The Truth

With the increase of modern technology and in particular the Internet, the number of 'experts' and critics has grown significantly in the sporting arena.

The Lady Reds are certainly not immune to these experts and critics, with forum posts and Facebook comments criticising their preparation, lambasting squad selections and hammering individual player performances.

Of course everyone is welcome to their own opinion and this is no different to pre-forum days, the only difference being that when someone posts something on a forum and it appears in print, other people somehow seem to believe it and presume it must be true!

So what is the truth about the 2012/13 Lady Reds?

Is it the same old story, are they under prepared, are they thrown together at the last minute, are they disowned and unwanted, as many 'experts' would have you believe?

Well I'm afraid to say, for all the glass half empty brigade, the pessimists and the defeatists out there - NO!

A preliminary squad of 18 players has been selected with two remaining spots to be decided on in the week ahead.

The Lady Reds have been working closely with Adelaide United this season and the squad is set to be announced and introduced at half time of the Reds match against Western Sydney Wanderers at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.

The Lady Reds have also enjoyed an outstanding response to its inaugural membership package and can boast close to 50 members for the 2012/13 season.

The first match of the season is on Saturday, October 20 at Burton Park against new club WSW. The match kicks-off at 2pm.

In terms of preparation and the lead up to this W-League season, throughout 2012 a group of players were selected to play as the NTC squad in the boys U15 A division.

This group of players included a number of 2011/12 W League players, such as; Ruth Wallace, Racheal Quigley, Emma Checker, Grace Henry and Ebony Philcox and some potential future W-League players like Jess Waterhouse, Laura Johns, Monique Ianella, Issy Hodgson and Ellie Bills.

A number of 'senior' players were also invited in to train with the squad as the year went on and the new W-League season approached.

Throughout the winter season I watched every possible game of Women’s football, ranging from U13, U15's  and U17's to Division 1, Reserves and of course the Premier League, in an attempt to unearth any previously missed talent – and believe me we do have some talented players in SA!

Players I spotted and players nominated by clubs were then invited to trial for the Lady Reds alongside those NTC and previous W-League players.

In total over 50 players attended the trials, from which a training squad of 30 was selected. This squad of 30 very committed and dedicated players have then undertaken a comprehensive 'pre-season training program consisting of five team sessions per week plus extra individual strength and conditioning sessions.

Many of these young women are training 8-10 times per week now, on top of their school, university and work commitments.

Last week, a squad of 18 players was provisionally named, with a small number of 'train on' players named as well. These train on players will continue to work with the squad and be available as injury replacements or straight replacements should the squad need it.

The final two squad places will be decided upon prior to the season opener and the players in contention for those spots are aware of the situation and are working very hard to secure those last two spots.

As the season approaches, preparation continues, with five team sessions per week on the grass as well as some team building and bonding exercises off the pitch. Three warm up games have been arranged in the past month with one internal game during the STIC tournament and another on the weekend against the FFSA Boys Development squad. There will be a third pre-season hit-out on Thursday night again against the FFSA Boys, which should give the team another real test.

I am sure this kind of preparation and commitment from the players will come as a surprise to many of the forum posters and pessimists and to be honest it only really scratches the surface!

It doesn't mention the recovery protocols the players go through, the ice baths, the stretching, the recovery sessions following games or the extra fitness sessions organised by our captain which are attended by a growing number of players each week.

It doesn’t account for the financial sacrifices made by players who have to turn down shifts at work to attend trainings or matches, or consider the international players who are continuing their university studies, including sitting exams, whilst overseas.

It also doesn't consider the VOLUNTEERS who are working behind the scenes to secure sponsorships and memberships for the team!

Could the preparation be better, of course it could. The Women’s Premier League could finish a little sooner to give the W-League squad longer together before the season, the gap between the Women’s Premier League and the W-League could be closer and this is an area that both the FFA and FFSA are addressing.

I am sure Alex Ferguson and Brendan Rodgers would rather their players weren't called off to national duty mid season or spent their off season playing in World Cups or African Nations Cups etc. But, you have to accept interruptions and simply do everything you can to control the controllables and provide the players and team the best possible preparation, which is what we have done.

