Nearpost Local

The Defensive Midfielder in the 4-3-3 (point back)

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:41:00 +0000

Sourced from Nike Academy at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uczW42zDIk&feature=relmfu

If you are Coaching a Junior or Youth team you should be using the 1-4-3-3 system of play.

If you are coaching according to the FFA National Curriculum......

Younger teams play the midfiled triangle "Point Forward". Put simply, one player is at the point of the triangle is forward and behind the front three players, while the two other players are to the rear but in fromt of the back four players. Essentially, the emphasis is more on defence than attack.

However, at about 14/15 years the formation in the midfiled is changed to "Point Back". The midfield now plays a triangle that has the point in front of the back four, while the base of the triangle is now forward. With two players in the midfield triangle behind the front three, the empahsis is on attack.

Its really important that the young players get a chance to play this position and for them all to know the basic repsonsibilities of each position in the midield. Well all positions really. But give them a chance to play these midfield positions.

When you play point back, the single player at the base of the triangle has a lot of responsibility. He / she is now called a defencive midfielder.

The video below is very instructive on the subject of the Defencive midfielder.

Playing Out From the Back

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:08:00 +0000

Sourced from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdtOq_XlZAU

If you coach junior or youth teams, you should be playing out from the back.

Not just letting your GK kick the ball as far as they can. Conducting an aerial bombardment on the other team is not football, not even close to it.. Long ball second ball is bollocks for young players. Teaches them nothing. They won't get better at the game, they get far less touches, it reduces the beautiful game to kick and chase. Not Football!

Play out from the back. Take the time to make it happen, explain how it works at training, let the young players sort it out, let the game be the teacher. Don't let them stop just because it gets a bit hard or parents whinge. Explain what you are doing to the parents. If they don;t like it, keep doing it and tell them you are the Coach and this is exactly what the FFA requires you to do for young players. Try keeping the ball rather than hoofing it up the pitch. There will be mistakes, you will get stuck in your defensive third a bit, there will be the occassional disaster, at least until the young players work out how to play their way out of it. It will take time. Be patient but stay on track. So many more touches on the ball and so much more Football!

If you have your GK kicking long, lets face it, you are pursuing wins. You should not be caoching junior and youth football. You are undermining the FFA National Curriculum and Development plans. If you play out from the back, you are developing your young players, you are doing exactly the things the FFA requires of you and in time, these lucky young players will be the winners and so will Football in Australia.

Here is an excellent instructional video from the Nike Academy on how to play out from the back. Well worth a look.

Majura FC Under 13 Girls - Borneo Bound!

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 13:40:00 +0000

In a stroke of Junior Football genius, Majura FC is sending an Under 13 Girls team to Borneo to play Football against the local teams.

Majura FC Under 13 Girls - the wild girls of Borneo!

A very small number of ACT junior football clubs have sent teams to campaign overseas. There is an enormous amount of work associated with getting things organised. Woden Valley SC has a fine record in both boys and girls overseas tours. Monaro FC has a wonderful relationship with the South Korean Singok Primary school. But it's Majura FC that is cutting new ground in Asia.

Why is this important? Really important!

Simple. Asia is our region, they play a lot of very good Football in our region and we qualify through this region to compete in all the Age and Open World Cups, men and Women. It makes a lot of sense to go to Asian countries to develop the young players. There is an established Boys Borneo Cup tournament and next year there is the inaugral Girls Borneo Cup. And the Majura FC girls are doing a first rate Football recon.

This is the way to develop our young female players. Europe is nice, South America too far away - but Asia (Bornoe) is spot on.

So its the young Majura FC Under 13 girls who will pave the way for the rest of Australia at Club level. All research to date indicates that this is the first girls junior team to tour Borneo. What a coup for Majura FC!

Now remember, this is a community based club girls age team, not an ACT representative team, but they are certain to represent our football community in good style.

The Coach, Heather Fitt has them playing good football, following the FFA's National Curriculum, 1-4-3-3, playing out from the back and playing possession based football. In so many ways they are a model for how it ought to be done with our young players at every competitive level at Clubs. Just as the FFA Technical Director would wish it to be.

As ever, its the selfless efforts of Club officials, Coaches and parents that make these Football adventures possible. Just fantastic. This one started two years ago. The girls will remember it all their lives. They are only this age once! And one other thing - it may be the experience that inspires one of them to go all the way in the beautiful game. You never know what lies ahead. But perhaps more importantly, it is likely to be the reason they simply continue to play for as long as life allows. That would be a priceless dividend for the Club and the game in Australia.

Good luck to them all I say and plenty more of it from every other junior Club.

The Majura FC press release, with all the details is below.
Majura Football Club

PO Box 449, Dickson ACT 2602

Email: info@majurafc.org.au

Website: www.majurafc.org.au

ABN: 26 369 499 451

Majura FC head to Malaysia

Majura U13 Girls are in for a trip of a lifetime. They’ll head to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on Friday to play football against three local teams.

Coach Heather Fitt said, “The girls have played football for many years, and after winning the Kanga Cup a couple times what better way to extend their football experience. We’ll train and play futsal, before playing three games against Borneo (Malaysia) local teams. We’ll then have a few days to experience the local sites.”

“The local teams had a competition recently to see which three teams would earn the right to play Majura.”

The squad is a mixture of Majura U13 division 1 and 2 with a number of ACT Representatives and former Majura players also travelling.

“We’ll come together for a couple of games prior to leaving but I think it will be a big shock for the team as we’ll go from Canberra weather to 33 degrees. The girls can all play football, but we’re not sure how they’ll manage the heat. We’ve asked Socceroo Technical Advisor Ron Smith, who used to Coach in Kinabalu, for a few tips” added Fitt.

Majura midfield dynamo Grace Fieg, 13, is heading on her first overseas trip.

“Playing football in Borneo will be a great opportunity to play some international teams. It’s a chance to experience some things outside of what I am used to in Australian soccer. My whole team will be there and we can all share in the experience together.

In Borneo we are going to spend some time doing more than just football. We’re going for a kind of holiday but even better because we will be playing my favourite sport and I’ll have all of my team with me.

“I’m looking forward to lots of cool activities as well, including going to an island for a whole day to chillax and do cool stuff like snorkelling, paraflying and banana boating. We also get to check out some Borneo culture and wildlife so I can learn about Borneo too.”

ACT Representative Aleka Serras, 12, said “I have been playing soccer since I was 7. Soccer is a big part of my life and means a lot to me, because it’s a great game to play, and almost anyone can play it.

“It always so exciting when you get a great result, and even when you don’t it’s good to try to improve as much as you can and work on the little tricks and skills that make the game a whole lot different. My friends and I are always talking about the trip, and how excited we are to travel so far away from home.”

Telopea Park High Student Mika Leslie has been playing soccer since she was 6. She played most of her football in Colorado, USA and joined Majura two years ago when she moved to Canberra.

“I love soccer, and this tournament will give our team a chance to play some international teams. Soccer is hard to be really good at, but it’s my favourite game, and the feeling of scoring a goal is amazing! Everyone on the team is friends, and we can’t wait to go see Malaysia and Borneo and swim in the ocean and the pool, while our fellow classmates are freezing in the Australian winter! We’re all really excited to have the opportunity to play in Borneo!!

Former Socceroo Scott Ollerenshaw is based in Borneo and organises tours for Australian teams, boys and girls.”

“The Borneo Cup for boys is well established and runs every year in October. Our first Borneo Cup for girls will start in April 2013 but we’re delighted to host the Majura girls, our first Australian girls’ squad. The local teams are really looking forward to playing and meeting the girls from Majura. Sabah is a beautiful place and the girls are in for a treat.

For photos/interviews

Bus Departs Dickson College Car Park, Phillip Avenue, 7.00am Friday 6th July

For all other information interviews or photos contact:

Eamonn Flanagan, Majura FC mob. 0432 250 759

Kanga Cup 2012 - A Festival of Football

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 02:19:00 +0000

The Kanga Cup 2012 will start on Sunday, 8th July 2012, with an opening ceremony at the AIS.

Go to the Kanga Cup website for all the right information and match results:
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-8337-0-0-0

The Football starts on Monday, 9th July at venues around Canberra, culminating in the finals on Friday.

The will be no shortage of good football, girls and boys, international teams and teams form every State and Territory in Australia. The finals are sensational. Just doesn't get any better than that!

In this program we talk to the Kanga Cup supremo, Capital Football Events Co-ordinator, Adam Castle. This will give you a good understanding of the scale and scope of this tournament and of course, just how big it could become on the world football scene, with the assistance of a substantial sponsor. The event as a whole brings and estimated $3 million "new" dollars into the local ecomony, but sadly, Football in the ACT sees very little of this expenditure. This must change!

Download Podcast here:

Kanga Cup 2012 - Vandals strike and destroy playing venues!

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:24:00 +0000

How would you like your local Football field to look like this?

The following two images show some of the damage.

Yes its hard to beleive, but just as Capital Football organisers reach the critical point before the start of the biggest Football tournament in the Southern hemisphere - The Kanga Cup 2012 - vandals drove one or more vehilces on to three well prepared and maintained fileds (Belnorth home ground fileds near Hawker Enclosed) and absolutely wrecked the playing surfaces.

The fields are no longer suitable for use by the Kanga Cup organisers, and no longer fit to be used for the remainder of the ACT Football season. Belnorth must be sick with worry. Its a body blow to a good local Club. It will not doubt be expensive to restore these grounds to a condition fit for "possession based Football".

Will the ACT Government come to the rescue? You can't expect Capital Football to carry the can for this outrageous anti social and criminal behaviour toward its constituency.

Whoever these miscreants are, they are absolute bastards!

I hope the Police find them, charge them, succesfully prosecute them and they are sentenced to lengthy periods of community service. In fact, I hope the work these mongrels are required to do is assigned to Capital Football, who will no doubt have a lot of work for them to do around the Clubs.

And fine these vandals the cost of repair of the playing surfaces.

If they turn out to be Football players, haul them before the CF Discipline committee and ban them for life from Football. Matter of fact, whoever they are, cite them anyway and ban them from football for life. That way we can be certain they never have anything to do with Football.

You know the worst of this vandalism? There is likely to be a good chance these anti social muppets are minors in a stolen vehicle. Depressing really.

However, the Kanga Cup is a slick operation and plans are already in motion to rework the venues to cope with the 20 plus games a day that would have been played on these fields.

Boomerangs FS - Trials for NSW Premier League Competition Teams

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:17:00 +0000

Top three skills for young players

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:34:00 +0000

Sourced from Footy4kids.co.uk

1. A good first touch

Having a good first touch is, perhaps, the most important skill any young football player can have. This is because the more confident a player is she can control a pass, the more likely she is to keep possession, and the more time they will have to get their head up and decide what to do with the ball.

How to recognise a player with a "good" first touch

The player gets her body into line with the approaching ball - not moving into line is a very common fault and will almost invariably result in too hard a first touch.

If a pass is under-hit, she moves quickly to meet the ball.

She chooses the correct part of her body with which to receive the ball - while 90% of all passes can be controlled with the inside of the foot, it's important that your players practise receiving with other parts of their feet as well as their thigh, chest and head.

