The FNSW U13 girls is predominately made up of girls that live close to M2 or M7. (my observation...could be wrong)
With Sydney traffic the way it is is just not convenient to head to Valentine Park 3 times a week. Example Sydney Uni doesn't lose any kids to FNSW...and usually beats them!
As Craig Johnston said about his son playing for the Skillaroos, going 2 hours to training from Avalon (where his ex wife lives)...is just silly. He surmised his son would be better using the 2 hours kicking a ball against a wall.

For me The European system for elite kids is better, where they get kids in to say Football NSW once a month for a weekend and train. This way FNSW would get to see say 50-60 kids a season up close. The kids stay with their clubs for development, and not spend all their time in the car.

By the way, I went to one of the Tom Byer sessions run by SFG mentioned above at a local club, and it was terrific

Edited by goonbri: 15/5/2014 01:54:39 PM

Considering Foster is now a part of the establishment (coaching at the FNSW Institute -u16s boys) I won't be holding my breath waiting for any revelations to come out of SBS.

dirkvanadidas
Exactly right wonder when sbs or fox are going to pick this up and run with it.

[quote=Rod Tilbrook
There is no doubt about this. At state level, the elite are first selected at u12s ( narrowed down to a total of just 16 outfield players). Football NSW blatantly states on their website that the vast majority of player selected in the NSW state U14s and above rep teams will come from these FNSW Institute squads (which tend to change very little from year to year) because they have been identified as the best players. Perhaps they were the best players at 12 (although apparently many of the best are choosing not to trial with the institute), but there is little guarantee that they will still be the best at 14, let alone 18. Yet a surprising number of them still seem to filter up into the youth Australian squads and beyond - the results unfortunately are plain to see. 'Hothousing', 'picking winners', call it what you like; personally it reminds me of the Eastern European gymnastics programs during the Soviet period, but without the success. [/quote]

Just for comparison, at an English academy there will be a 50 per cent change in the squad personnel between ages 12-16. Also every 6 weeks you are for release/rentention. Here its almost a job for life at u12.

Exactly right rod but you can bang on about this all you like.
The media and the people who should be addressing this are not and will not. It's mates rates you understand.

There is no doubt about this. At state level, the elite are first selected at u12s ( narrowed down to a total of just 16 outfield players). Football NSW blatantly states on their website that the vast majority of player selected in the NSW state U14s and above rep teams will come from these FNSW Institute squads (which tend to change very little from year to year) because they have been identified as the best players. Perhaps they were the best players at 12 (although apparently many of the best are choosing not to trial with the institute), but there is little guarantee that they will still be the best at 14, let alone 18. Yet a surprising number of them still seem to filter up into the youth Australian squads and beyond - the results unfortunately are plain to see. 'Hothousing', 'picking winners', call it what you like; personally it reminds me of the Eastern European gymnastics programs during the Soviet period, but without the success.

I think at grassroots level the quality of youth footballers is immeasurably better than a decade ago. They're most skilful, more tactically aware and less afraid of having their foot on the ball.

Which suggests to me that we will be picking from a better pool. Good all round.

That is great and obviously the bottom up approach is far better.

Had the pleasure of attending a session of his, a few weeks ago. Our grassroots club has a relationship with Sydney Football Group to help with player development. SFG have a partnership with Tom Byer, Our club is growing rapidly and we don't have highly technical coaches so they utilise SFG to provide skills program's. The session by Tom was free and half of it was for the players and the other half was for parents and how they can help their kids. I found it very worthwhile and he really does push the bring the bottom up, so do SFG more about improving all players and not just the elite, works great from a grassroots club viewpoint.

Edited by Post_hoc: 19/4/2014 09:43:53 AM

Ping G25 Driver head is still the same generous oversized design which makes the i20 irons seem tiny by comparison. It also helps create a solid impact feel - something Ping addresses in other ways. The soles get progressively narrower as you club down to the smaller irons which help by offering more versatility and control on all conditions.

Ping G25 Irons is Pings latest offering brand new for 2013. They are high-launching, game-improvement implements with a dark, non-glare matte finish. In the time I spent with the G25 irons, one thing was clear: these clubs feel good.

Ping G25 Hybrid Re-engineered Custom Tuning Port integrated low into the sole to lower mass and position the center of gravity for high-launching, forgiving results. This immediately gave a sense of confidence and bad-assery at address. During testing this, combined with the new head, produced a slightly lower flight than the G20 irons.

Ping G15 irons The ability to get consistent distance and trajectory (which is markedly high with these irons), even on slight miss-hits is a huge bonus. It is a softer “thwack” sound that is a nice contrast to a lot of harder and harsher sounding products on the market. The weight saved helps lower the centre of gravity and increase forgiveness.

Yeah thats what i understand too, he assumes there are better coaches here in Australia but doesn't realise there are more qualified coaches in Japan which makes a big difference in there player production.

So there is more than just the grass roots but the quality of coaching becomes so important after that.

Isnt he the organ grinder behind the coerver monkeys ?

I think FFA have focused on an elite, because that is how FFA is ultimately evaluated. They have devoted there time and energy into a smaller target group.

The National Premier League concept of pushing the SAP and general coaching development into the clubs and away from FFA should broaden quality coaching.

Byer's notion of improving the worst players has merit. However, Japan has 50 Advanced trained coaches for every 1 in Australia.

I also think FFA needs to reduce the price of coach education courses, and train a lot more assessors and instructors and make Advanced coaching more accessible to more coaches.

The analogy I use ATM, is FFA have a system somewhat analogous to specialist doctor training. The specialist doctors are keen on keeping their numbers small to benefit the incumbents, rather than the public benefit from having many more surgeons and specialists to meet public need.

ATM it is relatively accessible to do the FFA community coach education course, but not the FFA Advanced courses.



Edited by Decentric: 10/4/2014 05:33:13 PM

At least raise the average standard not just the elite.

The man that created the technical revolution in Japan.

He mentions the key strategy is to improve the worst players to increase the talent pool, does the FFA have a similar thinking in regards to the NC?

Should the FFA try to pursue him as the next TD or something to help educate the large participation in grassroots?

He knows his stuff.

Edited by Barca4life: 9/4/2014 07:17:19 PM