So finally for the glass half full people out there, the Lady Reds are fitter and more organised than last season and we have a more balanced and competitive squad.

I am immensely proud of this bunch of young women and I back them 100% as I know a number of you out there do as well.

I am sure the hard work put in by everyone since our last game last season will pay off this season and you will see a new Adelaide United Lady Reds.

Jump on the positive band wagon and support your team, THE LADY REDS!

Change thinking

"Change thinking" This blog is going to discuss one of the things that I think is standing in the way of player development around the world but particularly in South Australia and in women's football.

For far too long players have achieved what they perceive to be great achievements on the back of very little real effort. I mean that they have been selected for State Teams and even in some cases National Teams after training twice a week with their clubs. I know this for a fact as I selected players in my NZ U17 side and in last years W League side who previously had only ever trained twice a week with their clubs and played one game at the weekend.

In the case of the NZ girls, they were suddenly expected and required to train a minimum of six times per week for a total of around 12-15 hours. This included individual fitness and skill sessions, in addition to the 4 team sessions per week.

W League this season will be expected to train 4 times per week plus their game, as well as time spent individually on recovery, fitness and in skill development as required.

Some people may consider this to be excessive and I have had parents voice concerns when their daughters are invited into development squads or National Teams about the amount of training they are being asked to do.

A change in our thinking is vital if we are to progress! 4 sessions per week, 12-15 hours per week is NOT excessive. Yes it is more than the average club football player is doing and yes it does take some planning and sacrifice in order to keep it up BUT and this is where I hope the change in thinking occurs, it is nothing compared to many other sports!

Football and in particular women's football is an Olympic Sport and provides our girls with the opportunity to compete at the worlds greatest sporting event, in front of crowds of 90,000+. To be an Olympic Athlete requires sacrifice and committment. An Olympic Gymnast or swimmer (and their parents) would laugh at 12-15 hours per week training.

"Elite gymnasts train in excess of 20-30 hours per week.  Typically, daily training sessions are scheduled morning and afternoon lasting for 2-3 hours each session."      ausport.gov.au  

 

"Swimming requires a serious commitment to training. Typically, 6-12 sessions are undertaken each week, with the distance covered in each session ranging dramatically. Sprinters during a taper phase may only cover 1000-2000 metres compared to distance swimmers who can travel up to 10 kilometres per session.  Elite swimmers typically train twice a day but during heavy training camps can train 3 sessions a day.  This can mean time spent in the water can be more than 6 hours.  In addition, swimmers usually complete 2-3 weight training sessions per week and may undertake some land-based aerobic training such as running or cycling. Training commitments of sub elite swimmers can still be large and it is not uncommon for swimmers in their early teens to be training 10 times per week."    ausport.gov.au

So are we serious about developing olympic athletes, athletes/football players capable of performing on the ultimate stage, at Olympic Games and FIFA World Cups? If we are, we need to change our thinking and begin to train like we are!

Training every day on some aspect of the game from a young age is not going to harm girls, far from it, it will help maintain their health and fitness and provide them with many life skills for the future (persistance, time management, reliability, initiative etc.) These sessions dont have to be at a club or with a coach, they can be on their own or with friends/team mates either developing their confidence and skill level with the ball or working on their fitness. I am not saying this is for everyone, the same way that 20-30 hours swim training is not required to be a social swimmer, but if you want to be an elite footballer, be prepared for a change in your thinking and be prepared to put in the hours required to reach the elite standard.

The opportunities are endless but they all begin with hard work!

It wont just happen...

Possession football doesn't just happen! Telling your team to 'play possession' or to 'keep it' on a Sunday just wont work! Players need to know how to keep the ball or how to play possession! Who is supporting the player in possession of the ball, when are they supporting, where are they supporting and how are they supporting?

For example in the defensive and middle thirds of the field, under pressure, I ask for two players to be supporting close to the player in possession and to be showing towards the ball. In the attacking third, this drops to one player showing towards the ball, to allow more space for a 1v1 situation to present itself.

Players need to know these 'rules' and need to be able to recognise the cues that trigger them; area of the field, pressure on the ball, position of other teammates etc. This wont happen unless players are exposed to the situations and the cues during training sessions, in warm-ups, passing practices, game training and training game scenarios.

