Did the FFA C Licence this year. Did it 6 years ago too. There certainly is a difference in the way they go about things these days. On another note great to find this section of the forum. Some good coaching stuff on here too.

Edited by Brew: 26/4/2016 09:05:49 AM

With the Laws Of The Game online test, I got into it once, did some of it and have been unable to regain entry with my password. The system won't even let me submit a password. Has anybody else had this problem?

I cannot even access what I've passed so I can print it as a record.

I've spoken to state FFA about it.

One can waste so much time on these sorts of IT issues.](*,)

not sure if already posted here
New Advanced Coaching Courses:Youth C Licence
This year we are very excited to be releasing the YOUTH C Licence.

The Youth C Licence is for coaches of talented players aged 9-17.

This course is open to Coaches 18 years of age and older, the course gives candidates an understanding of the National Curriculum and the FFA Vision and Philosophy. Course participants will be exposed to the key aspects relevant to coaching players in both the Skill Acquisition (9-13 years old) and the Game Training (13-17 years old) Building Blocks.

At the conclusion of the course, successful candidates will be able to design football sessions and construct annual training plans to develop football players according to the FFA Vision and Philosophy.

Candidates will be assessed for competency against the following:

· Planning practical sessions for the Skill Acquisition and Game Training phases

· Conducting a Practical Session

· Annual Planning

· Demonstrating a knowledge of the National Curriculum

· The Laws of the Game



The previously run C licence is now known as the Senior C Licence and is for coaches of Senior Amateur Teams and Talented players aged 17 and older.

This course is open to Coaches 18 years of age and older focusing on the 11 v 11 aspects of the game and familiarising candidates with the National Curriculum, Building Blocks, the FFA Vision and Philosophy and the Game Training Model.

At the conclusion of the course, successful candidates will be able analyze football problems and design football sessions to improve football performance. They will be able to plan a periodised pre-season programme to develop their team and have an understanding of how to communicate effectively with their players and key stakeholders.

Candidates will be assessed for competency against the following: -

· Planning a practical session using the Game Training Components

· Conducting a Practical Session

· Planning a 6 Week (1 Cycle) Programme

· Demonstrating a knowledge of the National Curriculum

· The Laws of the Game



Coaches will learn in an interactive environment through workshops, practical sessions and distance learning to develop their skills in the key competencies of Training, the Match and Management. In this open learning environment coaches will develop their Football Knowledge and gain an understanding of the FFA Vision and Philosophy.

If you have attended an FFA C licence from 2010 onwards then you are entitled to attend the Youth Course at a reduced cost or for free if you attend in 2013. Please head to our website to download the application form which contains all the relevant pricing information for our centrally run course. Please contact your Member Federation for courses being run in your specific area.

National Football Curriculum Refresher Course (NFCRC)
The second new course we are excited to release this year is the National Football Curriculum Refresher Course which will be held over an intensive 4 days.

To apply for the FFA National Football Curriculum Refresher Course applicants apply by the same process as a standard Advanced Coaching Course by downloading the application form from our website.

The NFCRC is designed to allow you to develop your understanding of the FFA Coaching Expertise Model and its incorporation into our Advanced Coaching courses. There are two situations which you may fall in to which may indicate you would like/need to attend this course:

· You need to gain your 100 points of revalidation to keep your Advanced licence valid. (Not sure when your licence expires? Login here to find out)

· You are wishing to attend an FFA ‘A’ licence course.

These two options are explained further below.

Revalidation Opportunity
FFA extended the revalidation window, for Coaches who had attained their Licence in or before 2009, through until the 31st December 2013. All candidates have a 4 year period to gain the 100 points required to revalidate their Advanced Coaching Licence e.g. an FFA B licence gained in 2011 means you have until 31st December 2015 to revalidate.

The FFA National Football Curriculum Refresher Course will be added to the annual calendar as a means for all coaches who hold an Advanced Licence to gain the 100 points required to revalidate.

