out local npl side. He'll be coached by me (just a dad who loves football but who was never very good and never had very good coaching) and others like me. The club also has a few more experienced coaches who spread themselves around and coach the coaches so to speak. Fees are around $150 -$200 per season as opposed to $1500 for our local npl club.
Focus is on fun, teamwork and learning and there's increasing access to good technical coaching.
I don't feel he'll be missing out by not splashing the cash on more advanced or specific training. He can still pick that up and for the moment anyway, he's playing football and loving it. Training one night and playing another. Use that other time and cash to do other football related stuff like the occasional clinic and like is mentioned above, futsal!
It has to be sustainable for everyone.
You can always back him into something more intensive, time and money wise later on.
Look for an SAP program for him somewhere as a suggestion.
Good luck.

It's becoming increasingly common to hear parents say they're having to pay over $1000 a year, which personally I think is ludicrous but unfortunately I have no solutions for you.


In terms of the schedule, this seems to be a move to address the fact that Aussie kids are, on the whole, relatively crap at football. This is partly because kids in other countries play a lot more than ours (some 4-5 days a week, practically year round) although that's more just because football/sport is an important part of their culture rather than to prepare them for a potential professional career. So I don't personally have a problem with it from a national perspective, but obviously you have to do what you feel is right for your child.


I'm not sure on prices, but as someone suggested above, futsal might be an alternative. It comes with the benefit that futsal improves technique quite a lot, something most aussie kids struggle with, so if your son decides to move into football at a later age, he might have a leg up in that regard. 

I note FFA have a website that links to MyFootball.You can checkout local football club options,register,learn how to coach,enrol in minroos etc.
Strangely there is no option for feedback to FFA.

Your wasting your time, all you will do is spend time driving your kid around rather than playing.
Just get your kid to play every afternoon with a maximum of three players per team on a square of grass if need be.
1 vs 1 if thats the only option.
2 kids vs 1 adult is also very good.
2 hours ever afternoon and they will be a top quality player in six months
Keep it up for a 5 years and they will be a superstar.
Worry about formal training when they hit 13.

Welcome WestSydMan.
Some posts made are pretty valid in part, be a supportive Dad as most are, research for one of the better run local clubs from your area that normally have good support for parent coach's etcetc.....
The age for your sons development is now, not in his early teens fyi.
So look out for good coaching in the club system, IF your son shows promise and has the passion to go further get him to a SAP club from next season onwards.
Yes you pay a price - thats Aussie football today sadly and good luck to you and your son.

Thanks all for the kind feedback.

Forgot to mention that I did enrolled him for winter games this year and he enjoys it. I tried looking around for spring/summer games but there are nothing going on in local clubs. When we attended the trial I heard about SAP so was looking around and found this page http://www.ffacoachingresource.com.au/the-building-blocks/the-discovery-phase/

After reading through it I think this is something that I can use and implement myself for my son, just have to fine tune few things here and there to make it suitable for our needs.

What do all of you do to continue the kids to play during non-winter times normally ?

We've been lucky i think, my son has just done the SAP through our local club a couple of nights a week through 4th term. Has cost nothing as it's been part of a coaches training for his C license.

That finished yesterday and Cricket started today so the focus won't ge so much on football for a few months.

Encourage or facilitate park football if you can with a few other kids, don't need that many as someone mentioned. All the better if you can participate and work on a few individual technical skills occasionally but keep it fun and just get them playing.

Heaps of resources online to help you to help him as well.

Were all playing 6aside summer comp in our area, we have at least 4 or more varying comps to chose from..
All meaning, my 2 sons in teams and myself in another.
We've been playing for years either Indoor Outdoor Comps..
Can't believe there isn't 6aside comps where your around for comps are on all over Sydney that I know of.
Look up your local Association for for sure it has a link to Summer Comps.