I was wondering what the early days of the new technical director looked like

when he came in the national curriculum had about 20-25% and he pledged to get that up to 80% compliance

any progress on that front?

Well the first year of implementation of the NC was in 2010.

A lot of the current Joeys under 16s now under 17s have come through the NC. But this is was only for a few in the elite player pathway. So maybe 25% then.

But now I say with the new version, the compliance level will only go up due to the requirements on NPL in terms of licensing and with all a-league clubs the level should be more higher in the future, but over time.

My concern is with a few who don't want to follow it, such as some in the NPL level and in grassroots too which is normal who are hellbent on change.

But the most concerning for me are the elite private academies whom of course have their own vested interests, the FFA were trying to find a way regulate them but its too costly to do so from I've been told. Ive heard they take a lot of our kids outside of their clubs and try to protect them from going to the NTC or AIS.

Grazor, I'm chasing up some answers from a senior FFA coach off forum to answer some of this.

look forward to his answer

I have recently won over some hard parents playing quality football.
Will be interested if they remain so committed if we don't win.
Still nice to hear them saying how much they enjoy watching the game more and they can see the plays developing.

Funny thing i never know what the scores is or who won until i ask someone later.
true story just shows how caught up in the plays i am.

Good to hear.

Here is an obvious situation taking place at the moment
2 academies
1 starts at u9 and concentrates on technical perfection with repetitive static drills .
1 starts at u12 and concentrates on game play using the curriculum.

1 is slaughtering the other at ages u12 up any guesses as to who is winning?

this is very sad for me to watch might need to get involved.

Can you provide more details Krones3

=d>

Apparently the best way to teach is through example. :)

Only that the coaches producing the best players are doing static drills with an emphasis on technique and repetitive muscle memory, ball control and evasion for at least 75% of their training.
The players are then expected to train on their own every day except game day and a lay day.

The others are following the curriculum "as they see it" and teaching useing game play.

Edited by krones3: 7/4/2015 07:09:54 PM

That is what I thought you were implying. I have heard of Miniroo teams in some clubs just instructing their kids to run with the ball, which translated into how they see it means take on players and run forward with the ball.

The FFA NC states on page 37 under skills acquisition about running with the ball: “At speed (with a lot of space) or ‘dribbling’ (in tight areas), this includes techniques for protecting the ball and changing direction.”

Yet does not address in any great details what these techniques are.

In club land i have kids who have been playing for 4 years and no one has shown them how to pass a football correctly.
and that is a sin

If you go the FFA Coaching Resource, it goes through several training methods in the SAP period, i used some in practice with the kids i help train, it focuses on implying technique(the core skills) under a game situation.

I've done the skill training certificate late last year, the coaching instructors teach you how to imply training techniques in effective training sessions which focuses perfecting kids to use their first touch properly, encourage 1v1s in the game, to execute striking and running with the ball but i mentioned earlier during the GAME not in ISOLATION.

The key concept behind this is to make fun as possible.So not to make it about too much about team play, not sure what other grassroots clubs are doing similar to this.

But thats the main purpose of SAP in the NC or the overall idea anyway.

But we also teach our kids to train on their core skills in isolation outside of training too, and its easier to tell which ones are doing in by looking at their technical makeup. As training with the club is not enough. :D

When you learn to read you start with the letters first not the novel.

For starters its a forum, so if you want to say something to me or anyone else please do it in a constructive manner about the topic not about something else, rather than insulting me okay mate. [-x

Reading between the lines, you sound like one of those bitters/trolls...move on, i know now who you are and your main purpose. :-"

Edited by Barca4life: 10/4/2015 12:51:24 PM

So any word on the early days of the new tecnical director?

I think he has written a couple of pieces on the FFA website about the NPL and the NTC State Challenge, but apart from that not much.

I think SBS needs to get hold of him and conduct a interview on The World Game or something, a bit like what they did with Han Berger.

I recently went to a player induction function hosted by ken schembri (head of blacktown city for the last 30 years) and his only criticism of the new curriculum is that there is not enough ball mastery in the programme and I would tend to agree. My eldest started at an NPL club when he was 11 and there has been bugger all focus on technique - or no where near enough. They kind of assume that everyone has come out of the SAP programme or project 22 for my sons age group and therefore has a good technical base but it is clearly not the case.

Anyway a few of his team mates and him did some sessions under Glen Trifiro in the offseason and it has honestly been like coaching gold for us. They were intense sessions solely focussed on technique and working in very very tight spaces and my sons touch has improved out of sight from last season.

I think I remember reading something on here about the current Belgian "golden age" putting in 2-3 extra sessions a week before school which solely focussed on technique on top of their normal club training. Something like that would be ideal here in australia if you could fins someone to fund the bloody thing.

Totally agree on all points. Just watched a senior team train over half of them can not pass and keep their balance correctly. This could of and should of been fixed in U7s.](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

Not trying to start an argument here, but what you seem to be saying is the academy that has had the kids for 5 years is pumping the academy that has had the kids for 1 year.

I believe there is room for both static drills and game play. In fact, I would say that they go hand in hand. Real mastery of any skill usually requires both explicit instruction & practice, and individual application in a free and challenging environment. In my opinion, the real question comes down to what is the most optimum balance between the two.

