In most pursuits it has been mooted that a person needs 10 000 hours of practice before one is good enough to achieve excellence.

In a footballer's career, one needs to reach this target at a relatively young age, because the life of a footballer is a short one.

If a player plays football from ages 7 to 22, over 15 years, one needs to accrue 10 000 hours practice.

This amounts to 667 hours per year.

Over a 48 week year this amounts to 13 hours per week.



At primary school if one plays every lunch and recess, one can accrue about 5 hours practice per week over 40 weeks - 200 hours.

One coaching session with a club over a 20 week season can amount to another 20-30 hours per year.

Another 50 minutes can be added for a game per week. Over a season this may amount to 16 hours.

Futsal can take up another 10-30 hours.

This is still under 250 hours per year.

Maybe this is why the elite programme model has been conceived by FFA? For players to accumulate 600-700 hours of practice per year.

Edited by Decentric: 17/1/2012 06:54:28 PM