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Gradings – Full article

28/12/2020/in The Direction of Football in Australia /by Liam Bonney

In my local competition teams start grading at the Under 9 stage. Players are graded into groups of perceived similar skill level. From U9-U11 they are placed in non-competitive groups that are usually given a name, this year it was the names of Socceroo’s and Mathilda’s players. When players enter the U12 age group players are ranked into div 1,2,3 and so on.

The grading system itself is massively flawed. There is no such thing as a qualified grader and there no pre-requisites to become one especially at community level. This is a problem for a few reasons. The first is that people who have not done any courses on Talent ID or grading as a whole will often pick the player that’s the fastest, biggest and strongest. But these kids might not be the most skillfull or talented. These teams quite often just end up playing route 1 style of football because they will have big strong players at the back and quick players up front. What they should be doing is picking the players who have a combination of skill and the physical attributes to back that up.

This however does have its drawbacks, this often means that clubs should be sacrificing the desire to win as the only priority. This poses a problem though. Good players want to go to good clubs and good clubs are the clubs that win. Meaning that often clubs who try and do the right thing lose their players to clubs who are perceived to be more successful. But success in youth football should not only be judged on the result of the game. It should be judged on the development of players, this can be measured objectively, for example a player improves their shot accuracy by 20%. Or subjectively through the eye-ball test.

Now, we told you what gradings are, but many of you reading this will want to know how to stand out and give yourself the best possible chance at making it to the level you want to. In all honesty and I will state this at the end of the post as well but if you really want the absolute best chance possible then you have to put in the work. Working hard on your skills and technical ability as much as humanly possible is the best way to ensure you achieve the results you want. It is also more impressive to a grader or a coach to have a player who can use their skills to get themselves out of a tricky situation rather than a player who just uses their strength or speed. So number 1 tip, work on your skills and technique.

In terms of things you can do outside of your own ability this is quite subjective. But appearances do matter. So, one thing I would say is, look the part. Make sure your wearing boots, socks and shin pads as a start. Also wearing proper football shirt, short and socks doesn’t hurt, even better if you wear your favorite players kit. This has the added benefit of being easily identifiable by the name on the back of the shirt. Graders often have a large amount of kids to choose from and the easier it is to identify individuals the better. Bright kits also make players easily identifiable, anything fluro will help even though in most grading players will be given a bib, you are still able to see the shirt through the bib.

When you are at the grading in your favorite kit, maybe in some bright boots there are a few more things you can do in order to help your case. Coaches and graders will not pick you if you never get the ball. I recently had a player who was isolated on the wing and never touched the ball until the last 5 minutes after they were told to move into a position to receive the ball more often. After that the player turned out to be amazing and i ended up selcting them. But I would never have known that until someone who had previously coached him told him to get on the ball more. So, if you are not getting the ball, go get it or demand it.

This leads nicely into my next point, communication. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to the coaches or graders who are watching you. It shows a great deal of condfidence which I think is a positive. Also when you are playing there is two types of communication that coaches like to see. Instructional and motivational. Instructional is telling other players what to do and also listening to what other players are telling you. A very good skill to have and massively stands out at a young age, although it does come with experience and you want to be telling your players the right things not the wrong ones. Motivational refers to the communication that inspires teammates and can lift the team. It also demonstrates a winning mentality, a key to any successful team. Saying things like “C’mon lets win this” or “Great shot Jimmy, you’ll get it next time” are both examples of positive motivational talk. On the other hand, what you 100% do not want to do is winge, complain and be negative towards any of the other players, it shows a character flaw and may be perceived as arrogance which is a highly undesirable trait.

If I had to put it in a priority list, I would say technical skills how often you get on the ball, communication and then your appearance has the biggest impact on how well you do at a grading.

https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg 0 0 Liam Bonney https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg Liam Bonney2020-12-28 15:50:492019-11-15 09:12:12Gradings – Full article

Gradings – Part 2

21/12/2020/in The Direction of Football in Australia /by Liam Bonney

Now, we told you what gradings are, but many of you reading this will want to know how to stand out and give yourself the best possible chance at making it to the level you want to. In all honesty and I will state this at the end of the post as well but if you really want the absolute best chance possible then you have to put in the work. Working hard on your skills and technical ability as much as humanly possible is the best way to ensure you achieve the results you want. It is also more impressive to a grader or a coach to have a player who can use their skills to get themselves out of a tricky situation rather than a player who just uses their strength or speed. So number 1 tip, work on your skills and technique.

In terms of things you can do outside of your own ability this is quite subjective. But appearances do matter. So, one thing I would say is, look the part. Make sure your wearing boots, socks and shin pads as a start. Also wearing proper football shirt, short and socks doesn’t hurt, even better if you wear your favorite players kit. This has the added benefit of being easily identifiable by the name on the back of the shirt. Graders often have a large amount of kids to choose from and the easier it is to identify individuals the better. Bright kits also make players easily identifiable, anything fluro will help even though in most grading players will be given a bib, you are still able to see the shirt through the bib.

When you are at the grading in your favorite kit, maybe in some bright boots there are a few more things you can do in order to help your case. Coaches and graders will not pick you if you never get the ball. I recently had a player who was isolated on the wing and never touched the ball until the last 5 minutes after they were told to move into a position to receive the ball more often. After that the player turned out to be amazing and i ended up selcting them. But I would never have known that until someone who had previously coached him told him to get on the ball more. So, if you are not getting the ball, go get it or demand it.