This now presents a regional and central means for coaches to gain the 100 points to revalidate their Licence.

2 x Regional Conference (50 points per conference)

1 x FFA National Football Curriculum Refresher Certificate Course (100 points)

Coaches who have already accrued 50 points by attending a Regional Conference who choose to attend the National Football Curriculum Refresher Certificate will be required to attend the whole 4 days of the course to gain their 100 points. Candidates cannot bank points to carry forward into the next 4 year period.

Both methods will involve 4 days of learning and attract similar costs.

Attending an ‘A’ Licence
Candidates wishing to access the FFA ‘A’ Licence who will be required to attain the FFA National Football Curriculum Refresher Certificate will be:

- Holders of an FFA B Licence who attended their course prior to 2010

- Those who did not attend an FFA B Licence course, but gained the FFA B Licence by conversion of an old FFA State Licence

- Holders of a UEFA B Licence – must have been recognised by FFA in accordance with Form 9

- Holders of an AFC B Licence (issued by a nation other than Australia) – must have been recognised by FFA in accordance with Form 9

The FFA National Football Curriculum Refresher Certificate will be held every year. The course will include a written exam and on-course tasks leading to certification.

Licence Revalidation
Do you know when your licence expires? Why not log in and check it out because a lot expire at the end of this year. Whilst you are there make sure you update your details. If you have any login issues please contact your Member Federation.

Does your licence expire soon? If it does you have the following options to revalidate your licence:

· Attend a higher level course i.e. if you have a C licence then attending a B licence will revalidate your C licence regardless of your results

· Attend 2 X State coaching conferences – contact your Member Federation for information

· Attend the NFCRC mentioned above in this email to gain the require 100 points of revalidation.

If at the end of the four-year accreditation period you have not accumulated the required number of points or the next level of Advanced licence, your current Advanced licence will expire and you will then be considered to have no accreditation

Full list of centrally Run Advanced Coaching Courses for 2013
This list indicates all the centrally run FFA Advanced Coaching courses for 2013. This list does not include any regionally run C licences in your state. Please contact your Member Federation for information on those courses. All application forms, which include costs, can be found at our website

Unfortunately, because I've just done my C Licence, there is no specific youth specialisation in the 2012- 2013 C course. The intent by FFA is to train coaches coaching state league senior teams ( V League) or elite youth rep teams.

It would have been good to have the youth specialisation option for this year.

I've just completed a two day FFA Skills Acquisition Program course. I thought it would be easy after the C Licence.

Wrong.#-o It was really intense. I learnt an incredible amount in a very short time. There was a lot on player actions, player cues and posing questions.

Another benefit is that it was free of charge.

Sadly, there were only 11 coaches attending. There were 30 odd coaches invited too.


One phenomenon that differed from the C Licence is that when we constructed planning sessions, we had to do a three stage system,
but with a theme of one of the four core skills identified by FFA.

First touch (the most important core skill).

Striking the ball.

Running with the ball.

1v1 (defensive and attacking).


1v1 has been altered with a visit to Germany by some FFA coaches. The Germans thought that 1v1 needed to be broken down into attacking and defensive 1v1 skills.

I found the C Licence easier in a way. That is because when we devised training ground exercises, based on identified match problems, we had the freedom to identify what we wanted.

With the SAP course, having to devise training ground practice, in three stages, made it more difficult. The explicit instruction had to always be done in relation to the core skill in every stage. Any identified problems also had to be coached in relation to the core skill too.

The SAP trainer we have down here who took the course is a fantastic training ground coach educator. He makes players and coaches think all the time about how to focus questions for the players to think for themselves. It was mentally exhausting.

The idea of these courses, which should be run around Australia, is to disseminate the SAP beyond just a few SAP trainer squads. The thought process is to spread the content/know how to all elite progams from under 15 down to under 10.

The next step will be to spread SAP into clubs.




