Newsletter T4/W5

Dear Parents,

We continued our development training this week as players were taken through a variety of challenging activities.

As always the training environment was filled with positive emotions despite the challenges encountered by players in the learning process, there is a strong sense and feeling of friendship, camaraderie and respect amongst the players. As far as the development of players is concerned, we are seeing very encouraging signs on and off the field and reports from families are also very encouraging.

The development of our training environment is an ongoing process and we are fully committed to keeping it a fun, nurturing and caring environment for all involved. 

Our term 4 parents meeting will take place Wednesday November 9th next to the Cafe at the Willis Sports Centre. A great opportunity to find out how your child is progressing, term 1 program, tournament opportunities and winter competition 2023 
5-5.30pm: Mini Mongo – Pre Academy & Advanced Pre Academy
6-6.30pm:  Academy & Advanced Academy

See you on the field. 

Cheers

Cyrille

DEVELOPMENT LEADS TO RESULTS, RESULTS NOT NECESSARILY TO DEVELOPMENT

Currently there’s (still) a debate going on in youth football circles about the role of winning in youth sports development programs. More specifically is one a good youth coach if one wins youth matches? In answering this question and looking at this debate, probably the most important thing to start off is realizing what the aim of a youth academy is. Why does a youth academy exist? What is the point of all youth academies? Finding it difficult to answer these questions? Try this one, why do we bring our kids to school?

The reason we have youth academies and schools is because we want to develop our children. When are we successful in developing our children? In school we’re successful when children graduate, in a domain they prefer which suits their qualities and passion. In football? We’re successful when children become professional football players, and achieve their dream! Hence a good youth academy in football is one where there’s a continuous flow of players entering the professional football domain, I reckon.

Well, what is the role of winning in developing our young football players? Football is a game, and games are there to be won. There’s no discussion. However in youth football a challenge exists concerning winning. Situations will emerge in which a delicate choice has to be made by the coach. For example, put yourself in the coach’s shoes, your team made it to the final of a tournament. Do you only play with your best players (to have a greater chance of winning the tournament: focus on winning) or do you play every player (to have them gain experience: focus on development)? This is an intensely delicate challenge, and more challenges like these, bigger but mostly smaller, have to be faced whilst coaching.