This leads nicely into my next point, communication. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to the coaches or graders who are watching you. It shows a great deal of condfidence which I think is a positive. Also when you are playing there is two types of communication that coaches like to see. Instructional and motivational. Instructional is telling other players what to do and also listening to what other players are telling you. A very good skill to have and massively stands out at a young age, although it does come with experience and you want to be telling your players the right things not the wrong ones. Motivational refers to the communication that inspires teammates and can lift the team. It also demonstrates a winning mentality, a key to any successful team. Saying things like “C’mon lets win this” or “Great shot Jimmy, you’ll get it next time” are both examples of positive motivational talk. On the other hand, what you 100% do not want to do is winge, complain and be negative towards any of the other players, it shows a character flaw and may be perceived as arrogance which is a highly undesirable trait.

If I had to put it in a priority list, I would say technical skills how often you get on the ball, communication and then your appearance has the biggest impact on how well you do at a grading.

https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg 0 0 Liam Bonney https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg Liam Bonney2020-12-21 15:58:582019-11-15 09:12:30Gradings – Part 2

Gradings – Part 1

14/12/2020/in The Direction of Football in Australia /by Liam Bonney

In my local competition, teams start grading at the Under 9 stage. Players are graded into groups of perceived similar skill level. From U9-U11 they are placed in non-competitive groups that are usually given a name, this year it was the names of Socceroo’s and Mathilda’s players. When players enter the U12 age group players are ranked into div 1,2,3 and so on.

The grading system itself is massively flawed. There is no such thing as a qualified grader and there no pre-requisites to become one especially at community level. This is a problem for a few reasons. The first is that people who have not done any courses on Talent ID or grading as a whole will often pick the player that’s the fastest, biggest and strongest. But these kids might not be the most skillfull or talented. These teams quite often just end up playing route 1 style of football because they will have big strong players at the back and quick players up front. What they should be doing is picking the players who have a combination of skill and the physical attributes to back that up.

This however does have its drawbacks, this often means that clubs should be sacrificing the desire to win as the only priority. This poses a problem though. Good players want to go to good clubs and good clubs are the clubs that win. Meaning that often clubs who try and do the right thing lose their players to clubs who are perceived to be more successful. But success in youth football should not only be judged on the result of the game. It should be judged on the development of players, this can be measured objectively, for example a player improves their shot accuracy by 20%. Or subjectively through the eye-ball test.

 

https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg 0 0 Liam Bonney https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg Liam Bonney2020-12-14 15:57:392020-12-18 16:19:13Gradings – Part 1

Changing the scoreboard – Full Article

07/12/2020/in Uncategorized /by Liam Bonney

Currently speaking we know football has one measure to define the outcome of a game. Goals. The team with the most goals wins we all know this. But is it potentially threatening the development of players? What has typically happened is that because kids, parents and coaches want to win they often set there teams up like this. Big kids at the back because they can kick the ball long and fast kids up front to chase the balls over the top leading to scoring chances. Any payers in the midfield also acts like the back except they are usually small but still send the ball long when they get the chance.

Teams that play like this maybe successful at junior level but as soon as all the other kids catch up the results start to slip. Furthermore the kids have been deprived the opportunity to learn the proper skills in order to adjust how they play. You can literally almost spot these players as well once they get to the older junior age groups and seniors. A typical striker who has always been quicker than everyone else will look to play on the last man and always look to run forward regardless of the situation. Rather then potentially dropping in between the lines or coming to the ball or dropping out wide. They are one dimensional.

But what is the best way to correct this cycle? A full change of the scoring system at junior and sub junior level perhaps? Something has to change either way because at the moment this is how it is working and think about it. How many of the most successful teams in the world play like the team I mentioned above?

What I am proposing is that coaches be taught how to value other aspects of football not just the scoreboard. You cannot simply change the way you win games by the amount of pass, shots or time possession for example. It would be to hard to manage, teach and would certainly cause more problems than it solves … if it even solves any.

What I think needs to happen is a greater emphasis of the players development throughout the game itself. Rather than just going out there and saying let’s win this or I want to get a result today. Change the dialogue to okay guys/girls lets try our hardest to win today but don’t forget to try and keep the ball on the ground and pass to our teammates to go forward. By adding the last part which is just a reminder of what they may have been working on throughout the week it reminds the kids of how the coach wants the game to be played. No-one is going to remember that your son won his 12 div 1 league. So, get over yourself. At that age it is not just about winning but its making sure they are still enjoying the game and are developing their skills to have a successful career in senior football.

So what I think needs to happen is that there is a greater emphasis placed on what the coach is trying to develop in the players. This can also be achieved through individual and position based player tasks. So, for me at 12 and below the players are rotating position every week. So telling them all at once I want you to do this, I want you to do this, and so 12 times a week for 20+ weeks is not the way to go. You will get bored, the kids will get sick of it and then you have more problems. So what I do is simply say that the wingers for example, there goal is to take on players 5 times in a match and get 5 crosses into the box. The striker might be to get 10 shots at goal and 5 passes. Something like that. This then creates an emphasis on what you want those players to do in those positions. You do not really want your defender worrying about scoring, or your attacker about how many tackles they can make. As a reward you can give the kids a treat or have an internal points system whereby players accumulate points and at the end of the season they get a prize or trophy of some kind. It might be a little hard to keep track of but it is 100% worth it.

https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg 0 0 Liam Bonney https://ccstrikersfc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/93622223_3245112565556359_4723169990608420864_n_3245112562223026.jpg Liam Bonney2020-12-07 15:56:092019-11-15 09:17:51Changing the scoreboard – Full Article

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