By Bender Parma - 1 Sep 2015 7:50 AM
I have been reasonably critical of the curriculum because of what seems to an outsider to be too much of a theoretical approach. To be honest, i have only really know what is discussed on here, plus i have seen a document with google, which surely couldnt be the whole document and a couple of links to some slide shows. Plus of course plenty of posts from decentric and others. With that being said, i think it is unfair to criticise without putting something up, so, without knowing what the real curriculum actually says. I think i am going to have a go at developing my own theoretical curriculum for the benefit of the game in Australia. I will do this over the course of time. Feel free to criticisise, comment, ridicule or whatever.
Phase 1 - Structure of the Game.
This will probably be one of my most controversial areas. I propose that the summer based A league needs to stay. I think it is a success and it has more potential to promote the game away from the major games of League and AFL. There are also advantages with venue hire. I do however propose some serious changes to the format of the A League.
Most agree that we dont play enough games in the a league. In order to fix this, i propose an additional 10 teams to be added to the A League, leaving us with a 20 team A league. The additional 10 teams will come from North Qld, Gold Coast, Woolongong, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, Geelong, Morwell, Adelaide, Perth.
The salary cap will remain the same for the current 10 teams. The 10 new teams will be limited to a cap (excluding the two marquees) which is limited to 50% of their turnover. All new teams are required to own their own stadium and should budget for crowds of 1000 to 2000.
The idea here is not do all the fishing in the one spot, just because there are fish there. It is better to fish next to 100 fish on your own than to fish next to 1000 fish with 100 other people. The sides have been strategically placed in areas where there is not only a reasonable sized population, but more importantly, there is generally a regionalised television station, meaning that the A league side can monopolise the local area and grow the sport in these regional areas. Slowly growing soccer as the major sport in these areas. Also, with regards to pay tv, it makes it more attractive to the game, because each of these areas will have a small number of dedicated fans who will likely purchase pay tv just to see their team, as opposed to those in the city, who already have a reason to buy pay tv.
The draw of the Aleague will be simple. The current 10 sides and new sides will play each other twice they will play the other side once. This will essentially add an extra 9 or so rounds to the current competition, bringing the league into line with the major European leagues. Whenever a current side plays a new side, the current side is away. The reason for this is because it will save on the huge ground rents. It will also mean that when the big sides come to town, it will be a big occassion for the regional cities. The FFA, will also take the opportunity to adjust the draw, so that the rounds where there are all current vs new sides can take place during Fifa windows or when clubs have large Asian Cup committments. This would reduce the pressure on our successful sides without compromising the number of games. I also think that there is an advantage to the current A league sides in that even with the likes of Newcastle or Central coast struggling, the extra games will see them get some big wins, and be seen by their fans as big clubs rather than wooden spooners. I think this would help the main clubs maintain healthy crowds.
In relation to payment for this competion, i think that the travelling costs could easily be paid for by the current tv deal, even if the grant to clubs had to be reduced slightly. With a small salary cap, it shouldnt be too hard for the other new clubs to survive, particularly if they are chosen from existing clubs who are surviving with less exposure and on similar budgets as things are right now.
The other advantage of this is that it allows the lesser clubs access and assistance from the FFA in things such as providing publicity and guidance on promotions etc. It allows the clubs in smaller areas to professionalise things, in particular the organisation of junior teams. The aim would be for each club (particularly the new ones) to work with the junior clubs with those clubs becoming true representative teams of the areas.
TV coverage, is obviously limited to what foxtel wants. Not all games from the newer teams would be necessarilly covered, but that would depend on their ratings and how they ultimately sell themselves and perform. I expect that in time, foxtel would want to cover them all, but that is not compulsory, imo. The emphasis of the FFA running the game would not be so much on fairness to clubs, but on running the game in a competitive environment with the emphasis on growing the game and the best long term interest of the australian game. I would expect non televised games to be available through internet streaming which would be well advertised, perhaps even on the foxtel site. Most importantly would be that with the one competition the talk shows and sometimes news shows would pick up stories on the new clubs and this publicity would help them double their current sizes in terms of spectators, at the very least.
Playoffs: The playoff system would be a top 5 play off. I really think that this has always been the fairest and best system and the one where teams know what they have to do and where they have to finish. Such a system also allows the new teams to jag a place or two in the system, but it is unlikely that they would be able to actually win or even make the grand final without being good enough to beat the best Current team. It also means that only the very best current teams will make the playoffs so that any team making the playoffs will see the year as a success,rather than now where supporters of teams who made the finals last year couldnt really care less and considerd the year a complete write off. At least more supporters this way, will be happy and the concept of the finals will expand because of it. There will also be a playoff between the best old team and the best new team. The winner of this game shall switch groups.
