Saturday marks the one year anniversary of the National Curriculum’s revised edition. There won’t be a celebration but outgoing FFA Technical Director Han Berger will leave his post comfortable with what he’s achieved.

The original curriculum was released in 2009, but Berger and his army of TDs identified a number of issues that were too big to ignore, hence the revision.

In 2012, Berger told Fox Sports’ Simon Hill, “I assumed certain knowledge levels and understanding when writing the curriculum.

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“The first version was about the philosophical approach, but some haven’t been able to grasp it. Others understand, but aren’t keen to implement it.

“Version two will explain everything I took for granted, and how it relates to version one. It will be more in-depth and practical – exercise sections will be included.”

So has version two cut through the teething problems in the key areas?

Emphasis on improving quality of coaching

2014 marks the end of the curriculum’s first phase of minimum coaching accreditation. It has been a year of concession for coaches to gradually complete higher grade badges, with a growing emphasis on improving the quality of coaches across the country.

From 2015, there will be increased minimum requirements for coaches at NPL, state and national training centre levels.

From next year, technical directors and first grade coaches at NPL clubs must hold an A licence, while Under 19/20 coaches must hold a B licence, and a Youth C licence is required to coach from Under 14-16.



It will also be compulsory for state team coaches to have completed the Youth C licence course, while female NTC head coaches will be working towards their A licence, which becomes mandatory from 2016.

The curriculum’s revised edition has been lauded by less-experienced coaches, who have reported an improvement in their training sessions as a direct result of the templates provided.

Football NSW Technical Director Alex Tobin insists there has been a warmer reception to the current curriculum than the previous version, which should see young players benefit from a higher standard of coaching.

“The fact that version two was much more detailed in terms of session planning has actually helped. We are working with coaches on the fact that a session needs to be prepared a certain way as per the national curriculum,” Tobin told The Roar.

“That was a theoretical proposal in the first national curriculum and a lot of coaches who didn’t have experience writing their own sessions perhaps struggled with the concept a little bit.

“Version two is much more broad and detailed about those sessions and basically gives them living examples and that’s been a great benefit. I’m glad it happened and it has made easier.

“If you don’t know of a training session to take and you’re an Under 8s coach, there is a model laid out for you and you just follow the process and you work on it as a coach and get better at it because you’re practicing.

“We have evolved into an acceptance (that anyone can coach) and that’s certainly not how elite programs should work. We’re getting closer to 100 per cent coaching accreditation guidelines.



“We’re mindful of the fact we need more accredited coaches. Some of our better accredited coaches, for whatever reason, aren’t necessarily involved in NPL or SAP [Skill Acquisition Program].

“What SAP and NPL should grow into is eventually to become a place where the very best coaches want to work and they get paid accordingly as an elite coach at an elite club.

“That environment currently doesn’t exist but over time that will improve.”

SAP improvement

While the majority of the football public are concerned with the top level (A-League and Socceroos), the curriculum was very specifically targeted at the Skill Acquisition Program (SAP).

It references the example of Japan, “who started their football development plan 20 years ago with the results only now starting to become visible”, as a clear directive to focus on nurturing the next crop of Socceroos and Matildas.

Immediate success is appealing, but what Australia has previously lacked is a clear platform for kids to follow from an early age. A results-driven mentality has been replaced by a thirst for development and National Curriculum 2.0 appears to have yielded results over the last twelve months in NSW.

“Technical Directors at NPL clubs, FFA etc. have all said the improvement of under 12s coming out of SAP, in terms of what it was a number of years ago, is extraordinarily high, which is great,” Tobin said.

“That means that of the 30 licensees, though not all perfect, the majority are trying to do the right thing and the improvements are in the technique of the players because the emphasis is on the development more than it was in the past.”



Another identification of the revised curriculum was to bridge the ‘wasted space’, that previously saw the football season take a mere six months. SAP programs have increased to 40 weeks, with three training sessions during the week and a game on the weekend in a bid to follow European models at a similar age group.

