Is there a ladder kept this year?

no ladder from last year?

A 19 team comp, yeah?

Top 10 teams from previous season play div 1.

Other 9 play div 2.

Why is this so hard?

A 19 team comp?

Surely your association has the good sense to split this into div1 and div2, no?

We don't win 30 nil because i could not do that to another group of kids.
Grading what grading?
There are 19 teams no grading.

[quote=Judy Free
Huh?

If junior teams in Townsville are winning 30 nil then you should be taking it up with your association. Clearly a grading issue.

Pat head, wag tail.

Keep the larfs coming, mate.

Fine, if you're happy to conveniently overlook the fact that the game of sockah is played between two teams, with two sets of posts and the winner is determined by who scores the most goals.

You need to be reminded that the development of receiving, passing, shooting, heading, first touch, tackling, stepovers etc etc is fundamental stuff in any junior 'results based' coaches charter.

If your team is developing well then it will ALWAYS be reflected on the scoreboard. Even your tassie mate has one example of this. :d

The rest of the participants are a good bunch of blokes, willing to exchange ideas and assist others. :)

We must educate our kids287Comments
06 Jul 2011 | 00:00-Ned Zelic


I left McKellar stadium in Canberra deeply concerned. I had just watched the Joeys get past Malaysia and Laos in the first phase of Asian qualifying, but they were far from convincing.



Now that we’ve been bounced out of the FIFA U17 World Cup with a 4-0 defeat to Uzbekistan, the question is: ‘who’s fault is it really?’ The coach Jan Versleijen? He carries responsibility, but it would be too easy to lay the blame squarely on him.

What about the players? They are the ones responsible for implementing what the coach wants. They are required to play to their potential and avoid making critical errors.

Both parties must take some responsibility, but the problems lie deeper than that.

In the search for answers, we must look at the earliest levels of player development.

When Barcelona scouted a 12-year-old named Lionel Messi in Argentina, do you think it said: "we love the way the ball bounces off his shins and the way he keeps tripping over. Let’s get him over to Catalonia, fix those problems and make him the world’s best player". No of course not. He already had great technical ability.

Barca saw that and decided it was worth bringing Messi over to keep working on his technique, but at the same time implement the club’s philosophy, work on decision-making, tactical awareness, physical attributes and mould his character. The training that allowed his technical ability to blossom had already begun and beared fruit in Argentina at Newells Old Boys.

The example of Messi and countless others shows how important junior coaches are to our future. The coaches below the Jan Versleijens of the world, who are responsible for nurturing the technical ability needed to be successful in the game.

It’s the job of Versleijen to pick the best of this bunch – the players that were deemed to suit the philosophy, just like Barca has done with its squad.

While it is easy to lay blame at the feet of Versleijen and the AIS for our failure at the FIFA U17 World Cup, we really need more quality coaches to teach kids technique and tactical awareness, before they get to 17.

Unfortunately the way things are at the moment, with short junior seasons and the countless other programs on offer, kids are being told to run right one night, then run left the next. This coach tells them to play out from the back, while that coach insists on clearing the ball at all costs.

It is not enough to expect our youngsters to suddenly play amazing football just by introducing small sided games, as if they are some magic potion to our technical woes.

What is and always will be the most important factor is the coaching. Coaches need to work intensively with juniors, putting them in trying situations on the pitch and showing them how to find solutions.

They must be taught not just 'play' their way out, but to 'feel' their way out of tight areas on the pitch. Instilling a feeling within the player is the key to improving technical ability. Correcting constantly during training is vital as well. Too many times I see little or no intervention. A coach should be constantly highlighting errors and providing solutions at training.

Of course, we still need to preserve our traditional qualities: willpower, never-say-die attitude, grit and determination and physical capabilities, the very characteristics that were missing in the Joeys loss to Uzbekistan.

Germany is the model for a nation that is succeeding in doing all of the above. Its exciting, attractive football and movement off the ball stems from being physically fit – a factor we were poor at during the World Cup. This is what creates space and options. The great players of the world are great because of the superior technical ability they have, but also because of the runs their team-mates make off the ball for them.

Working tirelessly to get the ball back when we lose it is vital, so we can get rhythm into our game. Guus Hiddink said the team had six to seven seconds to get it back. That philosophy should be funnelled through to our junior teams, or have we forgotten what Hiddink did for us? Football Federation Australia has done many positives for our game, but one thing bothered me in Mexico.

The efforts to delay the Uzbekistan game proved to be fruitless. We shouldn’t have even tried. The message that was being sent by doing so was we're not backing our team to get out there and do the business on the pitch. We gave our players and coaching staff an alibi if we crumbled. Crumble we did, wilting helplessly in the Mexican sun.

I would have preferred to hear: ‘Come on, we got a result against Denmark with 10 men. We beat Ivory Coast with a sub-par performance! We had good periods against Brazil. So a day less rest lots of travel? Who cares?’

Football is psychology and at that moment it was vital to build the confidence of these developing players and make them believe that we backed them, even with a day less rest. By trying to delay the game, FFA and the coaching staff delivered a message that the day’s less rest and travel were too big a mountain to climb, something the players are still impressionable enough to believe. On the display it looked like they did.

I was reminded of a quote from an old team-mate of mine at Dortmund, Matthias Sammer, who is now sport director at the German Football Association and responsible for junior and youth teams. Upon getting the job he was asked what the goals were. He said: "We want to be number one. We want titles at junior, youth and senior level.”

Juniors and Youth teams have their titles already with the seniors going close in South Africa last year. In Germany many young players are brought through a system that demands a combination of winning and attractive football. Our selection criteria at all levels should focus on those that can combine playing the game with a winning mentality.

A lack of these components within a team means problems arise when times are tough in a game. The result is a system of players who pass on responsibilities, as happened in the Uzbekistan game.


Downplaying the importance of results gives teams an alibi and threatens to take away the intensity and pressure needed to perform at a high level, the same pressure that will need to be dealt with in later years.

Pat head, wag tail.

Keep the larfs coming, mate.

The rest of the participants are a good bunch of blokes, willing to exchange ideas and assist others. :)

99.9% of coaches operate within a competitive structure i.e. the team plays a game and a ref keeps note of the score.

A coach's competitive record (list of achievements) determines his value, at any level.

So lemme ask you how you would determine the achievements and value of a non results based coach and what criteria would you use to appoint one?

Edited by judy free: 7/7/2011 07:51:40 PM