I'd never heard of Chris Dand (is that it?) ... wasn't he a reserves coach at Knights? Mate, unless they're senior coaches then no I may not know them. I've been coached by a number of current coaches at FFT, S.H senior coach (multiple occasions), olympia's, Metro's, Zebras, Beachside and countless others not currently participating.

I have some idea of who's who and what you've written just doesn't ring true, by and large, with my experiences.

In relation to Walter, he's written two articles on me when working for the Mercury, I have fair idea of who he is.

In relation to no one knowing you, my point was that you voiced your opinions with such authority that I thought you must be an ex NSL/A-league coach or player. When I found out who you were and you history, I thought it might be helpful to you, for me to highlight why you're having difficulties conversing with stakeholders and those with vast more experience than you.

I've had my fair share of rejection, fair and unfair ... it's a matter of finding where you feel comfortable ... clubs and coaches want to win titles ... that is human behaviour and that will never change.


Edited by JuveJuve: 1/3/2012 02:20:23 PM

No stakeholder who has viewed the FFES programme has criticised the football content and organisation of training ground practice, no matter how experienced. We are not looking for any more support/interest from split state league clubs, we have enough from other groups, apart from logistical problems transporting refugees to the ground.

Two former 442 members, now banned members of this forum, posted a number of trolls anonymously in the comments section for that article on Walter's website to discredit FFES. They were boasting about it elsewhere on the football internet.](*,) Few critical comments were from Tasmanian stakeholders.

If you haven't heard of somebody, it doesn't mean they are inconsequential, but I'm sure you realise this.

Very experienced coaches, using questionable training ground methodology, can really struggle coaching teams to succeed against far less experienced coaches using sound methodological practices. If I've appeared confident it is because of confidence in the sound training I've had recently, and compared it to what a lot of coaches have had in the past.
Also, to compare it to what I had in supposedly elite programmes 40 years ago! Running up and down sand hills, push ups, sit ups, sprints, long distance running, etc.
Coaches seemed to have little idea how to develop players in the old days. They also had little idea how to conduct half times talks and analyse games properly, other than telling players to try harder, get stuck in and play in triangles without one drill trying to do so on the training track. They wanted readymade footballers. Thankfully times are changing.





Edited by Decentric: 1/3/2012 04:39:35 PM

I'm really as we have just been awarded a ground free of charges from now till September. It has been provided by the biggest council in the city, in a really central location where many of the migrants or humanitarian entrants live.

We had to sweat a bit as the decision took about 10 days.

Everything else should now fall into place - print media articles, radio, disseminating info to junior associations & senior clubs and contacting former FFES players who turned up as individuals. We can also contact Centacare and MIgrant Resource Centre to let them know we definitely have a ground and a specific date to recommence the FFES programme.

Just recently we've spent a lot of time having to hassle various organisations. A number have been lax getting back to FFES with various decisions/commitments. Luckily a good mate has been one of the most senior political advisers in the state. He has the contacts to wave a big stick if we need it, such as if we hadn't been granted the ground free of charge.

The worst and slackest organisations we've dealt with tend to be football clubs, but there are exceptions to the rule. Another member of this forum who deals with a lot of high level professional football scenarios says it gets worse as you go higher!


The funding programme for community projects has provision for 120 projects to be granted out of a total of 300 applicants. Hopefully we'll be one of the 120 successful submissions.

Edited by Decentric: 5/3/2012 03:06:41 AM

It seems it is advantageous for FFES to incorporate.

We've met with a council official from the upper echelons of a big council, a high profile alderman and a president of a rotary club who works in an industry that involves incorporating community groups. They have all provided the same advice.

I've had promising discussions with state FFA TD about public liability. He is keen to cover us, because a number of FFES coaches are also coaching at club level. I'm not sure of support for his position from within other stakeholders of state FFA. Thanks GA, but this issue is far from over.
I also disclosed to the state FFA TD what training methodology is occurring in split state league clubs on the training ground. My contention is that at FFES we are doing much more FFA NC than any other programme I"ve seen. I was very explicit in what different clubs are doing on the training ground. State FFA TD is in a difficult position.

I originally wanted to observe split state league training sessions to see what we could add to our repertoire. One thing that has been useful is seeing one coach perform the Dutch passing square on the training track. Along with Gregory Parker's articles, we have at least 3-4 different turning techniques and body positions for turning and receiving with both feet for the passing square.

I am now a registered volunteer with Migrant Resource Centre. FFES I was is now being asked to provide refs for community gala days for street kids, MRC, Centacare, etc. We are making contact with a lot of grass roots football. State FFA TD is well aware they need to have more contact.

I am going to do a first aid certificate and a sports trainer's course.

Unfortunately, FFES Coach C is too crook to do his Coerver Diploma with Arthur this weekend.:cry:

FFES will probably change its name in the next week to something like (Name of Club) Community Football Programme. Another recent edict from state FFA is that in the new Tasmanian state league, T League, no clubs are allowed to have academies. Clubs are having to rename their academies or schools.](*,)

At FFES we have had no recent training because of the complex Public Liability issue. Thanks GA. My main issue was me personally being liable, despite paying the insurance.

FFES will now come under the umbrella of a local club, desperate for assistance to arrest their declining playing personnel. They are also desperate for ongoing training ground support and education for their players and coaches. A club official who is also their senior club coach, has willingly brought players to FFES training sessions every week, being one the few accredited FFA coaches in that club.

It seems that Coach C and yours truly will become joint TDs in the club.

FFES has become aware of issues facing rural football clubs. This club has become aware of issues facing refugees. Our insurance issues and incorporation will be resolved.
We will immediately set up coaching sessions in their local community to disseminate coaching methodology. We will also have links on their website.