How YOU plan to play the game will answer the questions of who, what, where, when and how but however you want to play, you have to train that way. As coaches we need to be better than simply putting on a session of '2 touch' or an isolated game of 'keep ball' and think that we are coaching possession football.

Obviously this also applies to other aspects of the game; pressing high, defending deep, counter attacking etc. NONE of them happen just because you want them to or tell your players to do them, they all have to be coached and your players need to understand what their roles and responsibilities are within your playing style. You cannot be surprised or blame your players on game day for not being able to execute a game plan if they have not been thoroughly coached in it during the week. Saturday/Sunday is not the day to be implementing new ideas...

Street Football

Lately a number of people have discussed the importance of 'Street Football' in players development. This discussion has ranged from claims that the lack of 'Street Football' these days is the reason that countries like England are no longer producing top players, to companies 're-inventing' street football for the modern day.

So what is 'street football'? The ever trusty Wikepedia defines 'Street Football' as;

(street football) encompasses a number of informal varieties of association football. These informal games do not necessarily utilise the requirements of a formal game of football, such as a large field, field markings, goal apparatus and corner flags, eleven players per team (with a minimum of seven per team), or match officials (referee and assistant referees).


Often the most basic of set-ups will involve just a ball with a wall or fence used as a goal, or items such as clothing being used for goalposts (hence the phrase "jumpers for goalposts"). The ease of playing these informal games explains why they are popular all over the world.

On their Premier Skills website, John Cartwright and Roger Wilkinson describe 'Street Football' as;

Street football was the name given to the chaos type informal play times, often seen in the 1960’s, in which young players could practise.
Features of street football:
- Unorganised games were played (invented) according to numbers of players available.
- Small area size meant small sided games were predominant.
- Small games meant more touches of the ball with more decisions to make.
- Lots of movement - fitness improved.
- Games were realistic in many ways similar to full games.
- High individual skill levels were produced.

So why all the talk of Street Football and its demise being to blame for lack of player development, surely with the numerous coaching programs in place now, players are much better placed to learn and develop into top class players?
Yes, good quality coaching of young players is going to help them develop and to learn about the game but 'Street Football' still has a lot to offer!

1. There are numerous mentions of the '10,000 hour rule', based on a study by Anders Ericsson, claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practising a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. To amass 10,000 hours of practice in a club environment or academy environemt working on 4 sessions of 90 minutes each would take over 30 years! Even if this started at 8 years of age, becoming an expert at 38 is far from ideal in a football sense. Now I am not claiming the 10,000 hour rule is 'gospel' but you cannot argue that more time spent 'learning' the game has to be an advantage, so if players are playing 'Street Football' in their lunchbreaks, after school and at the weekend, then time with the ball soon starts to add up.

We soon were thanking the workmen who kindly put up a new street light beside my mates house. This introduced our new flood lighting system and increased game time to a new record of 9pm (bed time).
                                         T.Wareing (TW SPORTS)

When I was growing up, I played football in the school playground for about half an hour before school, for half an hour at morning break, 45 minutes at lunchtime and then usually for an hour or so every evening after school. At weekends we would play for at least 2 hours a day, often playing until someone's parent, usually mine as we lived closest to the field turned up to tell us it was time to go home. This equates to almost 1000 hours per year!!!

 2. One of the key elements of 'Street Football' for me was the 'discovery' element of the game. Street Football was played on different sized pitches and with different numbers of players, as well as different ages of players. All of these factors taught you different aspects of the game; playing in small spaces taught you how to play under pressure, playing with huge numbers on each team taught you to respect the ball (as you may not get it back for 5 minutes if you gave it away) and playing against older and bigger players taught you how to play quickly (before you got pushed over) and how to be stronger on the ball.

Much of this adaptation and discovery style learning can be lost in the more rigid structures of coached sessions. Sue Palmer, child expert and writer puts it a little more succinctly;

‘Play-unstructured, free range, loosely supervised play – is the birthright of every child.  For the next generation to grow up healthy, balanced and able to benefit from their education, we must ensure that children once again go out to play.’

