Quote Originally Posted by The Dunster View Post
I've only seen one elite u9 / u10 player that made it as a professional footballer - and he came from a small club (Brighton) and was surrounded by average at best players - but because of him they basically won everything against the best teams in the country at the time.

Overall, I don't know if these programs really make that much of a difference as the best kids pretty much do it on their own anyway.
In a lot of way's [and I've not been involved for a very long time so things hopefully have changed] making kids at u9 or u10 view the game as a business rather than a social situation brings about a lot of disappointment and a massive reality check when they find out they were conned.
when we were first sold on SAP, the point was made that it was there to try and combat the 3rd party operators offering the promise of elite football for kids (and charging accordingly). Everyone seemed to remember the good old days of our players coming through the clubs then onto international success. This program was designed to kick start the 'strength' of clubs from an early age, maybe breed some loyalty and give them a pathway to the NPL level. The very best of them would be picked along the way for the A-League affiliates and who knows from there.

for sure, kids will come from outside the system and thats cool. but by the time the kids should really be getting noticed (5 years away) they will be in a club environment not a 3rd party program. everyone approaches it differently, but i think its a good system, not perfect, but what is*?

from a personal perspective, my kid loves it. his only focus now is hopefully being good enough to get a spot next year. if not, he knows whats required to get back in. he knows hes not in the elite category, but wants to get the most out of it. from a parenting point of view we can see its taught him a lot about responsibility, teamwork and a general work ethic which has reflected in his general behaviour and especially his schooling. Im happy to pay a few extra bucks for him to be around like minded kids and awesome coaches and a strong club environment.





*well, Griff obviously.