The receiving surface is relaxed and withdrawn on contact to cushion the ball - I tell my players that the receiving surface should be like a sponge.

The first contact with the ball moves it out of her feet and away from pressure - this can only be achieved if the receiving player has scanned the pitch before the arrival of the ball. Help your players do this in your warm-up by giving them numbers and asking them to pass to each other in numerical order while moving around a small playing area.

All these elements can be practised with any game that involves passing the ball - the coach simply shifts the emphasis from the pass to how the players react to and control the ball.

2. Being able to shield the ball

While a good first touch will help a young player control the ball, she must also know how to keep the ball if she is prevented from passing, dribbling or shooting.

This is done by "shielding" the ball - keeping your body between the ball and your opponent.

It's easy to practise. Demonstrate the technique then put your players into pairs, standing opposite each other and about 10 yards apart.
One player passes a ball to their partner then follows the pass, putting pressure on the receiver who puts their body between the ball and the approaching player by simply stepping across the path of the ball.
Note: The receiver's front foot should rest on top of the ball so she can concentrate on keeping her body between the ball and her opponent without having to look at the ball.Make it competitive by playing a series of 1v1 competitions in which the player shielding the ball earns a point if she can hold off her team mate for five seconds.

3. Be able to dribble!

The biggest sin a youth football coach can commit is to discourage dribbling by insisting his players pass the ball.

All young players need to be given the freedom to express themselves and there is no better way to do that than be allowed to dribble and take on players to their hearts' content.

So let's not hear any more shouts of "pass the ball!" from the touchline. Please.

President Capital Football, Rachel Harrigan Talks to the NPL about the Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Evaluation Report

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 04:19:00 +0000

Communication, Communication, Communication - Broken or what?

This program is given solely to discussion of a report titled “Capital Football Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Report“ , undertaken by consultants (The Shannon Group), and commissioned by the President and Board of Capital Football.

Criticism of CF finally reached a crescendo in late 2011 and the CF Board simply could not ignore it any longer. So here we are, a consultants report that has captured the feelings and experiences of a substantial sample of our football constituency. And its not good news for the CEO and staff of Capital Football.

This is serious stuff for any organisation. Have a read, ask yourself, would you like to receive this report about your organisation. I think not!

You can find a copy of the report on the CF website. All clubs should get this report up on their websites.

Communication, between CF and various elements of the ACT football constituency, in its widest and most meaningful sense is broken and needs to be fixed. There are many reasons for this unsatisfactory situation, but one thing seems certain, it cannot continue in this way. Things must change!

For myself, the numerous unsatisfactory outcomes around the ACT U13 Girls team at the recent FFA Nationals, were a real low point in CF operations. Disgraceful really. As the President CF observed, "so much went wrong". Sure did! And we do this work every year. Sad, because we have enjoyed so many productive outcomes in this age group in recent years. The meeting between parents of players and the CF Board did little to reassure these parents that this would not happen again. Hope they are wrong. But???? And there are some pretty smart people among those parents and a few who are quite football savvy. Something, some of the CF staff, seldom seem to fail to factor into their business practices. Pity.

The Shannon Group report is a hard hitting report. The report absolutely skewers the CF organisation.
There is no missing the fact that this report, in substantial part, points the finger directly at the CEO and Staff of Capital Football, the organisational culture and business practices.

The buck has to stop somewhere. Make no mistake, there is a lot of work to be done to regain the trust of some important parts of the football community and enable collaborative processes to ensure positive progress with all of the football community going forward. But the CF organisation has been found to be seriously deficient in these matters - in its present form.

How will this re-education / re-orientation and organisational change be done and who will be given the task of doing it? We do not cover this matter in this interview and in fairness it's probably a bit early for the President to have a firm view on that important matter. I would imagine that this calamity would see the Board stepping forward with great caution, but at speed. And step forward they must! Unless they do and do so decisively, it will hang around their collective necks (and ours) like a dead albatross!

I would hope that a small sub committee of the Board is given over site of this change process and monitors and regularly reports on measures undertaken to make sure the changes necessary happen, that they are sustained and communicated in quick time to all of our football community. This is surely past the stage where the entire matter is handed over to the CEO and staff to fix. As one wag remarked to me yesterday -"given this report it would be like leaving the rabbits in charge of the lettuce".

I would imagine that the CEO and CF staff are feeling a bit uncomfortable with this report, and some probably in denial. If so, get over it quickly. Listen to the President of CF, clearly there is little sympathy for not accepting responsibility for this parlous state of affairs. Its always worth reminding ourselves that it is the ACT Football constituency which underwrites CF and whom the CF organisation serves. Who pays the piper, calls the tune! It is no one's personal fiefdom, nor does all football knowledge reside within the walls of Football House.

The role and importance of our Clubs comes through in this report and in this interview.

This report appears to draws a line in the sand - a clear line between Board and the CF operating organisation.

The President and Board have published the report in full. There are no hidden corners, there it is, warts and all. And for that we can only applaud the CF Board and in particular, the President of the CF Board, Rachel Harrigan, who was quick to respond to the NPL’s call to discuss the report.

The message is clear - we are now going to do business very differently to that which has been done in the past and in so doing, a big shift in organisational culture. It will take time. It is vital.

So, anyone not clear on what is now required going forward?

Please read the report, its on the CF website, and listen to the Rachel Harrigan, Pres of CF Board, as she responds to some rather difficult questions. Good leadership.

Go to Podcast Part One

Got to Podcast Part Two

So this is how FC Barcelona do it!

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:52:00 +0000

Sourced from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6A_K8oWqfk

This is an excellent summary of the FC Barcelona approach to football.

Don't just watch the Barca player with the ball, watch the ones off the ball and how they move. Charlie Cooke (Chelsea FC Legend and Coerver co founder) refers to these passing movements as "Sequences of play", involving 3-4 players, different players in different parts of the field, but all replicating these sequences of play, no matter where they are on the field of play. And that's the big difference between Barca and others, their ability to construct these unending sequences of play, which in turn most often see a significant possession count in their favor and of course, goals. And when they loose the ball, look at how quickly they usually regain the ball and it starts all over again. Wonderful.

Take the time and have a look.

Then start doing some of this at your Club.

Capital Football - Futsal Premier League Grand Final

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:54:00 +0000

Sourced from http://vimeo.com/33882892

The video below is of the mens Premier League final held recently at the AIS Training Halls between Boomerangs FS and Canberra City Prawns B. Its a terrific summary of the game, produced by Adam Grant. Wish there was this sort of product available every week during the season(s) for mens and womens Premier League Football and Futsal. Capital Football could set up a means to stream this on the internet. Its a winner!

This was a terrific game and I have no doubt that you will see most of these players at the FFA Futsal Nationals representing the ACT.

The Womens final was a highly entertaining game, in s far as it went to a draw at full time, no score in extra time and was decided by penalty shoot out. However, as a demonstration of the best that Futsal has to offer, it left a lot to be desired. A remarkably physical game by a galaxy of players who had skill and speed to burn. Pity.

One thing must be said in praise of the Mens and Womens Premier League Futsal finals - it was an extremely well run and well presented occasion. It was an appropriate celebration of the contribution made by the players, officials and clubs involved. Capital Football did it right! (This is in sharp contrast to the arrangements that supported the Mens Summer Twenties final.) Futsal does seem to get it right and you will find that the FFA Nationals are run with similar flair and professionalism.

Capital Football - Futsal Premier League Grand Final from Adam Grant on Vimeo.

FFA Futsal Nationals - 9 to 12 January 2012 in Canberra

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:20:00 +0000

The annual FFA Futsal Nationals will be held again in Canberra during the period Monday 9 January to Friday 12 January 2012. The best of the best at age in Australia is on show.

Ths is a must go to event for all Football and Futsal players, particularly those on holidays. There is no cost to enter the venues. A terrific holiday activity and lots of sensational Futsal. Watch the age group(s) of your choice, support the ACT teams and make sure you attend on Friday for the finals. You'll reach two conclusions for sure - that you or your child just has to be part of Futsal and that Futsal is of great assistance in the development of your players in Football.

The Futsal Nationals are run by Capital Football and they are a very well run event. Be part of it!

Go to the FFA Futsal Nationals website for all competition details at http://www.futsalnationals.com.au/index.html

Some information from the FFA Futsal Nationals website to start you off:

VENUES

•Australian Institute of Sport Main Arena, Leverrier Crescent Bruce

•Australian Institute of Sport Basketball Training Hall, Leverrier Crescent Bruce

•Australian National University - North Road Acton

•Mpowerdome, 56 Coyne St Fadden

•Southern Cross Stadium, 7 Pitman St Tuggeranong

2012 CHAMPIONSHIP DATES
9 January Opening Ceremony 3:00pm AIS Main Arena

9 January Opening Games 5:00pm All Centres

10 January Competition Day 2 9:00am - 8:00pm All Centres

11 January Competition Day 3 9:00am - 8:00pm All Centres

12 January Competition Day 4 9:00am - 8:00pm All Centres

13 January Finals Gala Day 8:00am - 8:00pm AIS Main Arena

VENUE ALLOCATIONS / DIVISION MAIN COMPETITION VENUE/S

11 Boys Mpowerdome

11 Girls Mpowerdome

12 Boys Mpowerdome

12 Girls Mpowerdome

13 Boys Southern Cross Stadium

13 Girls Mpowerdome

14 Boys Southern Cross Stadium

14 Girls Southern Cross Stadium

15 Boys Southern Cross Stadium

15 Girls Southern Cross Stadium

16 Boys Australian National University (international court)

16 Girls Southern Cross Stadium

Youth Men Australian National University/AIS Training Hall (international court)

Youth Women Australian National University/AIS Training Hall (international court)

Open Women AIS Main Arena/AIS Training Hall (international court)

Open Men AIS Main Arena/AIS Training Hall (international court)

9 Jan 12 8:00PM

NSW Lightning

ACT Cobras

AIS Main Arena - INT

9 Jan 12 8:00PM

NSW Lightning

ACT Cobras

AIS Main Arena - INT

View

9 Jan 12 8:00PM

NSW Lightning

ACT Cobras

AIS Main Arena - INT

View

Get yourself into the mood with a little of Brazil in the 2004 World Cup (v Australia - ouch!).

Technical Training the Coerver Way - Is there another way?

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:10:00 +0000

This program will be broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3) across the Australian Community Radio Network on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 at 7:00PM.

This program focuses on the technical development of young Football players. Who teaches you what you need to know?

The FFA National Football Curriculum and National Development plans are splendid documents that are helping to achieve a "revolution in Football affairs" across the nation. They focus very specifically on the technical development of our future generations of football players. The when and what of it all. But you need a lot more than a couple of glossy publications and that's the problem in front of everyone in Football at the community level.

We must become more technically proficient in order to compete effectively at the international level and the ultimate measure of success is our competitiveness in the World Cup. Simple as that.

Did you see the final of the FIFA Club competition between Barcelona (Spanish club) and Santos (Brazilian club)? Ask yourself a simple question - Are the Socceroos to the Barcleona club standard? The answer is easy - No. Change, in the form of superior technical ability among our players in our region, will take generations.