Yes and no
I think static drills should be used in isolation from U8 through to U12 and after that only game play drills should be used.
The valuable years of technical development must not be squandered.
Next time you watch a local prem side train watch their balance and movement as in bio mechanics then watch a team of technical efficient players and you will see what could of been. Look with new eyes.

Thats interesting you say that, when did your kid sign up for your NPL club? Not all NPL clubs are perfect with the NC delivery from i've seen. It seems like maybe the message hasn't come across like it should to most clubs given there is like 32 clubs there is possibly a larger margin for error.

But anyway with SAP training it goes from 9 to 13, as Alf Galustian said the golden age of learning is between those years.

From watching some SAP matches, i've noticed quite a change in how the coaches are training our kids, the technical level of these players is a big improvement from before although a long way to go yet.

Edited by Barca4life: 16/4/2015 11:36:20 PM

I have to agree with you on the importance of developing muscle memory at that age band through skill repetition.

But, I wonder if all kids will flourish under that regimented style? I remember my son started academy training at 7, and struggled with motivation for the first 6 months - it was only the 'free' game time at the end of the sessions that kept him going. Later on in the season he caught on to the relevance of the drills to actual games, and he thrived.

Another point is about developing creativity. Free play time (with blocks for example) in pre-school/kindergarten is considered to just as important to learning as explicit teaching time, and more important for kids to develop their creative side. I assume that 8-12 is an important age for developing football creativity as well as technical development. Free games with minimum instruction is surely the best way to develop this.

Agree games at the end of each session and free games but push them to use evasive skills.

I coach a 10s team. We train twice a week for 90mins at time. I find that 90 mins is too long for the FFA skill aquisition template sessions which tend to run out of steam/lose focus ahead of time.

I have addressed this by incorporating Coerver style ball mastery drills, direction changes and cone dribbling into the warm up (approx 20mins) before following the FFA template style sessions. Seems to be working well and hopefully by doing this the kids are getting the best of both worlds.

Still getting in 25-30 mins game at the end.

The NPL club we are attached to follows the curriculum to a fault. Mark Jones had two stints as TD and was very strict on the way his coaches trained their sides. I have actually heard some coaches complain since that they had no freedom to express themselves either at training or during a game the instructions were so rigid from above (and I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing). The year Mark wasn't TD my son was coached by the head of coaching for football NSW who once again followed the curriculum to the letter.

My biggest gripe is with the bit I have bolded. Not all parents are willing to commit to the SAP programme from such an early age and therefore those kids still need to be acquiring skills at later ages. I would also argue that 9-13 age that alf has stated is a bit close minded and kids can still pick up a lot in later teens.

But you are right that I too have noticed a huge jump in the technical level of primary school age players over the last decade even at local association club level.

These parents need to realise that developing technique starts quite early they probably don't come from football backgrounds to know this which is understandable.

But as a country we are now only realising this that developing technique starts from when they start to play the game age 5 and above but also its too late or too hard to develop technique after the age of 14

Alot more learning moments can be picked up between the ages of 8 to 13 and refining technique in those years is crucial.

Ok Here is the drill
U8 Passing right foot player

2 players stand 8m apart facing each other
Player 1
Stand behind the ball in a natural standing position with the large toe inline with the center of the ball.
Slide the left foot forward until the big toe is equal with the center line of the ball and pointing towards other player
slightly bend left knee
bring right foot up to the ball resting ankle in the middle of the ball with foot at 90deg to the left foot.
bend right knee swing back then right foot strike through the ball.
Do not stab do not cross your legs leave your foot out there and straight with ankle locked.

encourages correct balance as well as Technic.
Coach can see every thing that is wrong.
In a play situation or if the player is bouncing on his toes forward and back allover the place every sin will be covered over un seen and uncorrected.

I have the same opinion of insisting on a structor and position it allows you to see the ability of each player and in training correct any issues with his Technic with out it it is a raging bunch of sheep with no hope of seeing individual needs.

This is a proven method and every player i coach for more than a season is great at passing the ball. I break every skill down like this.My experience has shown me that any error in Technic is shown up as pressure and speed increases.

No offence meant in anyway. So apologise if this is how it was taken.

Letter - refers to technique and novel refers to apply it in game situation. This is how it has been explained to me - no point jumping to a novel if you never started with learning the letters.

My opinion is just letting kids play at U11 level below without correcting technique will mean this is all they will know for the game training phase and they will struggle.

An example the FFA NC on page 37 mentions running with the ball and talks about change of direction yet no where in the FFA NC does it really get down to how to do a change of direction in a true technical sense (not drills which has running with the ball usually just running forward with the ball). We did lots of Coerver change of direction drills from U8/U9 and those players are more technically advanced than those kids who did hot do them at that age group and those kids did do the 4 Key Skill Acquisition sessions just no one really paid too much attention to the technical aspects, they just did the drill that was mapped out for them.

They did not learn the letter first more like the word without really knowing what that word means and then struggled to understand the novel (as a highly respected coach once put it to me).

And that is what is see as well