List 3 things to improve the womens/girls comp

[M@rvin]

OK list three things that you think would improve the womens/girls game in SA.
Be objective, constructive and unemotional.
However leaving FFSA can not be listed.

[John Cena]

Too late........sorry to say we post this topic every season, Wendy has to go, like sad gal I was treated like crap. I was supposed to do my coaches course, all paid for only to be called 2 days before the weekend and be told that they have too many people at that time I had 2 young children I had organised someone to help my wife with the kids, I tried to organise the course during the week and was told that it could not be done and what happened after that was I was told I could not coach that season, so was it my fault they booked to many people no but the club was without a coach !!!!

[M@rvin]

Ok so the staff at FFSA should have a limited tenure. Whats the other two?

[Left Wing Back]

1 - introduction of under 12's (no point comp - cup only) to transition from SSG and introduce under 14's (mainly to encourage single team clubs to grow and develop further). Adelaide Uni, Para hills East, Fullham and maybe a couple clubs are already doing this.keep U16/17 as it is

2- SSG to introduce a game leader education program that introduces the 3 goal rule and the obvious offside unsprorting free kick. Mind you watching one club with 4 players 15m offside and the big defender booting the ball is a good laugh, but that coach just used the rules to make the SSG system and it's purpose of development a joke. Then next time I watched them against another team and they won 8-0 and a girls screams out I scored 8 goals, that coach should be ashamed not teaching her how to bring her team mates into the game (hence the 3 goals now another team mate must score before you can score again). Both these rules went well in the SSG demonstration at SAWSA park when I was game leader and all coaches accepted both. There was a young girl who actually scored 12 goals and set up 7 goals once she learnt how to get her team mates involved. The coach said thankyou to me afterwards and realised the valuable lesson taught for her future as well as her teams.

There is only two clubs who played the offside girls last year, especially once they were behind. What a waste to tell one of your girls to stop playing in formation and hang back just to mark her or put in a sweeper that is not used in the ffsa womens game at the elite level. Such a shame, a no point competition has such narrow minded coaches, Development is future not your bragging rights.

3- The Elite stream to stay in the topflite competition and to not go to clubs to ensure their longevity in the game and not get burnt out. We burnt out a couple of our best last year. Lost one to EDJSA and she won the Best player in Australia for her age. They don't need to play club they will train enough. DUTY OF CARE! DUTY OF CARE! DUTY OF CARE!

FINAL NOTE -
you may wish to pick holes and chew on the bone with what has been written, but the question is list 3 things to improve the womens competition. If they help great if no then walk on by. They are not for commenting on they are a list of what I think. We are not always right, but some of use put all we have into the womens competition, by being out there on the training track, fundraising, donating, coaching, volunteering and lending a hand week in and week out. These people are the hero's of the competition and just do there job. So please if you comment - Be an active hard working member and not just an opinion with a computer who does nothing for the women competition except come here to whinge. It is not about what to change or what to whinge about it is what can we improve.

[SAD GAL]

Excellent discussion and I think many of our comments John C and LWB are based on experience (good and bad) within the comp. I must say from a club perspective some of the issues faced by the girls exists in the boys. Only difference, the structure from Juniors to seniors is defined and works well.

The problem in the women’s comp is that the skills gap between players in all age groups and that this gap continues right through a players’ career. which in turn permeates through the league and makes it weak.

I don’t know what can be done to ensure a stable structure where players develop in the age group they are required to be in. So to make the task easier I’ve looked at it from top down. What is the problem and then we can look at solutions.

1. National representation by SA players is low. The Lady Reds is a poor performer, The Prems league in SA is hanging in there.

2. The Prems league is a misnomer. The skills chasm between players and clubs is huge. This is why clubs who aren’t up to the standard fall out of the Prems. Teams aren’t able to be competitive cannot keep good players and either fold or drop down a classification.

3. Junior development ie 8-14 - Basically players entering the women’s comp have a skills base that goes from poor to ok. This has got to do with the exposure they’ve had at a younger age. Have they played at school, with boys, have brothers who play, part of a boys club league, etc versus having a kick around at 12 and had very minimal development.