It all starts at the youngest of ages and at the ordinary community football level.

Now there are many parts to the production of technically competitive and competitive young players. It’s a process that takes generations and there is not a day to loose. Two ingredients are essential fort his football cake to rise – a proven technical football curriculum and properly trained technical coaches. The FFA has begun that process from the top down, while member federations are expected to make it work from the bottom up. Both ends could do better.

One organisation around the globe and most certainly here in Australia, is at this time (and has been for many years) best placed to service the needs of the FFA and our young players - the Coerver Coaching organisation.

We speak to Jason Lanscar (Vice President, Asia Pacific Director, COERVER Coaching Asia Pacific) and a guest Coerver Japan Coach, Katsuji Okubo. Who better to talk to us about the delivery of football technical education? The involvement of Coerver with Canberra United might well prove to be the secret ingredient needed to win a title.

The great sadness is that not every young boy or girl gets to experience Coerver technical training. If I had Harry Potter's magic wand I would make it so today.

This interview speaks for itself, so settle back, a glass of Christmas cheer to hand and listen. Fascinating stuff.

Download Podcast Here:

The "Message" may be getting through - but to how many and how soon?

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:29:00 +0000

Source from Youtube and SBS World Game websites.

There is no doubt that the FFA National Football Curriculum is having a positive effect on the development of young players. In many ways, the best thing that has happened to Football in decades. The driving force is to produce more of the best at the elite level. Now to do that, there must be a serious cultural shift in the way we coach, train and play the game. This is big change. A change that will take a generation or two. Not something you can start and fail to pursue diligently over time.

The development process, in its widest context (not just COE players) in the ACT region is very patchy. That's to be expected this early in the change process. Expected, not accepted!

The primary focus of Capital Football has been directed toward those young players selected in what was the High Performance program and is now the Centre of Excellence. The reason for that is simple - there is a serious playing / competitive obligation to the FFA, in so far as Capital Football must prepare and campaign boys and girls age teams at the FFA National Youth Championships (NYC) each year. All part of the "big plan" you might say.

Now this is what the Northern NSW Football Technical Director (David Smith) had to say about the recent NYC (very good use of social media by this organisation):

The harsh reality of the FFA's National Curriculum is that the greatest burden is shouldered by Clubs, our Junior Clubs. The Junior Clubs in particular, must pick up all of the rest of the FFA player development ambitions. Capital Football supplement the process with Centre of Development training, but in order to improve the overall technical capabilities of young players, to make a real difference, then Junior Clubs must be at the forefront of this change. The Junior Clubs are very aware of the magnitude of the task in front of them. That's where the FFA and Capital Football's efforts must be directed. Not just to the small number of players who make it through to the elite programs. But that's not the way it is.

Take our own region as an example. It's probably no good blaming the Capital Football Technical Director - his job is to get the elite player development process working from his level in order to meet obligations to the FFA through the NYC playing obligations. There is a lot of work involved in this process, from one year to the next. It seems to me that this doesn't leave a lone hand Technical Director (and a part time Skills Acquisition Coach) much time to do anything else of an equally substantial level with our Junior Clubs. So, much as before, we have a process that is very much still in two parts - Capital Football and Clubs. In this respect, I am not sure we have made much progress since the former High Performance program and the Ron Smith review of this subject. Seems to me we are moving back to the Capital Football Academy playing squad days. Opinions are certainly divided on that matter, particularly at the Clubs.

So who helps the Junior Clubs? The answer is they help themselves, just as they always have done, through their army of parents, volunteers and coaches. No one gets paid. They get nothing back form the FFA and they financially underpin Capital Football through their registration fees and other payments. Capital Football provides the administrative / operational structure that enables the Clubs to operate at all community levels. That is substantial for a sport in Canberra which boosts more than most of the rest of the sports rolled up together, and much more than any single sports, summer or winter, a total of approx 18,000 football players and 6,000 futsal players.

The vast majority of our young Football players train. play, gain their technical and tactical competencies and have fun, develop their passion for the game, through their Junior Club. The talented players emerge at different times. We get more of them if the general football playing environment is improved, this is not news to anyone. These Junior Football Clubs are the real Football engine, the real Football powerhouse in the ACT region (and anywhere else in Australia).

And why the Junior Clubs? Well. its obvious isn't it. That's the place we all take our children to start to play the game. They do everything. This is the strategic point for the FFA and in particular, Capital Football, to intervene in a positive and productive fashion. The Junior CLubs are a part of the process, not apart from it.

With that in mind, the first critical shortfalls in implementation of the FFA's new direction appeared very quickly and still stand:

Insufficient coaches qualified and learned in the technical and tactical requirements of the curriculum (and subsequently 1-4-3-3), and
A paucity of coaching resources (teaching and learning materials)to underpin the "curriculum". that coaches and Clubs could call upon to make effective progress with those they coach (at every level).

The first shortfall, coach education, has been attacked with some vigour by the FFA and Capital Football have made a productive impact, with many people moving through coaching courses (by comparison to past years). Junior Clubs usually appoint something akin to a Technical Director, but they receive precious little assistance to undertake their important work. Again that divide!

The second shortfall remains a serious, glaring deficiency. To be frank, to call it a "curriculum" is just a bit thin. This would simply not satisfy any teacher in our schools. There is nothing to work with at the community Club coach level! The entire FFA development strategy was released without the underpinning resources to support the document titled "Curriculum" and so very necessary to enable effective coaching at community level. Its still that way. This is the one area where the FFA should give resources and effort. And get educational specialists (curriculum development) to do the work, with the football subject matter experts providing the technical / tactical information. Some member federations identified this shortfall early and got about creating these resources to support their programs and coaches. But why are we all doing it from scratch. Madness!

If I were to ask Capital Football to publish the current COE periodised program and supporting coaching resources, what response wold I get? A good one I hope. We need to share this knowledge. What has been done to obtain and publish good coaching resources from other sources?

Where the FFA has created good coaching resources it should publish the lot, no charge to anyone, so that every coach and every Club can get hold of it and use it. I'm talking about a substantial online coaching resource available to our football community. You may recall that the FFA trumpeted the solution S2S as the means by which this would be achieved. Of course we had to pay. I wonder how many Clubs anywhere, but in particular in the ACT are using this product or some other like it? What is the COE and COD programs using?

I don't expect Capital Football to shoulder this vital resource issue alone (although I think we should be able to view every session practice used in the COE and COD age programs), but wouldn't it be good if we took the initiative, collaborated with other member federations and created something of enduring value to our football community? One thing is certain at this time - the FFA isn't doing it! (please don't tell me the resources are with the coaching courses - if they were not it would negligent. But why not simply make all available right now to anyone, on a coaching course or not ?)

The video below is good to watch. So much to talk about on this matter. This journey had just begun.

Craig Foster recently commented on the sort of play you see in the video above. He makes some good points. Have a read of his article, its well worth it:

About the All Stars U14 Boys team at the NYC 2011 (attributed to National Assistant Technical Director, Alistair Edwards):

"Through learning football in a system, which has an easily definable style of play, positional roles and the application of space and movements, the best youngsters were able to come together as a team and very quickly play together to a high level, because they each knew their specific role and that of those around them."

About the uptake of the changes implicit in the National Football Curriculum, Foster observes:

"From my recent experience around the country, we are now well beyond the initial cultural change process and every educator and coach is hungry for information to improve.

The real challenge, however, is that while many have recognised and accepted the need for change and are now seeking to play the 1-4-3-3, the actual deeper detail about the movements and timings within are yet to disseminate satisfactorily and remains an issue of coach education and information availability."

Craig Foster's article is below, please read.

The message is getting through

127Comments

21 Oct 2011 | 00:00

A question to begin with: Shall we assume that with the ongoing success of Brisbane Roar playing the 1-4-3-3 system – with particular emphasis on the word ‘system’ with the automatic movement patterns inherent in the formation proving a handful for other A-League teams – that the issue regarding Australia’s youth teams adopting the 1-4-3-3 as part of the National Curriculum is at an end?

With most things in life, we all need concrete evidence before our eyes to both understand and thereafter believe in the efficacy of something and, aside from the system’s ubiquity across the world at all levels of the game and the inherent principles that are logical and effective, the record run of Roar is the perfect tonic at the ideal time for the implementation of the National Curriculum across the grass roots.

The question then becomes whether the message is actually filtering down to the youth game, where the National Curriculum is to take effect?

I believe it is. Let me share a couple of anecdotes.

Last week I received an email from a mother who had, apparently, previously written several years ago. Her son, aged 11 at the time and of diminutive build, had excellent technique but was being overlooked for representative teams. The disappointed mother was seeking guidance.

Be patient, continue to work with good educators on his technique and particularly his insight, on becoming a ‘footballer’ rather than merely a skilled individual, and the game will come to him, was my advice.

Change is happening quickly and Australia is moving towards a technical style where physicality and size no longer have the value they once did. In short, I told her, we are moving from ‘fightball’ to ‘football’.

The purpose of her latest email was to say that her son had been selected for a representative team that played recently in the National Championships, that his ability was now so prized that his size had ceased to be an issue, and to let me know that she can indeed see change under way.

I was delighted to receive the correspondence, because it indicated that progress is occurring lower down the game, where it is sorely needed.

Looking for further confirmation, I canvassed a number of educators from the recent Under 13 and 14 Nationals, as well as National Assistant Technical Director, Alistair Edwards, who oversaw the technical group at the tournaments and found almost universal praise for the style and level of play.

"There has been a complete transformation in playing style in just the last two years," was how Alistair described the situation.

"As every State is now at least trying to play football and are focused on playing the 1-4-3-3 as the educators are under pressure to do so, knowing that nothing less will suffice."

Additionally, I am told that the All Star team of the Tournament in both age groups had a far higher number of small, technical players who are now quickly becoming highly valued.

Through learning football in a system, which has an easily definable style of play, positional roles and the application of space and movements, the best youngsters were able to come together as a team and very quickly play together to a high level, because they each knew their specific role and that of those around them.

“If you saw the All Star teams play, you would have had a lump in the throat’, Edwards said.

"These boys all had sound technique, there were a couple of really exciting prospects among them, and they played beautifully as though they’d been together for years."

In return, I relayed an anecdote about a recent visit to a youth tournament run by former Socceroos striker Scott Ollerenshaw in Malaysia, at which I was thrilled to see a youth team of Marconi playing the 1-4-3-3, which was light years from some of the disgraceful ‘kick and rush’ I’ve seen from the youth game in recent years.

There was work to do on some of the mechanisms of playing out and in attack and it would have been good to see a higher focus on possession of the ball, but the basis and basics were present and this at club level rather than representative, a further step down the game. Extremely encouraging.

From my recent experience around the country, we are now well beyond the initial cultural change process and every educator and coach is hungry for information to improve.

The real challenge, however, is that while many have recognised and accepted the need for change and are now seeking to play the 1-4-3-3, the actual deeper detail about the movements and timings within are yet to disseminate satisfactorily and remains an issue of coach education and information availability.

