NZF Whole of Football Plan

NZF Whole of Football Plan

Ridiculously stoked about this. http://nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=919
Great to see that money is being spent to keep things moving forward.
Have only had a quick read but what it looks like to me is spending some money on many aspects of football in NZ.
Win! Win! Win!

Sounds pretty good

I really hope yo'ure right Herbertimo.

Does sound familar.

This is a BS window dressing to keep administrators in jobs.
The local clubs have been doing it for years with unpaid coach/managers of every mini league or junior team.
While some clubs will do it better than others they don't get thousands of $ from Sparc, that is what this is all about to get funding to put into the Elite teams Ex Sparc.

vid here

Hmmm well i guess its standardises it. But other than that... whippie!

Just found this as an advertisement on Hotmail... link below

http://www.persil.co.nz/promotions/smallwhites/?utm_source=msdr&utm_medium=160x600&utm_campaign=smallwhites

Im assuming theyve made a whole swag of official certificates for clubs all over NZ to hand out to the kiddies. Pretty cool initiative. 

Yeah that is cool. But I really enjoyed all of those cheeseburgers after Ii got the gear bags back from the teams....

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/sport/4817630/Big-plans-for-Kiwi-football/

Seems that the plans call for a end to competitive football at 7th grade and below. Apparently they want all the kids to hold hands and all be winners.

Look, its clear there are good players and not-so-good players at that age, and there are week in and week out 20 - 0 scorelines.

Apparently the way forward is to meet the not-so-good players needs- great- but completely fail to extend and reward the switched on kids at that age.

Not such a great plan for junior football, if you ask me.

I don't think it is so much trying to meet the not-so-good kids' needs, I think it is more trying to have the kids in an environment where the development of their individual skill is the focus rather than an environment where the focus is trying to win. It is an approach which leading football nations such as Holland and Portugal take.

The club I'm with is still waiting for NZF/Mainland Football to come to our club and give the coaching/administrators an official overview of what WOF means to us and the kids.

Look the best players need top coaching at age 4 onwards.
The kids that want to pick weeds will always want to pick weeds and will give the game away before they get to high school and get into stronger weed no matter what format you come up with.
Take a look at the newspapers and school notices we are a Rugby country,
look after the best 10% and leave the rest.

This.

What you're talking about is a plan to remove actual game time, and turn what should be a fun, active event into yet another classroom?

The simple fact is there are kids who are super-switched on at this age, who want to train twice a week after school and then go out to win every game, because they are self-driven and motivated. (My guess is they are 5-8% of the playing population at their age, and their needs are already poorly met because they will coast through all of their ordinary games with little challenge).

Not wanting to stereotype, but a lot of these kids are happy when onfield, but do not react well to formal structures, and playing is an outlet from the rigidity of education where they are in control.

This plan seems to be about trying to treat an entire age bracket of players, with vastly different skill levels as all being unable  to manage 2 20 minute halfs of football once a week, because we don't want Phoebe and Tristan to be subject of the horror of losing a game?

I've seen Tawa trialling the new capital football program aimed at 4/5/6 year olds, and it is excellent- that is the way forward, and the goal has to be getting ever club to do what western suburbs does and giving them 2-3 solid years of skills before 7th grade. Cutting 7th grade because it's too hard is a retro-grade step, and will totally fail to meet the needs of all players.

Funny thing is, look at the popularity of little dribblers, in terms of participation and observing adults. Seems to be that parents want to watch their kids playing games. The net result of another year of just skills might be less parent participation and involved, and less coaches to teach kids?





zonknz2011-04-18 09:13:41

Errr, Zonknz that new programme that Tawa is trialling, that IS the WoF plan in action.

Tawa has totally cut 7th grade this year in favour of the skills based programs. I reckon the programs are brilliant below this level/age but completely removing actual competitive games (2 x 20 minute halves, 5-a-side) in favour of it for the 7/8 year olds is a really bad idea that will fail to meet many kids needs at this age.

Skills are great for kids who don't have any, but in general terms boring for kids who are way past that level.

Seems like still needs some tweaking- the kids are assigned into groups week by week, so it all becomes a little bit individual - they don't belong to a team per se. Western suburbs approach has been with 4/5/6th grades to assign all players into a season-long team that works together throughout.

The problem traditionally has been that many clubs offer nothing for young kids, so many arrive at 7th grade with no basic skills - so rather than addressing this earlier on, this mixed up plan seems to suggest we're going to hold back all players at age 7, and not allow them the chance to play competitive games against other clubs.

