2013 National Training Centre (NTC) Challenge

The Emerging Jets U/16 side has just finished competing in the NTC Challenge in Canberra. This is a competition where NNSW elite boys competed against the best players from around Australia for consideration to become future AIS and Joeys players.
 I've just had a look at the results and the boys have not faired too well against other boys from their own age group from other Federations. They won one game in the competition (this was against the side that ran last) and finished I think second last on the ladder. Surely questions need to be asked of David Smith and his coaching staff here. For mine this is simply not good enough. And don't give me the development argument in this situation - these boys were competing against boys their own age from other Federations. Does David Eland still answer questions on this forum as the performance of our elite boys in this tournament was simply not good enough.

Maybe try posting in this section
http://www.newcastlefootball.net/for...Ask-the-NNSWFF

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by prawnhead

The Emerging Jets U/16 side has just finished competing in the NTC Challenge in Canberra. This is a competition where NNSW elite boys competed against the best players from around Australia for consideration to become future AIS and Joeys players.
 I've just had a look at the results and the boys have not faired too well against other boys from their own age group from other Federations. They won one game in the competition (this was against the side that ran last) and finished I think second last on the ladder. Surely questions need to be asked of David Smith and his coaching staff here. For mine this is simply not good enough. And don't give me the development argument in this situation - these boys were competing against boys their own age from other Federations. Does David Eland still answer questions on this forum as the performance of our elite boys in this tournament was simply not good enough.

---

Poor Zico will be spitting shards of glass at this

How dare someone else question the local game to account for their failings

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by joel31

Maybe try posting in this section
http://www.newcastlefootball.net/for...Ask-the-NNSWFF

---

Youth development at the Elite level in NNSW at the moment is a huge issue that warrants discussion in the Local Football section of this forum, hence my post. The performance in this tournament clearly demonstrates this.

In any case, I'm sure questions are being asked within NNSW HQ as we speak.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MFKS

Poor Zico will be spitting shards of glass at this

How dare someone else question the local game to account for their failings

---

I think you have missed my point. The banter between you and Zico appears to be strictly at a local Club level.

My point was aimed at the Elite system of player development within NNSW Football at present. The majority (not all) of all the boys who competed this week have been part of the Elite system within the NNSW program for some time. This week at the elite level of youth football in Australia we were embarrassingly exposed.

Not good enough mate.

so your problem is with the FFA curriculum or the coaches in place?..or both...and what's your solution ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by seldom

so your problem is with the FFA curriculum or the coaches in place?..or both...and what's your solution ?

---

Not the FFA curriculum in this situation as I’m assuming all Federations are teaching the same thing. The next international tournament for these kids will show how the curriculum is fairing.

The buck needs to stop with Dave Smith here and questions need to be asked of him. Based on the this performance and the performance last year at the U/15 National Championships for boys, maybe it’s time for a change at the Technical Director level.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by prawnhead

Not the FFA curriculum in this situation as I’m assuming all Federations are teaching the same thing. The next international tournament for these kids will show how the curriculum is fairing.

The buck needs to stop with Dave Smith here and questions need to be asked of him. Based on the this performance and the performance last year at the U/15 National Championships for boys, maybe it’s time for a change at the Technical Director level.

---

I'm not disagreeing with anything that you say here, however, I have a few questions that always puzzle me. Are we being realistic to expect our teams to be at the top end of these type of competitions when our population is the same size as Tasmania and ACT? Should we be measuring our success by how we compare to these 2 and to the NT? The rest of the states have a larger pool to chose their players from and by pure maths should outperform our squads.

The telling table for me was the one showing that we don't even perform well based on the curriculum! Also I found it interesting that NSW, who won the points table, were not in the top 2 of implementation of the curriculum!

If you are going to use a population theory then apparently china, russia, india should be the worlds best sporting countries due to their insane populations.

I'm of the opinion that this is an important topic and that we should have a good discussion about this so I won't be tolerating any personal attacks or crap in this thread

prawnhead makes a few good points - the main one being in my mind that we should not be satisfied with finishing in the lower part of the ladder

NNSW is the third largest federation in terms of player numbers, larger than Qld, SA, ACT and WA even those states have larger populations - we should be producing corresponding proportions of elite players and we haven't for years

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Imyourhero

If you are going to use a population theory then apparently china, russia, india should be the worlds best sporting countries due to their insane populations.

---

Thats fair enough, those countries are quite handy in a number of sports though, I will assume your answer to my question is no then.

Nnsw have a KPI to measure their performance, so are they meeting this. If not Mr Smith needs to be held accountable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by prawnhead

I think you have missed my point. The banter between you and Zico appears to be strictly at a local Club level.

My point was aimed at the Elite system of player development within NNSW Football at present. The majority (not all) of all the boys who competed this week have been part of the Elite system within the NNSW program for some time. This week at the elite level of youth football in Australia we were embarrassingly exposed.

Not good enough mate.

---

I haven't missed your point.

