The goal of all Academy football is the creation of first team players, hence Academy Football should be the purest expression of Football - where else in the world of professional football does the way you play carry greater significance than the result of the game
The challenge for us all - how do we best develop the players at our disposal:
What do we coach
How do we coach
When do we coach
etc etc:
All the above are driven by the good intent of the coaching staff but without an under pinning playing philosophy how can player development be consistent and fully effective. Perhaps the best example of this approach in its clearest representation is the current Barcelona squad - of the 14 players who took the field in the recent 5-0 drubbing of Real madrid - 10 of them were from their own Academy -all of whom have been schooled in the Barca playing philosophy for 10 years or more
The Barca example is of course the exception - where academy and first team are totally aligned. My own club is now in a position where our academy philosophy dictates our training routines. Below is an example of how we are currently translating this approach -the example below relates to the current practices at our Newport Advanced Development Centre - u12-u16 age groups
Academy Philosophy/Style of play
Possession based attacking Football - hence we are trying to develop players who excel within such a style of play
Strategies to achieve our philosophy
1. Pocket play - no explanation required
2. When pressed - play 1 touch the way you are facing - see the video link below for a simple illustration of this - this enables passes to players who are marked
3. When receiving in space - you dictate the tempo
4. If we are to be possession based, we have to win it back - Quickly
5. Our first preference is to play the ball on the floor
Please watch this link of the Barca v Real game - A great example of all of the above being applied in a game
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