Edited by Decentric: 3/2/2013 11:32:01 PM

Edited by Decentric: 4/2/2013 12:14:32 AM

If anybody reading this needs a C Licence prac. assessment, contact me ASAP. From one coach talking to me via PM, he may not have organised an assessment.

PM me. I may be able willing to help organise an assessment on March 11th.

Can anybody tell me where and when the first of these new Youth C Licences will be taking place? I heard that the content will be finalised by about March/April but I can't see any courses in Australia until about October in Canberra.

Hi Guys,

I've been invited to attend the internal FFA roll out of the Youth specific C license as an observer at the AIS from Mar 2-8. This is where the content gets rolled out to FFA employed coaches/state TDs/instructors etc

I'll be producing a feature for the magazine on it and will be updating my experiences of the week as it happens on Twitter (@Jacko442)

Cheers
Andy

I'll be looking forward to your updates, Andy. Wish they'd do this for more current C Licence or higher coaches; I've got interests in what they're doing for several reasons.

I’ve been asked as to what content I’ll use for the C licence prac exam. I’ll post it on here. It will be phase 3 of four phase training, Game Training.

The main us criteria used to assess will be:
: Team Task
: Player actions
: Cues

There will also be an emphasis on: SOAAUSS. I’m not too bad at this, but weak on players’ actions and cues.

This may have changed from when the guy who asked what I was doing in this C licence prac compared to his C Licence in 2008. I know it is different because one of the guys who did it with him with is now a FFT staff coach.

The main assessment criteria, is my greatest weakness, like most coaches. All the structure and organisation is standard KNVB and teaching practice.

In the past coaches were given certain topics to prepare for assessment at FFA courses. In 2013 we had to observe Australia v Germany at WC 2010. Coaches were split into 2 groups. One had to identify a problem that needed fixing from an Australian perspective. The other had to do it from a German perspective. In the KNVB we had to do a live Australian game and evaluate the performance from a defensive perspective.

The problem I identified for Australia, was lack of combination play in midfield. The training ground session is designed to improve combination play in midfield, through opening passing lanes by creating diamonds and triangles. This is done with the NTC team for assessment.

I will lay out a 7v6 (with keeper for the 6) in a 2m x 2m with cones. Then I will lay out the same shape on the life size pitch with numbered bibs.

The focus team will be the first team midfield and attacking line. They will be supported by a CB. They will play the defensive midfield triangle in a 1-4-3-3, but this will manifest as a 1-3-3. Initially the defensive team will be a keeper, the back four and the two screeners – 1-4-2.
If the attacking team improves in the session objective, I will add the number 10 or attacking mid to the defensive team, to make it 7v7 on the pitch. There is a dilemma here. The KNVB may start with a 7v4 to enable the attacking team to have initial success, then build up from there. The FFA NC pushes to make it real, hence, closer to 7v7.

The coaching cues players actions (I’m still not sure of the difference), will be, “ Is my body shape conducive to playing forwards if I receive the ball?”

This intervention will be take place if its not apparent on the training track. This is where most of us are weak, apart from a young teenager who has come through the NTC program. His coach is the Australian assistant under 20 coach, who is very good. He has learnt from his excellent coaching over a few years.

Others, depending on the performance of the NTC can take the form of:

“Can you get beyond the second line of the opponents quickly?”

"Can you distribute to a team-mate who is in a position to move or play forwards?

‘Can you provide support?”

“How can we move the ball more quickly?”

Last time we had to analyse the NTC playing a game against each other with mixed gender. It was easy to pull the team apart from a perspective of distancing between the central midfield and central defensive lines and where they were out of position and losing their team shape. The key problem players were the two CBs, 3 and 4, and the two central mids 6 and 8. The lack of communication between them was a problem. It was reviewed as being a very technical analysis.

I will show the team the team task by a diagram with cones in a 2m x 2m area. Then I will put the numbered bibs out on the training track, to demonstrate the team shape.
Did this a few weeks a go with a state league senior team and it was a resounding success. What wasn’t a success was finding appropriate interventions as they did it well!