4. The gap of ability is set from that age and is never closed. Therefore a player with above average ability is thrown into the senior league. Unfortunately being senior doesn’t make you a better player. Many hacks in the Prems with poor skills. So apart from bigger bodies and maybe a quicker and physical comp the younger player gets no benefit at all.

Until the junior situation is addressed and players have exposure at a younger age to develop then the seniors will be weak and our representation at national level will continue to be ‘0”.

No junior girls comp. Delete. I think young girls should be encouraged to play in the boys league or school mixed teams until 14. Then transfer

[M@rvin]

My top three are:

1. Retention of older players, either by playing longer, returning to the game or having them involved in the game by coaching etc.

2. Encouraging all clubs to encourage any girl that wants to play to play by providing a team regardless of ability. Stop turning away girls that have never played regardless of age.

3. Reduce the cost of coaching courses to encourage more coaches to progress to the next level also have a coach mentoring system.

[The General]

My top three are:

1. Retention of older players, either by playing longer, returning to the game or having them involved in the game by coaching etc.

2. Encouraging all clubs to encourage any girl that wants to play to play by providing a team regardless of ability. Stop turning away girls that have never played regardless of age.

2b. develop your own players, dont go looking to poach players from other clubs that other coaches have developed.


3. Reduce the cost of coaching courses to encourage more coaches to progress to the next level also have a coach mentoring system.

I have added a 2b to your suggestions.

[Left Wing Back]

General I agree - Develop your own. So many girls I and our club have developed who have been told the grass is so much greener.

[paul merson]

3. Reduce the cost of coaching courses to encourage more coaches to progress to the next level also have a coach mentoring system

Have a 5 year plan and stick to it.

[paul merson]

Also how about interviewing exiting experienced players as you do with experienced staff leaving your company, why are you leaving? whats good whats not? What can we change? ect

I think these people would have a fair few things that they would have liked to see.

[kwosies]

Firstly I have had limited exposure to Womens Football this will be the 4th year since my girls started playing club, this season will be my second coaching.

To begin with I would like to point out what I see as the big difference between boys and girls football.

Motive, ask just about any young boy why he plays the game and what he wants to achieve and his response will generally be they want to play for one of the big Euro teams and earn millions a year. Great if they can achieve it. Then ask a young girl the same question and almost always the answer will simply be ‘because I love the game and I want to become the best player I can be’ Yes there are the girls that know of the opportunities out there to make a living from the game but that is not their focus. That makes it a pretty pure perhaps raw foundation to work with but you know the kids are there for all the right reasons.

Observations I have made about the game.

• Lack of promotion of the game and that there is in fact is a girls/womens comp. Very little promotion of the path way from school to club football.
• There appears to be little or no incentive for clubs that don’t currently have girls/womens teams to introduce their own.
• Not enough junior development (I know everybody agrees with this)
• It’s left to the clubs to promote the sport and raise the profile of the local comp.

So how do WE fix it.

• FFSA has to take responsibility for raising the profile of the local comp they cannot leave it to the clubs many of whom are already stretched at the financial and volunteer levels.
• It has to start at the school’s, my youngest daughter decided this was the game for her via a program that visited schools when she was just in reception, for a small fee they got a weekly coaching lesson and a their own ball. The clinics ran for a term, the program returned only a couple times and then disappeared. If my memory serves me right it was a Life Be In It and FFA joint venture. It attracted lots of kids to the sport both boys and girls. More grass roots programs introducing the game to more young girls is essential.
• FFSA needs to offer incentives to clubs that already have or want to support girls/womens teams. Incentives could be aimed at reducing operating over heads, offer free coaching courses to club coaches, reduced FFSA fee structures etc.
• FFSA has to get out to the schools and promote the path way from school to club football for girls. They have to commit recourses and funds to a program like this. All anybody has to do is go for a walk around at a school oval on any Saturday morning and see how many girls play the game. But we lose these girls when they get to the age where they don’t want to play with the boys anymore. So many schools/parents and the kids don’t know there is an alternative.
• Here’s one that will raise a few eye brows. Clubs cannot field teams in the top divisions, Prems, Div 1 if they do not have junior squads. This would have to be introduced over a period of years and in conjunction with other programs to lift player numbers. My reasoning behind this is that you can’t have more clubs needing senior players than you have clubs producing players. It would by default reward clubs that already support junior development by making player retention more probable.