We will take on ground sessions for local coaches and players within their club and local schools, nearby clubs and schools. We will possibly run sesssions in the classroom, running KNVB practical training ground sessions for a variety of ages. This should greatly enhance the profile of their club.

The club will still bus players in to FFES central training centre once per week. We may be able to organise refugees to play in some of their teams, if we can seek support from local charities, rotaries etc, to pay their FFA registration fees.


At last all the discussion with a diversity of agencies about PL, etc, has been resolved.

I've had heaps of promising discussions with the state FFA TD about PL in the last few weeks. He always seems enthusisastic about changing circumstances for us to gain PL each time we speak. Every time he checks on regulations and edicts with other state FFA stakeholders the criteria to meet PL eligibility seems to change.](*,)
His last words were, " State FFA cannot endorse FFES. Some of the players who participate may not be registered by FFA. Also, we are not sure all your coaches are currently registered as FFA coaches and following NC. At the same time we think FFES is a good thing, or at least not a bad thing."

My response was that it is surprising that the national football body has no interest in players who cannot afford $300 annual registration fees. Moreover, that if Rob Baan or Han Berger watched FFES training sessions, either would be happier with what we are doing at FFES, than almost anything else on offer in this state, apart from the Skills Acquisition Programme.
Paradoxically, FFES is probably the most enthusiastic observer and supporter of SAP sessions.

I think the state FFA TD is definitely willing to go extra kilometre for the greater good of the game. He is a very decent human being.
To his credit he has observed a FFES session, but he had to leave before the rondos and 4v4 SSGS. State FFA doesn't like the explicit technique instruction that we do.

Thankfully this process has come to an end and we can at last concentrate on coaching.:)

What a journey Decentric! Glad you are getting to the point of doing what you have been wanting to do finally!

Community Football programme provided refs for Harmony Day a few weeks ago. It was a great event organised by a street youth worker and Migrant REsource Centre.

State FFA provided no support.



Next week Community Football Porgramme is providing refs for the Bhutanses community day. Organisers express frustration with state FFA.




It has been great getting support of reliable club officials to keep promoting their club and community football. I will go into local schools to take sessions to spread the word about the club, trying to recruit players.

The club supports community football programme for players well beyond their club. They have already provided almost a whole team on training days.

Another FFA coach from interstate is providing support for club stating that KNVB training certificate had B and C Licence content. Local club presidents usually go to state FFA.
FFA tells them they don't endorse community football programme. It is now in writing, twice, that KNVB is world's best practice from FFA staff coaches from other states.


Yours truly was appointed club TD and a committee member a few days ago. We certainly have a lot of mutual interests.

Just reading the last post in this thread and I'm surprised at how things have changed!

I am now Technical Director of a senior second tier football club, one level below split state league. The club has had most of an under 14 team, now under 15, training with the old FFES that has now become______________ Community Football Programme.

We have a lot of mutual interests. We need their club affiliation with FFA for public liability and incorporation. They want to build their club as they have lost six teams in the last few years. They have gained considerable kudos form opposing coaches from the vastly improved quality of football they are playing since their FFES contact and utilisation of the old FFES, now CFP training practices.

I watched their under 14 team play against a club team nine months ago, before their club coach brought these players up from this team on a weekly basis. The under 15 team from our club, with the same personnel as last year, played the same opponents with the same personnel minus one yesterday. Last year they lost 1-6 and were demoralised.

Our under 15s won 7-0 yesterday after CFP training. It wasn't the result, but the way they played. I hadn't seen them play as a unit away from FFES. Players were far more comfortable on the ball, taking first touches away from opponents, some using the outside of the foot (meaning a fake at the same time as receiving the ball).

There was two touch passing with both feet (Barca Directional Control). Some players also passed with the outside of their preferred foot, automatically faking in the other direction as they released the ball and wrong footing more than one opponent. This simultaneously created more space for a teammate to receive the ball and resulted in a few goals.

The players had better ball carrying skills at pace, so accelerated attacks were possible down the wings. Players could dribble then pass with their heads up a lot more. Players would have a look in another direction to consider options just before receiving the ball. Players were receiving the ball with their furthest foot consistently.

Some players were using body swerves, rolls, Matthews Cuts, sharp Cuts, Cruyff Cuts, Brazilian Soccer School Ronaldos, BSS Ronaldo chops and Brazilian step overs. This was really intimidating their opponents who expected an easy victory, like last year. They controlled aerial balls quickly from all the paired juggling work at CFP.

They worked in triangles, passing and moving and generally demoralising their opponents. This has been learnt from the KNVB 4v4 (1-2-1) SSGs and 3v1 rondo triangular work. In tight spaces they often dribbled out of trouble. most of them could barely pass accurately with one foot nine months ago and other than inside of the preferred foot, they had no dribbling techniques.

We still need to work on block and side tackles with some players and defensive stance for jockeying for nearly all players.

Krones' weakest player having to be the only person could score as a target player, was deployed before the game's conclusion. Our under 15s were bottom of their division nine months ago. Still they need structural work and formational work if they are going to play in the highest division against teams with more innate ability.

Spectators from the opponents team asked me what had changed in the team? Their skill improvement was so marked in a short time. I mentioned the football school, that the regular club coach was using our CFP training ground KNVB methodology and said it was available to any footballer for no charge.

Unfortunately, their team train at the same time as us. After being invited, I publicly addressed the coach, players and parents of the opposition team at the end of the game, inviting them to bring the whole team up to CFP on any Mondays.


Our club is bringing over the head of an international football skills programme for Tasmanian coaches. State FFA have not been interested, whereas this organisation have had much closer relations in other states.

I was going to another state to do a course, but the Aussie head of the organisation said they'd come to Tassie as they had the same experiences with our state FFA as we do. We are now liaising with TDS, coaches and officials from other clubs and junior associations inviting them to attend.

