In the news this week

• Effort goes unrewarded
• Disciplined effort secures gritty draw

From the TD

The Process

Coaching young footballers can be rewarding and frustrating, but for real development and learning to take place, coaches must focus on the process, not just the outcomes.

We know the process of learning is complex and each individual's journey is unique and non-linear. For young people, the process of learning to play football should be very similar to most learning experiences. In my eyes this would mean having a go, failing, reflecting, maybe taking some input from others and trying again. Sounds simple, but it can be very difficult and arduous process. During this journey, we also know that some players can have more talent*, potential and a genetic advantage for certain sports.

As adults we may believe we have more experience and knowledge than the young people we coach, and that we can improve the rate at which players perform and ultimately get better. 

Let's presume all of the above is agreed. The detail within this process is where coaches can get lost, frustrated and even disillusioned. I have coached in environments where teams have "lost" because of lack of understanding, physicality, maturation or even adhering to a playing style. Most coaches are competitive, almost all feel the urge to win, this can mean they tend to play their strongest team or ditch the playing style to avoid the loss. However, coaches must park their egos and embrace this itch, and let it burn if they are going to produce players. The outcome of losing or conceding is not the priority, the process and detail are.  

The process is where the magic is. How do you help the player get from where they are, to where they could be if you don't embrace the process? How can you encourage risk takers, creativity and bravery when you park your philosophy as soon as it gets difficult. Coaches can be guilty of building and fostering a great environment in training, one that encourages risks and bravery but then ditching this support and patience in tough games. When we revert to direct, win at all costs, physical football dominated by early maturated players we lose the mavericks and technicians. 

Parents and coaches often view youth football through an adult lens. Whilst winning is important, it's often lower down the priority list for kids. Development football is not the same as the Premier League, there are no financial implications if you lose 3 games in a row, no TV deal, no sponsors to keep happy and nobodies mortgage is on the line. We shouldn't imply it's ok to surrender possession or throw away our style just because of the score. If we are able to reframe "winning" we can enjoy the process and watch individuals improve in specific areas of the game. 

It's not about today; it's about the big picture. Winning is about developing individuals.

Dan Wright.

School holidays & Saturday games for Juniors

No games 8 & 9 July. The middle weekend of the July school holidays (8 & 9 July) is a catch up round. At present no catch up games are scheduled for the GV Suns and it may become a break for all our junior squads. Its a great opportunity to take a break, recharge and get ready for the second half of the season.

Saturday games - We have two Saturday rounds scheduled for 1 July and 15 July. Please make sure you have the dates in your calendar. 

We will confirm training days and times shortly.

FFV Referee meetings

Thanks to some recent local referee courses we have a growing number of FFV qualified referees in the Club and available to referee local SJSA, GNEFA and NPL games.

To help with ongoing development and support, referees are encouraged to attend the monthly referees meeting on the first Monday of every month from 7pm at the Quest Hotel conference room.

FFV Junior Coaching Courses 

You don't need to be or want to be a coach to participate in these courses. For many parents and supporters the courses can provide a valuable insight into the FFA curriculum and the GV Suns coaching philosophy.

Skill Training Certificate
(Coaching 9-13 year olds)

8 & 9 July (during the School holidays)
9am-5pm, McEwen Reserve
Cost $100
To register: https://education-ffa.sportingpulse.com/event.asp?ID=16677

In the Skill Acquisition Phase the coach MUST focus on building a solid foundation of technical skill.  The course is conducted over 14 hours, is fully practical and deals with the development of the 4 Functional Game Skills:

• First Touch
• Striking the Ball
• Running with the Ball
• 1 v 1  

Match Reports 

Under 12s

Tim Nelson

Scott and Zac Hutchison

First game the boys started off a bit rusty in the first half as the Bentleigh boys were much bigger in size which showed on the pitch. In the second half it was much the same story, getting pushed off the ball and ultimately Bentleigh being too strong, but a positive is that we had a few chances from Fi. 

 In the second game, we attempted to try and keep the ball and put some passes together. This is started from Reece who had great distribution from GK and made great decisions which started off many attacks. Again Bentleigh were a very strong side and out muscled us.  Bentleigh were a very well drilled side which showed out on the pitch. Player of the weekend goes to Fi who had some great chances to score some goals through her terrific work rate and persistence. 

Under 13s 

Stuart Bethall

Quality defending is where we started at training this week. It is an area that I have noticed needs improving as the games have gone by. One v one defending is an art in itself and all the players have a lot to learn. You have to start somewhere but we will continue with this until we are all experts!

The game against Bentleigh couldn’t have started any better. An early goal set us on our way and things were quite comfortable until they were awarded a dubious penalty, which they duly converted. The rest of the half was end to end and although they were creating a few good chances, it was all square at half time.

The second half didn’t start very well with Bentleigh scoring 2 quick goals. The first from an error and the second we seemed to switch off as they were lining up to put the ball in the net. From here the team deserve some credit as we came back into the game and gave as good as we got. We had some very good periods of dominance but couldn’t alter the score-line, with it finishing a 3-1 defeat!

It’s worth noting that although we suffered another defeat, we were in this game all day. This has been the case for a few weeks now and only some small mistakes against good teams have affected the final result. Based on these performances, a good win is just around the corner!

Under 14s

Shaban Mehmet

Mid week training this week we worked on the killer pass (through ball) and on Friday we had a great session put on by Stuart Vance working on attacking plays.
Pregame we spoke about mentally preparing yourself with the never give up mentality. It all starts in the change room.

This group week by week are striving to implement little changes to preparation so we can mentally be ready for the game. For the masses who had watched the u14 game that never give up attitude was beating strong in the Suns players. To all the u14's player,  you my feel disappointment about the score line against a great opponent, what was most pleasing is that you never gave up. To me that is character building and worth more to you than a little w in the win column. #proud

Under 15s

Paul Nieuwenhuizen

For this week's game against Bentleigh we focused on controlling possession of the ball while trying to link with the forwards. On the weekend the boys wore black armbands in support of their teammate Moses following the death of his uncle.

The game started and the team looked as if they were all still asleep. They were soon jolted into life are conceding a goal in the first 2 minutes. The outcome from this was really positive from the players. They started to play and looked to play the ball into our forwards. We were soon rewarded with a goal on the counter attack . The rise in confidence saw us create more chances which unfortunately we could not take advantage of. The desire to create chances also resulted in the team conceding another 2 goals before halftime.

At halftime the team was angry because of the score, but at the same time were positive because of the chances they had created. The second half again showed the growth in the team with a number of goal scoring chances which again we could not capitalise on. As tiredness crept in the boys concede a couple of goals in the last 10 minutes due to a drop in concentration.

The boys continue to develop and on the weekend received glowing feedback from the opposition coaching staff about their improvement.  #RESPECT

Overall, the result did not reflect the game and showed that the differences between winning and losing are small. This week we say bon voyage to Anthony, who is off to enjoy the sites of Europe for a few weeks with his family. I would also like to past on the team's condolences to Moses and his family.

Under 16s

Under 18s

Stefo Radevski & Glen Wilson

Codes of Conduct for everyone