If anyone can think of any more interventions, fire away. There are a number of members on this forum, who have gone a lot further down the FFA coach education path.

Other cues can be asking players without the ball to:
Show for the ball by opening their arms.
Players point to where they want the ball from ball carrier.
Shouting for the ball.
Open a diagonal passing lane within a triangle of diamond.

Players with the ball at their feet can:
Play to feet.
Look to establish eye to eye contact.

One disturbing issue within FFA is that some coaches who have attended centralised Advanced Coaching courses, have not been assessed at the course, due to disorganisation/time constraints.

One coach I know is still waiting for an assessment a year after finishing his course work for the B Licence.






Edited by Decentric: 26/2/2013 09:59:26 AM

I'm going to do some nitpicking and hope it helps you out with your assessment (and constructing the session plan itself).

First of all, before even putting the problem on paper, draw the situation. Place players of both teams on the pitch in relation to the problem you are trying to solve. If the 6 and 8 were in line, make sure they are in your drawing. If your 9 and 10 were out of position, they're out of position in the picture. We were told about this at the start of the B Licence and it's a fantastic thing to do, because you can immediately draw out the GT (Game Training) and it helps you see better what you can do for the PP (Passing Practice) and PG (Positioning Game). Makes things much quicker.




Based on the FFA Curriculum terminology, that doesn't sound to me like combination play. Combinations are one-twos; stuff to get past defenders, typically. Sounds more like you're working on structured possession in midfield. Being able to create space, width, depth and support in the middle third.

I'd suggest conforming to their terminology for the sake of assessment, regardless of whether you use it post-course or not. (I don't know how strict your instructor is on this, but I know that the likes of Rob Sherman will pull you up every time.)




The most important part of all of this is to make it as real to the game as possible with the numbers you're using. If the objective you've given the opposition is to get it through to their 9 (whether there's a physical person there or just an area behind the play) and they're just lobbing it over into the space, ask them whether they think the 3/4 wouldn't get to that ball. They need to be playing as if it were the real game, so put real life restrictions on them. Of course, don't encourage them to NOT do something if it could work in a real match. If the objective is to play through the midfield, although they could play directly to their 9, let them. Don't stop them from having options if they're not wrong in doing so.

Another thing I'd recommend, in framing the session or showing them the layout, is to again draw out the entire pitch - with every player - so they can see how their positions relate to others on the pitch. This will also help them to see the actual problem and how it's part of the big picture and not just "any old training session."




The way I've interpreted each part is this:

Team Task: The actual objective of the GT
Player Actions: What they can do to achieve the result
Coaching Cues: How (and in what situations) they can perform the actions ( "If, then" )


I wouldn't suggest using these - because I don't know how you plan on conducting your session - but a few examples of what I could say in yours: (Assuming you use two 6s and a 10 as your midfield trio)

Team task: I want you to try to get the ball to the 9 with either a direct pass or playing through the midfield.
(You don't want it to be restrictive as to how their options as to how they can achieve an objective.)

Player actions: 6/8, can you receive the ball from the 3/4 in a position to play forward?
10, try to make space so the 9 can receive a forward pass.
3, can you play to the feet of the 9 with your first ball?
(Suggestions, seeing whether they need to know how to do particular things.)

Coaching cues (in relation to the above player actions): 6/8, if the 3/4 (CB with ball) is narrow, move wide and onto the shoulder of your opponent (space to play forward while receiving the ball -- if CB wide, come narrow, etc.)
10, if the 9 moves into a wide area, can you move the opposite way to pull a defender away from him?
3, if the 9 is not available, can you look for another player that can receive the ball to play forward?
(Guidance on how to make those suggestions happen or what they can do instead.)


Etc., etc. There are a lot of variations and a lot of them will depend on how you see the game ( your "Football Knowledge" ).
Coaching cues are best demonstrated through live clipping (stopping the play and demonstrating), then restarting play from the last/second-last ball and having them play out the movement.

Thanks, Steelinho.