3. Street Football was the perfect setting for imitation, it was the place that you copied your idols and tried to reproduce what you had seen them do previously. It was common place to hear arguments about who was going to be who at the start of the game, often decided by seniority or by whose ball it was we were playing with that day. In my case this was usually Sammy McIllroy Jnr. as his dad played for Manchester United and Northern Ireland so we were often lucky enough to be playing with an Adidas Tango or whatever the latest Professional ball was. Fortunately, Sammy was usually playing as 'his dad' so that allowed the rest of us to be whoever else we wanted to be.. (I was usually Alan Hansen or Graeme Souness..) Even the greats of the modern game grew up playing like the heroes of the day, pretending to be the star that they had seen score or perform an amazing skill the day before;

A mate owned a Robson top. We were kicking about, and I asked if I could be Robbo for a while. I slipped out of my Liverpool shirt and put the Robson one on, and it felt fantastic. I wore it for an hour, charging all over, flying into tackles, scoring brave goals, pretending I was him.
                                                                               Steven Gerrard

This imitation, imagination and ability to express yourself on the field is, in my opinion, the way that many of the 'special' players were produced, the ones who could do something special with the ball, the ones who could do something unexpected and turn games! I remember playing with players like John O'Donaghue and Neil Hall from my youth, both who were immensely talented and could do things with a ball that made me marvel and then as I got older, players like Darren Sheridan, Wayne Collins and Ricky Gillies. Not all of these players had glittering carrers in the professional game but their skill level and their ability matched anyone who did and they all grew up playing Street Football!

As a conclusion to this blog, I am going to provide a couple of suggestions to players and coaches of games that you can play, as I realised when I first discussed this topic with some players, they had never played any of the games that I had when I was younger and had no idea of how to play different forms of football.. So here goes;

 1. Wally (Wall ee). This can be played on your own or with 2 or 3 players and simply needs a wall and a ball (tennis, football..). A space on a wall is agreed upon, between two drain pipes or between two marks on the wall, and players take it in turns to pass/strike/shoot the ball against the wall. You lose a life if you fail to return the ball against the wall between the markers. This can be played with one touch or two touch depending in the difficulty you want.

- this encourages players to swerve the ball around potential obstacles and to consider angles of passing etc. as well as requiring good first touch and passing technique.

2. Head tennis - not strictly 'head' tennis but a football version of tennis/volleyball. Ideally using a tennis court and net (but can be played over bins, fences, cones), players can use feet, thighs, chest and head to get the ball over the net into the court on the far side. Rules can vary depending on standard of players. One bounce as the ball comes over the net can be allowed, one bounce between players can be allowed or no bounces, the beauty of 'Street Football' is that you decide on the rules to suit the players..

-this develops receiving and volleying technique and can often be seen as a part of professional team trainings.

3. Wembley, Wembley pairs or Wembley 3's. This game going to one goal is basically a knockout game of singles, pairs or 3's depending on numbers of players. In the first round the nominated Goalkeeper throws the ball out and all 'teams' attack the same goal. The team that scores, is through to the next round and gets a rest until one team is knocked out (the one that doesn't score). Once one team is knocked out, all teams that scored a goal are back in for round 2. This continues until 2 teams are found for the final. To win the final, normally 2 or more goals are required. In the next game the goalkeeper is the player knocked out in the first round in singles or one of the pair if it was doubles, with the previous Goalkeeper joing the other player to create a new pair.

- this game creates a number of different types of player. You soon find the goal poacher, who hangs around the goal, waiting for the ball to be put into the box and gets the last touch to score. You find the midfield worker who chases every ball for his team tirelessly and you soon find the 'magician' who can weave his way between numerous defenders to score the solo goal.

4. Headers and Volleys or 60 seconds. This game requies a minimum of 3 players (1 Goalkeeper and 2 + outfield players.) The goalkeeper starts the game by throwing the ball out and starting to count down from 60 at roughly one second intervals. The outfield players have that time to score with either a Header or a Volley. If the time runs out or a shot goes over or wide or if a player scores with something other than a header or a volley then the last person in possession of the ball becomes the goalkeeper. If the outfield players score with a header or a volley, they win and the keeper remains in goal and restarts the countdown. Again you get to fine-tune the rules so in the next countdown, the time can be reduced or 2 goals need to be scored? We used to play that you could not 'set yourself up' so you could not flick the ball up for yourself to score a volley, it had to be crossed or lifted to you by another player.