The problems that the sport faces cannot and will not be fixed overnight. If all the good ideas that all the writers put on this forum were adopted this Monday it would still take 10 years to see the full benefits.

“A 5 or 6 year old girl kicks a ball for the 1st time today shouldn’t be looking at playing seniors until she’s 16 or older”

It a long road back but I’m sure together we will get there.

[Lucas Leiva]

Firstly I have had limited exposure to Womens Football this will be the 4th year since my girls started playing club, this season will be my second coaching.

To begin with I would like to point out what I see as the big difference between boys and girls football.

Motive, ask just about any young boy why he plays the game and what he wants to achieve and his response will generally be they want to play for one of the big Euro teams and earn millions a year. Great if they can achieve it. Then ask a young girl the same question and almost always the answer will simply be ‘because I love the game and I want to become the best player I can be’ Yes there are the girls that know of the opportunities out there to make a living from the game but that is not their focus. That makes it a pretty pure perhaps raw foundation to work with but you know the kids are there for all the right reasons.

Observations I have made about the game.

• Lack of promotion of the game and that there is in fact is a girls/womens comp. Very little promotion of the path way from school to club football.
• There appears to be little or no incentive for clubs that don’t currently have girls/womens teams to introduce their own.
• Not enough junior development (I know everybody agrees with this)
• It’s left to the clubs to promote the sport and raise the profile of the local comp.

So how do WE fix it.

• FFSA has to take responsibility for raising the profile of the local comp they cannot leave it to the clubs many of whom are already stretched at the financial and volunteer levels.
• It has to start at the school’s, my youngest daughter decided this was the game for her via a program that visited schools when she was just in reception, for a small fee they got a weekly coaching lesson and a their own ball. The clinics ran for a term, the program returned only a couple times and then disappeared. If my memory serves me right it was a Life Be In It and FFA joint venture. It attracted lots of kids to the sport both boys and girls. More grass roots programs introducing the game to more young girls is essential.
• FFSA needs to offer incentives to clubs that already have or want to support girls/womens teams. Incentives could be aimed at reducing operating over heads, offer free coaching courses to club coaches, reduced FFSA fee structures etc.
• FFSA has to get out to the schools and promote the path way from school to club football for girls. They have to commit recourses and funds to a program like this. All anybody has to do is go for a walk around at a school oval on any Saturday morning and see how many girls play the game. But we lose these girls when they get to the age where they don’t want to play with the boys anymore. So many schools/parents and the kids don’t know there is an alternative.
• Here’s one that will raise a few eye brows. Clubs cannot field teams in the top divisions, Prems, Div 1 if they do not have junior squads. This would have to be introduced over a period of years and in conjunction with other programs to lift player numbers. My reasoning behind this is that you can’t have more clubs needing senior players than you have clubs producing players. It would by default reward clubs that already support junior development by making player retention more probable.

The problems that the sport faces cannot and will not be fixed overnight. If all the good ideas that all the writers put on this forum were adopted this Monday it would still take 10 years to see the full benefits.

“A 5 or 6 year old girl kicks a ball for the 1st time today shouldn’t be looking at playing seniors until she’s 16 or older”

It a long road back but I’m sure together we will get there.

You make some great points. It always baffles me that senior FFSA clubs don't all have a women's side. It's not feasible for all, but for more established clubs like Blue Eagles, Birkalla, Modbury it could happen.

In addition to the points you make - from observation I reckon there are just as many if not more girls playing school soccer exclusively to club soccer (ie. play school but not for a club). Tis is reflected by how many girls seem to register in our collegiate sides without having ever played for a Club, but having played for years for their school. Maybe like you said a visiting program could recruit and encourage these girls to play in both streams...then we might see the growth and sustainability we crave.

