Junior soccer revolution

It’s called Small Sided Games, it is a Football Australia initiative aimed at under 6 to under 12 players, and it is expected to get more Eurobodalla kids involved in and enjoying the world game and to develop the skills of those already involved.

The Eurobodalla soccer community will get its first opportunity to see what is in store when Football Australia’s John Boulous presents the concept at Moruya Golf Club on Tuesday night at 6pm. All interested are invited to attend.

Boulous said the concept is simple but has already had much success with the associations that adopted it in 2008.

“It is focused on applying rules which are relative to the players’ age and physical development,” he said.

“It is mainly concerned with reducing the field size and the numbers of players in each side, which will give young players more touches of the ball, shots on goal and opportunities to get involved.”

The concept will be a nationally consistent format next year, meaning all associations will adopt it.

“The feedback we have got has been overwhelmingly positive,” Boulous said.

Boulous says that rules governing junior soccer have been too generalised in the past, leading to a loss of interest among youngsters.

“In some associations under 8 teams play on a full field, which is not great,” he said.

The Eurobodalla Football Association started an initiative of its own during the 2008 season, namely the Under 9s Development Program, which identified players of considerable potential and put them into a development squad.

“The program was designed to promote the talent of enthusiastic, motivated and potentially skilled nine year olds in the Eurobodalla region, and focused on teaching young players to enjoy the game,” coach Steve Enfield said.

“Coaching sessions consisted of fun activities that helped the players learn technique while playing games.”

Training sessions were held on Tuesday evenings at Gundary Oval, and attendance was excellent.

Coaches from the various clubs were encouraged to attend and participate in the training program.

“Not only did the skills of the players improve but the coaches were able to refine their coaching skills and learn new coaching methods which were used at club level,” Enfield said.

NSW Football technical director Norm Boardman endorsed the development program at its planning and implementation stages.

Boulous will attend the development program training session on Tuesday afternoon to present the players with certificates of development.

Selected players from the development program will contest the Tourism Cup in Dalmeny in October.

Squad: Nick Carter, Sam McCann, Lucas Grima, Ryan Hollis, James Dufield, Alex Saines, James Wilson, Simeon Bogart, Tom Engelbrecht, Matt Kennedy, Jordan Casey, Summah Breen, Kalia Stever, Sam Jackson, Jakob Peck, Harry Blake, Luke Herman, Benjamin Koote, Zoey McDermott-Salucci, Corey McAlpin, Kelly Howes, Logan Sydenham, Abbi Dunn, Jacob Bradbury, Kelly Gamblin and Ricky Siecker