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