I've also sent out a lot of training ground practice, such as Dirk's European Academies, UEFA Training Ground, KNVB SSGs, etc. to our club coaches, and, beyond. Even one former NSW regional TD and former state youth coach is blown out by Dirk's European Academies link as has everybody else!

Many more club and junior association officials, TDs, coaches are visiting the CFP in the imminent future to evaluate suitability for their players to participate in and coaches to observe KNVB training ground practice. I have to keep couching it in FFA NC vernacular to appease state FFA stakeholders.



There are still a number of club presidents, coaches, a few state FFA stakeholders, who appear to be primarily concerned about their own petty fiefdoms and power bases, over the greater good of the game as a whole. There seem to be a number of Tony Labozetta wannabes!](*,)

These stakeholders seem to want to keep this state in the dark ages. I'm a bit shocked to encounter such an insular attitude. I wonder if it reflects aspect of our state? Bit by bit we are getting past them and accessing coaches desperate for practical and ongoing training ground exercises, all ball based.


One of the state's past top players , still playing social football in his late forties, told me had he has never had a decent coach, apart from Ken Morton in a state squad for too short a period. Apart from Ken, he has been coached by fitness fanatics, doing a lot of push ups and running without the ball, or big name former players with no coaching qualifications a year or two after they retired.

This player suggested Tasmanian football is very insular. Many people have no idea of the difference between Coerver, KNVB, Clarefontaine and Coverciano. Apart from Ken he claims he has never been coached in the style CFP uses. I may be able to drag him up to CFP with his kids who all play football.


Things have certainly changed for the better for CFP and looking up. A lot of frustrating contact with politicians, councillors, bureaucrats, political advisers is a distant memory.:)













Edited by Decentric: 23/4/2012 12:14:31 AM

I find our division is the stifling point clubs and presidents want to go ahead but are being held back.

We did a session like this tonight at Community Football Programme.

1. Juggling individually.
Juggling in pairs.

5-10 minutes.

I'm amazed at the improvement since last year in July when these guys started coming to CFP. Tonight, essentially we only had our club under 15s.

2. We went through 15 stationary ball techniques for players to do any time they are waiting for another player in a line, or working as a duo. Some of the less co-ordinated kids found the easier techniques really difficult and were better at the really advanced terchniques- most of the Brazilian Soccer School and Coerver ones using Brazilian rolls, Brazilian step overs, reverse step overs, rolls and outside of the foot cut combinations and - combinations of all these.

I had an exercise in mind later in the training session to use this in context in a 1v1.*


3. Players did explicit dribbling in pairs about 12 metres apart. They'd perform another explicit technique, then do it with a partner acting as a passive defender.

They did about 8 different techniques, ending with a session where defenders became more active. The players withe ball at their feet could choose any deception technique they wanted to beat a more active defender.


4. Players did Directional Control from Barca Academy. Better players received with the outside of the foot, taking it to the other side of the cone, and passing with the same foot.


5.* Players did an exercise where they faced each other between two cones 3 metres apart, on opposite sides of a boundary line. One player with the ball had to move laterally, side to side using as many of the stationary techniques we had used earlier in the session, as they could manage.

Defenders had to get into jockeying position, balanced, feet apart and side on. They had to shadow the player with the ball, but they couldn't tackle them. About every two minutes they changed roles.

It was a really tough as a fitness exercise. Players improved over the course of the exercise, using many deception techniques. This worked very well and was very hard physically on players.


Ran out of time for block tackling technique and turning techniques.



6. Tried file passing with a modification I conceived to gain more touches. It was simply awful and an unmitigated failure!!! I thought it would be good on paper, but it didn't work at all.#-o



7. Did the player in the soup exercises descibed in the Dirk's Academy session thread. They worked brilliantly.



8. SSGs - we only had a handful of players so we only had one KNVB shooting 4v4 game. Players game sense increasing.


Touches amounted to about 2150 - a record. One junior club TD coming to look at CFP for his club players, said Arsene Wenger considers that players at al age levels should have a minimum of 1000 touches for any training session .

It was 2 hours 15 minutes duration. Players didn't want to stop the last 4v4 SSG. Again used Krones only one player can score modification so all players scored goals- it worked well.

Players were absolutely stuffed at the end. It showed one can get plenty of fitness training, all game related and involving ball work in a training session. Critics of CFP claim that it doesn't get the players fit enough as the very popular push up, sit up, 80 metre sprint regime that many local coaches love.](*,)





















Edited by Decentric: 24/4/2012 12:42:05 AM

CFP continues to evolve.

We have lost three 10-12 year old players from last year.

1. Last year a few 11-12 year olds were hoping to get into elite rep/state programmes with extra skills training they received at CFP. All players have succeeded in reaching their goals. Unfortunately, they all train on the same night!:( They still want to do CFP but can't. They all had a great attitude on the training track. We've lost an adult coach too.



2. We had four girls that a split state league senior reserves coach brought up. Through other commitments the coach's daughter has to train with her club on the same night as we train.:( The players he brought up had a great attitude too


3. The one split state league senior player can't attend due to uni commitments. A great role model gone with outstanding technique.:(


The under country under 15 boys team (under 14s last year) that I now oversee as club TD still trains. They are unrecognisable from last year. Their improvement is incredible.=d> Coaches D and K from my new club transport them and assist.

Coach C probably coaches the top under 17 team in the state. They also train with us at CFP.

We started juggling. All under 17 players, having been coached by coach C for years, were good jugglers. We had to go straight into solo control Barca drill to extend them. I also asked players to juggle, whilst fixing on something in the distance, not looking at the ball. This is to gain vision. Something I picked up from Glenn Hoddle in a book.