I'll clarify with the FFA assessor what is meant by combination play. You may have made an excellent point.

The nitpicking, or constructive criticism, is exactly what I hope this forum will evolve to.

You've also made me aware of a few issues I was unaware of. These could adversely effect assessment. You have certainly assisted me to clarify some points I need to know in weaknesses I have.

I think the draw the situation is a strength of mine, from the KNVB.

Didn't realise Rob Sherman was pedantic. He worked very well with our group.

I've noticed things like actions and cues are difficult for a lot of people on these courses, whether it's just understanding the differences or just coming up with the basics. The idea is to, essentially, avoid limiting them to just one or two options in a game and make it more about guidance then forced instructions.

I wouldn't say Rob is pedantic, rather he's just following the curriculum down to its exact definitions. It might be something that's just more important in the B than the C Licence, though, because I don't recall it being that strict in the first course, either.

Criteria where we are assessed?

It is in Game Training, the third stage of a the four stage plan in the FFA pro forma, where most of the coaching occurs.

Team Task: Setting a logical one of the team in relation to the problem identified from observing Australi aplayin gGermany at the last World Cup. I had to find a problem from an Australian perspective.

Player Actions: Such as , " Can my body shape assist me to receive the ball to playing forwards?"

Cues: These help players active actions using, as, if, when ,where.


This is to clarify a point, I hope, for someone to respond to on here.

Another bloke, who did the C Licence some years ago, is surprised how onerous the assessment criteria is now.


I'm amazed you managed to go straight into the B Licence so quickly after completing the C Licence. You must have done well in your C course!=d>

There is a statement from FFA, saying that coaches need to coach senior or elite youth for two years, before they should apply to do a B Licence.

I've also heard a state youth coach say that he may not worry about upgrading from a C to B Licence, because B and beyond is all about senior players, devoid of youth training content. He has completed a B course.




Edited by Decentric: 1/3/2013 01:12:40 PM

The other criteria for C Licence assessment are SOAAUSS.

Start: The session should start pretty quickly with minimal detail.
Organisation: The session should be well organised. Bibs out on pitch in correct place, I also used a 2m x 2m square to demonstrate a smaller version of the exercise with cones out onto pitch, knowing you own plan/script. ( This is basic teaching stuff for me).
Ability: Are the players able to carry out the task with their TIC ability?
Attitude: Are the players in the right frame of mind? Focused?
Understanding: Do the players understand the rules of the practice? Their roles?
Shape: Are the players in realistic positions relative to the way we play?
Self: Am I in the right frame of mind? Clear gasp of my script? Team task ready?

I will be expected to address different issues that may arise on the pitch, than my script.

Thanks for the advice about structured possession as opposed to combination play.

I went over this with an assessor yesterday.

You are right. Combination play takes the form of one/twos and third man runs.

It has also been suggested I simplify the topic.

Decentric, this is a well laid out session. I agree with Steelhinoin in that the examining criteria must be well understood and the topic well defined. Some comments:

I would find it difficult to improve combination play of midfielders in the front third with out a defined area to create these situations. Consider the setup outlined in this link:


http://au.fourfourtwo.com/blogs.aspx?CIaBEID=2625

Here the midfield has an aim of forward passing to the centre forward. Combination play can be made with the outside players (wingbacks or wing forwards) to assist in creating these situations. The players in the middle can be changed to 3v3 or 4v3 overload situation. The outside players can only play with the attacking team. The situation can be manipulated and progressed at your descretion. eg allow the centre forward to slide along the back area or define the area he can move in. Add Gks, rules and methods of scoring. eg combination play within the midfield only is worth 2 points, 1 point for combination play with wide players etc, Once an improvement is seen you can progress play without boundaries with your 7v6 situation quite quickly. Add or remove players in the 1-4-3-3 system to achieve your goal. Perhaps the first part with progression is all that is required for a C Licence exam.

This all may seem a little complex for a C Licence course however I am not privvy to the contraints of the practical. Just a thought.