Nevertheless, the evidence is that the message is getting through, real progress is being made, and Australia is increasingly, whether at HAL or youth level, learning to truly coach and play football.

Amen to that.

Futsal - Its Written on Pele's Chest!

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:09:00 +0000

Sourced from the SBS World Game http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/2169365961/Pele-exclusive

Futsal - Mind Over Matter

Good enough for Pele, good enough for me!

Futsal needs to be an integrated component of football player development, at all levels of the junior and youth game, at the Capital Football Centres of Excellence and Development, and in all our Junior Clubs.

Go to the SBS World Game website and watch Craig Foster's interview with Pele. Its terrific.

Racism and FIFA President / Euro's Group of Debt / Junior Player Development

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:16:00 +0000

This program was broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz) across the Australian Community Radio Network on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 at 7:00PM.

Tonights program is an unusual mix of subjects:

1. Racism in Football and Foot In Mouth Blatter
The disastrous and objectionable comments made by no less than the President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, on the subject of racism. During an Interview with Al Jerzeera, Blatter declared that there was no racism in football and indeed, if anything were said of the type on the field, then a quik handshake between the racially vilified and the racist will clear things up. It was just unbelievable, particularly given the work FIFA has and is doing to stamp out racism – a zero tolerance policy no less and most definitely on the field of play. Remember those big banners at the world cup and other premier competitions – “say no to racism”. Then there is the very serious allegations of racist comments by players on the field of play in the English Premier League this season. Just what sort of message was Blatter sending to the world wide football community, or was it an aged moment, or indeed, is this the way he really feels about it all? We’ll never really know, but what we do know is that the President of FIFA has, not for the first time in recent months, got it all wrong. The FIFA that he presides over is a mess, wracked with allegations of corruption, a patently corrupt world cup bidding process, operating in a world wide financial crisis that threatens most big Clubs in football as their debt levels reach astronomical proportions. In spite of this, FIFA has done some good work and some of it was about eliminating racism in sport – until Blatter opened his mouth. And yet, Mr Blatter, in the face of no credible option, got voted in for his fourth term as FIFA President and he got Australia’s vote too. Personally, I found Mr Blatter’s comments disgraceful and his subsequent attempts to justify his remarks to further underscore his unsuitability for the office he presently holds. Anyone heard anything from the FFA on this subject? Why not? Still hoping we will get a World Cup in 2022 are we? This whole thing is a mess, as is FIFA at the moment.

2. Group of Debt in Euro 2011
Then we have a very amusing piece from BBC4 radio, titled “Own goal from football’s “Group of Debt”). The fusion of a world financial crisis in Europe and Euro 2012.

The Times reported these figures at the end of 2010:

THE BIG DEBTORS

£727m Manchester United

£609m Real Madrid* (Real claim only £296m)

£436m Barcelona*

£386m Internazionale*

£348m AC Milan*

£297.7m Arsenal

£240m approx Liverpool

£147m Juventus*

£136m Roma*

£96m Bayern Munich*

£0 Chelsea, after £340m write-off, announced Dec 2009

£0 Man City, after £305m debt-to-equity write-off, announced Jan

2010

The Soccerlens website reported these figures in July 2010:

Ranking	Club	Debt
1.	Manchester United	£716m
2.	Chelsea (Limited)	£701m
3.	Valencia C.F	£501m
4.	Liverpool	£351m
5.	Real Madrid	£296m
6.	FC Barcelona	£273m
7.	AS Roma	£271m
8.	Schalke 04	£234m
9.	Arsenal	£203m
10.	Fulham	£198m

3. Junior Player Development - George Huitker
For the final item in tonight’s program, I have returned to an interview I did about three years ago on Junior Football. I speak to George Huitker, the Director of Co-curricular at Radford College.

George is the sort of person we need at the top in Football and certainly on our Capital Football Board. He seems to have done it all. Huitker has written two very good books on junior football and futsal. These two books sum up the issues for all parents and young players, as only a highly capable and thoughtful educator (in football / futsal / academia) could do. Its his massive experience of the age groups we are concerned with and wide view of the game and its role in the development of our young citizens, some of whom are very talented, that gives his writings and observations their power. George Huitker has produced and acted in a play, scripted from his first book on junior football. Books and play received considerable crucial acclaim. Try as I have over the years to get as good an interview on junior player development, I haven’t come close to Huitker yet. The inclusion of Huitker’s interview, timeless as it is, gives us a very useful counter point to the CF Tech Director’s call for complete commitment by players / parents to the CF COE programs. Now this is not a criticism of the TD, who is a fine fellow, with a job to do. An elite program (however we may define or expect an elite program to be) will obviously demand commitment. In one sense the CF Tech Director’s position is almost unarguable, but is it the full story when we think of all of the things that must accompany a young person development as a citizen, including a liberal and balanced education, but who love football with a passion, talented or not so talented. And is it the full story in a small place like the ACT region? The word “elite” is not the same as “develop” in a football sense, nor in an education context, but they circle in football at high speed around anyone young player daubed with the title “talented, and to coin a phrase “its all so often full of crap”! The notion of elite” is always worth challenging. This one is for thinking.

Download Podcast Here:

A Terrific Piece of Analysis of FFA National Youth Championship Selection Processes

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:51:00 +0000

Sourced from a very smart parent of a very good young representative Football and Futsal player.

There is no substitute for timely and trustworthy information on performance and perceptive analysis of that information. Too often we go from minute to minute and game to game, with little more than a random or fragmentary collection of observations and recollections to guide us. For the very experienced coaches, that often works. But sooner or later, something important is lost for lack of good analysis.

Where we can gather data and analyse it in support of football or futsal performance we should do so. But you need three things - the ability / means to identify and collect the appropriate football data; the ability to analyse it and draw sound conclusions; and finally, the good sense and determination to implement change if the conclusions point that way and it is possible to do so.

Now ask yourself this - how many womens or mens Premier League clubs in the ACT devote time / resources / effort to game analysis? Not many and not often is my observation. When something happens that makes a difference, its usually because the Club coaching / support staff have been doing their homework. The irony is that if we watch football (of any code) on television, we are now provided with a useful short list of game statistics at half and full time. Commentary often revolves around the data. The Canberra United coach will do the video game analysis on Monday following the game and debrief the players that afternoon. The data collected can then be subject to further scrutiny, from game to game to search out patterns, for the home team and the opposition teams.

This is a subject that deserves and will get a lot more attention at the NPL.

But for now, I offer an original piece of research and analysis by someone with clearly a well above average mathematical ability, practiced in the statistical methods that underpin the paper provide in this Post.

OK, we are not all as comfortable with the heavy duty quantitative method that underpins this piece of work, but no problem, the author has presented the findings in a way that we can read and understand. Now this is what a Coach or Technical Director wants - something they can read and understand and make use of if they agree.

The start point for this work was the one I witnessed - the 2010 Under 13 Boys and Girls National Youth Championships. Several of us discussed the method used at the time (and still so today) to select the "All Stars" team to play in the final game of the NYC. The discusson was not about the relative merits of one player above another, it was about the "method" the FFA had settled on to come to an All Stars team and what followed from it. Did this method stand scrutiny? Was it fit for its purpose?

There was plenty of good football and at that time, FFA had introduced what was referred to at the time as a "Technical Assessment Score", which was added to the normal win / draw game results points. But that's another story in itself. Terrific innovation.

Importantly, at the conclusion of the NYC, an exhibition match was held between the winning team and a team composed of the best of the rest of the players. Or was it? It was to be called the All Stars match. The general concept was first trialed in the previous National Training Centre Challenge.

The purpose of the All Stars game at this NYC was to provide the "Technical Assessment Group" a further and final opportunity to decide which players would be called forward to join an Australian age train on squad, in this case, for subsequent selection to an inaugural Australian age representative team (boys and girls). Clearly, if you were not in either the Wining Team or the All Stars team, you were out of consideration at that time for selection to the Australian train on squad. As it happens, the ACT girls were well represented in the All Stars team and one made it all the way to the Australian team. The ACT coach at the time was the coach of the NYC. And there is a really good story around this cohort that again demonstates how it can / should be done for young players. But, alas, again I digress. It was fascinating stuff. Still is. A lot at stake.

There were other outcomes from the Technical Assessment Group" in relation to team and Coach performance, but that is not the subject of this specific research and analysis.

Since the 2010 NYC, the selection of an age Australian team for the Under 13 boys and girls has been scrapped, but the All Star game process is still in place and an important outcome from the Technical Assessment Group. What does it mean for the ACT players going forward? Good reason to reflect on the process.

The All Star game would appear to provide the Technical Assessment Group, the National Women's Coaching staff and attending State NTC Coaches with vital information on those young players who need to be streamed into NTC programs (scholarship or training agreements), as part of the talented player identification process. This impacts differently (in terms of time of entry / duration) on boys and girls programs. But the talent spotting is fully focused at this Under 13 NYC. So it should be!

So, does this All Stars game selection process work for the ACT talented players? Now that is a very important question. Its dumb to assume that it works well or equally for all teams and players until you can prove it so. This bit of research has a couple of surprises for you. What does the analysis of the data reveal? Read the paper, its fascinating.

I will say this (separate from the paper); At the conclusion of the 2011 NYC, our U13 girls remain in Group A, while our U13 boys remain in Group B. Will things change in 2012? Observations of the present programs, seems to indicate that the cautious prediction would be: The girls may be sufficiently competitive to retain their position in Group A, but not constitute the winning team. The boys will remain in Group B (and not be the winning team - which comes from Group A of course). So the means of selection for the All Stars team is really important to prospective opportunities for our young players. Simple as that!

And how closely does the Technical Assessment Group really look at Group B games and how hard is it for a player to shine and be noticed and selected from a modestly performing Group B team? Not much I would think. However, someone is sure to point out that the really, really , really good players do get noticed, which is probably true. But how good do you have to be to get noticed above a player of a little less ability in the winning team? The winning team enjoys the halo effect of simply "winning". More than that, those not on the All Stars game winning team match card, get a preferential place on the All Stars match card. Now that did surprise some of us and I think you will find the research outcomes interesting on this subject. Did the FFA think this through and if so, what did they based their decision upon? Probably no more than "gee, we had better give all the winning team a run in the final match". Makes you think.

There is one way of dramatically advancing the prospects of our young players (boys and girls) - get into to Group A and win. Anyone who says that winning the NYC is not the objective, is not seeing this clearly and anyway, why are we there if not to win? You can bet the players are their to win. Now what sort of Centre of Excellence program will it take to achieve these outcomes and how long will it take? And what sort of coaches do we need to take us forward?

So, on with this terrific piece of work by one of our thinking parents, who seems to have put the time on the sides of Football and Futsal games to good effect. Should be more of it - in fact, I know there is!

It's well worth a read. I wonder if anyone in Capital Football or the FFA can produce this sort of work. They should be doing this sort of work and publishing it.

..........................................................................................................................................................

