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 Quake 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.”
http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/zel ... ence/42494
The best case for Futsal in support of Football
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Re: The best case for Futsal in support of Football
Dan Birdwell - You have to play this game like somebody just hit your mother with a two-by-four.
Re: The best case for Futsal in support of Football
GK1 wrote: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 Quake 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.”
http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/zel ... ence/42494
Yeah.. first touch is vital ...
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