Grassroots Football

[Aegon]

i think this is the point though.
The clubs are 'supposed' to be going there, and 'supposed' to be sticking to the NNSW program. Last year of all the main teams were using the facility once a week (the other session was at their own ground). The NNSW coaches were there assisting every team in all sessions.

Fast forward to this year and its clear a lot of the teams arent using the facility at all, and some teams have dropped back to every 2nd week. Reasons have varied, but its either "we dont need the NNSW coaches". "we need more room instead of these smallish courts" to "parents dont want to be taking the kids all the way out to Speers Pt every week".
personally, I wanted our clubt to be there every week, but majority ruled so we arent. I like the NNSW coaches getting involved. they did different drills, they were a different voice and they kept things on the same path.

From Aegon Jr's clubs point of view - They don't use Speers Point at all for training. However they have Richard Hartley as a TD at every single training session and the instructions he is giving to the coaches are coming from the SAP coaching curriculum as he's in regular contact with Leo Bertos. RH turns up to the majority of games and is quite hands on when it comes to what he expects from the coaching at the club. I would expect that other clubs TD's should be as visible and they should be the POC's to NNSWF to ensure that training is being done to the curriculum.

its clear now the emphasis has been put on winning games. teams are set up, coached and instructed on field more about winning than they are technique and individual improvement. and thats not just the 'best' teams. lots of the teams that are getting flogged every week are showing no signs of individual improvement. it only takes 5 mins of listening to their coaches on the sidelines to see they dont care about anything other than winning. Seeing a kid take a left foot shot when warranted (and missing) is met with groans of disappointment instead of encouragement for doing the right thing.
Its about coaches approaching parents at the end of last year to get kids to come trial at their clubs, instead of maybe working harder with the kids they have.

This is crap, no ifs buts or maybes about it. Super happy with the coaching my boy is getting if this is the norm.

i think its clear that the program is not panning out the way it was intended, and whether it is a good thing or not will probably not be found out in 10 years when we are bemoaning that there are no local kids coming through the Jets. i admire NNSW for trying something different, but they prob need to put their foot down to make sure its done 'their way' and not left for all the clubs to dictate.

This isn't a NNSW initiative, NNSW run it within the region but this is the direction from FFA.

again though, NNSW aint blameless here. their communication with the clubs esp with scheduling has been pretty poor. if they want everyone to buy in (and pay for it) they need to be way more organised.

I certainly hope the club is receiving more direction from NNSW, as from my perspective they are non-existent. Draw releases have been woeful, pre game organisation especially on the grass fields is abysmal, I could keep going on but I won't.

Also, and apologies for the rant, but im going to give a big shout out to Olympic and Magic. They are portrayed on here by some in ways that i dont agree with, but their approach to SAP has been top notch. their teams are full of really skilled kids, their coaches are great to the kids and they 'seem' to have been really really loyal to the majority of the kids they started the program with last year. I havent seen much of Olympic this year, but id say this year there are a few other teams that are right up at the level of Magic and Olympic, and its been great to see. Rather than be jealous of teams like that, others have aspired to join them. i hear plenty of negative comments about those clubs on here, and you all prob have your reasons why. but from what ive seen, they dont have a magic wand they wave over players to make them better, they put in the effort and it brings results.

If every club had the same approach (and some do) its gonna bring on a higher level quality of kids for the future.

Both teams have been awesome for the boys to play against. Great competitive games at a high skill level where the coaches are obviously telling the boys all the right things.