- this game obviously develops players ability to score with headers and volleys, as well as improving their crossing and set up play. This game also promotes the development of those special skills like diving headers and bicycle kicks etc.

5. Three and you're in. A simple game when space only allows one goal, no-one really wants to play in goal or you simply don't have many numbers to play. This simple game has one goal with a goalkeeper in and 2 or more players outfield. All outfield players attack the same goal, with the winner being the first player to score 3 goals. The winner then takes their turn (or gets a rest) by going in goal for the next game.

- this game has a number of benefits; it produces 1v1 artists with the ability to beat players and score goals, it produces good 1v1 defenders with the desire to prevent attackers scoring and the ability to win the ball and quickly transition into the attacking phase of the game and it is also a great fitness activity!

These are just 5 examples of Street Football games I played as a youngster and games that I have introduced to my players since I started coaching. One thing that I can say about these games is that players love them! Players of all ages and of all abilities enjoy these games and they will play them for hours on end! Whilst I don't expect these games to become a staple part of your coaching repetoire, I do hope you will consider using some of them either as a fun activity at the end or even the beginning of a session or just introduce them to your players as a way of encouraging them to play/practise more in their own time?

Coaching Women's Football

Before I start, let me make it clear that I don't claim to have all the answers to this subject, and I am by no means perfect and get it right all the time, but I have and still am learning every day, how to improve as a coach of female football players.

When I started coaching my first women's team, I had previously coached high school boys, senior men and men's national league sides and the team I was taking over had won only one game the previous season and finished bottom of the league but contained some talented young players. The first meeting I had with that team, I had prepared a presentation outlining where I wanted to take the team over the next 3 years, culminating in winning the National Knockout Cup and winning the Northern Premier League (both apparently ridiculous goals to achieve?). In that same presentation, I informed the team that I would be coaching them as a football team, not a women's football team, something which I thought the players would appreciate and thrive on. Over the next three seasons, my approach to coaching the side changed dramatically. In fact after about a week my approach changed and although I still coached the side with high expectations and demands, my approach to achieving that changed dramatically. In the third season, we did win the National Knockout Cup and we finished second in the league but we had also produced 3 Senior NZ Internationals and 4 further age group Internationals and I had produced close working relationships with a number of players and parents of players which culminated in quite an emotional (for me) leaving party before I joined Adelaide United and FFSA.

What I hadn't realised during my early days coaching that side was that after my first meeting, a number of the players were 'scared' of my vow to coach them as I had coached the men before. Many of them knew boys I had coached and some had seen me coaching the men's National League side and they expected me to be; 'harsh, shout a lot and to be mean'. These players who I grew to admire and respect and who worked so hard for me had after that first meeting, 'given me a week' to see what I was like and if I was going to be mean and shout a lot etc. they would leave the club. Fortunately for me I wasn't mean and didn't shout a lot, so they gave me a bit longer than a week. (I only found this 'nugget' of information out about a year later, once the players had got to know me, trust me and were willing to share that piece of information).

So does this mean you have to be soft and nice to coach women's football? Well I can assure you I am certainly not soft on my teams and nice, well as my dad would say, "Nice is a biscuit" (sorry English joke). In fact I would say by the time I left Claudelands in New Zealand, I was being just as tough on the girls as I had been on any of my male sides that I coached but it was just done in a different way! The expectations and demands need to be just as high on female footballers but the way you go about achieving them need to be different!

Mia Hamm, one of the greatest ever female footballers, when asked how she wanted herself and her teammates to be coached, replied,

"Coach us like men, treat us like women."

