Football NSW Coaching Update with Oscar Gonzalez

At the present moment Football NSW Coaching updates are being conducted across NSW:

?         Coaches updates are being conducted in each association in Sydney and each country region;

?         So far almost 500 coaches have attended five updates in metropolitan Sydney and almost 200 coaches have attended 12 updates in Regional NSW. Courses include community and advanced updates

?         Locations/associations where courses have been conducted so far include Gladesville/Hornsby, Eastern Suburbs, Macarthur, Southern Districts, Nepean, Wagga, Albury, Griffith, Dubbo, Parkes, Orange, Bathurst and Mudgee;
?         Sessions have been conducted by FFA Skillaroos coaches Milan Blagojevic and Jane Talcevski as well as Football NSW?s Oscar Gonzalez;
?         Topics covered to date include the Skill Acquisition Phase of learning football, playing out from the back, midfield supporting back four, building attacks, and runs made in the attacking/front third
?         Messages about how young players learn, coaching behaviours on the sideline and coaching interventions have also been covered;
?         Other upcoming locations include Canterbury, Bankstown, Central Coast, Wollongong and Goulburn.

What is the goal of conducting coaching updates?
The learning outcomes are to update all coaches in areas of skill acquisition and advanced coaching.

What coaching techniques do people learn as part of the coaching updates?
They learn about content, method of delivery, session plans and coaching behaviours.

How has the feedback about these coaching updates from all the associations been?
There has been positive feedback from all areas ? their only comment is how do we get more – which is our aim as we plan the next 12 months.

Why is it important to have these people conduct these coaching updates, in terms of qualifications, meeting national requirements, etc.?
To have FFA Skill Acquisition Coaches conduct sessions in their field is imperative to delivering the highest quality model session for the attendee.

Why is it important to have these topics covered as part of the coaching updates?
A huge proportion of our coaching membership work with players in the 9-13 year old age group, which is defined as the Skill Acquisition Phase. It is therefore critical that these coaches are delivering sessions in line with National Curriculum expectations.
Advanced Coaches need to be aware of the four main phases of football as defined by FFA ? playing out from the back, attack, defence and transition.
Therefore, the more sessions that provide ideas or ignition for coaches and their sessions the better.

Why is it important that areas such as player and coaching behaviour be correctly taught?
What we see in training and in games are situations where young players especially are put in a situation of confusion (too much external feedback/instruction) and not enough situations where young players are engaged and are the centre of the learning process.
We are on a mission to help coaches better understand this process and in turn make the learning process more enjoyable for the player. This will be a long process of education.