Junior soccer teams pay for being too good at Seven Hills

Tim Vollmer From: The Daily Telegraph April 04, 2011

Players from the Seven Hills United Under 10 Soccer team which has been deemed to be too good to play in its own age group, so the team has been moved to a higher age group. Pic. Jeff Herbert Source: The Daily Telegraph

THIS soccer team has been told they're too good to play against children their own age.
After struggling to find enough parents to volunteer as coaches, the small Seven Hills United club last year hired a professional to train their junior teams.

Now the soccer association has ordered the teams - from under-8s to under-13s - to play older kids on bigger fields as punishment for the extra training. The parents decided to pay $1600 for three professional training

sessions each week. They are now fighting the Blacktown and District Soccer Football Association's decision to force their kids to play against children a year older, regardless of ability.

Parents say it has put their children at risk of injury, is bad for skills development and is taking the fun out of the game - with the under-10s team defeated 14-nil in last weekend's season opener.

An edict from BDFSA secretary and league co-ordinator Jack Taylor said: "All Seven Hills teams were placed in the next highest age group to that [for] which they were nominated."Mr Taylor yesterday stood by his decision, accusing Seven Hills United of "wrecking our league".

"What they are doing is just wrong, it is against our rules, they were told not to do it and they ignored it," he said, defending the traditional model of having parents give up their time to train teams.

But Monica Borg, whose son Jacob plays in the under-10s, said the kids were devastated at being caught in the middle of the dispute.

"They're being smashed by older teams, the kids are being teased, it's not right at all," she said.

The older teams had been insulting the young players because of how small they were, with massive score-lines reinforcing how unfair the decision was, she said.

Fellow mum Zeina Yaacoub said she was really concerned one of the kids would get seriously injured playing against children up to three years older.

At the heart of the dispute is ASR Pro Football, the privately run junior training organisation whose professional coaches were hired by Seven Hills United. "We're about getting the best out of the child, not about short-term results or winning competitions," ASR Pro Football coach Anthony Ucchino, who has 10 years experience in junior development, said.

Seven Hills United president Garry Mosbey said that in an area that is rugby league heartland, the move was doing a lot of harm to soccer.

"I don't think they should be punished for wanting to learn how to play football the right way."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/junior-soccer-teams-pay-for-being-too-good-at-seven-hills/story-e6freuy9-1226032888421