In 2008 in response to requests from members and from observation of the way the club works we have made some changes to the structure of the Youth Section. These include the changing of the way subscriptions work as well as such things as the coaching set up. These changes we think will enable the club to offer more appropriate services to our player members as well as ensure that the club remains viable and can develop further in the future.

Please read the following information to get a feel for how we are working this year:

Director of Coaching
The club is pleased to have been able to procure the services of Keith MacKay as Director of Coaching on a full time basis. Keith may be known to you as a member of New Zealand’s most successful National team, reaching the finals of the World Cup in 1982. Since then he has been involved enormously with NZ Football in coaching, coach development, planning and facilitation of football programmes amongst other things. Keith comes to us from his position as National Development Officer for Soccer2 and we are very happy to have him on our team. Keith is in and around the Clubrooms now and you will be hearing more from him

Auckland Football Federation (AFF)
Soccer2 has been renamed and will now be known as the Auckland Football Federation. We’ll refer to it as AFF or just Auckland Football. This change is in line with a change throughout the country to the Football name as opposed to soccer.

Grades and Team Make Up
This year as previously we will have a Tamaki League operating in conjunction with Ellerslie, Fencibles and Bucklands Beach football clubs, which will give 10 and 11 Graders the opportunity to stay in the local area to play their football as opposed to being involved with a team playing in the AFF leagues which play throughout the Auckland area from the Harbour Bridge to Drury.

This league is administered by Ellerslie, and we expect to have about 10 teams in each grade which means that about half of the games played by Tamaki teams will be at Glover Park or Crossfields Road

Grades 12 and 13 will all play in the AFF leagues, as will all Girl’s teams

Numbers of AFF teams for 12 and 13 boys and 13-17 girls will depend upon registrations received by the 1st week in March – we are obliged to advise AFF of team numbers at the end of the first week so this acts as a cut-off. Once we have set the number of teams we will have a waiting list for late enrolments. We sometimes allow for an extra team here and there to allow for this although AFF do not like this.

In grades 14, 15 and 17 for boys we will be limiting teams to three teams in Grade 14 and a single team in each of grades 15 and 17. This is due to the effect that school football has on our numbers. In past years we have had much difficulty finding a team place for players arriving at the club (often late following school trials) and with AFF demanding to know quite early on the number of teams we are entering we are forced to limit numbers.

If you are looking at playing Grade 14 please be registered early. If you have a full squad of 13 or 14 that you want to play in Grade 14 as a team, let us know and we may be able to adjust numbers to accommodate this.

Squad Sizes
Grades 10 and 11 for all players and grade 12 for Girls will run in a 7 a side competition with squads of 10 maximum.
Grades 13 and up, and 12 for boys will run 11 a side with a squad size of 14 maximum.

AFF are keen to follow the directive of Football New Zealand which sees all grades up to 12 playing 7 a side. Field numbers are an issue here which has delayed a complete change over.

Registration
Commences 22 January
All players must be registered with the club prior to team announcements after trials
Wait list will apply for late enrolments
Team numbers are sent to AFF early March

Team Selection
Trials weeks February 25-29 and March 3-7

One session each week for each grade on different days so all get an opportunity to attend one session minimum. Top players will be chosen from these sessions then they will run through a final trial by invitation in weeks of March 10-14 to choose top 2 or 3 teams or top team in case of 15 and 17 grade boys.

In all team selections the performance of each player in previous years will also be taken into account, to avoid any problems with any player having a bad trial. DoC will consult with coaches where necessary to assess individual players if any anomalies are found.

DoC has the final say on team selection following the trials period, and we reserve the right to adjust team personnel during the first month of the season should it be suspected that selection errors have occurred.

Teams announced sometime during the week ending with Good Friday 21 March

Pre-season Training start immediately following announcement, and this will give two weeks training prior to the start of the season (Grading Rounds) for AFF teams on 5 April
The season start for Tamaki League teams is to be confirmed – most likely 5 April as well.

Subscription Charges
We have been able to retain subs at the same level as last year, despite NZ Football considering a plan to levy clubs $10 for each player, increases in AFF admin costs and some cost increases levied by Council for grounds, as well as additional costs for power and other utilities we must pay.

Subs will be as follows:
The base sub that everyone will pay is $160.00 per year less a $20.00 Early Bird Discount if payment is received before the end of February

Additional fees or a discount may apply from then on depending upon which league you play in.

AFF teams – Top Teams
These will be the top ranked team from each grade regardless of which league they play in.
There will be an additional Top team Levy of $60.00 per player collected following team announcements and prior to the season start. This is to cover coaching costs that will be incurred, and costs of additional equipment such as drink bottles and training balls provided.

AFF teams generally
There will be no additional levy

Tamaki League Teams
These players will receive a $20.00 voucher valid for the season towards one of our Holiday Coaching Programmes

Coaching
All top teams receive professional Coaching – one 90 minute session per week. Top teams parent coaches will be coach qualified to Advanced Junior Club Coach Level or equivalent as assessed by the DoC, and will take one additional session per week to ESAFC Director of Coaching Syllabus.

Top teams are defined as:
In 7 a side team squads, top two teams (total squad size 18-20)
In 11 a side squads, top team (total squad size 14)

Top team Specialist Goalkeepers will receive goalkeeper training once a week as part of this training.

Other AFF teams through grades and Tamaki Teams:
As a result of poor turn out to coaching organized for AFF teams last season it is not viable to continue coaching teams other than the top teams. However we have a number of Youth Coaches available, and we are going to be offering coaching programmes on a per team basis throughout the season. These will consist of weekly 60 minute coaching sessions to a syllabus, running over the two middle school terms. They will be run in 8 session blocks at Crossfields Road and will be available on a first come first served basis. It is expected that costs will be between $40-80 per player per term depending upon coaches and numbers.

We are also working with a coaching school to offer professional coaching at competitive rates to our youth teams – more information on this later towards the season start

Also available for parent coaches will be a syllabus provide by our DoC for each parent coach to work through on a week by week basis.

DoC will be running Coach the Coaches sessions through the season free of charge to all team coaches, in which coaching strategies, skills instruction and game tactics will be discussed and taught.

Academy
DoC Keith MacKay is investigating the re-forming of our elite Academy system.
This will involve the best selected players from 10-12 and 13-15 Grades for Boys and Girls getting together on a regular basis for additional training sessions involving skills, strategy and tactics as well as such things as nutrition, health and injury management.

These sorts of structures are tricky in that many of our elite players represent the region and get involved with additional training there, but we are looking at options and will be in touch.

Any Academy placing would be strictly by invite only, and would involve some additional costs

Other Matters
We have budgeted to provide adequate goals and nets for all of the 7 a side games at Glover or Crossfields as well as to ensure that nets are provided for the large goals and corner flags throughout

Following much anxiety over the years with trying to remind the last teams on a field for the day to put their nets and goals away (to be fair usually the seniot players in the afternoon) we have decided we need someone to open up and close up each Saturday at Glover and Crossfields.

This is a paid position and would suit a responsible teenage member of the club who could open up the ground shed in the morning and then check in the afternoon that all nets and corner flags are away – and if not do so. Would suit someone living close by. If you know of someone who may like to do both or either of the fields please contact Tracey at the office

Questions
Should you have any queries with regard to the youth setup, please check with your grade co-ordinator, or contact DoC Keith MacKay.

We are looking forward to a great season and hope for a successful year !!