Once a year I come across a polarising piece on junior football that I think deserves to be highlighted and here's this year's edition:
The OP is right, something does need to be done about this at junior level and if you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem.
It has 120-odd comments on it so is definitely a big issue in football so I thought I'd touch on some of the comments looking at ways to help fix this and some general comments as well.
ON-FIELD COACHES
I like this option and I could go as far to say that this should be available to all clubs (if they desire) up to possibly under 14's football.
Leagues/could also use a scaffold-like set up where on-field coaching support is gradually decreased from younger to older age groups and/or from early to late in the season.
So for u8's there can be 1 coach on field for the entire game who focuses on 1 line (forwards/mids/backs) per quarter then that decreases to 3qts, 2qts, 1 qt and then not all up to a youth age group like u14's as stated above.
The 2nd could work the same but as the season progresses, on-field coaching does too so 4qts for games 1 - 3, 3qts for games 4 - 6, 2qts for games 7 - 9, 1qt for games 10 - 12 then no on-field coaching after that.
This actually puts an onus on high quality on-field coaching and would most probably help clubs align their training and gameday practices to create a far more effective learning environment for all players (and coaches).
UMPIRES ENFORCING DENSITY RULES
I also like this one with the suggestion of putting the ball down for 7 - 10secs until players disperse being something to tinker with but I also agree that with junior football comes junior umpires and that is far too much to put on their plate.
If the umpire rule is to do that for every ball up and then the on-filed coaches are in charge of players repositioning (if they need to), then again that's something to start with and work from.
SCALING
There were many comments on field size and player numbers and I agree - every age group should scaled specifically to their age group.
There was 1 comment stating that 1 year they went from u10's half oval to u11's full oval in 1 season which is a ridiculous jump to make in such a short span of time.
I personally think that full field probably shouldn't be a thing until at least 16 football and I'll get some splashback on that for sure.
The younger the age group, the lesser numbers of players per team and the smaller playing field to play on (and possibly more goals to score into).
COACHING
There were obviously plenty of coaching tips provided but most don't really dig deep enough for mine.
Yes, coaches need to realise that junior football is about development and learning far more than winning at all costs, and if leagues need to put gameday "rules" in push this harder then I reckon they should.
Rotate players through all 3 lines, scatter your top players across the ground and even rotate all players off the ground throughout games are all easy things for any coach to do.
I'm happy for zones to be a thing but not hard zones as we don't want someone chasing the ball and then just stopping at a line that says they have to.
This could be tinkered with by allowing out-of-zone players to enter a different zone "in the line of play" and/or for a short amount of time.
For example, for a ball in dispute that is bobbing around in no clear possession for either team, a player can follow that ball into another zone until it is cleared.
Maybe this is 1 player only - maybe it's 2?
Maybe it's for a short amount of time as decided by the umpire?
This is where umpiring and on-field coaches need to work together for the good of development/learning, not goals.
WRIST BANDS
Something I hadn't seen before are colored worst bands for backs/mids/forwards that again can be kept track of by both umpires and on-field coaches.
I also suspect that having something clearly visible for the actual player is a clear reminder of what position they are playing and what field area's they should be occupying for the most part.
COACHING SUPPORT
This is a major one and is a club. league and general football issue.
Yes, most junior coaches are volunteers.
Yes, a lot of them are inexperienced.
And yes, most clubs, and most importantly leagues, have little to no support structures in place for them and both of them are at fault.
Senior clubs are happy to have 3 - 5 paid coaches for both reserves and senior teams but where the real coaching needs to happen, at junior level, is left to volunteers with little to no experience in football.
Junior clubs should place more expectations on their coaches to get educated and upskill, not just be happy that Sam's dad has put his hand up to coach the under 8's because no one else should.
More females should be provided these opportunities at both genders of football too as they bring a totally different skill set then males.
All coaches should have to go to an in-person coaching course or similar, and/or all clubs should hold one in-house that is mandatory for all coaches to attend.
Course providers could canvass clubs beforehand and get their 3 biggest issues they are facing and then create a specific session for each club based on their current needs and of course follow ups.
UMPIRING...AGAIN
There was a comment for umps to call holding the ball quicker and force them to kick faster to avoid congestion, but this will only create another generation of "dump kickers" which is already a negative thing in junior football and is bloody to coach out of them when they're older.
I think some of the other anti-density ideas above can help alleviate the congestion issue which will always be a thing if we're going to stick with young players/high numbers/full field ideology.
COACHING...AGAIN, AGAIN
There was also a comment on tell them this, tell them that, tell them this as well which means players will never learn as they're simply being told and will constantly default to the thing they continually do wrong, but this is a coaching issue, not a player issue.
Training needs to be an environment that encourages exploration and the role of the coach is to create training tasks that allow them to do so that will result in positive and negative outcomes.
Constraints can be used to create repetition of these conditions.
For the almighty congestion issue, give teams a time limit and a passing count within their forward half they need to hit before they can score.
So a team kicks the ball into their forward half.
They now have say 20 seconds to complete 3 passes before they can try and score.
This means that they'll need players in their forward line and they'll need them there as the ball goes into their forward half as time is ticking.
If all players are in the defensive half then time gets chewed up as they transition from 1 half to the other.
Lets' say there is 1 player in the forward half and the rest are at the ball.
The kick comes out and forward marks it in the forward half.
There are still 3 passes to be made before they can attempt to score but with no other teammates in the forward half, it takes the first player 10 of those precious seconds to make the first pass.
As they're almost ready to make the 3rd pass and then attempt to score the coach blows the whistle and it's a free kick to the opposing team and play continues.
That offensive team will now work out pretty quickly that they need to hold their forwards closer to goal.
That's just 1 of many examples you can use to teach your players without them even knowing (explicit learning).
Another training option is to train in longer and/or wider spaces as players that always train in small spaces are never given the opportunity to look any further then at what's straight in front of them so any player off the line that is open, never receives the ball and then falls in line with everyone else crowding the ball to get involved in the game.
Train in long/thin, short/wide, long/wide and short/long spaces specifically with different goals for each for each.
Offense can only kick to scoring from zone 2 so make the field long enough that they need to kick from the endline, to zone 1 and into zone 2 before hitting the scoring zone + the defense can enter the scoring zone. Offense needs to work the ball into a launch zone position (zone 2) to create the best scoring opportunity.
Teams only have wide goals and can only score from outer zone on that side. Encourages players to look for and use wide options.
Basically working full-field (relative) game style. How many of the 9 squares can the offense work into before scoring? The amount of squares they enter before scoring is their goal total for that goal (5 squares entered = 5pts for that goal). Enables teams to play any style they want but again exploring the full playing area will allow them to score more pints per goal.
With a goal player at each end, it's a 4v3 in an area that would allow maybe 2 long kicks but the aim is to find the free player in a tight are who can then kick to the goal player. The defense cannot defend the goal player, they need to try and turn the ball over in the field of play.
That's enough for now but hopefully I've been able to give some food for thought on this never-ending issue in junior football.
Not that I have all the answers but I think this needs a fair bit of outside-the-box thinking + clubs/league partnering to move this forward - much like everything in junior football.
Competency increases motivation which maintains participation so as long as we're pushing for greater learning and development in players at all levels in junior football over winning games at all costs, then we're on the right track.
