It is noticeable over the last few years that Saturday football teams are struggling to find players. And yet, at the same time, the Carlisle youth league is probably one of the biggest and strongest leagues in the country.
It could be that many players prefer to put their boots on for a Sunday league game, but why is this? Do players no longer want to compete at the highest level possible?
There are issues for younger players coming into a senior squad- they maybe feel "left out" in a new environment- so what's the best way of helping younger players into senior football?
A number of years ago we had an under 18 team managed by Edgar Wills who won everything they entered. Obviously we were hoping that some of these players progressed to the County and Alliance league teams. However, 4 or 5 went to college, some got jobs and worked on a saturday, some did not want to play and a couple (Tom Foster and Lee Otway) made it through to the Alliance team (and are both still playing in the Alliance).
I think there is a gap developing between finishing at under 18 and being capable of stepping into County and Alliance football. I also believe that lads these days like to go and play where their friends are so it is not as difficult to 'blend' in with other maybe unknown players.
For these reasons we are currently looking at what we are calling a development team, which is a group of selected players from our club from 15 years old up to 21 years old. The coaching sessions are being ran by Paul Henderson and Ollie Driver who are managing one of our under 18 teams. Paul is an ex City player and I understand is going to manage the County team next season. Ollie is a well known and well qualified coach who is very determined to see if this idea can come to fruition. Watch this space on this one, potentially it could transform the youth development at City.
Sessions have been running for a month and have in the part been well attended even though it is a very unsociable hour. It is a temporary arrangement until another earlier time and venue can be secured.
We would like to openly invite all players aged 16+ including seniors from within the club to the sessions that myself and Paul Henderson are running on a Wednesday at William Howard. The idea is for the sessions to complement the work of your team managers and coaches, and to allow a group of players to develop together regardless of age group.
The session runs from 9 unti 10 on 2/3 of the pitch at William Howard.
Each hourly session is broken down to include an extensive warm-up, then a themed coaching session to develop an identified area before finishing with a small sided game or games. The sessions are delivered by myself, Paul Henderson and Paul Jennings (County FA Community Coach).
Some of the sessions that the players and coaches have been looking at include:
*defending in a phase of play *attacking in a small sided game (8v8) *crossing from wide areas in a functional practice
Sessions have had a number of Under 18 and reserve team players attending but we are in need of extra players to allow the maximum effect to be imparted by the sessions.
For any further information please post on the message board and I can give some more information.
These sessions are being well attended and so far so good.
This is a very important project at City and has the full support of the Executive Committee, so much so that a budget has been set aside specifically for the development team. We will continue to progress this initiative in conjunction with the Club's Development plans and monitor it's success.
Well done to Olly and Paul for running these sessions and many thanks to Paul Jennings for his assistance with some of the sessions.
Note for Olly - If you are trying to attract players to the development team you maybe want to think about a different picture of yourself that one is a couple of years out of date!!
I think you will both agree by my most recent modelling picture that I had a hard paper round, or maybe its running doggies as a lone striker that has aged me!!
To get youngsters to be part of the set up it is a case of getting to know them and letting them know they are part of your future plans. That's why i for one endorse what Olly and Paul are doing. It used to be that everything ran around the senior squad and the juniors were left in limbo. If we can get the Under16's who look good enough to progress to either of the Senior sides into good coaching then that is the way forward. The Senior set up may lose out for a while but the future is the juniors. The only problem with Junior football is they often have work commitments on saturday's or follow Carlisle Utd and that stops some of the prgress we hope to make. I read Darren Noctors piece on Gillford Park Youth set up and he also agrees that the youth is the way forward and we beat Gillford on that front by a mile. Let's all keep our Junior footballers at the front end of the game, i know they want to be the best in the Junior Leagues but they won't improve until they take that extra step up and it's up to us and their managers to improve them as players.
To get youngsters to be part of the set up it is a case of getting to know them and letting them know they are part of your future plans. That's why i for one endorse what Olly and Paul are doing. It used to be that everything ran around the senior squad and the juniors were left in limbo. If we can get the Under16's who look good enough to progress to either of the Senior sides into good coaching then that is the way forward. The Senior set up may lose out for a while but the future is the juniors. The only problem with Junior football is they often have work commitments on saturday's or follow Carlisle Utd and that stops some of the prgress we hope to make. I read Darren Noctors piece on Gillford Park Youth set up and he also agrees that the youth is the way forward and we beat Gillford on that front by a mile. Let's all keep our Junior footballers at the front end of the game, i know they want to be the best in the Junior Leagues but they won't improve until they take that extra step up and it's up to us and their managers to improve them as players.
City have been on the go for over 20years so yes you should be streets ahead of the rest of the pack where youth development is concerned, but it has taken you quite a while to realise the importance of a sound youth set up and the development of players, the problem you will have is keeping hold of them, development off the park can be just as important and giving these young players the chance to play football at the highest level local teams can provide, unfortunately with your current set up that's not quite possible in the past you have missed the chance to develop off the pitch and this is one of the things that has held the club back, i am sure your fine committee will be working to put that right and good luck to them.
