What makes a good football coach?

Waz- Going back to the early 1970's a huge programme was undertaken by a very prestigious body, Loughborouh College in England, into how children in all sports should be coached. They found that from the age of 6 to 12 a youngster is not too interested in tactical theory or innovation but broadly speaking are "in" the game for "fun". So it was arrived at, that to coach kids of that age group, it was better to use innovation and exercises that allowed for involvement and, just as important, rest periods. So it was evolved that in football coaching the emphasis should be placed in allowing a kid as many touches of the ball and this could be achieved in having exercises based on 2v2,3v3,4,4,and 5v5 small sided exercise games.Every ten minutes or so a break would be called and the coach would demonstrate the skill that was being sought after, how to pass, how to tackle ,how to head ,how to shoot, or how to dribble. the five basics of football. The investigation also found that above that age group youngsters became more aware in the "team formation" they were going to play in and the tactical and formation education became more important. In 1974 a man who had been present at Loughborough, came to Australia and spread this gospel. Unfortunately he was not listened to too well and his knowledge died on the tree until F Lowy paid a Dutch coach to write a coaching curriculum, which ,surprise surprise, simply laid out in detail what had been known for 20 years. Young kids should play in small teams on small pitches while at 11-13 each individual player would have to be assessed as his suitability to move into the higher echelons, ie full sided games on full sized pitches While agreeing to some of your observations re. the unsuitability of some people to coach kids it is this basic education formula as described that is not being followed and like it or not it is the young player that is suffering. Cheers jb.

Winter -An interesting topic you brought up which sadly has deteriorated into a n Adelaide talent discussion. Pity, for there is little doubt that the standard of coaching in Australian needs drastic overhauling as for some years now we have been producing players with obvious weaknesses in their overall "football make up". "First touch" and "accurate passing" are two such talents that appear to be sadly lacking in most of the young players emerging through our existing "ladder" and as these are two "subjects" that are supposed to be covered in the 6-12 age group coaching agenda there is little chance that a player with poor touch and accurate passing is going to progress much further in the world game at the higher level. Could this be the reason that many of our younger "exports" now appear to be having shorter stays at top clubs in Europe.? Your thoughts? jb.

best attacking group in the 15-19 age bracket in the nation, midfield would be right up there with the other states in terms of quality as well Defensively adelaide is miles behind, probably the worst in the nation in that part of the field for that age group Theres some really good defensive players coming through in ages 12-14 in south australia, so hopefully in about 5 years time we can have some long overdue joy in that department. centreback has been sparse for years, as have the full back roles with local adelaide playes

yep, agree with all of that, from what i've seen. very talented kid, one of many at adelaide at the moment.

Mus has done well - 12 goals in 11 games this season for the reserves he may never play for uniteds first team though, id be expecting al & mo to leave the club in the next year which will also mean uprooting Mus too. mus will walk into any academy team in the world in his age bracket, its more than likely the toure trio will all end up in france

technically a very good player, the best attacking midfielder with ‘potential’ that we’ve had come through the system locally for close to a decade; but he still has a long way to go to make the step up. He's been solid, not spectacular in the NPL- 6.5/10 for me lol. I don't expect him to track back 40 meters and try and tackle a player, that’s not his job - but he needs to try and keep involved out of possession. When we're attacking, he should be demanding the ball. He needs to be more vocal, that’s not his personality though I think he’s struggled against the grown men double his age and with a lot more muscle (most of the united boys in the NPL have, but that’s to be expected when you’re 16/17 playing against seasoned 30+ year olds) Bernado seems to go a bit into his shell when tackled, experienced NPL pro's have been testing the team this season with overzealous fouling - they know this is the best NPL team skill wise in Australia (regardless of the current league position) You have to remember he’s a good year behind where he should be after that wasted season at city who stole him from us (giving his dad a job at the club as part of the deal) and promised him the world, but he barely played. He'll make mistakes in possession of the ball, but again that’s to be expected as he's got that license to roam about and take players on like most attacking players - it’s the effort he puts in to try and get the ball back that’s a bigger concern in saying all of this, i still think he'll make his first team debut this season - he’s been a part of preseason training so far, maybe not in vearts direct plans; but definitely in his thoughts

Having good players tends to come in handy.

what are your thoughts on bernardo? seems really talented, very skilful, quick - but in NPL this season from what i've seen he seems to go long spells of the game without seeing much of the ball or having an impact, and in possession he often beats 1 or 2 players before taking one touch too many.

AA - good to see Veart is tinkering with his squad and experimenting with formations---that's exactly what should be happening in a good squad of young players. I hope the kids break through under Veart. Good for Australian Football at club and international level. :thumbup:

the next crop has been training with the first team all pre season so far musa toure (best attacking player for his age in the country and scoring goals for fun for the NPL reserves) was at training yesterday as was Binyam Kebede (who has been running a muck in the NPL) - I dont think they'll see much action this year, because we have alot of attacking options defensively the kids arent coming through quick enough, so i wouldnt expect much game time. If we get major injuries at centreback, alex popovich will see action (however he's been concussed a few times this season and the club are concerned - multiple concussions in a season is not a good sign for a player) midfield wise id be expecting bernado (cassios son), ethan alagich (richies son) to make there debuts and more minutes for johnny yull, who has been a rock in the NPL this season and has added goals and his 16 year old body is starting to fill out now midfield will be a real juggling act with juande/mauk/isais/d'arrigo + the 3 under 18's i mentioned above - cavallo has been played exclusively at left back in training so far this pre season, so that removes one player from the interesting midfield rotation i've seen players being played out of position in training and a lot of different formations in the past couple weeks, veart could be known as the 'tinker man' this season lol

Carl Veart, is another interesting Aussie manager that should be mentioned in this growing list. (Rodger's manager) Veart, has a lot of good youngsters under his wing and it will be interesting how he brings on these kids for AU. And yes, I hope Paramount will feature some sort of discussion show, analyzing a distinctive Australian approach and style to Australian Football in this country, which we all can get behind and be proud of.

Good article 'Winter' I am always interested in articles that concern Australian football managers. I use to be more interested in a player's progression, but these days, I am more interested in following new Aussie managers that emerge from the A-League, to see how far they can progress. Ange Postecoglou, is an interesting case study, with many more old and new ones appearing each year: Arnold, Popovic, Corica, Talay and now Pappas. How many will go on to crash through the European ceiling. Finally, it has happen with Ange raising eyebrows. Let's hope it continues.