Well in Jacko! I'm just starting to garner an interest in coaching and this is the sort of stuff that I wish we'd been given when I was coming through youth ranks. Unfortunately, we wern't, but I do believe simple things such as giving the kids some direction/a guide for the summer is a top innitiative. What's more, it'll start to sort the wheat from the chaff, with the players who are super keen and are practicing their skills over the off season, coming back better than they left. I think Craig Johnston's book - you read it? - should be mandatory reading for every youth players over 10 years old. It perfectly sums up the effort required to make it to the elite, and as I've come to recognise from my own experiences - albeit only at a Newcastle State League level - it's the guys who are willing to put in the hard yards, not the one's that have the talent between 13-16ish, that get the rewards! What do you think about the FourFourTwo blog There is no off season? At the end of our 30 week season with our U12 DS we produced a standard report for each parent assessing the lads on a variety of criteria and also produced a personal report for each identifying some...Have your say.
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