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Wednesday 9 February 2011

Small Sided Games - Becoming pap in Canberra?

I'm serious about football, technical skill, education, kid development and abusing clerics in the Catholic Church...but hey that's another story!

When Capital Football the Peak Body in Canberra announce that u12 boys and girls will now play competitively, ie with results and league tables produced each week, I'm wondering on what criteria this could be considered beneficial to the development of players.

Educationally - no
Player development - no
Reducing parent sideline rage - no
Improving player morale and enjoyment - no

All Aussie teams, kids and parents want to win. Every week, no matter how many points are up for grabs.

We've already seen SSG's slipback in the U11s in recent years, and while experts argue Futsal is great for your skills only one club I know has bucked the FFA trend and gone against 7 v7 at u8 and 9 in Canberra - they play 5 v 5, the pressure seems to be on to move back to where we came from.

Think Leckie not Messi, Emerton not Sneider, Insaghi not Cahill - and that's at the top end! God help us in the u12s!

Of course well-meaning folk will say by 12 players want competition, but from my sideline stance, kids and parents are well aware of who has won the most in their non-competitive comp, so do we really need the publishing of tables to lift the spirits and enjoyment of the game.

Hope your team aren't bottom and thumped each week for all to see.

SSG's philosophy slips a little each year.

And when can we see the National Curriculum - no not the broad document they call the National Curriculum - the details. As a former teacher everyone curriculum I saw had meat and bones on the docu, what to teach each week in some detail.

FFA need to go to stage two.

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