Choosing a national sports team: the 2010 FFA National Junior Championships

Choosing a national sporting team is complex and challenging. It has two key dimensions — the pool of players that are considered in the selection, and the selection process. In the 2010 FFA National Junior Championships, in both the girls’ and boys’ competitions (A and B Groups), the championships ended with an AllStars match between the top performing team in that group and an AllStars team chosen from the remaining five teams. The AllStars matches provided recognition to the best performing team in the group, but also provided a pool of players for selection of national girls’ and boys’ training squads from which a national under-13 girls’ team and boys’ team would be chosen to play in the Asian Football Confederation’s Festival of Football in mid 2010.

For the purpose of selecting a national squad, an AllStars match would ideally be between two teams that broadly include the most talented players in that group and that are evenly matched.

The current selection process raises a number of related questions. Does a match between the top scoring team and an AllStars team bring together the best talent amongst the players in the championship? If this is generally the case, does it remain so when the final scores in the group are close? Additionally, where some of the better performing players from the top scoring team are placed in the AllStars team, as occurred in the boys’ competition, is this likely to significantly affect the balance between the teams in the final match?

Current arrangements potentially have a negative impact on selection in at least three ways. Firstly, where there is a wide gap between the standard of play of the AllStars team and the opposing team, this is likely to lower the overall standard of players in the AllStars match and therefore the quality of the pool for national squad selection. Secondly, if there is a significant imbalance in the standard of each team in the AllStars match, this will reduce the scope for talented players to show their best performance under pressure. Arguably the process adopted for the boys of placing the best performing players of each team (including the top scoring team) onto the AllStars team has the potential to create this imbalance. The arrangements for the boys also has a third consequence — that the top scoring team playing the AllStars match is smaller than the usual 16 players, which reduces the pool of players actually playing the AllStars match and at the same time gives relatively greater game time to the players in the potentially weaker team.

Considering these, what were the outcomes in the 2010 National Junior Championships?

Selection for the girls’ national training squad

For Group A, NSW Metro 1 finished in top place, as did NSW Metro 2 in Group B (Table 1). Scores were close in Group A and the overall ranking on game scores was altered by the allocation of technical points (of five, three and one) to those teams that most closely played according to the principles of the National Football Curriculum.

Table 1: Girls: results for each Group

Team	Initial score	Final score adjusted for technical points	AllStars match selection	Girls Squad selection
Group A
NSW Metro 1	10	15	16	7
Northern NSW	11	12	2	1
ACT	6	9	5	1
SA	7	7	3	2
Victoria Metro	5	5	1	1
Queensland	1	1	5	5
Group B
NSW Metro 2	15	20	16	6
WA	10	11	4	1
NSW Country	7	10	6	3
Victoria Country	6	6	3	1
Tasmania	6	6	3	2
Northern Territory	0	0	0	0

Source: Football Federation Australia and Capital Football websites.

From two AllStars matches involving 64 players, 30 players were chosen for the Girls National Training Squad — that is, 17 from Group A, and 13 from Group B. Of all girls selected, 13 played on NSW Metro teams, or 41% of NSW Metro team players, while 17 of the 32 players on AllStars teams were selected, a selection rate of 53%.

In Group A, NSW Metro 1 had 7 of their players selected to the national squad, a selection rate of 44%: in contrast, the AllStars players had 10 of their 16 players selected, a selection rate of 63%.

In Group B, NSW Metro 2 had 6 of their 16 players selected, a selection rate of 38%, while 44% of the AllStars players were selected. The gap in selection rates was less than in Group A, and final team scores were more spread than for Group A.

If the top scoring team was broadly representative of the best talent in the championship, one would expect that the national squad selection rate for the top scoring team to be roughly the same as for the AllStars team. However, for both groups it was less than for the AllStars and, for Group A, considerably less. This suggests that the top scoring team may not have been representative of the top talent in Group A, and as such the AllStars match may not have provided the best pool for national squad selection. The apparent imbalance in Group A between the NSW Metro team and the AllStars team may also have reduced the quality of play in the final match.

Selection for the boys’ national training squad

NSW Metro 1 finished Group A in top place in the boys’ championships also, while NSW Metro 2 finished Group B in top place (Table 2). Scores were close in Group A and the overall ranking on game scores was altered by the allocation of the technical points. As noted above, in both groups the AllStars teams also included players from the top scoring team.

From a pool of 33 AllStar players plus 24 top team players (13 from NSW Metro 1 and 11 from NSW Metro 2), 26 were selected to the national squad — 18 from the 30 who played in Group A and 8 from the 27 who played in Group B.[1] Of all boys selected, 6 played on NSW Metro teams in the AllStars matches, or 25% of NSW Metro team players in those matches, compared to the 61% of AllStars team players that were selected.

Table 2: Boys: results for each Group

Team	Initial score	Final score adjusted for technical points	AllStars match selection	Boys Squad selection ^a
Group A
NSW Metro 1 team	9	14	13	3
NSW Metro 1 AllStars			3	3
Victoria Metro	13	13	2	2
Queensland	7	10	4	3
Northern NSW	7	7	4	4
Western Australia	4	5	3	3
South Australia	2	2	1	0
Group B
NSW Metro 2	15	20	11	3
NSW Metro 2 AllStars			5	4
NSW Country	10	13	4	0
Tasmania	9	10	4	1
ACT	7	7	3	0
Victoria Country	3	3	0	0
Northern Territory	0	0	0	0

Source: Football Federation Australia and Capital Football websites.

a) Excludes one player who did not play the championships but was chosen for the national squad, and three other players chosen for the squad who did not play the AllStars matches.

From the Group A top team, NSW Metro 1, 3 players were chosen to play as AllStars. All three NSW Metro AllStars players plus 3 from the remaining 13 of NSW Metro 1 were chosen for the boys’ national training squad — that is, 3 of the 13 players who played the match as NSW Metro 1, a selection rate of 23%: in contrast, 15 of the 17 players on AllStars teams were selected, a selection rate of 88%.

In Group B, NSW Metro 2 was top scoring, and five of its players were chosen for the AllStars team. Four of these were selected for the national squad, along with three from the remainder of NSW Metro 2 — that is, 3 of the 11 players who played the match as NSW Metro 2, a selection rate of 27%: in comparison, 5 of the 16 AllStars players were selected, a selection rate of 31%.

As for the results of the girls’ competition, the results for the boys’ competition for Group A suggest that the top scoring team may not have been representative of the top talent in the Group, and that the AllStars match for this group was not between balanced teams. All results are presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Proportion of players selected to the national squad (%)

	Group	Top scoring team	AllStars team
Girls	A	44	63
	B	38	44
	Combined	41	53

Boys	A	23	88
	B	27	31
	Combined	25	61

The results in Table 3 show some considerable differences between the selection outcomes for those playing the AllStars match as AllStars team members rather than NSW Metro team members. Probit regression has identified that several of these differences are statistically significant: for the Boys Group A, there was a negative relationship between being selected and playing on the NSW Metro 1 team in the AllStars match; and for both groups of boys together, there was a negative relationship between selection and playing on NSW Metro teams in the AllStars matches. Other significant results were obtained, with implications for national squad selection (see Attachment A).

Conclusion

The current AllStars matches aim to reward the best scoring teams in the National Championships by giving them the chance to play the AllStars teams. However, where the group scores are close, it appears questionable whether it also provides a good pool for national squad selection — in 2010, for both Girls Group A and Boys Group A where team scores were close, players from the top scoring teams had lower selection rates by some margin. This was especially so for Boys Group A where selection rates were also affected by the allocation of some players onto the AllStars team.

These differences suggest a lower overall standard of individual player in the AllStars match, and the potential for significant imbalance in team performance and resulting quality of the match.

Placing top scoring team members on the AllStars team in the boys’ competition also reduced the overall number of players in the AllStars match — for Group A, 13 rather than 16 players, and for Group B, only 11 players — and so gave greater game time to those players whom national selectors subsequently assessed as performing less highly. This is likely to have further reduced the usefulness of the AllStars match for selection purposes in the boys’ competition.

This assessment suggests two potential improvements in national squad selection:

in cases where final team scores are reasonably spread out, the AllStars team play the top scoring team that includes all members of that team

in cases where final scores are close — say when the top two teams score within 5 points of each other, as occurred for both A Groups in 2010 — the AllStars match be between two AllStars teams.

..........................................................................................................................................................

ATTACHMENT A

Selection to the national squad and relationship to final team score and team allocation for the AllStars match

Table 3 shows differences in selection outcomes for players on each of the teams in the AllStars match, for both groups in the girls’ and boys’ championships. Probit regression can be used to establish whether these kinds of differences are significant in a statistical sense.

Probit regression provides an estimate of the probability of an outcome — in this case selection to the national training squad — given other characteristics. Relevant characteristics here are the player’s final team score or whether the player played the AllStars match as a member of the top scoring team rather than as an AllStar. Current selection arrangements imply that the top scoring team is a reasonable source of talent for national selection. As such, it would be reasonable to expect that being chosen for the national training squad would be significantly related to the player’s final team score, in a positive and non-trivial way. Current arrangements also assume that they bring the best players to the final match in balanced teams for selection to the national squad, and so it would be reasonable to expect that there would not be a significant relationship between selection and which team the player played on in the AllStars match.

For each group, player selection to the national training squad was regressed on final team scores, and also on whether they played the AllStars match as a member of the top scoring team. A final regression was also run for all AllStars match players, of selection to the squad regressed on whether they played the AllStars match as a member of the top scoring team

For Group A, the regression of selection to the national training squad (that is, on the pool of 32 Group A players who played the AllStars match) and previous team scores showed evidence of a negative relationship between the probability of being selected and previous team score.[2] For this group of girls, a player from a team with an average score (which is around 8) had a probability of 0.647 of being selected to the national squad. In comparison, a player with a score of 15 (as achieved by NSW Metro 1) had a probability of being selected of 0.367, while a player with a team score of 1 (as achieved by Queensland) had a probability of 0.871. That is, being from the team with the lowest score was associated with an increase of 0.504 in the probability of being selected compared to being from the team with the highest score.

Other regressions using data from the girls’ championships did not find a significant relationship, including:

For Group A, between selection to the national squad and playing the AllStars match as a NSW Metro 1 player
For Group B, between selection to the national squad and either previous team score or playing the AllStars match as a NSW Metro 2 player
For all girls in Groups A and B, between selection to the national squad and playing the AllStars matches as NSW Metro players.

For the girls’ competition, the only significant relationship was for Group A players, between selection to the national squad and team score. However, it was a negative relationship, which calls into question the use of the top scoring team to play the AllStars match where final team scores in the group are close.

Considering the selection of the boys’ squad, for each group player selection to the national training squad was regressed on final team scores and whether or not the player played on the NSW Metro team (the top scoring team) in the AllStars match. A final regression was also run in relation to all boys, of selection to the squad regressed on whether or not the player played on the NSW Metro team in the AllStars match.[3]

For Group A, the data are consistent with there being a negative relationship between the probability of being selected to the national training squad and final team score. The probability of selection for a player from the team with the average score (of 8.5) was 0.761. However, the probability of selection for a player with the NSW Metro 1 score was 0.486, while the probability of selection for player with South Australia score was 0.945. That is, a player from the team with the lowest score (South Australia) had a .459 higher chance of being selected than players from the team with the highest score.