                                                                    Mia Hamm

Her then coach, Tony DiCicco (US National Team), took that to mean,

"Don't think that we, as women, can't compete at the same level of intensity as men do. And don't think that we, as women, can't train at the highest level of fitness as men do. We can, and we want to. We don't want to be coached differently and we don't need to be coached differently. So coach us as you would coach the most elite men's team. And at the same time, treat us like women, which means don't be in our faces, don't be confrontational. Challenge us, but do it in a humanistic way"

                                                   Tony DiCicco

So why am I writing this now? Well for a number of reasons really; firstly, I am still learning and I think as a coach, the day you think you have no more to learn, is the day you are finished! I still make mistakes and I made a mistake at training last night, I was overly critical of a player and it affected her performance. I hopefully have put that right now by reinforcing some of the good work she did in the training session and by providing individual feedback to that player. Secondly, I have had a number of players and parents contact me lately with issues about their playing this season. A number of both senior and junior players or their parents have contacted me and said that they are considering moving clubs or even just not playing this season because of issues at their club and with their coaches. The comments I have heard include; '.. my coach picks on me at training', he says things like 'is that what they teach you there' or 'he just shouts at me, tells me I am no good but doesn't tell me what I am doing wrong or how to do it better' and '... I am not going back to **** to get shouted at and told to run laps'.

In a recent survey completed by over 250 female football players in South Australia, around 70% said they stayed at or went to a club because of the atmosphere at the club and over 60% said they made their decision because of the quality of coaching at the club. The comments that I am hearing about coaches picking on players or shouting at them to run laps do not promote or lead to a positive atmosphere and do not constitute good coaching! They may work in the men's game but they DO NOT work in the women's game!

The sooner clubs and coaches start to take some responsibility for their own actions and strive to improve and promote a positive culture, the sooner the women's game in SA will start to grow and develop.

 

Junior Coaching Seminar

The second monthly Women's Football Coaching Seminar was held at Burton last night and was well attended by around 14 Club Coaches. This seminar focussed on Junior Club Coaching and was led by FFA Skill Acquisition Trainer, Richie Alagich.

FFA in their National Curriculum talk of the building blocks of football development, with Skill Acquisition a key building block for the 9-13 year olds. The Skill Acquisition phase is described as;
- Providing the necessary technical ‘tools’to be able to play the game on the highest possible level
- Focus on FUNCTIONAL GAME SKILL S (as opposed to ‘tricks’)
- This is the decisive age group for acquiring the perfect technical foundation (the ‘Golden Age’ of motor learning)

The Skill Acquisition Phase focusses on 4 Key Skills; 1 v 1, Striking the Ball, Running with the Ball and First Touch. Sessions should be challenging and game related, with specific football resistances, such as space, opposition etc rather than trying to 'beat a cone'.

The session Richie demostrated was a 'Running with the Ball' session as this is a particular area where I would like to see female players encouraged and coached to excel. Players like Katrina Gorry (Melbourne Victory), Lisa De Vanna (Newcastle Jets), Marta (Brazil), Mana Iwabuchi (Japan) and our own Racheal Quigley (Adelaide United) when they run with the ball and run at defenders, they are exciting to watch and they can turn games in an instant. This ability to run with the ball is something we should be encouraging and promoting in our young players.

Richie's session was well received and showed how a session can be fun and interesting for the players whilst focussing on Skill Acquisition and in this instance Running with the Ball. A number of coaches requested that Richie demostrate another session at a later date, which we will look into and try to arrange.

Thanks to Richie for providing his expertise in the area of Skill Acquisition and thank you to the coaches who showed their commitment to furthering their own coaching education and their commitment to the development of their players by attending the seminar.

Next...

So the W League has finished, what next?

Well my role as Head of Women's Football in South Australia will be keeping me busy over the next 9 months before the next W League season.

A Female Football Player Pathway has been developed, with the aim of producing more South Australian Players capable of excelling in the W League and gaining National Team selection. SA has a strong tradition in women's football and has produced the likes of Di Alagich (capped 85 times for Australia), Sharon Black (capped 61 times) and Kristyn Swaffer (capped 30 times). Hopefully the new Female Player Pathway can help produce the next Alagich, Black or Swaffer and the potential is certainly there, I just hope this younger generation are willing to work as hard as their illustrious predecessors!