I am adamant that questions need to be asked and people need to be held accountable for the failings at NNSW point blank. Name me Socceroos that are Hunter products in the last 25 years and the reality is we are not pulling our weight at this level. Our representation at National League level isn't enough and should have been higher also. Many things have been ****ed for a while yet many are more interested protecting their own patch and being quite insular about this

I applaud your stance for speaking up on this subject. Continue to do so

Others need to also open their eyes and open their mouths on similar subjects and not continue to live in denial with their heads in the sand with what is really poor outcomes for our region when we can be achieving so much more

The jets had 5 local lads all on the pitch together today, kantarovski , hoole, pepper, Reagan and Galloway, with Kennedy on the bench, quite a strong representation I would of thought

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ForeverRed

The jets had 5 local lads all on the pitch together today, kantarovski , hoole, pepper, Reagan and Galloway, with Kennedy on the bench, quite a strong representation I would of thought

---

Having 5 lads in the squad isn't the issue. We always have local representation it is about the quality of it

It is about having 5>> or more lads that are on the pitch that are first choice and indisputably so and that all other clubs in the land would bite their hands off to have. Can't say the other HAL clubs would be doing that for these blokes

Other then imports and marquee players not many clubs have Australian born players being chased by other clubs, they can only do what there doing by playing in the highest competition in this country, well done to the local boys I say

Just playing in the highest level of competition in this country shouldn't be the time to be offering praise and feeling pride cause "some Newy boy done good".

How about starring in this competition, playing for the NT, moving to stronger league overseas and playing in the big stadiums in the big competitions we see on TV from Europe and moving onto play with/against the best players around the globe.

These are things our local kids should actually be aspiring to. Guess what they are also achievable if people pull their heads out of the sand and acknowledge we have issues

Just making into the Jets XI shouldn't be the goal and the time to start congratulating everyone with pats on the back

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Beast

Nnsw have a KPI to measure their performance, so are they meeting this. If not Mr Smith needs to be held accountable.

---

http://issuu.com/northernnswfootball...an_feb16/7?e=0

The attached is the plan from the NNSWFF website that states what the aims of the Federation are. It shows their High Performance area as having measurable goals for 2014. It would be interesting to see if any of these KPI's are met. If they have not been met by now I would assume that the next plan of action would be to sit down and assess if the people who are critical to achieving the goals are capable of fulfilling the task. At this point I think the TD position of NNSWFF needs closer scrutiny because our results in the younger ages (4th and 5th in a group of 6 or 7 teams) up to the NTC (7th out of 8 teams)have been short of expectation.

I would suggest that the goals should have a matrix attached to them to track progress on an annual basis and then have justification why they have not been met. If there is a consistent error or reason that comes up then this should be addressed before the problem snowballs and we become the Northern Territory.

I can appreciate that there are a number of NNSW products running around in the HAL and NYL but if we are not having players progress further then this, maybe the selection process and the talent identification needs to be looked at as well as the coaching and mentoring these players get. We are in a rich area for players and are supposed to have a working co-operation with the HAL club on our own doorstep. It is always hard to admit you got something wrong (see dictionary under GVE) but unless someone takes a decisive step towards making the programs work then I fear we will be on the path to mediocrity.

This may sound old fashioned and outdated but I still believe the ideal situation is to have people appointed to spot talent that could slip through the cracks because of lack of attention. Target your 10 and 11 year olds but just because they are in the squad at that age does not mean that they should be there forever. Players will always develop at different speeds and just because a player is smaller or not as skilled today doesn't mean he won't develop into a stronger player in the future. It is these kids that the current TD is not catching. His job should be for all players in NNSW not just his elite program.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MFKS

Just playing in the highest level of competition in this country shouldn't be the time to be offering praise and feeling pride cause "some Newy boy done good".

How about starring in this competition, playing for the NT, moving to stronger league overseas and playing in the big stadiums in the big competitions we see on TV from Europe and moving onto play with/against the best players around the globe.

These are things our local kids should actually be aspiring to. Guess what they are also achievable if people pull their heads out of the sand and acknowledge we have issues

Just making into the Jets XI shouldn't be the goal and the time to start congratulating everyone with pats on the back

---

the issue is that they are there and we should support as much as possible, its all find and dandy to have local players in the national team or playing a high standard over seas but until that day arrives the best we can do is support what we have, I also believe the wrong people are coaching in the emerging jets programe, we need to spend up and bring in a couple of high profile coaches where local coaches can learn from, having David Smith hand you a certificate doesn't mean you can coach, I can ride horses but I'm no cowboy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by boz-monaut

I'm of the opinion that this is an important topic and that we should have a good discussion about this so I won't be tolerating any personal attacks or crap in this thread

prawnhead makes a few good points - the main one being in my mind that we should not be satisfied with finishing in the lower part of the ladder

NNSW is the third largest federation in terms of player numbers, larger than Qld, SA, ACT and WA even those states have larger populations - we should be producing corresponding proportions of elite players and we haven't for years

---

Totally agree with your comments Boz. But in IMO it’s much more than just an important topic within NNSW Football at the moment. Perhaps for mine (long term) it is the biggest.

ForeverRed is right when he says the current crop of local boys in the side at the moment deserve all our support. They are doing super and we all should support them unwaveringly.

But where are our next Reagans, Hooles, Kantas etc over the next 2 to 5 years going to come from. Based on our performance at the NTC Challenge it doesn’t appear that they will come from within and for mine this is not acceptable.

ForveverRed - your comments on coaching certificates are spot on.