There was also a negative relationship between selection to the national squad and whether the player played the AllStars match on the NSW Metro 1 team. [4] Being on the NSW Metro 1 team in the AllStars match was associated with a probability of .231 of being selected to the national squad. Not being on the NSW Metro 1 team was associated with a probability of .882. That is, being a NSW Metro 1 team player reduced the probability of being selected by .882 - .231 = .651.

For Group B, selection to the national squad had no significant relationship to final team score.[5] Nor was there a significant relationship between selection to the national squad and whether the player was on the NSW Metro 2 team in the AllStars match.

For all boys playing in the AllStars matches (both groups), the relationship between selection to the national training group and being on the NSW Metro team in the AllStars matches was negative. Being on the NSW Metro team was associated with a probability of 0.250 of being selected to the national squad. Not being on the NSW Metro team was associated with a probability of 0.606, that is, 0.356 lower than being on the AllStars team.

As for the girls, these results call into question the use of the top scoring team to play the AllStars match where final team scores in the group are close, and also the practice of drawing some AllStars players from the top scoring team.[6]

[1] A further 4 boys were added to the national training squad — one who had not played the national championships, and three who did not play the AllStars matches.

[2] Where results are significant, this is at the 5% level unless otherwise stated.

[3] Data exclude the one player who did not play the championships but was chosen for the national squad. The three chosen for the squad who did not play the AllStars matches are included in the regression on team scores only.

[4] This relationship was significant at the 1% level.

[5] The relationship was not significantly different to zero at the 5% level of significance. However, at the 10% level there was a significant and negative relationship.

[6] The relative effects of each practice on the probability of selection cannot be separately identified.

Racism in Football - "I would deny it. There is no racism." Sepp Blatter: President of FIFA

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:54:00 +0000

Sourced from http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/223349,uk-pm-leads-criticism-of-blatter-comments.aspx and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/8895296/Fifa-president-Sepp-Blatter-should-quit-over-racism-denial.html

It all started this way (quote from the Telegraph By Josie Ensor, and Conrad Quilty-Harper):

"In an interview with Al Jazeera English, Blatter was asked if he thought racism was a big problem in the sport.

The president of the sport's world governing body replied: "During a match you may make a movement to somebody or hurt somebody or you may say something to somebody who is not exactly looking like you, but at the end of the match it is forgotten."

As well as ill-advised, Blatter's comments are ill-timed. Two of the Premier League's most high-profile players - Luis Suarez and John Terry - are currently being investigated over allegations they racially abused fellow professionals, and this year has seen an increase reported racial incidents - both on the pitch and online."

As if there isn't enough problems with the FIFA organisation in recent years and more than enough criticism of the recently re-elected President, Sepp Blatter.

Then someone asks him a pretty simple question on racism in Football. This is what the Blatt said:

Oops, then the apology and that "sorry" word! Too late mate!

Should have been dead simple - point to the work that has been done in Football around the world through Football. FIFA have taken the lead in so many ways, strong stand against racism, no mucking around on this one - "Say No To Racism". End of story - and the right one.

But the Blatt stuffed it completely. Poor bugger! In one nonsensical reply to the simple question put to him, he trivialized the entire issue in Football around the world. What a goose!

It seems racist comments on the field of play are to be resolved by a handshake, according to the Blatt. What planet was the Blatt orbiting when he thought up this response? What a goose! And he runs FIFA, was re-elected by a whopping big majority of member countries (including Australia in spite of the appallingly corrupt conduct of the World Cup bid(s) process by FIFA), for another four years.

The resultant furore, particularly in the UK where they have a couple of pretty serious accusations of racist comments made to players by other players on the field during games, absolutely skewered the Blatt.

What a mess!

The comments made by people of some substance in Football in the UK are withering and on the mark. The article below sums it up (sourced from Martyn Ziegler articlehttp://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/223349,uk-pm-leads-criticism-of-blatter-comments.aspx ):

" FIFA president Sepp Blatter today remained defiant in the face of criticism as even Prime Minister David Cameron attacked him over his remarks about racism.

Blatter appeared to stand by his suggestion that racism on the pitch should be settled by a handshake in an interview with Fox Soccer today - despite Cameron's criticism which followed sports minister Hugh Robertson's call for the 75-year-old to step down.
The FIFA president also became embroiled in an amazing Twitter row with England defender Rio Ferdinand, who accused the Swiss of being "ignorant".
Cameron said: "It's appalling to suggest that racism in any way should be accepted as part of the game.
"A lot of work has gone into ridding racism from all aspects of our society, including football. As many of our top sports stars have rightly pointed out, now is not the time for complacency."
Outside of Britain however, the controversy has barely caused a ripple - it merited a single paragraph in French sports daily L'Equipe, and was treated similarly in Spain, Italy, Germany and the United States.
In an interview with Fox Soccer, Blatter stuck to his guns and pointed out that FIFA had taken the World Cup to South Africa.
He added: "But if you also be a little bit in a sporting spirit when there is something happening on the field of play, during a match between two players - I call it foul language. I'm not saying about discrimination, but it's foul language, it's a foul play.
"At the end of the match, if you have foul play (when) the match is over you shake hands... and therefore also forget what has been on the field of play."
The furore has been heightened by the fact there are two high-profile current cases in England involving alleged racism on the pitch.
Chelsea's John Terry is being investigated by the Football Association and the police after allegations he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, Rio's brother, and the FA yesterday charged Liverpool's Luis Suarez with racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.
Blatter's remarks led to a Twitter war of words with Ferdinand. The Manchester United defender criticised FIFA's attempts to clarify Blatter's comments with a statement on their website underneath a large picture of Blatter with South African minister Tokyo Sexwale, who was imprisoned on Robben Island during the apartheid era.
Ferdinand wrote: "Fifa clear up the blatter comments with a pic of him posing with a black man..I need the hand covering eyes symbol!!"
Blatter was stung into a response today and replied directly to Ferdinand saying: "The 'black man' as you call him has a name: Tokyo Sexwale. He has done tremendous work against racism and apartheid in Africa.
"We have done several joint activities to raise awareness on the struggle against racism in South Africa. FIFA has a long standing and proud record in the area of anti-discrimination which will continue."
Ferdinand responded himself to Blatter this afternoon, saying: "To say what you said about racism in football spoke volumes of your ignorance to the subject.
"If we want 2 stamp out racism in society a football pitch is a good place to start - loved by billions of people around the world."
Meanwhile, sports minister Hugh Robertson and players' chief Gordon Taylor called for Blatter to step down.
Robertson said: "Sepp Blatter's comments are completely unacceptable. This is the latest episode that calls into question whether this man should be the head of world football.
"For the sake of the game, he should go."
Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Taylor said the racism remarks were "the straw which broke the camel's back" and that Blatter should step aside for UEFA president Michel Platini.
Taylor said: "Coming on top of his comments which were offensive about female footballers, his homophobic comments about homosexuals not going to Qatar, the World Cup bidding process, he won't have technology over goal-line decisions and the corruption which is so plainly evident at FIFA. It is time for him to go."
The international players' union FIFPro described Blatter's comments as "rather clumsy" and said there should be closer co-operation with FIFA in the fight against racism."

Canberra United FC - Who We Play

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:26:00 +0000

This is the competition program for the season. The finals games are not listed.

This is a sensational start.

Canberra United play Newcastle this Saturday at McKellar Park. Be there or be square!

In fact, make a day of it - go to the Boomerangs FS Futsal games at the AIS then swing over to McKellar (not far away). Perfect day!





Sat 22, 1:45 PM	Adelaide United W-League	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide	W-League	W 4-1

Sat 29, 3:00 PM	Perth Glory W-League	McKellar Park, Canberra	W-League	W 3-2



Sat 5, 3:00 PM	Sydney FC W-League	Leichhardt Oval	W-League	W 1-0

Sat 12, 3:00 PM	Melbourne Victory W-League	McKellar Park, Canberra	W-League	W 2-1

Sat 19, 3:00 PM	Newcastle Jets	McKellar Park, Canberra	W-League

Sat 26, 12:00 AM	Bye	McKellar Park, Canberra	W-League



Sat 3, 12:00 AM	Brisbane Roar W-League	Cleveland Showgrounds, Cleveland	W-League

Sat 10, 12:00 AM	Sydney FC W-League	Deakin Football Stadium, Canberra	W-League

Sun 18, 12:00 AM	Newcastle Jets W-League	Adamstown Oval, Newcastle	W-League



Sat 7, 12:00 AM	Adelaide United W-League	McKellar Park, Canberra	W-League

Sun 15, 12:00 AM	Bye	McKellar Park, Canberra	W-League

ACL Rehabilitation – Clinically Cleared But Ready to Play?

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:34:00 +0000

Sourced from http://www.scienceofsocceronline.com/2011/01/acl-rehabilitation-clinically-cleared.html

ACL Rehabilitation – Clinically Cleared But Ready to Play?

Anterior cruciate ligament injuries are all too common in competitive athletes.

ACL ruptures are usually followed by reconstruction surgery that is then followed by progressive rehabilitation that may last up to 12 months. Depending on the extent of injury, most players can expect 6-12 months before being cleared by a physician to return to their previous level of play. However, some athletes seem to take much longer to complete a full recovery and a few never return to the competitive level that they once experienced. An Australian study addresses this apparent disparity between the clinical evaluation and competitiveness. Researchers show that despite being clinically cleared to play, many ACL injured athletes do not return to full competition one year after surgery.

The study examined 503 male and female patients who participated in a variety of sports (Australian football, basketball, netball and soccer). All had suffered a rupture of the ACL and underwent arthroscopic reconstruction surgery using a hamstring tendon autograft. After surgery, each athlete followed a progressive rehabilitation program. At 12 months post-surgery, subjects underwent a clinical exam and completed a questionnaire about their level of sports participation (that is, their return to play).

Most of the athletes were clinically cleared for full participation by 9 months and all were cleared by 12 months. Despite this, only 33% had attempted full competition, 34% had attempted training with modified play while 33% had not attempted to train or play.

Of the two-thirds who had not returned to full competition, almost half indicated that they indented to return to full play, 13% had given up competition because of knee issues, 12% had given up competition for other reasons and the remainder did not indicate whether they intended to return or not.

The results indicate that despite all players being clinically cleared for full participation after a 12-month rehabilitation, only 1/3 had actually done so. Another 1/3 hoped to return to their pre-injury level of play but the remaining third had ended their competitive playing careers.

Why do so many players fail to return to full competition despite being clinically cleared after surgery?

One reason is psychological. The researchers point out an earlier study that shows many ACL injured athletes lack confidence and fear the risk of re-injury, perceptions that persist well after rehabilitation and after being clinically cleared to play. Also, those who express these emotions are less likely to return to full completion than those who don’t.

A second reason may be muscular. A 1988 study of ACL injured patients revealed that despite being clinically cleared to play (after 12 months), quadriceps muscle atrophy and weakness remained. Knee extensor strength was depressed by 10-12% in the injured limb compared to the non-injured limb. The atrophy of the quadriceps was not readily apparent to the physicians performing the clinical exams. The lost of muscle mass was replaced by a gain in fat mass. Thus, the visible size of the thigh was not changed but its composition was. The lost muscle strength experienced by these athletes probably limits their performance on the field or court and prohibits them from fully competing.