Krones, one of them juggled the ball 500 times on one foot at the end of training.=d>

It was weird training tonight with just these two teams, no primary age kids or female players. The under 17s are elite players , some formerly from rep programmes, state programmes, NTC programmes. After demonstrating a lot of stationary ball techniques I asked who had done them before. They all said they'd done all of them.](*,)

Thankfully, once I showed them a lot of the advanced Brazilian Soccer School dribbling techniques, and then they a tried to emulate them, they'd seen none of them and could do none of them. At least they had a challenge.

We then did more technical work with defensive body positioning jockeying players dribbling at them trying any stationary dribbling techniques we'd tried, or any others they knew. They alternated between defender and attacker. The defensive body positioning was poor for a lot of players.

Did Directional Control and player in soups from Arsenal Academy. Their technique on Directional Control wasn't as good as I thought it would be after I showed them a more advanced version of receiving and taking the ball to the side with the outside of the foot.


Then we played KNVB 4v4 SSGs shooting and dribbling games, mixing teams up.

It was a pretty good session. I'm not sure how sessions will go when we start getting some low skilled players and 10-12 year olds, or inexperienced teenage female players. Our rank amateurs from the under 15 team have improved immeasurably and providing much stiffer competition to their opponents.

They are also improving playing with and against the crack under 17 team, as well as coaches D and K doing similar content in their specific club sessions, and, they are playing SSGs a lot more at school. These players must be touching the ball 2500 -3500 times per week.

Hopefully, they will be good peer mentors when struggling players turn up to CFP, similar in quality to them nine months ago.

Soon we should be able to turn our attention back to the refugees and the logistical problems for their transportation to CFP.

Thats all sounds great D. If you ever get up the central coast for a holiday PM me. I've got an under 9's side that I would love you to take for a few sessions.

I'd look forward to it.

Conversely, if you are ever down here come to a session and bring your boots and shin guards.

However, I think the FFA Grass Roots Certificate prepares coaches well in the age groups 6-9.

I think the stuff we do is more suitable for experienced players from 10 onwards.

Woden Valley club in Canberra even impressed the KNVB instructors in the early age groups.

CFP have just had another breakthrough.

This year we have lost around eight players, (a few to rep and state squads) and two coaches (also young enough to play), to other clashing commitments. I was starting to worry because participants' parents at CFP keep referring to CFP as an elite training centre. We use Euro training ground practice, but we also want players with low skills, keen to improve their skills.

At this week's CFP session we really only had three struggling players out of 20 odd players, from two teams- one of them the best under 17 team in the state - coached by Coach C from CFP for some years.



I received a phone call during the last session when I had 20 odd kids doing explicit techniques I was imparting to them. I followed up after CFP finished. I visited a new arrivals' house yesterday from the subcontinent.

I took a carload of adults and kids up to the CFP training ground. They were thrilled to find out CFP sessions are free of charge. When I returned I met about 10 kids ranging from ages 11-17 who were on their way to play football with their mates. These kids all play football, for the fun of it, every day. Only one plays for a club. All kids apart from the club player are keen to participate in CFP.

Now a carload will be transported to our next CFP session, with the parent of one of the players driving them. If he makes two trips, we should have twice as many. These players are our real target group, and the fundamental reason why CFP exists. They are not in elite programmes, they have an intrinsic love football, but don't have clubs.

My new club has one under 15 team with only eleven players. A couple of the new arrivals should be able to join this team. I may even pay the subscriptions from my own pocket. I think one day's relief teaching equates to about five players annual registration fees for the annual fees for the club.

I intend to go into the school of these kids and take a session or two. One of the the other CFP coaches and my current club president teaches a lot of these kids at her high school.

Another CFP coach is a teacher's aide at another school they attend.

These kids will probably be decent footballers, steeped in street football. However, they will probably be very one footed and struggle to learn our standard training techniques, which forces players to use both feet.

If we can pick up a dozen or more of these refugee kids, we may start to roster the under 17 team players, so that only a third train at each CFP session.

The parents of the kids took me into their house and gave me that sickly Indian sweet tea called chai, which I drank a lot of in India. Gee it was awful.:-& It took quite a number of craft beers last night to wash the taste away.:)







Edited by Decentric: 5/5/2012 03:00:49 PM

Community Football Progamme has just had a big week.

I met Bhutanese community leaders on a number of occasions this week. They are thrilled that CFP have initiated contact as they can see a lot of benefits for members of their community to assimilate through football.

They said if CFP opened the age groups to adults, we could get quite a number of players. I attended their last street football game. Players played on a pitch with boots and bibs. Only three played for clubs. They play a number of times each week as a social event. Many of these players say they need coaching.

Community leader, In., addressed them in Nepali. I addressed them in English. If transport is resolved we could have 40+ players at next CFP.

It will comprise:

1. Coach C's top ranking under 17 team in the spilt state league. They badly need some stiff competition and they'll get it from the very skilful adult Bhutanese players. They are winning every week by about 10 -0.

2. Most of my new club's under 15 team, coached by CFP Coach D, now using KNVB training ground methodology. They've gone from last on the ladder in Division 3, to 4th on the ladder in Division 2 in 8 months.

3. 20 odd Bhutanese players betwen the ages of 12 and 30. All speak English as a second language.

4. A couple of 8 year olds, who've missed out on registration for club teams.

This will my most challenging coaching assignment I've ever had. The last CFP session was the worst one I've taken. A couple of recalcitrant and lackadaisical teenagers dragged the intensity down. I had to remove one from training, which upset his club coach. No chance of slackness with these guys now, who will be playing with and against mature adult players boasting sound technique and exemplary attitude.

