I question how elite these elite programs are with the sheer volume of kids involved. Surely thats diluted the talent pool in these programs and the good kids wont be pushed as hard while other kids who aren't so good are there because they are happy to pay the fees and make up the numbers.Originally Posted by plague
There are some good kids in the lower grades of junior football who have decided to play with their mates, to ignore these kids is kind of crazy.
Reasonably true from what I've heard as well.
Goddamn shame cause it means the smaller clubs will lose talented kids long before they get chosen for rep sides.
I've had 3 parents from our club come back to me after attending Hunter Hawks trials and have said that the coach/selector there implicitly said he will NEVER chose a child from Muswellbrook, no matter how talented. So now these kids have to transfer to another club for X amount of time before even getting a chance to be a part of the program, and our club loses out on having that talented player within a team with his friends where they actively bring the skill level of all around them up as well.
The other thing I've found fascinating at some of these trials over the past few weeks has been the 'type' of player these coaches are looking for.
Pretty much kids are run through a few basic dribbling skills then told to do things like 'Ronaldo chops' (or some shit like that). Then they are divided into small sided groups and have games. As the games go on kids are pulled into the main game (where the 'proper' coaches are watching).
Problem is ALL the kids are the same type scrapping around kicking crap out of each other.
It was seriously like the old 'stick a boot in bleed for the shirt' type stuff.
This stood out as there are two kids from our juniors (in seperate teams) who are pretty lethal finishers.like seriously beautiful on the ball but we trained them all year on getting into space to receive the ball etc.
Coaches didn't give them a second look because they weren't 'involved' enough.
Mind you in the 90 min trial they did exactly 'zero' shooting drills. I would have thought those skills were important but what do I know.
So then we've got parents into us as we spent all season mentoring them about playing football yet they really should have been kicking crap out of everyone.
i give up already.
Funny you should say that they scrap around and kick the living shit out of everything that moves
Because to me this is a failing of the EJ program
The kids getting in this are soft between the ears and are not there to grind out results /compete etc
Matter of fact you apply some pressure to them they crumble like the Jets HAL side does
In all the time we have had the Jets in the NPL I could count on 1 hand the amount of 1-0 wins they have had
The EJ go alright when it a turkey shoot but there is little fight in them to find a way to win at 0-0 or 1-1 and get the job done
The other thing that would be said there isn't a hell of a lot of FLAIR in the players in the program
They all robotic in their methods
I think this is probably the most truly disappointing thing that I've read from this whole discussion so far.
Best you can hope for is those kids keep up with the training, stick with it through to a senior side and hopefully get noticed by someone looking for reserves for a NEWFM or NPL side.
Yeah I guess that's the balance huh.
Getting the 'toughness' as well as the actual footballing ability.
My impression was that coaches believe that it's easier to teach tough kids how to play football rather than footballers how to be tough.
If that's the idea then cool.
It just made me wonder if maybe the removal of the old school ethnic clubs has transformed this way of thinking. Because as a kid every time we played one of those old school Sydney clubs they were always WAY better footballers than us. We were always a bunch of classic white kids coached by a blood and guts type bloke, and that only went so far.
Just seems like it's all come full circle and GVE's wet dream of robots with good engines is alive and well.
When you apply a business model to junior sport you get business results - namely profit becomes the goal rather than a better quality footballer. The same applies to music, tennis...you name it.
Business models seek to maximise sales , revenue, or profit. They do not seek to maximise skill.
Which is the problem with privatisation of so many industries. Each side [public/private] has their downfalls. Bit of a tangent.
I don't know how much its changed in the last 10 years or so but as for these alternate pathways, I never saw them. You had the kids who's parents were fully into it and took them to trials with the Magics and the Olympics etc and trialled for rep teams every year. But for every one of those there would have been 5 kids just as talented just playing for the local club - they never went near any advanced coaching/programs and the programs never came near them.
But the EJ ain't teaching the kids to be tougher
If it was we would be getting more results from it
Nearly all the kids in it will fail as the selection in the first place was flawed as they refuse to pick the kid who will run through a brick wall to achieve the dream
They pick the ones cuddled in the program from a young age and then when it gets to the razors edge of time to progress from junior football to HAL they don't have the ticker to actually do it as they have never had to work hard for anything in the first place
Pretty good explanation of why most privately schooled kids tend to only do well in the family business or pursuits like law, insurance, finance, HR .. and so on which were pretty much designed to make the dumbest khunts you could find look a lot smarter than they are. Malcolm Turnbull being a great example.
This is such a good post.
The proof is in the outcomes though.
How many players from the NNSWF region can you name that have truly achieved something either here or overseas in the last 10 years?
Surely if this system, and the current way of thinking, worked then we would have more?
Andrew Hoole signed with a big European club..... based on the NSW Central Coast.
Oh I don't doubt this for a second.
Which is why I was so surprised at the selection process. It wasn't what I thought development squads would look like.
As for how many NNSW? I don't know any of these jamokes and don't pay attention to youth football. It's entirely out of self interest that I'm there ATM.
Just wondered how many kids think SAP etc is the best path or joining a club that promotes from within all the way up like Ye days of olde?
My observations are not criticisms. We are talking grassroots football and I'm just explaining what I'm seeing.
Whilst we are here I'd love anyone to have answers to this.
Because it's an excellent question.
I'm certainly not taking your observations as criticisms. It's actually quite interesting to hear from a parent who has had some kind of involvement in things outside of the area I'm in and to essentially be hearing the same results/questions.
I'm quite vocal within our association, so it's just given me more points to argue with really lol
The last blokes to make anything out of themselves from the area are Clayton Zane and Robbie Middleby and Troy Halpin all making it to Socceroos level but that was 15-20year ago
Since then we just had the likes of Stu Jobe Hoffman Raheem Kanta BK Cowburn Agent McBreen etc making various levels of a career at National League level
It really slim pickings from an area which has more juniors than the Victorian Federation does and is second only to NSW Fed
What does Football NSW or Vic Football do differently in terms of structuring juniors/rep teams? Are there any marked differences?
Sorry but I was interested in the 'success' of players who came through the development squad type environment vs players who came up through individual clubs.
Again I don't know the answer but do you know if any of the blokes you mentioned came up from either of those paths?
I'm still a fan of the old system. Club football with your mates and the best play additional football withe the association rep team.
Everything now is more a money/status grab under the guise of junior development.
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