These psychological and muscular issues facing an injured athlete may also be interwoven. Athletes who feel somewhat apprehensive or fear re-injury may limit their effort during rehabilitation. The result is that muscle atrophy and weakness persists. On the other hand, weakened quadriceps muscles after surgery may instill a lack of confidence and heighten re-injury worries.

It is important to point out that neither study fully described the rehabilitation program details. The subjects did not appear to be professional athletes. Thus the athletes probably underwent a traditional program involving both clinical rehabilitation and unsupervised exercises performed outside of the clinic. There is no way to gauge the intensity or level of participation in the programs. Professional athletes, in the other hand, have a number of clinicians and rehabilitation specialists working with them on a daily basis. One would expect that given this level of support, professional athletes would undergo a more focused and intense rehabilitation program. As a result, they would be more likely to return to play that the non-professional and return to play much sooner.

The overall message from these investigations is that some ACL injured players might be clinically cleared to return to full competition within a year after surgery. However, many may not be ready to compete at the previous competitive level. Despite going through a rehabilitation program, some may have deficits that limit their participation level. These deficits may be psychological and a fear of re-injury. They may be muscular - muscle atrophy and decreased quadriceps strength.

In either case, coaches should understand that clinical exams determine the functional outcomes of ACL reconstruction surgery. They are designed to determine if the knee is healed, functional and stable. Such clinical exams cannot decide the readiness of an athlete to compete at their pre-injured level. It is up to the coach to help the player correct these psychological and muscular defects – to regain the confidence and rebuild the lost muscle mass needed to compete at a high level.

References:

Ardern CL, Webster KE, Taylor NF, Feller JA (2010) Return to the preinjury level of competitive sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery. American Journal of Sports Medicine, DOI: 10.1177/0363546510384798.

LoPresti C, Kirkendall DT, Street GM, Dudley AW (1988) Quadriceps insufficiency following repair of the anterior cruciate ligament. Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, 9: 245-249.

Webster KE, Feller JA, Lambros C (2008) Development and preliminary validation of a scale to measure the psychological impact of returning to sport following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery. Physical Therapy in Sport, 9: 9-15.

Testing and Monitoring Performance Development of Our Best Young Players is Essential

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:03:00 +0000

Its all very well to say we run an "Academy" or a "High Performance Program" or a "Centre of Excellence", but just exactly what constitutes an elite Football program within the FFA's National Curriculum and Development plans, at Federation member level?

It would useful if the FFA produced a "best practice" solution for implementation as the "minimum" requirement for each Federation member. The National Curriculum and Development Plans do not fulfill this task, which is why we have had variety of solutions (here in the ACT and elsewhere) - and change they do - too frequently. Which is not necessarily the same as "evolving".

I can find no list anywhere in the FFA material that speaks to the construction of the "solution" at federation member level and / or is generally available to the football community - and that is very odd. So how do you decide if what is offered is worth the expenditure of your child's (and parents) valuable time, opportunity and funds.

Two noteworthy and important changes have been made by the new Technical Director of Capital Football:

A clear statement of priority to be given by players / parents for participation in the Football COE programs
A very robust focus on raising the technical standards of the very young players through the FFA Skills Acquisition Program (SAP) and the engagement of Coerver Coaching in the youngest of the age groups

Now these two steps alone, as important as they are and must continue to be so, quickly reveal the frailty of the overall solution. Its difficult to fix everything on the run and standing still is not an option. And we do a lot of things on the run in Football!

What expectations should you (the parent) have for young young talented player at the highest level of development available to your child in Football?

It all depends is the answer. Depends of what? What should you be looking for? What can you let pass for now?

Here are some ideas:
A well qualified coach, a first rate training facility, comprehensive and timely back of house individual management of players, timely / trustworthy system of communication between the organisation / coaches and Players / Parents, a detailed whole of program periodized program that enable you (parent0 to co-ordinate every other aspect of the young players life (importantly education), a detailed session by session curriculum and teaching resources (not just broad strokes stuff, the sort of resources any teacher would expect to have to have for any lesson) for each coach, a means of conveying the session activities and amends to training to players / Parents in a timely manner in advance of training, a robust sports science capability (specialist nutrition advice and monitoring, specialist sports medicine support and injury management, recovery facilities / services, sport psychology engagement at a group and individual basis), detailed testing / recording / reporting on player performance, ability to correct individual player technical performance on a continuing basis, and an ability to integrate the balance between academic performance and Football performance within the program, well written and published policy and procedures, insightful and effective program administrative co-ordination, and so and so....

There are a lot of smart people in and around Football and this list is just representative of the matters suggested to me over the last few years and all of the above by people engaged in this important Football work.

Do we deal with all of the young players' issues that may affect performance, or just a few things we can service from within what we have now or afford? How much can we afford and what is the opportunity cost if some things that matter going forward are not part of the solution.

How "excellent" can your solution be? What does it take to do it? Are these matters discussed at the Capital Football Board? They should be! How much can you afford to deliver? These are big issues for those that run development programs for our young players in accordance with FFA instructions. A Technical Director alone, in any member Federation cannot solve these matters. But that seems to be the way we tend to see it.

The words "Elite", "Professional", Excellence" and "High Performance" get thrown around like confetti, used to freely and often without specification. That creates problems.

But back to the title of this post (its all a coherent subject anyway).

Here are some videos on two tests that are used today across various sports, including Football. Just two, there are many other proprietary tests and some sports are much more engaged than others. What do we use? etc

Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT)

Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST)

Match Fatigue: The Brain or Muscle?

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:23:00 +0000

Sourced from The Science of Soccer, http://www.scienceofsocceronline.com/2011/06/match-fatigue-brain-or-muscle.html

Match Fatigue: The Brain or Muscle?

There is little doubt that a 90-minute soccer match takes its toll in the players. As the match progresses, fatigue sets in and performance suffers. The number of sprints and amount of running declines and technical abilities may fall off.

Performance during any voluntary effort, be it running, sprinting or a strength test involves two physiological components. The first is the central nervous system (that is, the brain) and what is called “central drive” (or loosely described as effort). The second is the muscle’s intrinsic ability to produce force. If either central drive or muscle function declines, then overall performance declines.

“Central fatigue” is often thought of as psychological and the player simply giving up. However, central fatigue can have a physiological origin and factors beyond the players control can affect psychological effort. Researchers at the University of Milan found that match play induces significant central fatigue that persists into the next day. Their findings have important implications for diet strategies designed to prevent central fatigue and insure that performance does not suffer.

Twenty-two young professional players were used in the study. All were members of an Italian Serie A team (average age, 19). The players initially underwent a series of field and laboratory tests of performance. Several days later, they played a 90-minute match (arranged specifically for this study). Within 45 minutes of the match, the players repeated the field and laboratory tests. This was done again over the next two days (24 and 48 hours post - match)

The investigators used a combination of field and laboratory tests in order to evaluate and distinguish between central and muscle fatigue. As for field tests, they measured performance during the Loughborough Short Passing Test (LSPT) and a shuttle sprint test. Ratings of muscle soreness were also recorded.

In the laboratory, they measured quadriceps strength during a knee extension trial. To evaluate each player’s central drive or effort, the investigators also used the techniques of electromyography (EMG) and electrical stimulation of the quadriceps muscles.

The EMG is a measure of the electrical activity of the muscle. It measures the ability of the central nervous system to activate the muscle – central drive. If during a maximal voluntary contraction, both strength and EMG signals decline, researchers conclude that the subject’s central drive is reduced and he is experiencing central fatigue. On the other hand, if force declines but the EMG remains maximal, central drive is normal and the subject is experiencing muscle fatigue. Thus, the players performed a voluntary knee extension trial while both strength and EMG was recorded

Electrical stimulation is used to bypass central nervous system and artificially activate the muscle. It gives researchers an indication of how the muscle performs independent of the subject’s effort. Electrodes were placed over the quadriceps muscles and they were stimulated during the voluntary contraction. If force during a voluntary effort is increased by stimulation, researchers conclude that the central nervous system is not fully activating the muscle and the player is experiencing central fatigue.

The results of the investigation showed that after the match, players experienced a decline in sprint performance as well as an increase in muscle soreness. This persisted up to 24 hours after the match. By 48 hours post-match, performance had returned to normal and soreness had subsided. LSPT (short passing) performance was not affected at any time point.

In the laboratory, the researchers found that voluntary quadriceps strength was reduced immediately and 24 hours after the match. EMG signals recorded during these voluntary efforts were also reduced post-match. However forces during electrically stimulated contractions were not noticeably affected. For example, after the match, voluntary strength was reduced by 11% and EMG was diminished by 12%. However, electrically stimulated force was unchanged from pre-match values. When the central nervous system is bypassed by stimulation, strength is near normal. This suggests that during a voluntary effort (such as sprinting), central drive is reduced which leads to a decline in performance.

These findings suggest that players experience significant central fatigue during and after a soccer match. This decline in central drive likely diminishes strength and sprint performance. It appears that the muscle is not markedly fatigued but the central nervous system’s ability to fully activate it is compromised.

What causes central fatigue? The most obvious explanation is a lack of conscious effort. That is, simply “giving up”. Conscious effort can be affected by factors such as pain and the players did report increased pain after the match. So, it is possible that the discomfort felt during a maximal effort caused them to “back off” a bit. However, this study used a group of high-level professional players. One would assume that they are very competitive and used to playing with muscle soreness and giving a maximal effort despite the discomfort.

A second explanation has a more physiological basis. Researchers have shown that soccer players experience significant declines in muscle glycogen (energy stores) over the course of a 90-minute match. In some cases, this causes a decline in blood glucose (blood sugar) and these players experience hypoglycemia. Blood glucose is the primary fuel used by the brain for energy. Thus, a drop in blood glucose can lead to a number of psychological changes including feelings of tiredness, lethargy, and irritability. Motor skills can also suffer. All of these work together to cause central fatigue. Despite the player’s desire to perform, the effects of central fatigue on muscle function can dramatically hinder performance.

How can central fatigue be avoided? An important strategy is diet. Eating a proper diet, one that is high in carbohydrates and low in fat will maximize pre-match muscle glycogen levels. More muscle glycogen at the start of the match lessens the possibility of glycogen depletion and hypoglycemia. Also, by eating a proper recovery diet, glycogen stores can be quickly replenished so that players can recovery in time for the next day’s training or match. Thus, central fatigue that may occur during a match can be avoided by eating the right foods at the right time.

Back to the title of this post. Fatigue during any activity is complex and involves more than one cause, including both the brain and muscle. What this study emphasizes is the important role of the brain and central nervous system. Diet and central fatigue are an often overlooked aspect of training, especially by younger players. More detailed information about critical link between diet, fatigue and match performance can be found on the Science of Soccer Online as well as in our book, “The SCIENCE Behind Soccer Nutrition”.

Reference:

Rampinini E, Bosio A, Ferraresi I, Petruolo A, Morelli A, Sassi A (2011) Match-related fatigue in soccer players. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. DOI: 10:1249/MSS.0b013e31821e9c5c.