A major resource will be the European Academy Sessions which is a sticky in this section of the forum - Arsenal and Chelsea. The players in soups, Arsenal exercises 2 and 3, the first Chelsea free choice dribbling exercise and a Chelsea shooting exercise, will feature prominently, along with rondos, 3v1, and 1v1s. That is before we embark on 4v4 SSGs.


There is a chance next season my new club will take on many Bhutanese players. We are arranging for some to join the club committee.

I am refereeing a game tomorrow between the Bhutanese community and the Burmese community in Hobart.

We will need to chase the likes of Rotary and Lions to ask for donations towards registration for the Bhutanese next year. We are also chasing sponsors from business, but more to do with the club.

Last week I was concerned about the loss of footballers from CFP with a good attitude. This week it may be coping with such large numbers. I think the most I've had is about 30 before. This could even be close to 50.

When I attended FFA's Skills Acquisition Programme this week, one of last year's CFP players was in the under 14 SAP. Sad to see him go, but good to see him reach a goal.

The state FFA SAP trainer is now discussing taking joint training sessions with CFP at migrant community events. We are using SAP content on the training track at CFP.










Edited by Decentric: 12/5/2012 06:10:40 PM

Community leader, In., addressed them in Nepali. I addressed them in English. If transport is resolved we could have 40+ players at next CFP.

It will comprise:

2. Most of my new club's under 15 team, coached by CFP Coach D, now using KNVB training ground methodology. They've gone from last on the ladder in Division 3, to 4th on the ladder in Division 2 in 8 months.

3. 20 odd Bhutanese players betwen the ages of 12 and 30. All speak English as a second language.

4. An 8 year old and a 10 year old and a 12 year old, who've missed out on registration for club teams.











At last CFP also had a couple of our excellent role model female split state league senior players looking forward to sharpening their technique after their club has done almost nothing but run and do push ups and sit ups. They probably touched the ball twice as much tonight in two hours, as they have since pre-season from January till now in all sessions they have had at the club over five months.](*,)


We took a training session tonight with all of the above. What a blowout!:d


Trying to instruct 8 years old to up to 30 year old players, most who spoke English as a second or third language, was quite a challenge.

I did a lot less explicit technical instruction.

We did:

1. Juggling individually and in pairs.



2.
*100 passes one touch passes with the inside of the foot, Good players could use the outside of the foot and instep too. Many of the Nepalese players couldn't use their left foot very well.

* Same again but they had to alternate feet - pass right, pass left, pass right, pass left, pass right, etc.



3. Barca Academy Directional Control.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om1iQUZ-pfg&feature=related

Again many of the Nepalese players, although better technicians than any players I've coached, really struggled with the one foot receive take it around the cone and pass with the other foot. Hardly any of them can shoot with the non-preferred foot. They also can't pass over distance with either foot.
Some of the local orthodox female players I've coached in the early years have great passing technique over range and excel in the Barca Academy Directional Control, but struggle against the nimble footed Nepalese in tight spaces in SSGs. Since they are getting no instruction at club level, we really worked on their defensive jockeying tonight.




4. The first Chelsea Academy exercise on the link on Dirk's sticky. Free choice dribbling and ball carrying drill. Players found this really hard physical work and were really struggling, all the time with a ball at their feet.

https://sites.google.com/site/youthsoccerlessonplans/executive-docs

Players had to use stationary ball techniques if they were in a queue. These include tap taps with the inside of the foot to inside of the foot, inside outside of the foot (Matthews Cut), Brazilian drags or rolls, Brazilian stepovers, etc.
I can't recommend this highly enough, because players never stop moving. If they can watch other players train, they are developing vision whilst subconsciously having the ball at their feet.





5. The second Chelsea Academy drill on Dirk's sticky. It is a shooting drill. The only difference was that after they had shot, they had to collect the ball, then I stipulated that players had to dribble round the outside of the pitch back to the next station to their right.

https://sites.google.com/site/youthsoccerlessonplans/executive-docs

At the half way mark was a pole. Up to the pole they could use a choice of three dribbling techniques- Brazilian rolls, Mathews cuts, taptaps. Then at the pole they had to sprint, taking big touches but keeping their l head up, which is what occurs at Everton Academy. If there was a line again art their new station they had to do stationary ball techniques.

It was confusing for the Nepalese payers . It was really hard anaerobically and aerobically. , al the time with ball at their feet. Split state league senior female players said it was harder physically than anything they've done without the ball at their stupid club training sessions!!!!




6.
*Player in soup, Arsenal Academy exercises 2 , 3 and 4 from Dirk's Academy Sessions sticky.. This is for maintaining the diamond shape, with a player in the middle on the same team trying to keep the ball off two defenders. One and two touch passing got faster. Defensive players were again instructed in defensive jockeying technique.

https://sites.google.com/site/youthsoccerlessonplans/executive-docs

* I had a smaller grid for the younger kids, with only one in the middle.

*I also had two rondos going, with 3v1 piggy in middles.




7. KNVB SSGs 4v4 or 5v5 with keepers. One wingplay game, one shooting game.

http://www.uefa.com/trainingground/coaches/video/videoid=1766841.html?autoplay=true#l

http://www.bettersoccermorefun.com/knvbtext/kshootng.htm

The odd extra player was used as a fickle player in the middle of a 1-2-1 diamond formation, which became a 1-3-1.




I have no idea of number of touches over the session.



Good things that occurred. :)

1. At last we have the bulk of our group from the migrant community - the Nepalese. They trained really well, but sometimes struggled to follow instructions. There were some complicated drills. They are probably not used to so much structure, but I'm told repeatedly from Migrant Resource Centre, this is what they need.

2. I may be able to enlist two of the Nepalese players into our club under 16s. One of them was wanted by the state under 15, but couldn't afford it.

3. Club under 15s, from a rural area, are thriving on the challenge of playing with and against pretty decent adult technically adept players from Nepal and Coach C's top of the Division One ladder under 17 team.