A second division. A second division would be an option down the track. However, it would need to stay in witht the same concept in that it would include teams such as Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Port Moresby, Bathurst, Bendigo etc. The aim of this division would be to keep up the wide geographic spread adn attack the game at grass roots level in the country and smaller areas. Promotion and relegation would require the promoted team to beat a relegated team.
NPL. The NPL would play an important role. I would keep it as it is in a state run competition, though i would try to increase publicity by promoting it on the FFA table (Tables and fixtures at a bare minimum). Trying to use FFA publicists (it does go without saying that i would hire better ones) to promote the competition and even pushing foxtel for a weekly highlights show or talk show. I think this might be reasonably successful in the off season. if they wont do it, i think an internet stream, if worked properly would probably achieve the purpose.
FFA Cup. this would stay the same, though the round of 32 draw might ultimately become a round of 64 draw. I must admit that i have always preferred the random draw to the seeded draws which have become popular nowadays so i would revert to the random draw, for no other reason. Depending on whether or not it is considered that we ahve enough games, i would consider a traditional league cup which might involve the NPL Finalists (plus the best kiwi side if they want in) and the A league sides. Obviously, only the finals would be televised at first and it would be expected that the A league sides use their squads adn start their younger players.
Junior and amateur Football. Off season 5 aside competitons and futsal are encouraged. This is to help develop skills as well as to encourage youngsters to develop 1 v 1 skills and play midweek on training nights if they want to. up to under 8s, the small field would be used and 6 aside. Under 9s should use a three quarter field the size of two under 8 fields with three quarter sized goals. U 10s should use the big field, although probably should use the u9 sized goals, which could easily be moved inside the proper sized nets.
In relation to the bigger fields, i think it is very important to keep the 11 aside. The reason for this is that we need to teach our kids the importance of learning the shape of a team and their positional play. Or how other players need to support the ball carrier etc. At this age, it is easy to teach players to try to beat 10 players and hog it because that is what they all do. it is much more important to teach midfielders not to stand in the box all day or centreforwards how to pass the ball. The bigger fields allow the players time to work on their passing game adn their defensive structure which is going to be all important as they get older. I would consider a rule of no kicking over head height outside the attacking third in order to stop the big boot and long ball games, but i am undecided on this at this stage.
Scoring and tables are kept for all ages. I find it utterly disgusting that their is a modern trend to take away grand finals at a young age for children. This can be the highlight of most children's lives, winning a grand final. And many kids dont play the game after u 10 level and to see so many of these kids being robbed of this life time thrill which would stay with them for ever, just because of the political correctness of some do gooders is a sickening modern day trend to me. I also think that doing this will provide more enjoyment for the kids, who will in turn be more likely to stick with the game adn prefer the game to other codes. Conversely, this will attract other kids to the sport and ultimately improve the state of the game in australia. Knockouts, Carnivals etc should be promoted. I wouldnt mind seeing an age level FFA cup style set up where the grand final winners or premiers ultimately play on at a carnival somewhere for State honours and eventually national honours.
I think that pretty much covers phase 1 of my curriculum. Phase 2 - Will cover the representative and national team set up. Followed by Phase 3 which will be a detailing of coaching break downs and tactics. Not sure how fast or slow i will produce this document as it will depend on how much time but hopefully it will ultimately start some pretty good debate among some of you guys who are more up on the curriculum, and by comparing it to the current curriculem (which i still dont understand what it is properly) i and others will develop a better appreciation of it.
|
By sokorny - 16 Nov 2016 4:38 PM
What you've really outlined with your "tactical" posts is how you would coach a team. It is far too detailed and rigid for a National Curriculum. This detail and rigidity can work at a single team (and probably only really for seniors), but the detail means that you would continually have to alter and evolve it (as people would work out your tactics pretty quick). If the players have rules such as "don't kick above head height" ingrained this also helps opposition nullify you (e.g. Manchester City against Barca showed this perfectly).
So I think it is great you've written down your coaching philosphy, but I don't think a lot of it is relevant to include in a National Curriculum.
I suggest you read the National Curriculum, and from there either dissect sections you feel are "incorrect" and how they could be improved, or highlight sections you feel are missing in the document.
Personally, as I said previously I feel the NC really lacks a section on defense (positioning, marking, tackling) and there are limited drills in the document that cover this too. Probably the only other one I feel it is lacking a bit in (mainly in regards to drills) is decision making. This is a difficult one because a lot of this has to come from the coach, but I found some quite useful drills online this year that helped my younger players with decision making.
|
|