Coaches delighted with Talent Support Program (TSP) progress
It’s been a week-long full of action, excitement, key learnings, and development for many up-and-coming young footballers as Football NSW hosted various Talent Support Program (TSP) tournaments at Valentine Sports Park as well as Goulburn during the School Holidays.
The categories which featured tournaments in the Boys 14’s, 15’s and 16’s as well as the Girls 14’s and 15’s saw footballers from across the state coverage as well as coaches in a bid to enhance the process for talent identification and selection of representative teams whilst providing additional opportunities for benchmarking and identification for national teams.
“It has been a fantastic four days watching both the boys and girls play and it is yet another clear indication of the importance of the Talent Support Program and the opportunity it provides for potentially talented players male and female,” said Football NSW’s Technical Director Warren Grieve.
“This week has been particularly pleasing to see how the players matched up against other Member Federations and A-League Clubs.
“The environment that has been created allows the players to be tested without the fear of failure.
“It was also great to see the coaches and parents embrace this approach which in turn allows the players to make their own decisions without external influences.
“We want to be able to provide more of these events across the year, which will certainly add to the development of the players as individuals.”
Football NSW’s Development Manager for Boys Phillip Myall echoed Grieve’s sentiments.
“We had 11 teams attend both days which consisted of TSP metro hubs, TSP country hubs, Northern NSW, Capital Football, Newcastle Jets, Central Coast Mariners, and Sydney FC.
“The TSP tournaments are a great opportunity to bring players from different regions together, to increase the players high level match minutes whilst having the chance to showcase their talents in front of National Team and Football NSW talent identification staff.
“I personally enjoyed watching the players showcase their own specific individual talent, demonstrating being Adaptable, Brave and Creative, within their team setting.”
While it was a huge week for the future of female stars as Football NSW’s Development for Girls Nadine Shiels stressed the important role TSP has played in the identifying of talent.
“This week we welcomed the inaugural Girls TSP tournaments for players born in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
“It has been a successful first full term of GTSP as we topped it off with this tournament allowing our players to showcase their talent and test themselves against other Member Federations.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for these girls to play high level matches in front of National team staff as well as our own Football NSW technical staff.
“It has also provided our TSP coaching team with the opportunity to further develop themselves and has enabled a great networking and learning environment for them to progress their coaching careers.
“We are fortunate to have been able to run these tournaments and we are excited to continue to provide these types of opportunities for the talented players we have in NSW.”
Equally as important was the running of the regional TSP tournament, aided by Southern Tablelands FA, Football NSW’s Development Manager for Regional Football Andrew Fearnley embraced the event as a huge success.
“These Game Days provide a fantastic opportunity for our regionally based TSP players and coaches to test themselves against the best, and an opportunity to be identified in competing against the best.
“Hosting the Under 14 Boys tournament at Cookbundoon Sports Complex at Goulburn, we had the opportunity to see TSP Regional Teams mixing it with Capital Football, Murray United, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers which was a fantastic experience for all involved.”
