small sided football

[truesoccer]

Am concerned that there appears a difference of opinion within the CCF.
Their High Performance Manager states that Football Australia has stated that small sided soccer will be mandantory from 2011. The HPM is cited as stating that the Mariners are the movers behind this unbelievable change to local football. Most people I speak to are against same.
CCF Board seems to be having no response to this. Hopefully, in my opinion, they do not condone same and we will not see this over the top change happen.
All kids more than respect the Mariners and CCF but to be honest most just want to play our great game in the old format. If my kids and grandkids wanted to play futsall they would have done so.
They and their mates are more than happy to play football as all have in the past. Normal football. From what I hear there are now two representative clubs, (Thunder and Lightning), for those who aspire to go higher to join.
Let the ordinary kids, (99%), alone.

[dru]

truesoccer said:

Am concerned that there appears a difference of opinion within the CCF.
Their High Performance Manager states that Football Australia has stated that small sided soccer will be mandantory from 2011. The HPM is cited as stating that the Mariners are the movers behind this unbelievable change to local football. Most people I speak to are against same.
CCF Board seems to be having no response to this. Hopefully, in my opinion, they do not condone same and we will not see this over the top change happen.
All kids more than respect the Mariners and CCF but to be honest most just want to play our great game in the old format. If my kids and grandkids wanted to play futsall they would have done so.
They and their mates are more than happy to play football as all have in the past. Normal football. From what I hear there are now two representative clubs, (Thunder and Lightning), for those who aspire to go higher to join.
Let the ordinary kids, (99%), alone.

I wouldn't be surprised if the FFA would be looking at this, 4 years is a reasonable time frame to implement and ties in with the renewal of coaching accreditation, meaning all coaches will be clued into how to run small sided games. this will probably have come from Baan being brought in by the FFA.

Having a quick look at the ccfootball site sees that the high performance clinics will be run as a 7v7 format. That suggests to me the mariners might be pushing for it to be implemented in the high performance area and not so much for the whole of association. I would be taking anything the HPM is saying to be in regard to high performance development.

If it comes from The FFA then CCF will have no choice but to implement it.

Lets be honest most kids playing football won't give a rats if there are 11 or 7 players on the field it'll still be a team game. The same reason they'll be as happy kicking a football around at lunch time at school as they are playing in a structured comp. Having smaller groups also makes it easier on the coaches and means that more time will be spent on each kid.

[T]

Football is football, people will play no matter how the game is structured, and 7v7s can teach many skills that are often overlooked in 11vs11. Both sizes have a place.

[theboyroy]

Small sided football is known throughout the world as being the most advantageous form of football for kids there is. In a small sided game, each player will have more touches on the ball than if they were to play 11 v 11. It is almost unheard of that teams play 11 v 11 on a full size pitch untill they reach 13 or 14, apart from here in Australia. Until this time they play 7 v 7, 8 v 8, and so on. Think about it, does the right back or left back touch the ball as many times as say the centre midfielder in 11 v 11 at U10. In a SSG they will. The structure behind it is to enable the players to become technically better when on the ball, the more touches they have, the better they become. I agree that some kids aren't bothered if it's 10 v 10 or 20 v 20 and jumpers for goals, they just want to play, but they will, and it is proven, become technically better by playing SSG.

[brett]

theboyroy said:

Small sided football is known throughout the world as being the most advantageous form of football for kids there is. In a small sided game, each player will have more touches on the ball than if they were to play 11 v 11. It is almost unheard of that teams play 11 v 11 on a full size pitch untill they reach 13 or 14, apart from here in Australia. Until this time they play 7 v 7, 8 v 8, and so on. Think about it, does the right back or left back touch the ball as many times as say the centre midfielder in 11 v 11 at U10. In a SSG they will. The structure behind it is to enable the players to become technically better when on the ball, the more touches they have, the better they become. I agree that some kids aren't bothered if it's 10 v 10 or 20 v 20 and jumpers for goals, they just want to play, but they will, and it is proven, become technically better by playing SSG.

Totally agree, and I think this is great news.

What kid is going to say "Oi, I don't want to touch the ball more times if it means I can't learn the ins and outs of a 4-2-3-1 formation".

[4football]

It's amazing how stories get misconstrued here on the Central Coast - Talk about "Chinese whispers". I was present at most of the open forums on small sided games and heard from Mark Boyd the High performance Manager, Alex Tobin from the Mariners, Lawrie McKinna, and Robert Baan (Football Federation Australia's Technical Manager) Arguably some of the highest qualified and experienced coaches to ever do work here on the Coast. They clearly expressed opinions on Small Sided Game formats and the benefits for ALL Young players from achieving many more ball contacts and the affects on technical development and enjoyment in the game. The Mariners are certainly not driving changes to game formats here on the coast. In fact it will happen nationally through FFA. I found the information conveyed very professionally presented and makes sense..... Young kids are not equipped to play 11 v 11 on full fields and our game needs an overhaul to allow for the ongoing best model for player development. The biggest opponents to this type of process taking place is from club admisistrators who really have no expertise in youth development and parents of children who think they have the next Harry Kewell and expect players to be on big fields too early for both their technical and physical development..... Wake up to yourselves, investigate the benefits and give our kids a fair go... It's gonna happen anyway, FFA will ensure it does, irresspective of the so called "Experts" who find change painful.