The main objective is for Australia to win the World Cup. So how do we get there?
Fozzie chats to Craig Johnston on SBS The World Game about the development of young footballers, Tommy Rogic, Futsal and more.


Part 1.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/23440963788/Craig-Johnston-and-Fozz-Part-1


Part 2.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/22198339994/Craig-Johnston-and-Fozz-Part-2


Part 3.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/22200899543/Craig-Johnston-and-Fozz-Part-3

This is a fantastic interview but it has crushed me and not inspired me. Many ppl on this forum know i have done all of these things including the youtube suggestion and te bobby skills test .I have trained a great many good football players and inspired them to love the game As a youth coach you get zero respect from the coaching family. Players with fantastic first touch are not forced to play at the highest level. Elite coaches of 12yr olds are making players do push ups. U8s are still doing laps and hill runs. teams i play are not graded therefore i win by unrealistic high margins week in week out.I will not train kids again afte this current crop (3yrs more) it seems to me the only way you can get your philosophy across is to train a successful seniors team.
The more things change the more they stay the same.:oops:

Has Craig been looking at http://tescoskills.thefa.com/For%20Kids
whilst abroad. It has various skills for the individual or a group.

Krones, we desperately need coaches like you to stay in the game coaching juniors and youth. I know you are passionate about technical qualities in footballers.

If you were down here in Hobart, you would be inspired by a new guard of coaches, recently trained by Football Fed Tas, who are very committed to producing technical players with good game sense.

The state TD told parents at a meeting to introduce rep coaches and explain the rep program, the days of the long ball and nod ons by the central striker is obsolete practice. In rep programs they won't be playing it at all, he said.

The only way forwards in Australia, he maintained, is to try and replicate the methodology used by the top European nations, with the notable exception of Italy. He used a powerpoint presentation to show the way forward in Australian football, by playing a Proactive possession style game.

Even if you are not surrounded by coaches with the same beliefs as yourself, change will inevitably occur in your neck of the woods.

Selection for rep teams in Tasmania is based entirely on technical criteria alongside game sense. The push up, sit up brigade of archaic coaches advocating physical football, are being supplanted by a new generation.

our technical director is the x razorbacks coach enough said i think.
The selection or exclusion of highly technical players makes it a total waste of my time.
When i see players i have coached in elite squads doing push ups or being told to get rid of the ball its all over.
Even the best coaches are being kept out of the elite system.
For 8 years i have been saying this and nothing has changed the same motley crew are still in charge.

Bravo!!

Mate, growing up I had only a couple of good coaches (& many ordinary ones) but the few good coaches inspire you & show you what the game is really about. It's like learning to speak another language.

Then next year you get an ordinary coach who doesn't speak the language. So you pretty much hold your breath & coach yourself until another good one comes along & can teach you things & further enlighten you. It can be a long time b/w drinks depending on how savvy your club is at picking coaches.

If you are teaching them skills & vision then your kids will be greatly encouraged when they put those things into practice on the field & find out that what you have taught them works & it is true. I knew when a coach was good when he made sense, if he could explain things rationally. He was one of the few enlightened ones.
If he just ranted & raved I knew that he didn't have the answers. If you can explain why to do something, to those kids it will ring true. Kids arent stupid & they can tell a dud coach from a good one.

A good one makes it interesting & fun & challenges their thinking & teaches them skills to progress. I bet if you checked out what your past players are doing you will see that you have nourished & inspired them & given them a life-long love of the game.
How bloody cool is that??

I can sense your frustration but you are on the right track. You are part of the solution but remember you are just part, it is not about what you get but what you give.
You & coaches like you, light a spark in the lives of your young players.
These young guys will go on to become valuable players, fans & later valuable coaches here. They will have kids & pass on their love of the game to their own children.
Don't ever forget that. It is very important.

Imagine the negative effect if you no longer continued to do what you do??
Those kids need your guidance, they deserve it.

There are more of the new breed of coaches coming. The time is coming where you will be in the majority not the minority. Hold on & persevere because we need more coaches like you that speak the language, not less.


Edited by Damo Baresi: 30/3/2013 02:19:13 PM

I throw some questions to you guys regarding this,
How can we replicate on what is going on in Japan and in Spain where the technical training starts at 5 years onwards?

Craig Johnston said it would take a revolution for this kind of thing to happen, how can we get these young kids practising their game at such a young age?

Can small-sided games help in this issue as well, what can the FFA or the state feds do here?

The Skillaroos programs is a great initaive but what else can be done?

Edited by Barca4Life: 1/4/2013 11:05:14 AM

Well encouraged D Baresi - krones3 hang in there mate.

The club I am involved with (in the ESFA comp) is greatly focused on skills. Over the past few years I have seen more and more technical players come through from U8s all the way through to U12s. My 11 y/o is one such example. I am coaching technique, passing and structure, and my U12s don't go to the toilet without the ball. We have a wonderful TD who oversees it and has implemented this mindset.

In short, hang in there Krones, I know what it feels like to be a lone voice in the wilderness. Just focus on making your team as technically proficient as possible. If U12 other teams arent't a challenge ask to have yours put into the U13.

Best of luck mate.