What is the best pathway for a player? 

This question is often asked to us as coaches and teacher's at Keilor Downs College when parents are looking for advice on which club is best for their child. Last month, we looked at the impact of the family and environment on the player and the impact of free play and practice on your own as a key trend in all top-level female and male players. This month we look at playing up in age groups and the impact of the pickup game or street football.

Playing up an age

The next key factor in the development of a young player is the 'Playing up an age' 

factor, which has sadly become much more difficult in Australian junior football. Speaking to a host of former students that had excellent careers in the game in Australia and some even reached a professional level, their stories are all connected by one common factor; they all had an opportunity to play with older players, both in the schoolyard and also at club level. 

A study by the Professional Footballers Association, led by John Didulica, found that in our Socceroos Golden Generation 'All players played up an age group for their local club, which they saw as a positive influence on their development. Most were playing senior football – with men, against men – at a relatively young age. Players who moved overseas all reported that the first year abroad was extremely tough.'

According to Didulica, the current Director of Football for Melbourne Victory, the Golden Generation mainly played for one local club with a pathway to senior competition, which they started playing in at approximately 15 years of age.

Most recently, legendary Socceroo Mark Viduka said himself that he was playing a few years above his age group when he was young because that was the skill level he was at. On a personal level, I was given the opportunity to play in an under 21's competition when I was 15, travel to an international tournament in Croatia as a 15-year old playing in an under 18's tournament against some players that reached the top level and alongside a then 15-year old Mile Jedinak, who would go on to captain Australia at a World Cup and play in the English Premier League. 

In these teams, adult men fighting for senior contracts in the National Soccer League, which back then was the strongest league in the country, mixed with boys that were smack bang in the middle of puberty and emerging to take their place. Game time was not rotated and if you didn't play, you didn't play. If a senior player needed to drop down to regain fitness from an injury or for disciplinary reasons, then the weakest link or the player that played in that position would either drop to the bench or drop out of the squad. 

These were the realities of the end of youth football, but the learning that we received from the older boys in training and in matches taught us more than our coach ever could. 

I have a vivid recollection of playing with renowned striker Adrian Cervinski in a match against South Melbourne, when he was returning to football after a long layoff. 

Cervinski was a player that I used to watch from the stands and write his name on my school exercise books alongside Viduka, Pondeljak, Simunic, Silic and Kelic alongside cut out images from the local paper or Herald Sun.

Admiring Cervinski from afar was nothing compared to playing up front with him in a 4-4-2 setup. He only said one thing to me and I nervously smiled and nodded as I sat in the changeroom with one of the goalscorers from the 1995/96 grand final. He told me that when he went short to receive the ball that I need to make a run in behind. 

Within ten minutes of the match kicking off, he did find a pocket of space and received the ball on the half-turn. I moved quickly and the ball arrived perfectly into my stride and he created an easy chance for me. I scored and he simply jogged back to the center and fixed his shin pads. He managed to create two more chances for me that I failed to take before he was taken off in the 65th minute having reached his fitness target without aggravating his injury. 

The real learning from this day was that Cervinski played like a senior footballer, not a junior footballer. He was not selfish, he understood the game and he must have understood me even though he had never met me before because he made so many clever movements and runs that I think sometimes I was a spectator learning on the job like an apprentice carpenter watching an experienced carpenter effortlessly go about his business. 

Today, this sort of experience from playing up an age group or several age groups is extremely difficult for young players that are ahead of their peers and will have a chance of reaching a higher level. It seems as if we have forgotten that our focus at youth level is to produce one or two players for the top level, not a league-winning team in its respective age group.

In recent months, Manchester United has hired 35-year old Paul McShane to be a youth team player and coach on the field for their talented youngsters so that he can set the standard and show the players every day what it means to be a professional footballer. 

Fellow Premier League club Southampton has done the same thing with Olly Lancashire joining their under 23's as an experienced lower league footballer.

Ultimately my job is to teach young players what challenges they are likely to face and what is needed beyond talent to become a successful footballer.

Olly Lancashire

Manchester United is also known for having weekly training sessions where kids from mixed age groups train together to create this sort of mentorship. Marcus Rashford, Jessie Lingard, and Paul Pogba regularly crossed paths in sessions that allowed the younger players to learn and copy the older players, and at the same time, the older players learned about leadership, mentorship, and empathy.

At Keilor Downs College, we use our promotion/relegation competition to create this type of learning and a modern take on street football.

Remember, the importance of any pathway for any player is that they are never too comfortable in their environment because nothing kills progress as much as stagnating and being too comfortable.  Raise the bar.