Great advice and the link is excellent with superb, diagrammatic illustrations. For the computer experts viewing this, they are power point aren't they?

I did the C Licence assessment two days ago.

Whether I have passed or failed, apparently I made so many interventions, the assessors said I'd wear the battery out of the earphones, I have improved immeasurably as a coach from doing the new C Licence.

Interestingly, I pulled the male NTC team apart in the assessment. They made so many mistakes, I didn't know here to start. This was what I wanted. My concern was finding little to coach, like when I took a senior female V League team for a session a few weeks ago.

The cues and player actions seem to be coming all the time on the training pitch now with the rep team I coach. Luckily, I have some great role models to observe at SAP and NTC level. The state FFA coach educators are keen to mentor other coaches too.

The major frustration with the C Licence assessment, was the refereeing online site. I could not for the life of me answer the assistant referee and and throw in questions correctly. This may be my Achilles heel in obtaining the C Licence.

This is your first post, welcome to the forum, Football Forever.

I have passed the Advanced B and Advanced A Licence.

Some comments relating to it been directed at Seniors is incorrect. To pass an A Licence practical you need to use guided discovery, this method is very well suited to all ages. This means you have to study every little detail within your session objective. Once you have all this information you can use from 9s to Seniors because the information is the technical details and the tactical details. Once you have the technical details you can create smaller games or technical sessions for younger players.



Edited by possessionfootball: 13/3/2013 07:38:49 PM

Guided Discovery is also used in the FFA C Licence and the FFA SAP course.

Roughly it equates to a heuristic or constructivist approach in contempoary teaching methodology.

That is where students discover for themselves. This is the opposite to a didactic mode of instruction, where students are told how to do something.

In our KNVB course, there was considerable onus setting up the correct games, SSGs, with width and depth. The rationale was that the game would be the teacher. Would you agree, mate?

After observing many sessions taken by our head Skills Acquisition Program instructor, he provided many scenarios where he asked players to provide a solution to a problem they were encountering in a particular session. I could see he was creating thinking players by intervening.

I am now coaching some of his former prodigies. They have phenomenal game sense compared to other players who have not had access to the SAP. I knew this was a weakness in my coaching about 8 months ago and desperately wanted to do something about it. What I didn't know, was what specifically this weakness was, in terms of specific football terminology.

After doing the C Licence and the SAP course, I know these terms are player actions and coaching cues. These should be provided by the coach. This has greatly improved my coaching. I have improved immeasurably just over the last three weeks, becoming more familiar with these concepts and observing some top coaches using them on the training track.

This should not be mistaken that I consider the FFA C Licence to be superior to the KNVB Youth Certificate. What the C Licence did, was really go into depth in a four stage coaching pro forma/module and augment pre-existing knowledge.

I still think the KNVB Youth Certificate was decidedly superior in providing a broad methodology about what to coach at which ages. It also provided better instruction on how to set up a team in a defensive structure, how to set up teams in a 1-4-3-3 and how to analyse games from a defensive perspective.

it also provided kinaesthetic structures as an excellent precursor to what the FFA C Licence termed Words and Pictures.

I believe FFA considered that all coaches participating in C Licence courses have a thorough background in imparting technique and setting up the 1-4-3-3. They don't. The KNVB and FFA Skills Acquisition course provide a very important background for the FFA C Licence.

I believe the FFA SAP 2 day course was almost as useful as the 13 day C Licence, from my perspective of already having completed the KNVB Youth Certificate before studying the two FFA courses.

I suggest the FFA SAP 2 day course should be compulsory for all coaches, regardless of which age group coaches coach. It really was an excellent course from just two days instruction. I'd call SAP Coerver with game sense.

When SAP really consolidates, we should be a pretty good football nation after 10 years implementation. One small concern I have, in all the FFA coaches I've met and been under the tutelage of in clinics/courses, other than Norm Boardman, and to a lesser extent our local SAP trainer, nobody within FFA alludes to minimum numbers of touches in training sessions.

