The Trials for Player selection this year had a twist, only the gifted entered, previous years was anything goes, it's already shaping up for a very exciting year ahead, overseas scouts will be randomly looking at the Elite 1 games scouting players of the future here in Sydney, this is no joke more on this soon.

How do you know this etc.?

this is old news. weve known about this for months now. however to say that only the gifted entered is a bit far fetched to be honest.

anyway, this new system is a joke. kids in the 12-15 age bracket are being told by ffa they are still developing, they need to understand development principles, play to a set formation etc and then allof a sudden a 12 yr old is playing for points. what do you think will happen? yep, lets go out there and win at all costs.

even more silly, 16 yr olds in elite 1 dont play for points in the 12-15 club championship, nor do they contribute to the seniors club championship. so a 16 yr old is in no mans land whilst a 12 yr old, still learning the game, has to win.

to say this is pathetic is an understatement.

kolner,,,,,,,I Could not agree more with your statement about winning at all cost, clubs have been more selective this year with players ,more than previous years, i dont agree with such presure on kids, kids will be flushed out next year if they dont win games how sad.

sad thing is FNSW is going completely contrary to what FFA want and yet the FFA wont step in (even more odd given the fnsw board these days is lets say more FFA aligned than before!)

shows the sway of some of those on the review committee.

The changes for youth U12-15 this season has been very frustrating to say the least.
My middle boy 13 this year - I had held out in pref he making it into the local State club, did 1 trial late last year with more to come Jan/Feb. The club were on the outer not getting into Elite 2 but have teams in 16's up at State.
So in the meantime I took him to another club a little further away for trials, he got through 3stages and was pretty much in (even though this club will enter their youth squads into local league comp but still pay the std charges they had playing State level) but I held back with the pref of going with the closer club mostly due to ease of making the 3 runs a week and that my wife can back up due to me having regular OS trips.
So come mid last month I get advised :
At this stage we still have issues regarding the regional and local leagues.
With time getting away from us we feel it is better not to enter teams in the local league.
The local XYZ Association that I play in have concerns of insurance etc and therefore its just become too hard, FNSW have been notified if any changes we will advise.
Sorry etc etc.
OK my fault in hindsight and should have put up with the extra travel and hurdles but it sure is harder I imagine for many in my same situation.
The bug for me also and a few other parents I know whats the point paying near on $1k and more for the other clubs if not in a higher comp - train 3 days then to play in the local comp and maybe a sunday game v's other State youth, we are passionate and do our best but there's so much time you can spare in a day nowadays as well as other sibling sports.

So now we have no club - too late and can only rely on the ASA school comp.
I had thoughts and tried out Milan academy but not sure of this.
Thinking just suck it up - let him play more so to have fun for another year and get on the trial wagon for the following season.

Sorry long post just putting it out there.

FNSW want the Kids to have a winning mentality,as long as the long ball is not played ,development would still be present, spoke to one parent that knows a few things at Head Office and he told me that playing from the back will be preferd and monitoed by Refferees at games, what I can't work out if one club needs to win to not get relegated, would they kick and chase to get the win, will the refs demand the ball be played from the back, that will be the key to this new structure in 12-15 year olds.

its simply an absurd situation that fnsw have created.
the refs in 12/13's have been instructed to ask attackers to make sure theyre back the 25m so the keepers can play the ball out to the defenders.
if a striker doesnt obey, and its considered to be time wasting cause the ref has to keep telling him to get back, they can book the attacking player.
so theyre changing the laws of the game, theyre suposedly adhering to development principles, and yet, guess what teams, come last and youre relegated.

im sure that will go down well with coaches and clubs knowing they got relegated, but they did a good thing in terms of the way they played!

Kolner

you are 100% right but nothing will change, this struture i bet is an expirement thats it..... if it works we continue if it doent we can it, thats the mentality of our leaders.

how many lame experiments have we seen over the years though - I don't mind keeping your mind open for a better structure to support youth development but this one is pear shaped imo.

only 19 rounds to go one youth club will drop, wonder who it will be.

Yes... but presumably, it is widely agreed upon that playing out from the back is a more effective style of play... so those that adopt it best and from the youngest will not be knocked out? What's the problem there?

Another Problem just started to surface is parents pushing their children even more, if there isn't enough presure already , these parents are also not loyal, I head one parent say at training if my club gets relegated I am moving on, ths parent is a moron and will also be the fall of his sons development.