I realise i'm not expressing this well, but my concern is that there are some very skilled youngsters at that age who want to compete, challenge and win. If they don't find this in football, they will move to other sports who let them do it at this age - and that will be football's loss.


 

zonknz2011-04-18 18:47:51

Maybe ask what the Mar are doing. They seem to churn out little Messis with regularity.

As for kids being turned off. I don't think the growth in Junior football over the past few years suggests that.

This is a new plan, so its impact will be unknown.

There has to be two goals:

Get kids loving football

Foster talent.

Believe it or not, at that young age, natural physical talent and ability is already vastly obvious- those kids need shaping, but by and large, they break all the rules on kids their age. They know about winning, and they want to win, be it football, running, swimming, rugby - don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I presume that the concept has been used in the other countries mentioned above with some success.

What streaming? They've cut 7th grade, not streamed it.

9th grade is unofficially streamed, 10th to 12th grade have divisions A-E plus the promo leagues.

Sorry I see what you are saying, but I still find the position it a bit naive.

If these kids are prevented from challenge themselves in football at this age, they will seek it out in other codes which will allow them to compete.

Like i say, they're unusual - but they exist  5% perhaps of the population? I don't believe footballers are born, but natural sporty types are- and when they align with those driven by the need to compete, they need to be hung on to and catered for.

Don't see the relevance of Portugal/Netherland here- Football has to compete with Rugby and other more dominant codes much more than it does than in those countries.


zonknz2011-04-19 12:02:32

Any evidence to back that claim? Are registration numbers dropping at 7th grade when this is happening? Or in other codes if they do the same or something similar?

Not to my (admittedly limited) knowledge.

There's no evidence because that will require the program running for some time- it is an observation - NZF is going to cater for less able kids better, but the program doesn't really seem to address competent competitive kids at all, and try to meet their needs.

it's all a bit touchy feely, and reflects the view that kids aren't even interested in winning or losing at that age- in general terms, that is right - but not for all kids of that age.

Generally, I would think the exceptions are the ones that football must try and hang on to.

My view is that every club in the country should be rolling out this program for 2-3 years below 7th grade, but leave 7th grade alone and/or look at streaming earlier 7th/8th.

If I've not expressed that view well in this thread, sorry.



zonknz2011-04-19 12:32:28

I have seen two very talented kids (different grades) come through the teams I have been involved with - both are still with the club in higher performing teams.

Personally I think competitive games at such a young age are not best to developing players ability. It is far more important that players focus on technical aspects of the game without the hindrance of results (parents shouting on the sidelines). It should all be focused on the amount of time with the ball, how can we maximise the time on the ball and allow players to be creative and experiment.

If a player is focused on winning it becomes to encompassing of all aspects of the game, physiological and tactical which reduces time spent and focus on technical development i.e. a player at 7 who is good tactically may succeed or a player with better physical ability at 7 may succeed but once these players reach their teens they will start to struggle with players who have a solid technical base and at a latter age develop their physical ability and tactical understanding of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RLrxaZaVfQ

And yes, I will finish with a Craig Foster quote:

There are a number of A-League forums where that is a bannable offence.

WoFP doesn't talk about cutting 7th Grade so not sure where you're getting that from..??

ThreeFourThree2011-04-19 15:24:34

Tawa is a club trialling this in Welly, and this is exactly the approach they've taken. No Tawa in 7th grade inter-club at all this year.

Here's what tawa say:

What is Fun Football (2011 7th Grade)?

The introduction of Fun Football as part of NZ Footballs Whole of Football Plan promotes a shift away from 7-8 year olds playing in competitions with larger game formats.  Tawa is implementing both the Game Day and Training Day formats during the 2011 pilot year.  As with First Kicks, Fun Football utilisies fun activities and small sided games as a motivational, but not over-burdening environment.  The focus is on individual development of the payer with no requirement to understand team tactics and this is relfected in the playing structures.

http://www.tawafootball.org.nz/faqs/

zonknz2011-04-19 16:00:43

I didn't (mean to) imply that they were, but removing winning, or at least pushing kids through competitive behaviour is a bad move imho.

wofp just won an award George Costanza2011-04-19 16:00:04

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/4897392/Bypass-game-time-and-learn-ball-skills

Amen to that.

My God - I was nodding in agreement while reading a Billy Harris article. What's the world coming to?

T.b.h, and the irony of me saying this, that article is unnecessarily bleak.

Clearly he's hanging around the wrong school playgrounds.

Was going to say - he had me till the Craig Foster quote!