Player Development - so we all agree an 'academy' style hothouse - 10,000 hrs principle and all that is good for player devt, right? Pro clubs all recognise this. Big diff here is that in a small backwater with too many clubs and not enough numbers, no club is able to offer anything like a true 'academy' experience. OK Coastal & Nelson Subs have started something - good on them - but it's nothing like the real deal. Pro academies don't waste their time playing in club Sat leagues but they do play games as part of development. Honestly don't see what's wrong with Mainland providing some sort of academy experience to players whilst the clubs catch up in the meantime. They are filling a gap. To me whether they play in Sat leagues is a question of what's best for their devt. To date Coastal and Mainland seem to think so but it's not what happens in other parts of the football world, is it?
You make some very good points SE. Even when Coastal had their Sporting Futures academy up and running 2 years ago (before Mainland hijacked it by poaching Ed Baranowski) most of the players came from out of our area, something I am not comfortable with. Clubs should be based around a geographical area, not one or 2 teams and take total responsibility for promoting and running the game in [bold]their[/bold] area with the support of the Federation and NZ Football. They should not be in competition with their own federation! That is why I am such a supporter of the WOF plan, it is not someone coming in saying you don't know jack sh*t, we'll take over. If the Federations concentrated there energies in supporting clubs to become strong in the administration and development of player focused pathways within their area we would all benefit. It's like mining for gold, you've got to turn over the ground on as large an area as you can manage as often as you can to get the nuggets. Many club and non club based academies only attract players already good at the game and from out of their area. At the moment we miss so many nuggets through cost and these poor club structures. If clubs set up their own academies (and they should as part of their player development programme) that is great, but it must be part of a pathway for people in their area, not the be all and end all of the players development. Any academy in NZ Football should be treated as a stepping stone to exporting players into a semi pro or pro environment, which is what Sporting Futures will look to do when it is re-established later this year. I see no point in developing players merely for the purpose in playing for our mens or womens senior teams in the local Mainland league. If we get the use of them for a couple of years on the way through that would be good but if we end up with all of them staying here over the course of the next 4 - 5 years then as a club we have actually failed in what we have set out to do, even if it means we win a league title or 2 in the mean time. When someone down the road signs up little Johnny next year in our First Kicks programme, he is not dreaming of him ending up in our men's first team is he? As clubs we need to try and help him achieve his dream for little Johnny.