4. I don't know how the under 12 kids survived a two hour session. They all looked overweight. They were puffing and blowing from just the juggling exercises at the beginning! They all scored goals in the SSGs. No adult or teenage player was allowed to tackle them. Adults and teenagers were only were only allowed to jockey them.

5. Nepalese community leaders are pleased with the involvement of their community with second, third and fourth generation Australians.

6. My new club is thrilled with the possibility of recruiting decent Nepalese players.

7. We had two underage Vikings Futsal Australian rep keepers tonight. One was nearly pushed back through the goal by one of the split state league female player's thunderbolts, who has a shot like a cannon!

8. Nepalese payers and the rural club players aren't used to seeing decent female footballers, so it has opened their eyes.

9. Split state league female players were really tested by the nimble footed Nepalese players in SSGs . The Nepalese players really excelled in the SSGs with quick ball control and dribbling in confined spaces.

10. Under 12s players seemed to enjoy all of it. They will be improving really quickly. Hopefully, they will bring more mates. I was apprehensive about CFP's lack of suitability.

11. Local captain of Nepalese team, about 30 years old, said he had never experienced training/coaching like this in his life and thought it was fantastic. Their football has been learnt in refugee camps in Nepal.


Our biggest issue is transporting Nepalese to training. Split state league women footballers transported carloads of players.

Another challenge is that last year we had 5 accredited FFA coaches at CFP. THis year we have 4, but two of them share kids, so we have less coaches with more players.



Next week Coach C's crack under 17 team will confront some decent Nepalese players to really push them on the training track. They seem to win 10-0 every week without even getting out of first gear. Coach C's team were absent tonight attending to internal turmoil in their club. Some of them might be playing split state league seniors this week.











Edited by Decentric: 15/5/2012 01:17:41 AM

This post is probably more applicable to the thread on TD.

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=71121







Edited by Decentric: 20/5/2012 03:08:14 PM

CFP continues to evolve.

Last night out of 25 players and coaches, we only had three who spoke English as a first language. A split state league player of 19, a child of 10 years old and yours truly.

We did:

1. Warm up juggling and passing drills as one would see on pages 6 and 8 of Atletico Menerio in the Academy Sessions thread as a sticky, posted here by Dirk.

2. Specific stationary dribbling techniques, which can be used in motion or whenever a player is in a queue. Coerver and Brazilian Soccer School techniques. The migrants are quite good at this.

3.
1 v 1 dribbling and jockeying with players facing each other about 15m apart. One passes to the other, who then tries to dribble around the passive defender. The passive defender should be using defensive jockeying techniques. They then switch roles. The migrants excel in the one versus one dribbling.

4. Barca Academy Directional control. This seems particularly difficult for nearly every migrant/refugee I've tried it with - about 50. None of them can pass over range and are very one foot reliant. A lot of them have doggy foot footwork and body shape, particularly on the non-preferred foot.

5. The first Dutch/Ajax warm up drill in Dirk's academy sessions. Outstanding drill. Works brilliantly with 12 year olds upwards. Thanks again Dirk.:)

6. KNVB 4v4 SSGs.

a. 4v4 with four goals one on each side of a square.

b. Shooting game with big goals without a keeper. Goal;s only about 20 metres apart.

c. Shooting game 4v4 with keepers, bigger pitch than 2.

7. Some of the teenage migrant Bhutanese intensity diminished over time. For last 20 minutes we had an 11v11 free play game. Only instruction was that no teenager or adult could tackle under 13s. Next time I will make a rule any player who scores a goal under 12 counts for 3 goals! Structurally, tactically it looked bloody awful! However, they enjoyed it immensely.


I also had a Chelsea Academy shooting drill and an Everton Academy passing drill ready to go, but we didn't have time.


Many new challenges:

1. Migrant Resource Centre's new youth worker, also a football coach and former player from Europe, is throwing his weight behind CFP. He has organised a bus on regular basis from refugee/migrant heartland to transport them to our ground with lights. Not enough seats on bus for all the kids wanting to play last night. We have lost 3 coaches from last year. We need a higher coach ratio to players. He organised the bus within two days, giving us new challeges. I had spent months and months, only for our request for the bus to be refused by MRC. New MRC youth worker has resolved our major issue - transport, with a few days. Now we have issues with coaching so many players at once!

2. Age groups ranging from 8-30. This is a problem in itself for organisation.

3. CFP needs more coaches/mentors/organisers.

4. Organisationally refugee players need drills to develop their playing ability. However, the instruction of the simplest drills, still make it hard for them to follow instructions. They have had limited formal schooling, being brought up in refugee camps.

5. Refugees think they need coaching, but even have difficuty relating to cones delineating grids. A lot of training ground structure is new to them.

6. We are now doing programmes in schools. We are likely to get more players under 12.

7. We have the possibility of recruiting more suitable coaches, but they need child care for their kids.

8. We have kids ranging in skill acquisition from state level rep ability level in youth comps, to moderate skills under 12.



Good points:

1. A mate of mine, who has played for a top African country and AEK Athens, helped coach at CFP last night. He was excellent. He was the only other experienced coach at CFP last night. He has a FFA C Licence. He is very empathetic to refugees.

2. One of our split state league players is now fast progressing into a quasi- coach, showing a lot of leadership and initiative.
Our club will have the player trained in FFA Grass Roots this afternoon.

3. Our club under 15s were sorely missed. These second, third, fourth generation Aussie rural kids, always give 100% on the training track. They will be back next week. We need them to have some people able to follow instructions easily.

4. We may be to get a few Bhutansese kids into the under 15 club team. One of them is one of the best players in the state and easily the best in the league. Currently he has no club!