[John Cena]

[quote="kwosies"]Firstly I have had limited exposure to Womens Football this will be the 4th year since my girls started playing club, this season will be my second coaching.

To begin with I would like to point out what I see as the big difference between boys and girls football.

Motive, ask just about any young boy why he plays the game and what he wants to achieve and his response will generally be they want to play for one of the big Euro teams and earn millions a year. Great if they can achieve it. Then ask a young girl the same question and almost always the answer will simply be ‘because I love the game and I want to become the best player I can be’ Yes there are the girls that know of the opportunities out there to make a living from the game but that is not their focus. That makes it a pretty pure perhaps raw foundation to work with but you know the kids are there for all the right reasons.

Observations I have made about the game.

• Lack of promotion of the game and that there is in fact is a girls/womens comp. Very little promotion of the path way from school to club football.
• There appears to be little or no incentive for clubs that don’t currently have girls/womens teams to introduce their own.
• Not enough junior development (I know everybody agrees with this)
• It’s left to the clubs to promote the sport and raise the profile of the local comp.

So how do WE fix it.

• FFSA has to take responsibility for raising the profile of the local comp they cannot leave it to the clubs many of whom are already stretched at the financial and volunteer levels.
• It has to start at the school’s, my youngest daughter decided this was the game for her via a program that visited schools when she was just in reception, for a small fee they got a weekly coaching lesson and a their own ball. The clinics ran for a term, the program returned only a couple times and then disappeared. If my memory serves me right it was a Life Be In It and FFA joint venture. It attracted lots of kids to the sport both boys and girls. More grass roots programs introducing the game to more young girls is essential.
• FFSA needs to offer incentives to clubs that already have or want to support girls/womens teams. Incentives could be aimed at reducing operating over heads, offer free coaching courses to club coaches, reduced FFSA fee structures etc.
• FFSA has to get out to the schools and promote the path way from school to club football for girls. They have to commit recourses and funds to a program like this. All anybody has to do is go for a walk around at a school oval on any Saturday morning and see how many girls play the game. But we lose these girls when they get to the age where they don’t want to play with the boys anymore. So many schools/parents and the kids don’t know there is an alternative.
• Here’s one that will raise a few eye brows. Clubs cannot field teams in the top divisions, Prems, Div 1 if they do not have junior squads. This would have to be introduced over a period of years and in conjunction with other programs to lift player numbers. My reasoning behind this is that you can’t have more clubs needing senior players than you have clubs producing players. It would by default reward clubs that already support junior development by making player retention more probable.

The problems that the sport faces cannot and will not be fixed overnight. If all the good ideas that all the writers put on this forum were adopted this Monday it would still take 10 years to see the full benefits.

“A 5 or 6 year old girl kicks a ball for the 1st time today shouldn’t be looking at playing seniors until she’s 16 or older”

It a long road back but I’m sure together we will get there.[/quot


FFSA dont give a shi.t about the womans game cause if they did we wouldnt be talking about the same things every season

[themagnet]

[
You make some great points. It always baffles me that senior FFSA clubs don't all have a women's side. It's not feasible for all, but for more established clubs like Blue Eagles, Birkalla, Modbury it could happen.

This is a point I've always found strange coming from a basketball background where all BSA clubs run both mens and womens, and thus boys and girls programs. However the structure football seems elite womens clubs go it alone and although they may share a name they are entirely separate entities.
Blue Eagles have provided for junior girls and Modbury had a team a few years back but that fell by the wayside. Raiders have a good group coming through, but it's still only one team. Off the top of my head it seems only PHK have both elite mens and womens teams, but are they run as one club or separately?

[Steward]

My top three are:

1. Retention of older players, either by playing longer, returning to the game or having them involved in the game by coaching etc.

2. Encouraging all clubs to encourage any girl that wants to play to play by providing a team regardless of ability. Stop turning away girls that have never played regardless of age.

3. Reduce the cost of coaching courses to encourage more coaches to progress to the next level also have a coach mentoring system.

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