Following Australia’s performance at the Olympics, which some say was less than acceptable, the head of the Australian Olympic Committee John Coates has advocated for increased spending on grassroots sports.
This is in line with the 2009 Crawford Report, which also advocates for increasing the proportion of total monies allocated to grassroots sports.
This is not a controversial idea, and one that perhaps most Australians would also support. Indeed, sports participation has many physiological and psychosocial benefits for young people.
Recently, Craig Foster has suggested that football is in a better position than most other sports to drive an initiative that is aimed at increasing the number and experience of youth sport participants.
Football has 360,000 participants nationwide from the ages of 5-14, thus making it the number one participation sport in the country for boys and number six for girls.
Further, FIFA, unlike any other major sporting body, has systematically undertaken scientific research which demonstrates the significant health benefits that are derived from football participation. These include positive effects on fitness, strength, skeletal health, self-esteem, social skills and quality of life.
The FFA has worked hard over recent years to overhaul the “system” of youth football in Australia. Certainly the advances made by way of small-sided-games and the national curriculum have been substantial. However, these changes have served the sole purpose of generating players with a higher technical and tactical proficiency.
The ultimate aim, of course, is to have better players competing at a higher level, thereby lifting Australia to be one of the top footballing countries worldwide.
More importantly we have to ask how have these changes served to increase the positive experiences of our young footballers? How have they served to maintain and increase the participation base of football to ensure its competitive advantage in this space? And, how have they served the physiological and psychosocial development of young players?
The changes that have been made to the education of coaches in Australia epitomise the overhauls made by the FFA “system-wide”. The community coach education courses have been enhanced through the addition of a coherent framework of technical and tactical education.
Thus coaches are able to produce more highly skilled and tactically astute players (assuming, of course, that the coach can actually pass on this information to players).
However, coaching is never this simple. Indeed, by maintaining a focus on technical and tactical knowledge, our coach education courses leave coaches absolutely unprepared to facilitate any meaningful personal gains for young athletes.
Where is the information on how to build a meaningful positive relationship with a young player? Where is the information on athlete development and skill acquisition?
Where is the information on communication and leadership?
These glaring omissions reinforce the narrow focus of the FFA at the exclusion of all else.
No coach – young or old – could ever walk away from a community coaching course feeling prepared to handle a team of young players. How do they deal with misbehaviour? How do they deal with bullying? How do they deal with the parents?
These questions remain unanswered in the service of trying to develop “better” players.
But let’s face the truth, until coaches can be taught the necessary skills within the coach education system, Australia will reap no reward in terms of increasing its participant base, providing a better experience for young players, or (given that coaches will have no idea about how to teach the technical and tactical knowledge that they receive) even more skillful players.
The FFA must get this right. However, this will require a change of mindset. A change of philosophy. Great players, and great footballing nations, are not built solely and technically and tactical proficiency. They are built on a football culture.
The FFA needs to change the goal posts and realise that overhauling the “system” can only be an overwhelmingly positive thing when those changes serve the vast majority of footballers in this country – the young participants – who will go on to form the backbone of Australia’s footballing culture in the years to come.
Football United
Guest
no it just looks like an uncontrolled regurgitation of whatever nonsense is in your head. It is impossible to understand half the posts you make on this site.
BigAl
Guest
where does ballet fit into your scheme of things Bondy ?
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Yeah well Ronaldo is a prima donna that is for sure,but hes a unit and physically he'd be able to play League or AFL thats for sure.Picture him as a Five Eight in League,he changes direction in flash and thats with a ball at his feet,in his hands jesus who wouldnt get near him.Mentally on the other hand....