5. I'm finding CFP far more interesting and challenging, than simply coaching a club or rep team over a season. One has access to so many different players by coaching different genders, cultures, ability levels, skill levels and ages with CFP. I'm also experiencing a lot of contact with new arrivals to Australia and assisting them to assimilate through football.

6. Local footballers are being exposed to how difficult it is for refugees in Australia.


I am contemplating having 4-5 stations.

What I'm intending to do is have 4-5 coaches leading a different exercise each. It can be changed to suit the age and skill set of a particular group. The idea is to have a coach working in an area they are confident in and can access the drill well before each CFP training session.

Every 20 minutes, a group, of about 8, changes to the next station with a different coach. We will have a big game, 11v 11, at the end, maybe two operating concurrently. Club under 15s can try their defensive structure.

















Edited by Decentric: 22/5/2012 01:52:57 PM

Good to hear about the bus! For the bad point of age differences, you should try getting some of the older people interested in coaching/training and helping the young ones out.

The interesting phenomenon is that the older Bhutanese guys, are very new to structured training. They are still learning something novel.

We have a bizarre scenario where I almost have a 19 year old, third generation female Aussie, leading groups, with 30 year old male Bhutanese in the groups, in particular training ground exercises. Yet the Bhutanese are vastly superior players in a 11v 11 context.

We also had a our first female Bhutanese player last night. She was quite intimidated and lacked confidence.

I desperately need more, confident, intelligent, adult women footballers, who speak English as a first language. I hate to say it, but females usually have better listening skills than us blokes. Many women also have superior game sense and speed of thought too, even though they lack the athletic ability and skill of male players.

I've noted this post from GA. Even though there aren't many responses of late, which is much better than a few of the fatuous trolls in the past, there are often 30-50 visits between each time I post.


This project is really starting to see a lot of benefits of late. Many are well beyond football too. What this project has demonstrated is the massive socialising effect football can have for the greater good of the community, well beyond the sport.

Some of the school principals and teachers from some of the refugee/migrants' schools are concerned by the lower quality of their conversational English compared to their written work. They are receiving a massive amount of it from conversing with Anglo kids and listening to instructions about football from other coaches and yours truly.

Friendships are developing. Anglo kids are becoming aware of how difficult some everyday scenarios for the migrants/refugees.

Next year my new club should be able to operate many new teams. There will be combinations of rural Anglo kids and refugees/migrants. The refugees are often revered for their playing skill too. They in turn are also impressed with the physical power, determination and will to win, the rural Anglo kids demonstrate, at training, and as new members of their teams on match days - we now have two Nepalese boys playing in an under 15 club team.

Definitely waiting here to read Decentric :) Just like GA said, great reading about your experiences.

Great to see that your efforts are transcending the football pitch as well. Give yourself a pat on the back for the fact that you're not only helping them learn football but making their lives a hell of a lot easier (Integrating with locals, talking English). I'm not a teacher so I'd have no idea, but I suppose your past experiences as on gives you a kind of "intuition" on how things should be done in that kind of circumstance.

Nice work. Looking forward to the next update :)

The bane of CFP has been resolved. The new Migrant Resource Centre youth worker has organised the MRC bus to pick up and drop off players from an area where many refugees/migrants live. This occurs on a weekly basis. This has given CFP great impetus.

The new youth worker is a qualified football coach, with European and African heritage. He is well aware of the potential for assimilation and socialisation through football. Our biggest problem was resolved in two days by him.

In hindsight, his predecessor, an Aussie Anglo, with no real knowledge of football, was really holding us back. A wonderful, altruistic human being, she just didn't see the potential in the CFP project, even though she brought players up occasionally on the bus. She should have utilised the MRC volunteer program, but she didn't delegate enough.

We've just finished a semester with CFP and can have a few weeks break with school holidays.

Three weeks or a month ago, I was ready to quit. The transport issue seemed insurmountable. So many organisations thought CFP was a great idea and paid lip service, but there was no tangible, physical support.

If we didn't get reasonable numbers three or four few weeks ago on one specific Monday, I was ready to quit, and consign myself to building the club I'm TD at.
Then I thought that our local football community and welfare organisations were providing the message CFP won't ever work. Lack of support from state FFA, lack of support from most clubs, lack of support from junior football associations, lack of physical support from paid welfare organisations and their volunteers, lack of physical, business support from most politicians, lack of physical support from the person who conceived the CFP concept (not mine).

Things changed.

* I became TD of a club who had passionately supported the CFP. Their players desperate to improve their individual and collective skills. Being with a club has opened many doors and resolved public liability and incorporation issues.

I now have a lot of contact with the state FFA Development Officer, who runs the Skills Acquisition Programme. Our club has set up one training centre session for him to train Grass Roots coaches from other clubs and ours. This is a part of my club TD role. A personal rapport is developing. He is now going to train large numbers of migrant communities in the FFA Grass Roots Certificate. Win/win.:) This will help migrants become more sustainable.

State FFA are will be happy. So will the welfare organisations who have been critical of state FFA in the past.


*School visits I've done in the last few weeks have brought target players to CFP. Schools have been a massive support. Usually superbly organised, with schools things happen really quickly. With principals and PE teachers onside, organisation is instant. One school has a busload wanting to come to CFP, but we can't cater for them without more coaches!
CFP already have some fast developing juniors who will soon be in rep teams.

* New youth worker at Migrant Resource Centre has resolved the bus impasse. We are now guaranteed a busload of migrants for every session. We now have issues of recruiting more coaches to cope with migrants who've had little formal schooling, have a modicum of English, little football training and need lower coach to player ratios. This is a good problem to have.

* We were contacting the media outlets about publicising the CFP. Now we have more than enough participants, the last thing we want is more players. It wouldn't hurt the general community to hear about the programme, but we don't want more players. The media wants the story more than us wanting to publicise CFP. The roles have changed in a month!

