Improve the coaches and the play & players will improve.

The standard of A League referees need to lift, to protect skilful players in Australia. Then we will produce more creative, technical, ball players.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Places On FFA Advanced Coaching Course?
THERE are still places available on the FFA course for aspiring coaches keen to start out on the Advanced Coaching pathway and wanting pursue a professional coaching career.


Have your say.

Too expensive for me. Pity.

I know its not meant meant for the regular joe but the prices are ridiculous

$3900 for amateur team coaches? That is absolutely ridiculous.

..Not including GST.

Hah.

It is a lot but a lowly Metro 1 coach in Brisbane can pull between $4k and $10k (depending on the club) so it may be a wise investment for sum.

I've been looking at the best place to do the C Licence and the costs vary enormously.

Sydney -$5000 reduced to $4000 if not requiring accommodation.

Canberra -$4500 reduced to $3500 without accommodation

Hobart -$1600

They shouldn't promote that Advanced Courses mean some likelihood of a pro coaching career. In reality there are almost no positions.

Furthermore, in Australia having had a former pro career is considered pretty important in becoming a pro coach, even though many former good pro players couldn't teach or coach a chook to lay eggs.






Edited by Decentric: 10/5/2012 10:43:25 PM

Here is a question as the coaching courses have improved considerably, the question here is why the cost of doing any of these courses are so high, why is that? Surely the FFA could try to decrease the cost of courses is this possible to do? Just questioning here,

Edited by Barca4life: 10/5/2012 10:50:57 PM

This does seem incredibly expensive considering they know there are no jobs and yet they are asking people to come and do the course, the pro course is apparently $12000 - again no jobs !

Thanks for that post mate, informative stuff. It'd be well worth it for anyone to go down to Hobart to do it, even with accommodation it'd end up being nearly half the price.

Have you done any of the courses?

Yeah, and keep in mind that you can only get into the pro course if you have done all the other previous courses unless you were a pro, which they allow you to get into without the prerequisites - Of course if you were once a pro footballer you'd probably have enough cash to do all of them anyway.

FFA want more good managers and coaches for the new generation of players - Here is a hint - Don't set prices at levels that 99% of young people won't be able to splurge on.

Your logic is unwelcome by the FFA, surprised the sheerleaders haven't jumped down your throat about this.

I did FFA Youth Licence in 2007.

I've just done a FFA Grass Roots Certificate a few weeks ago.

Also, I've just done a FFA Goalkeeping Certificate a few weeks ago.

I'm also in a weird position. I did a KNVB Certificate a few years ago in Canberra. A mate in another state, a FFA staff coach, and KNVB course participant, said that the content of KNVB was B and C Licence. Yet local FFA officials in this state dismiss the KNVB course and content, that would be recognised by FFA in this mate's state.

So yes, I have done some FFA advanced licence content. I know it is well in advance of FFA Senior and Youth licences, because I'm constantly discussing football methodology and training ground practice with coaches with these levels of training at my club and others. I am now TD at a second tier senior club.

These coaches have covered almost nothing I did with the the KNVB. They are having great success with implementing the KNVB practice on the training track - like four phase incremental training you'd see in the KNVB thread.

If state FFA play funny games with me about prerequisites for C Licence, even though I would have been accepted into an expensive Canberra FFA C Licence course, I'm thinking of taking Aussiesrus's advice and going overseas to get a much cheaper Asian C Licence - about $1000.
My only concern is dying in the heat and humidity of KL or Singapore!8-[

Another interesting phenomenon is this.

Even if you get a job with a FFA a state branch, they may not be well remunerated.

Royston Thomas' job came up in Canberra as TD. The salary offered was only $7500 -$78 000. As a top of the range teacher, just before I retired from permanent teaching work, I would have been getting $83 000.

Also, I'm getting to know the state Skills Acquisition Programme trainer. I observe a lot of his sessions. I'm really impressed with how much hard graft he is doing. Moreover, I admire what a good job he is doing in general, at the grass roots and also coaching elite teams/squads.

He has a human movement degree, but would be on a lot less money than the state TD, because he is probably the lowest in the state FFA coaching hierarchy.

Yet he is doing all the state FFA's tough work in schools, taking all classes, with recalcitrants included as well, to introduce them to football. Most teachers wouldn't want his job - too hard. Yet he is on a lot less money that we would be as teachers.

Good money in football may be the preserve of very few who have Advanced Licences. Even when pro coaches have jobs, most are sacked at short notice at some stage in their career. Even worse, look at Frank Farina. He was once Socceroos coach. Now he has had to take a job with Papua New Guinea!

Even worse, many end up out of work in a job in football- NIck Theodokopoulas, Branko Culina, etc. State FFA branches also want people with tertiary qualifications too.






Edited by Decentric: 11/5/2012 12:42:50 PM

All good stuff there Decentric, thanks!

Asian C Licence hey? That sounds interesting, I might have a look into that.. Would imagine it'd open up a lot more avenues than the FFA license - At least outside of Australia.

clubs at grassroots should factor in costs for coach education, certainly did in my time in blighty.

We are looking for a coach for my social side. Any takers hahahaha

If the State TD roles are only paying $75,000 to $100,000 I can't see how the FFA value these roles, we keep reading that we're still not where the FFA want us to be at the grass roots etc and that Han isn't happy with the progress... if they are serious, I say stop charging so much for your courses, start paying good qualified people competitive salaries to get and keep them in these roles. If it is true that our TD is on $500,000 plus, I can't see the worth, this should at least be halved and the balance could go toward quality Australian coaches in the State roles. Time to get real FFA. The other thing I have been told is if you do your course in Asia or Europe you won't get a job here! It's basically a closed shop I think.

Why anyone would choose to work in a closed football market like Australia when there are many, many more opportunities exist elsewhere is confusing, actually. If you have a UEFA license and can't do as much here I'd be really surprised.

its all about the hamburger justifying his job and creating revenue and i can say for sure if you were to go to the UK and say i have the FFA license they will laugh at you

You've been listening to too many people who haven't trained in the old FFA training courses and then completed recent FFA ones. There is a chasm of difference in education and training ground methodology.

Even as an inexperienced rep coach, I used it new European style practice successfully for a rep team playing against very experienced coaches who hadn't had access to recent European training, including FFA staff coaches. Even with inferior and younger teams, the rep team was still able to win a state championship.

In the last year an under 15 team who has been attending Community Football Programme , was last in Division 3, nine months ago. They are now 4th in Division 2. They have had access to FFA type NC, or Dutch KNVB on the training track. Now I'm club TD, they will be doing structural, sequential work on shape, to create sound organisation. I expect them to go further. ATM only the keeper and defensive line is organised.

Two other players we coached for 5 months have now succeeded in rep programme selection after being previously deemed not good enough. One has made his rep team, another is now in the Skills Acquisition Programme, again from access to FFA Type NC methodology.


Berger is a very highly trained, simply by being Dutch trained. It is like comparing tertiary trained coaches to infant trained coaches in Australia from past eras.

Having said that, there are some FFA officials who are very officious and dictatorial about what should occur on the training track.

Craig Foster alluded to this on The World Game. His brother is/was a FFA coach. In the past coaches told players to play a formation. Now we teach them in sequential steps how to do it. Look at the KNVB thread.

Are the FFA license's you are talking about the now junior, youth and senior license's?

[quote=Decentric You've been listening to too many people who haven't trained in the old FFA training courses and then completed recent FFA ones. There is a chasm of difference in education and training ground methodology.

.[/quote]

I was interested elsewhere on the web about the comments from an overseas W league coach on the FFA/AFC license 'A' license and the UEFA 'A' . Still if thats what your Federation can deliver then you sometimes dont have a choice.

The FFA licences that have not impressed me much have been Youth and Senior. I am surprised the coaches aren't more confident setting up a 1-4-3-3.

They haven't done incremental structure in FFA, but I am comparing it to KNVB training. The training may be much better than what was imparted a few years ago though.

The structure is like this.

Community Coaching

Grass Roots Certificate
Junior Licence
Youth Licence
Senior Licence

Advanced Coaching

C Licence
B Licence
A Licence
Pro Licence

I was interested elsewhere on the web about the comments from an overseas W league coach on the FFA/AFC license 'A' license and the UEFA 'A' . Still if thats what your Federation can deliver then you sometimes dont have a choice.[/quote]




What were those comments?

Edited by Decentric: 16/5/2012 07:48:07 AM

Just enrolled in the Senior Football Certificate I, Senior Football Certificate II and Senior Football Licence courses guys! They're coming up in a few weeks actually. Wish me luck :D !

Edited by Draupnir: 18/5/2012 03:18:24 AM