At any level 600 is considered a minimum.

In CFP, club and rep teams I take, we have never been under 660 touches per session. No other session from other coaches I've seen, comes anywhere near these figures. Arsene Wenger likes 1000 touches minimum, which in 90 minutes, I sometimes struggle to reach.





Edited by Decentric: 20/3/2013 06:15:01 PM

One small concern I have, in all the FFA coaches I've met and been under the tutelage of in clinics/courses, other than Norm Boardman, and to a lesser extent our local SAP trainer, nobody within FFA alludes to minimum numbers of touches in training sessions.

At any level 600 is considered a minimum.

Have you asked the other FFA coaches why their isn't a focus on the amount of touches in training sessions? Since our technical ability is well below most asian nations, i would of thought a great deal of attention would be placed on this.

always remember
"A touch is a touch, even a bad one" - Bert-Jan Heijmans - The dutchUK football school

I am not at liberty to disclose who said what, but some FFA big wigs think of "quality touches".

In one of my last sessions, the assistant coach had counted 490 touches at the 10 minute mark. There were 630 at the end of Warm Up, or Passing Practice as FFA would term it. The KNVB call it the technique phase to work on the weakness identified from the game.

These touches in the Warm Up are done with no pressure from other players.




The 'quality touches' can be seen in the following:

In Positioning Games, Game Training and Training Games, the same player accrued a further 174 touches to make a total of 804.



The 174 touches were achieved against opposition in Positioning Games - Player In Soups, 4v1 and 5v2 from Dirk's Academy Sessions the sticky at the top of this page.

Then Game Training ( 7v7 the defence and midfield against the attack and midfield with keepers). KNVB uses 7v7 with keepers in this phase, but always with strict allocated positions that replicate the formation of the team in games.

Then Training Game 8v8 including keepers.




I feel that most of the C Licence trained coaches were still unaware of the mandatory 600 touches at the end of the course. However, if they had been at the Skills Acquisition Program course, they would have inadvertently made the 600 touches each training session. Only four 2013 C Licence graduates and two from last year's course were there.














Edited by Decentric: 20/3/2013 10:13:54 PM

Switters, it is a good point.

See the aforementioned point about what are considered quality touches by FFA coaches made under pressure from opposition players in SSGs.

Norm Boardman is about 4th or 5th in the FFA hierarchy, so he would be passing this 600 touches on to a lot of coaches. He took the SAP roadshow for FFA around Australia last year.

What concerns me is that a number of club coaches tell me what they think are the technical limitations of a player aged 12, 13 or 14 and up to adults . To me, if a player works hard and has the correct instruction, they will improve immeasurably. If they play a lot of SSGs at school, before school, at recess and lunch, plus play futsal, there will be an improvement.

This happened in rep selections this year. I told some parents that other players may have worked much harder in the off season. Hence, their game improved and they were selected in a rep team, that some players selected last year missed out on.

Edited by Decentric: 20/3/2013 10:14:31 PM

So now that there is a new 212 page curriculum, does anybody know how to get there hands on a copy? I would assume that they would be handed out at Advanced licence courses and refresher courses but I can not find a C licence anywhere that starts before September this year. Any advice would be great.

I'm starting the second part of the B Licence course in about two weeks; I fully expect to receive information about it at that time.

If they're continuing with the old curriculum, just because it was active at the time of the first half of the course, it's going to be a big let down.

We haven't had any emails regarding the update. Actually, all I've seen in regards to it - from the FFA or any other state federation - is Capital Football (ACT) providing a free seminar run by Han Berger. You'd hope they'd be more actively pushing this update.

It will be a big let down.

The changes are occurring so quickly.

Hey Guys - if you're referring to my article in the new mag - it's not a new curriculum. It's a expanded second version of the existing curriculum - I tried to make the clear in my piece.

All the building blocks are unchanged - there is just much more detail and model sessions for each phase.

Cheers
Andy