*Since the MRC youth worker's great work I now visit a number of refugees' houses. We have recruited migrant players to the rural club. I've paid their registrations. Their own community are now watching them play for the club.

As most of us know, a soccer coach has virtually no status in Australia. "Someone to coach the kids, thankfully not me," being the prevailing attitude.

When I visit refugee houses, being a football coach and teacher, I'm treated like royalty for organising their kids into a club. You'd think they'd signed with Man U!!!! I also draft letters in English, liaise with schools, help kids with homework, set more problems, organise registration papers, all of which are so difficult for them.

CFP has drawn in a few extra coaches and players who ferry the refugees around and generally help them with things we think are mundane.

This project has really started to take off. Sadly, the coach whose original idea CFP was, has withdrawn into club coaching. I'm getting credit that I think he should be getting. He sowed the seeds. I had no idea about the difficulties migrants had if they wanted to play club football. He was very aware.









Edited by Decentric: 2/6/2012 05:44:10 PM

CFP continues to evolve.

We've had some outstanding training sessions lately (after a couple of shockers) with a good combination of Skips, and, English as a Foreign Language speakers.

The Migrant Resource Centre bus has an excellent volunteer who is very interested in the welfare of new arrivals in Australia. One can also see the development in football terms of some of the more regular CFP attendants, the EFL speakers. They seem to spend a lot more time than locals honing their skills in between CFP training sessions. A number of players are improving in both footedness and receiving the ball with the furthest foot. Two of them have improved so much they are too good for the Division 2 under 15 and under 17 leagues respectively.

A couple of split state league players are so disillusioned with their club training (running without the ball, push ups, etc) they've dropped down a few divisions in outdoor so they can avoid the dross they do on the training track.](*,) Instead they play CFP and in more casual futsal teams for training. What is more they are improving skills by avoiding split state league training.](*,) How stupid is this? Many old guard coaches do their FFA courses in the New Curriculum, then it all goes out the window when they leave the course.](*,)

We have a meeting with MRC where a few thousand dollars may be accessed of Commonwealth money. This is for the express purpose of paying sports club registration fees for refugees. Our club is rural. The club is willing to take players of any ability. The refugees perceive 40 minutes travelling is a very long time.

If the migrant communities would take more of a lead in assisting in transportation I think we could provide teams at the club for any player who wants a game. The different phenomenon from Skips, is that nearly all the refugee players work on their game anyway, because they play so much football in a social setting.

https://sites.google.com/site/youthsoccerlessonplans/executive-docs

Last night we worked on a lot of ball carrying with the head up, shooting and specific evasion techniques as well as endurance. There was a also a focus on quicker decision making and teams moving the ball more quickly.


One exercise I highly recommend is the number 16 drill in the Dutch /Ajax Academy sessions. I've seen Phil Moss, assistant Mariners coach, do this with the NTC, Tassie branch. Hiddink and Verbeek did it a lot with the Socceroos. Arnold uses it a lot with CCM.

Last night I set it up in a diamond formation, four little goals shaped in a diamond shape, with one other little goal in the middle of the diamond.

The aim was to have 4v4 , but numbers dictated we had 6v6 with a fickle player. It was just okay, but some players weren't involved enough.

It is great for switching play quickly. Too few of the players last night have the vision to switch play quickly. Many of the refugees are good on the ball, but take too many touches in scenarios when they need to move it more quickly. They have had little structured coaching.

We had 13 players, so I tried making three teams of four with two balls.The trouble was that one team nearly always had some uncontested ball. I think it could have been better if we had a few more experienced split state league female players with good vision. It is certainly good for fitness. As soon as players score in one goal they need to switch it to another.

Another useful scenario from the KNVB is to have a SSG shooting game. Players often try to score fairly quickly. Then keep exactly the same game, but set a rule of every player in a team, including the keeper, needing to touch the ball before they shoot. This also encourages ball hogs to take one and two touches and players to create passing lanes more proactively.
I encourage players to take players on, but at the right time. It is interesting to see the improvement in teamwork over about 20 minutes with the 'every player in a team must touch the ball before shooting' rule.

Edited by Decentric: 3/7/2012 11:27:11 AM

I was contacted by FFA today, mooting the link up of CFP with a national organisation involved with refugees and football. This national organisation operates in partnership with FFA. It has secured quite a lot of commonwealth government funding and has existed for 3-4 years.

At this point in time, the only money CFP wants is for someone to pay refugees' registration fees for club football.

I have been pleasantry surprised that FFA have been proactive in pushing CFP forward. I think there is a drive to increase participants in football. Too many refugees who play football are outside the system. There are a couple of stakeholders in FFA who are pretty interested and empathetic to migrant football. In turn this will generate more participants playing under the jurisdiction of FFA.

I also think national FFA were contacted by 442's General Ashnak informing them of CFP. This may have helped our cause coming from a different source. I am now also perceived as being within the FFA system as I may have completed eight FFA coaching courses by next January. Also, I've organised a dozen coaches to undertake FFA courses in our club. I must admit I'm shocked at how reluctant many local coaches are to attend FFA courses and workshops, many which are free.

This is an exciting development.:)

Ironically the coach who conceived the whole CFP project has no involvement anymore. His only involvement is with a club team. I'm simply putting all his good ideas into practice.

Good to hear D, keep it up - will have to send a thank you to FFA for continuing to take an interest in what you are trying to achieve and don't feel guilty for continuing the good work that started with anothers idea, keep acknowledging him and you will continue to bear fruit :)

Bugger me. :lol:

Keep an eye out for the men in white coats, decentric.

Edited by judy free: 21/7/2012 11:04:32 PM

:lol: