You can still show without jockeying, jockeying is generally when you are moving back and delaying with a low centre of gravity, whilst showing can be used by forwards or midfielders to force play into a certain area, and is more about your body position.

I can see Rogic being disadvantaged by being born in December. How exactly is he a late bloomer though. I saw him playing in a video of the grand final between Belconnen and Canberra in 2011 and he was a stand out then at 18. The only issue I see is I thought he was much older at the time in his early 20's maybe others did not realise his age otherwise I would have started a sign him up thread. He was a star for the Futsalroos at age 17 in Feb 2010. What year did he go for an AIS scolarship? The issue I see with the AIS these days is they get players way too early at 15 so they can prepare for the AFC u16 championship which is a joke anyway as when I watched it Iran and Uzbekistan looked to have a lot of older players with beards. The whole attraction of the AIS is they offer full board , A-league youth teams offer very little money not enough to move cities. If anything they should allow the AIS A-league youth team to pick up some older locals to reinforce their team.

He is a late bloomer for the FFA's national system and since he lived where there wasn't an A-League club it meant he was initially missed by almost everyone. I agree he is not really a late bloomer because he was still a teen when he emerged but it was too late to make a joeys/AIS team. I’ve been told he did a short term training stint in late 08/early 09 but wasn’t offered a scholarship, they often invite local Canberra or Country NSW kids to train during periods when they are low on numbers due to players returning home at the end of their scholarship or being offered a NYL contract. Now that nationals is 13s and 14s it makes it even harder for a December born player like Rogic. The FFA has made a big deal about saying they want to remove the relative age effect but their actions of making nationals age groups younger and identifying players earlier only exacerbates the problem. The best players in that mid teens age bracket still have a long way to go but at the moment we put all our efforts into a very small group at those ages.

I would say the AIS used to be like a finishing school and it used to be all about the individual. The players would typically come in as 17 year olds and when they left went straight into first team football. Now they are going in as 15 year olds and when they leave they are going to youth teams and could potentially still be a couple of years from the first team and in that time a lot can happen and a lot of them won't make it.

Having read some of your battles with Chips I have no doubt that you would be confident in dealing with complaining parents. Even when people offer alternatives to you on this forum you easily come up with a paragraph detailing your point of view and why you did what you did. I maintain that you should have more than just 2 selectors for a representative trial. I'm used to often dealing with 50-60 players at trials but even with 30 players I would still want more than 2. Better to be safe than sorry.

For an example of excellent showing watch the Spanish national futsal team, they are brilliant at it. They use the theory of not pressing the players but pressing their passing lanes. It is part of the 'strong side, weak side' concept. In particular they are extremely good at stepping into the passing lane of the square pass to prevent the switch and from there they use the sideline to suffocate the opponent and force a turnover, much like a forward does when the opposition plays out from the back.

my advise is have a look at the talent when they had thier 2nd growth spurt..

With 50 -60 players, that is a large number to observe.

Why I am saying that with two observers, we selected the right squad with over 30, is because over the years I've spoken to some very experienced state coaches. They say even when they have had four selectors, the same parents still complain.

The parents who complain often fit a generic type where their behaviour extrapolates into other areas external to football. The 2 person selection squad was set up by state FFA. My FFA staff partner was very quick to identify players' ability in the first session. He is very experienced and has played pro football. With my limited experience at trials, we would have needed another three of us, as you suggest we should have had.

Sometimes with four selectors there may be more scope for disagreement too, unless they have worked together quite a lot prior.

The simplest way to save time for familes etc is for the selectors to be up front and tell the players that we are looking for eg only 4 spots etc and not give false expectations.

You are correct, Football God.

Four pairs of eyes are better than two. We missed a player in the selection trials.

My state FFA partner sent a letter to a player , saying he had been successful. He turned up to training and I broke the news to him and his mother, apologising profusely . I invited him to train anyway.

I got the shock of my life!!!!!!!#-o

He trained and played as well as anybody else in the squad.#-o

How was I going to live with myself, missing a player who should have been selected in the squad?](*,) We missed him alright. One of the team mangers said parents who had known him for a while, were amazed we hadn't selected him.


Luckily , two players, absentees from training, who had been selected, declined, when I contacted them tonight. . Phew!!!! I was glad my FFA partner had sent the letter. Otherwise this player would not have been at training.

Thankfully, he is now in the squad.

We discussed this today.

As a parent, if your child had been selected, or deemed unsuitable, from the first session, would you rather have known after the first trial, when there was a second trial?

You can see some kids being clumsy at this stage.

In a few years time, things would be different.

At least you can admit you made a mistake in your selections and have given the kid a second chance. A lot of coaches would be too stubborn to admit their error and the kid would miss out.