It means kids can no longer split the year into two different sporting seasons, but have the benefit of remaining in tune with the game all year round.

Pathways

While the rebirthed curriculum can’t be directly credited for the success of Tony Vidmar’s Joeys at the AFC Under-16 Championships, it is the tip of the pathway structure that Han Berger has made the goal.

The Australian Institute of Sport program has been lowered from Young Socceroos age (U19/20) to Joeys age (U16/17) and enabled Vidmar’s youngsters to head to Thailand after a successful season together in the Capital Football NPL, where they finished fifth in the first grade competition.

The allure of the AIS has been criticised in recent years, with fewer top level players having graduated from what is now labelled the FFA Centre of Excellence, but Tobin believes it remains the Holy Grail for young players to further their professional ambitions.

“Our view is that there are better pathways staying in Australia than once thought,” he said. “The idea is that you can be involved in the AIS, go to the under 17s and within a very short time of that move into the NYL, A-League and beyond.

“The 1 in 100 players that moves overseas early and makes it gets publicity and that encourages the next 100 to go for it. But I’ve seen the 99 that don’t make it and you don’t often hear about that side.

“If you have a pathway, then not going along that pathway isn’t the way to do it. If the pathways are there and obvious to everyone, there is no need to go elsewhere.”



One element of the pathways focus outlined by Berger’s curriculum that must be improved over the next two years is to integrate A-League clubs into their respective state NPL competition.

2014 saw Perth Glory, Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar’s National Youth League teams partake in the NPL, while Central Coast Mariners Academy again featured in the NSW NPL.

The aim is for all A-League clubs to have a clear pathway set out through the junior ranks, which has thus far proved a stumbling block. It is one of the blocks from the revised curriculum that remains unchecked, but is necessary to lift the standard of competition in the NYL and, subsequently, the Young Socceroos.

Women’s football focus

As I wrote last month, the women’s game has been a big beneficiary of the curriculum’s new direction, with the introduction of nationwide development officers and a coaches mentor program to improve the standard of girls’ football and establishing clearer pathways to the top.

The program is a sign that the curriculum is working, but it’s far too early to gauge whether the desired results have been achieved.

Football NSW Institute took out the NSW NPL Women’s 1 grand final to suggest things are headed in the right direction, particularly at youth level.

“We have to get the women’s game up onto the same scale as the boys and the men’s game as quickly as we can,” Tobin added. “The numbers state that should be a priority, with the number of girls playing increasing.

“The opportunities for girls are not where they need to be in a club space, mainly because there are some traditional models out there being followed. From my point of view, there is equality (in potential for both sexes) but what I would like to get to is a point where clubs believe there should be equality in their ranks and they should run as many girls programs as they do with boys.



“W-League has changed that space, but it needs to be longer. It’s a very short season so that raises some concerns about the opportunities for the girls that make that squad.

“Over time, extending that would be a priority and working with the women’s NPL in the same space as men’s would change things as well.”

Challenges for the new FFA TD

An announcement on Han Berger’s successor as FFA Technical Director is imminent, with Romeo Jozak, who became linked with the job by Football Central last month, appearing to be the ideal choice.

Whoever steps into the role, it is unlikely they will find cause to revolutionise the current curriculum, with 2014 having shown signs of development and improvements made along the lines of the paper.

It seems coaches and players have become more receptive to the amended version and the focus will likely be on reinforcing the current teachings and promoting greater uniformity across all age groups.

Although conjecture will remain, this looks to be the best model to push Australian football forward, with results hopefully seeping through within the decade.

Berger will undoubtedly endeavour to give the new TD a greater understanding of the task at hand than what he was given, with the Dutchman admitting in 2012 that he overestimated the knowledge of Australian football coaches.

Thus, you can see his fingerprints over the improvement in the standard of coaching at youth level. His vision of a unified system from the A-League right through the football system remains a work in progress, but the last twelve months have proved the message of the curriculum is now clear.

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