Coaching Female Athletes Forum � Training Girls and Women to Win

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:56:00 +0000

Sourced from Capital Football website

Coaching Female Athletes Forum � Training Girls and Women to Win

A special forum with a focus on Coaching Female Athletes and training girls and women to win will be presented by FIFA Women's World Cup Champion and USA Olympic Gold Medal Coach April Heinrichs and Canberra United Coach and former Czech Republic national player Jitka Klimkova will take place at the AIS on Thursday 24th November 2011 from 6.00 to 9.00pm.

If you want to learn more about getting the best out of your female players and coaching female teams, then join us for an informative and educational forum when two outstanding international coaches and former players share their experience and knowledge about coaching female footballers. This is an event for all coaches at any level of the game and we are encouraging coaches from other sports to attend as well.

The forum will feature a practical demonstration on the synthetic pitch by Heinrichs (who is currently the Technical Director of the US soccer's women's national teams program) and Klimkova with the Canberra United squad followed by refreshments and a theoretical presentation in the Silver Room (Frank Stewart Training Centre).

Register now for this unique opportunity and spread the word. The cost for attending forum is only $25 per person with details on the venue and registration at www.capitalfootball.com.au

5.45 – participants arrive at AIS Indoor Synthetic Hall (Frank Stewart Training Facility)
6:00-7:00pm Training Session on Indoor Synthetic pitch (STF)
7:00-7:15pm Q&A (in the STF hall)
7:15pm transition from Indoor pitch to Silver Room (upstairs in STF) and Coffee/Tea Break
7:45pm-9:00pm Classroom Presentation

Jitka Klimkova - Canberra United FC Coach talks Football

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:12:00 +0000

This program will be broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz) across the Australian Community Radio Network, on Tuesday 15 November 2011 at 7:00PM.

Jitka Klimkova is the new Coach of Canberra United FC.

In this program we have a long fireside chat with Jitka and gets here thoughts on a lot of things in Football. This is must listen interview. So put up the "do not disturb" sign, headphones on, a restorative drink to hand, and listen.

Download Podcast here:

NSW Futsal State Coaches Announced

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:27:00 +0000

Sourced from http://futsal4all.com/2011/11/nsw-futsal-state-coaches-announced/

This is the list of Coaches who will, if the Futsal Nationals goes the way of the Championships over the last few years, dominate the Grand Finals in 2012. One thing - why is the ACT player / ACT Coach, Sam Smith, coaching a NSW team? Unbelievable!

NSW Futsal State Coaches Announced

29 of the 32 NSW coaches for the 2012 FFA Nationals now announced

Football NSW is proud to announce its State Coaches for the 2012 FFA Futsal National Championships to be held in Canberra on 9th – 13th January.

Girls

11 THUNDER - Lyndon Wilkin
11 LIGHTNING - Paige Grant
12 THUNDER - Gerry Gomez
12 LIGHTNING - Steve Koutzoumis
13 THUNDER - John Jiggins
13 LIGHTNING - Sam Fornito
14 THUNDER - Kerry Conquest
14 LIGHTNING - Sam Smith
15 THUNDER - Rob Hill
15 LIGHTNING - Steven Peters
16 THUNDER - Paulo Dutra
16 LIGHTNING - David Lagozzo
19 THUNDER - Ben Pollock
19 LIGHTNING - Joe Baldacci
Women THUNDER - Erkin Osman
Women Lightning - To Be Confirmed

Boys

11 THUNDER - Clint Parks
11 LIGHTNING - Fraser Gray
12 THUNDER - Jim Apostlovski
12 LIGHTNING - Mehmet Evin
13 THUNDER - Dom Castro
13 LIGHTNING - Robert Elborough
14 THUNDER - Matteo Maiorana
14 LIGHTNING - Aldo Lemich
15 THUNDER - Mark Cotter
15 LIGHTNING - James Gilligan
16 THUNDER - Gareth Naar
16 LIGHTNING - Tom Howell
19 THUNDER - Ralph Cappaso
19 LIGHTNING - Ash Cross
Men’s THUNDER - To Be Confirmed
Men’s LIGHTNING - To Be Confirmed

The best case for Futsal in support of Football I have heard in a while!

pgfunnell@gmail.com (peter funnell) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:12:00 +0000

Sourced from http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/zelic-opinion-display/Surpassing-excellence/42494

A colleague in Football and Futsal drew my attention to this article. Ned Zelic is the author and he makes another insightful observation on the development of young players.

I have watched a number of COE teams play over the last two weeks. We have some very good young players - girls and boys. They seem to be well coached. But one thing sticks out like a sore thumb as you watch them play - a few too many have a poor first touch and when they do get it right, make decisions far too slowly. These players arrived at these program with these deficiencies. Do they get fixed in the COE program or sent back to Clubs? And who is helping the Clubs, aside from the best endeavors by the volunteer coaches at Club?

A further general observation - the COE Under 10 boys appeared to have a better grasp of the "basic core skills" than other age groups. Its no coincidence that this group has had a lot of technical training and their coach is the Capital Football Skills Acquisition Program Coach. Now its time for the Girls Under 10 program. More of this please, lots more.

As one Club coach pointed out to me as we watched play - how do you move the squad forward when their are a number of players who have significant technical deficiencies? Good question that one. Do you push forward and hope it gets better, devoting precious time to individual technical correction. Or do you slavishly follow the National Curriculum, ticking the "to do list" and in doing so ignoring the outstanding technical deficiencies, like an unreliable first touch and a lousy instep pass? How do you make the rest of their development work if the basics are left behind? How good is the team going to be at playing out from the back, building play from the back or retaining possession, achieving passing sequences beyond three passes, when a few too many young players lack the technical ability to make to make it happen - to reliably receive and pass the ball. "Relaxed and comfortable" it is not! Well, the simple fact is you can't make it work. Makes you think.

As a parent remarked to me: "Do you move on to integral calculus when you can't add, subtract, multiply and divide?" Well, not if you want pass pass Mathematics or become an Engineer.

This started me thinking on this topic - again! Do you ditch the players and going looking for better ones or persist with what you have and for how long? This is a big challenge for the COE and the requirement to follow the National Curriculum. The National Youth Championships always look as though they are getting closer and their never seems to be enough time. This is difficult terrain for Coaches.

Whenever we have a visiting Asian football team, and we have had a few in recent times, we all look aghast at the level of technical competences of the young players. They highlight not simply how far we have to go, but what we continue to perhaps ignore. Ned Zelic makes mention of the Koream teams in the Kanga Cup - always a thrill to watch.

So what is the Futsal connection? Simple! What game specifically and quickly enables these core technical skills to develop in our young players - its Futsal. We need more Futsal at young age groups not less. Works for the Brazilians and the Spanish. I watched the Boomerangs FS play this weekend in the Football NSW Futsal premier League, against the Campbelltown Quakers in the Under 12, under 14 and Uner 16 girls and boys age groups. It was fantastic. There were State reps evident in both Clubs' teams. Fast footwork, sharp first touch, many touches on the ball, fast decision making an essential requirement and rapid transition. The capacity of Futsal to accelerate the learning process is unarguable. Futsal is Football steroids! We need all this as part of the foundation technical development of our players. We need Futsal, its good for Football.

Ned Zelic observes:

"Football is made up of many components, along with all kinds of individual strengths and weaknesses varying from player to player. But a standout component in the game - is a player’s first-touch of the ball."

"The game is continuously getting quicker, teams are physically fitter, closing you down and getting behind the ball faster, which puts more focus on the speed of a player’s thinking process and the quality of the first-touch – a touch that will either open up a world of options, or end up being a lost opportunity."

Surpassing excellence

In late 1997, I was invited to play in a charity match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. 80,000 fans were in attendance to watch Eric Cantona, Hugo Sanchez, Fernando Hierro, Edgar Davids - to name but a few - participate in a wonderful event.

Later that night at the post-match dinner, I was lucky enough to be seated next to an absolute legend of the game – Eusebio - the Portuguese superstar.

Eusebio was polite, talkative and humorous. We discussed many things about football and life in general.

Before the night was over and everyone parted ways, I asked him a question - I wanted to know what he viewed as the most important factor in him becoming what he was - a true superstar of the game. “Always aiming for the next level” was his response. I didn’t dig further or ask him to go into detail - his answer hit the spot regardless.

It’s about pursuing and achieving excellence, then seeking ways to surpass it. It’s about scraping the limitations then breaking through them.

That was exactly Eusebio’s frame of mind, the frame of mind that is needed to improve as a player and continue improving. This mentality applies to all players, regardless of level of quality. The goal must be maximizing potential and then looking beyond - tackling, pursuing and achieving what may seem unachievable.

Football is made up of many components, along with all kinds of individual strengths and weaknesses varying from player to player. But a standout component in the game - is a player’s first-touch of the ball.

The first-touch sets a path, starts a story - depending on the quality - will either open a door or have it slammed shut in your face.

Great players like Eusebio were and are continuously seeking ways to be on a new level, a level that enables you to be in command of a golden attribute in football - unpredictability.

Being unpredictable is the master-key to success, capable of bringing down any opponent, whereas predictability will never hurt or surprise anyone – predictability won’t conquer the opposition.

Brisbane’s Mitch Nichols, in the 7-1 demolition of Adelaide, used his first touch to get forward into a position of danger and win a penalty. His first-touch would have been a second for many others, many would have trapped the ball then taken a touch to attack the space - Nichols bypassed the trap - he was a step ahead, on another level.

Troy Hearfield’s first touch to set up a goal for the Mariners last weekend was another example of what the quality of the initial contact can do to the opposition. It was sublime and the catalyst for tearing apart the Wellington defence.

Jeremy Brockie and Dylan Macallister also both mirrored the damage and havoc that can be caused when electing to keep the ball "alive" and not "killing" it.

In a recent Champions League game, Bayern Munich’s Toni Kroos scored a sensational goal against Napoli. But forget the actual goal, it’s how he put himself into position to score with an outstanding example of bypassing a sequence of play.

Kroos turned his first-touch into the second phase - the next level of play - which completely caught the opposition defence off guard - and he did it at high speed. It was like Kroos flew from Sydney to London without stopping in Singapore - and made it. His touch was a super- jumbo jet that didn’t need refuelling.

These examples show what taking your first-touch to the next level can do – by bringing a factor of unpredictability into play - resulting in an absolute nightmare for opponents.

It’s about breathing life into a sequence of play, understanding the meaning of the first-touch, the importance, the magnitude, the damage it can cause to the opposition. Often, I think it’s taken for granted - a kind of “Let’s get the ball under control” mentality, “Then go from there”. It shouldn’t be.

German national team coach Joachim Low pointed out in an interview several weeks ago, that “Space on the pitch has become smaller, the time to act scarce” and continued by saying that, “Developing individual skill in training is more important than the system”.

I agree 100 per cent. The game is continuously getting quicker, teams are physically fitter, closing you down and getting behind the ball faster, which puts more focus on the speed of a player’s thinking process and the quality of the first-touch – a touch that will either open up a world of options, or end up being a lost opportunity.