Our 2022 Training Structure

The after-school sessions of the program from years 7-10 in the boys and girls program will be divided into four tiers. In the girl’s program, there will be a slight variation in age brackets, but the focus will be identical. A year 9 girl that is showing potential to be in the SPP will be moved into that category to continue her development. School Sports Victoria rules also allow year 9 girls to step up and play in the Premier League Cup competition.

Foundation development phase – 

Isolated functional technique, rondos, visual exploration 1v1,2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 focus, small-sided games, and Funinho football. 

Intermediate development phase - 

Dynamic functional technique, Rondos, Positional games, visual exploration, overload games, small-sided games, 4v4, 5v5, and 6v6 combination development.

Advanced development phase – Positional games, overload games, visual exploration, 6v6, 7v7, 8v8 themed tactical small-sided games.

Senior training performance phase – 

Positional games, half pitch games, themed training based on playing systems, Soccer Hacks (detailed senior football details).

Players will work with their coach for a five-week cycle, after which a collaborative decision will be madefor the movement of players up or down each respective phase. For example, we may start the yearwith 16 players in the FDP, 14 players in the IDP and 13 players in the ADP. The SPP may have 4 year 10 boys that are training with the year 11 and 12’s and everybody is at the level that they belong in. Then it is up to the individual to take advice from the coach, do extra work at club or at home and push hard to get a chance to move up a category. Some players may need a whole year in one phase, and some might accelerate and move up a category in five weeks. That is up to the individual to show rapid development and for the coach to see that thecurrent level is too comfortable for the individual. If we end up with only six players in the FDP, then that is fantastic, and we believe that we will move those six players up a category more quickly because they will have more attention paid to their deficiencies. 

Our objective is to get as many players to the Senior Performance Phase by the time they are in year 11 so that they can have success post-Keilor Downs College as they make the transition into senior football, which we hope will become our biggest yard stick to measure the success of our program in the future.