Futbanous
Guest
First Even in Yorkshire,theres rivalry within rivalry. Sheffield loves to put one over Leeds & besides being the oldest Association Football club in the world(Sheffield FC) they also invented half the innovations & rules of the game. Of Course the Southerners in the FA wont advertise that. "Six years after the creation of the Sheffield Rules the Football Association rules were created. These were influenced by the Sheffield game but ongoing disputes meant that the Sheffield rules continued to be used. During this time many of the elements of the rules were incorporated in to the association game. Regular games were played between Sheffield and London using both sets of rules. This led to an agreement on a single set of laws administered by the Football Association in 1877." "The rules had a major influence on how the modern game of football developed. Among other things they introduced the concept of free kicks for fouls, corners and throw-ins into the laws of the game.[2] The abolition of the fair catch also led to their teams to be the first to head the ball. Games played under the rules are also accredited for the development of heading and the origins of the goalkeeper and forward positions.[3] The first inter-club football match and competitive tournament were both played using Sheffield Rules." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Rules
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Ha and i for one would not be against that one bit,some massive clubs in that area of the world and of course Sheffield had one of if not the first football clubs ever.
wisey_9
Roar Guru
+1 GO LEEDS!
Johnno
Guest
The grammar is fine mango Jack and clear to understand, read it again it is fine.
Mango Jack
Guest
Bondy, I'm not going to get into a silly code war, but I have played and enjoy both football (soccer) and rugby. I can tell you, there is incredible skill required to throw an accurate 20m pass onto the chest of a flying winger, whilst a 120kg back-rower is bearing down on you. Or to side-step 3 defenders at full pace. Or to slot a conversion kick from the sideline. Or to offload in a tackle.
Az
Guest
the more i read this, the stupider i get.... is stupider even a word?
Bondy.
Guest
Mango. I've looked but I just cant find the skill you see with those sports .Good luck.
Mango Jack
Guest
Arrogant nonsense, Bondy. You clearly have no understanding of the skills required to play rugby or Aussie rules. Yes, they require physical strength, along with speed, balance, vision, hand-eye co-ordination, etc.
Mango Jack
Guest
I might be a bit old school, Johnno, but can you please include a bit of punctuation so we have a fighting chance of understanding what you are trying to say? Less words, expressed more clearly? I know I'm probably sounding like your Year 9 English teacher, but it would help....
Az
Guest
COME ON YOU MIGHTY LEEDS wouldnt mind a promotion this yr
Az
Guest
this is the most ridiculous statement I have read on this site.. I can't even decipher half your points..?
Midfielder
Guest
Doc Good article ... my tho's... I read an article about where the MLS wants to go with youth development... and they explained very clearly their plans and I was gob-smacked at how simple [simple to say maybe not to carry out] . What they explained was they have three tears of football in the US and to become a top MLS team you must come from the second tear, and to be in the second tear you must come from the third tear... Unlike most leagues where P & R decides the movement between divisions... the change in tears occurs as the MLS expands and is decided on how the team functions as a whole ... i.e. marketing, stadiums, crowd behaviour etc... What made me stand up and cheer was an awakening to how the MLS have used the European P & R in their own way ... BUT what they said was each team in the MLS and each second and third tear team needed to have an academy to develop players ... the idea being if they expand the number of second & third tear teams and open up a fourth tear you could finish up with over 100 well round youth academies...This copies the European system where say the top 4 to 5 divisions have their youth academies... Only the Mariners as I understand it have an academy ... and we also have a team playing in the State League three wishing to go into state league two .. Central coast Lightening... If each A-League club had a youth academy, each state league team had a youth academy ... and the carrot was held out like the MLS do that the next team will come from the state teams... using FFA issues as the reason for joining the A-League...
RC97
Guest
And why hasn't rugby taken ibrahimovic yet -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
RC97
Guest
All im saying is the world could do without more ronaldos -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Zlatan Imbrahimavic the Swedish striker is a very technical player,hes also a black belt in taekwondo so call you could call him a wimp if you like.In fact there's plenty of footballers world wide who grew up in places you'd probably be scared to set foot in.
Futbanous
Guest
True ,but like a good Yorkshire pudding,they will rise.
Bondy.
Guest
What i'm suggesting is that you wont find those sports i've mentioned above played anywhere else in the world pretty much, . unique or weird ?. Did you have any technical issues to post about the article or just physical comments..