AS MANY AS POSSIBLE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE

                                          

If you're a regular consumer of my content then you should have some idea on my thoughts on junior footy and how it could be vastly improved for greater player retention and thus development.

These notes come from an article and an actual study on the same subject focusing on young soccer star Erling Haaland and how his local club (Byrne) have gone about their ultra-successful youth program.

Some of these points were mentioned in my 2-part post here and here but there's some extra points definitely worth noting in this piece.

• Focuses on Erling Haaland’s junior club (Byrne) where 35/40 players continued playing from under 6 all the way through to senior level with 6 of those became professional players
• Club is Core x the club is central to nurturing a love and passion for our games + sustaining communities and lifelong participation
• Player Centered x developing the player and the person
• Provide Quality Coaching Experiences x create an enjoyable coaching environment to meet the needs and welfare of the player.
• Connection x this pathway promotes connection through relationship building opportunities, communication and teamwork
• Inclusive x Gaelic games for all players regardless of abilities, background, beliefs and identities
• As Many as Possible for as Long as Possible x prioritising long term development with a games program that supports the recruitment, development and retention of players
• The common thread is that they look at players as people and then athletes, and always try to relate to the person while coaching the athlete
• They aspire to use a transformational leadership approach made of idealised influence (being a positive role model), inspirational motivation (believing in your athletes), intellectual stimulation (encouraging athlete input) and individualised consideration (person-centered coaching)
• If you have multiple teams in the same age group make BOTH teams as strong as possible, don't have an A and a B team based on ability
• Distribute playing time evenly (well, duh)
• In their mid-teens players were seperated into elite (train 4 - 5/week) and recreational (train 1 - 2/week) groups but the players chose which group they wanted to go in and if they wanted to switch at anytime, they could
• Both groups training at the same time and warm up together
• Coaches should have different focus areas throughout the years which needs to be planned out at individual coach and club level over a long period of time
• Try and arrange as much unlimited access to facilities as you can which will lead to a lot of peer-led activity
• Teaming high/low level players established positive social relations across all skill levels while allowing more leadership opportunities for the higher skilled players in each team
• Sporting clubs should be careful as to not build systems that reduce individual’s opportunities for long term engagement and/or personal development