Inside Sport

Are the pathways producing players?


https://forum.insidesport.com.au/Topic1578026.aspx

By Arthur - 13 Nov 2012 11:24 AM

Quote:
[size=6]In his third game, teenager Andrew Nabbout goes down in Victory folklore [/size]David Davutovic From: Herald Sun November 12, 2012 12:00AM
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/in-his-third-game-teenager-andrew-nabbout-goes-down-in-victory-folklore/story-e6frfg8x-1226514746444

MELBOURNE Victory's scoring hero Andrew Nabbout has become accustomed to rejection since his early teens.
He was never picked for a state representative side and was axed by Green Gully, one of Victoria's premier junior clubs.
But the youngster persisted, and a month ago rejection turned to recognition from arguably Australia's best talent spotter.
"A lot of people said, 'Nineteen, you're too old to make it, you've got to be picked as a youngster'," Nabbout said yesterday.
"I never got selected for any of that (state teams). I've never lost belief in myself to become professional.
"Ange (Postecoglou) saw me (in a Victory youth game) and said he'd take me to Brisbane (in Round 2). I didn't know I was starting until the day.
"I got thrown in the deep end against Brisbane Roar and thankfully I found myself swimming. But I just stuck it out. Ange gave me the chance to make it happen and I've been rewarded."

Only 48 hours earlier, the first-year mechanical engineering student had been sitting his final exam at RMIT.
Now Nabbout has gone down in Victory folklore.
The teenage super sub sent the boisterous contingent of travelling fans behind the goals into a frenzy by netting a brace in 13 minutes to turn a two-goal deficit into a 3-2 win against Sydney on Saturday night.
In Sydney, he will be known as the kid who sent Ian Crook packing, with the Blues' coach resigning within 24 hours of the loss.Nabbout's first - nine minutes after coming on - was a delightfully curled left-foot shot, the second a header from Gui Finkler's corner.
"I still can't believe what happened. The last 10 minutes all odds were stacked against us," Nabbout said.
"Last week I came on and didn't have much of an impact and there was a scare we could've lost the game.
"So Ange just told me before the game, 'You're a sub, you have to make an impact no matter how long you play, we don't put subs on for the sake of it'.
"Like Ange said, games aren't played over 70, 80 minutes, you have to play out the full 90 and we did that.
"The chances came and the goals finally


This young man was never involved in any of the pathways in Victoria and yet on debut shows a great level of skill and desire.
Leckie also was not identified in the pathways.
Tom Rogic is he another junior never selected in the pathways.

The obvious answer is that the pathways are producing some players and they are missing some players.
Does that mean the selection criteria are wrong or not effective enough?
Does it mean that juniors who dominate their Age groups then struggle to do the same are at senior level suffer from a mental performance issues or have stagnated in their technical decision making development?

I hope that the FFA does some research in this area, seeing where kids have played their junior football and how measure the success or otherwise of the pathways to identify talent.

My view is simply more investment should go to grassroots from 6 to 16yo to develop the general pool and the pathways should start at 16yo. Unfortunately the demands of the U13 and U16 National Squads have created a situation where the National Federation and State Affiliates see the need to develop pathways to feed into these teams. Maybe this is not to the correct way as selection becomes an end in itself rather than being part ofthe journey, like a Leckie, ogic or Nabbout.



Edited by Arthur: 13/11/2012 11:25:07 AM

Edited by Arthur: 13/11/2012 11:25:32 AM
By Judy Free - 29 Nov 2012 8:14 AM

neverwozza wrote:
Judy Free wrote:
Aussiesrus wrote:
I think your basing your views on selection processes you have experienced at one possibly two clubs ONLY. You need to get around and see what is happening at most other clubs trials to get a better idea of what most people are complaining about.


I know the process ATB, intimately.

At the end of the day 95% of the whinging and whining comes from parents of fringe players.

And another free tip; if a kid isn't among the top 3 or 4 players in top tier youth league then parents would be infinitely better off channeling their enthusiasm into their kid's education. Unfortunately that rarely happens.



3 or 4 across the whole comp or just in their side???


Whole comp.

The odds of some day playing pro football are long.

The odds of needing a 9 to 5 job to pay the rent are short.