I am also working with the local women's clubs and coaches to try and improve the overall standard of coaching and competition in the women's game here in South Australia. To this end I have initiated a monthly Women's Coaching Seminar which will focus on different topics each month. The first seminar focused on pre-season training and trying to provide clubs with the ability to do their pre-season conditioning with the ball and in the most specific and progressive way possible. The seminar was well received and the players whose clubs have followed the model have been very positive in their feedback. Unfortunately not every club has been quite so forward thinking and are still resorting to the 'Mount Lofty' Hill runs or the dreaded 'Snake-pit'. To develop the women's game and to do justice to the players who are after all, the lifeblood of the game we have to keep raising the bar and challenging ourselves to do better!

The women's league here in Adelaide has faced considerable issues of late and is shrouded in gossip and rumour currently with at least one club folding, despite winning the cup last year and being league runners-up. There is also a lot of blame being thrown around regarding the league currently, none of which is that helpful. Clubs are being blamed for 'poaching', FFSA is being blamed for favoring clubs or changing the leagues too often and players are being blamed for not showing loyalty or just chasing the dollar each season. In an attempt to get my head around the issues regarding the league I sent out a survey to as many senior female players as possible. Clubs were sent the link to the survey to forward to their players and the link was also posted on the FFSA website so former players could also have their say on the league and the reasons they either stay at clubs or move to new ones or even stop playing the game. Over 200 responses to the survey have currently been received and a number of trends are becoming clear; less than 3% of respondents said they moved clubs for incentives such as free boots or no fees etc, yet around 70% said they chose a club due to the atmosphere at that club and over 60% said they chose a club due to the quality of coaching. A number of good suggestions have been raised in the survey responses and over the next week or so I will be collating all of the responses with the competitions department at FFSA to try and produce a competitive and enjoyable league for the elite players of the region to play in.

On a coaching front, I have now started work with the NTC squad, comprising some of the most talented young female players in the region. I have chosen a squad with real potential and a squad that is capable of learning to play a much more technical brand of football, in line with the modern trends in the game. I want this squad to develop their technical ability and to become a very attractive footballing side, one that is capable of retaining possession and one that is creative and offensively minded. This is going to take time and hard work. Some of these players, if they continue to work hard will force their way into the W League squad and maybe even into national team reckoning as long as they realize that there are no short cuts and no substitute for hard work! Di Alagich, Sharon Black and Kristyn Swaffer all worked hard to get where they did and to represent their country, if this group of girls want to achieve the same and go to Women's World Cups and Olympic Games they too must work hard to develop their skills, fitness and understanding of this great game.

Final game of the season

So the final two games of the season, coming after the Christmas break, pitted The Lady Reds against Canberra and then possibly the most dangerous attacking side in the league, Melbourne.

In the first game against Melbourne we struggled to match them and were comfortably beaten 4-0. This time round we were determined to be more competitive and to finish the season on a high.

Unfortunately Ashleigh Gunning, who has turned into a very successful right back, was unavailable for this game due to picking up her third yellow card against Canberra last week. Grace Henry replaced her at fullback and Ebony Philcox replaced the injured Leanne Slater in midfield.

The game started positively for The Lady Reds, pressing high and preventing Melbourne from playing their slow build up style of play. Donna Cockayne was inches away from proving Adelaide with the lead when she put the ball over stretching to reach a Kath Ebbs cross? In the 20th minute Marijana Rajcic also almost gave the Lady Reds the lead with a looped header that was cleared off the line with the keeper beaten. Although denied this time, a minute later MJ headed strongly from an Anna Green corner to open the scoring and give The Lady Reds a deserved lead. Not long after we lost Ebony Philcox to an ear infection forcing an early substitution.

Frustratingly The lead could not be held until half time after a good Katrina Gorry strike and two 'wind assisted crosses' deceived Sian McLaren in goal and gave Melbourne a slightly fortuitous half time 3-1 lead.

The second half saw another even game with chances at both ends. The Lady Reds showed more potential in the second half, with Racheal Quigley looking dangerous when she ran at players and MJ a constant threat but the only game of the second half came very late and it went to Melbourne to make the final score a 'flattering' 4-1 to Melbourne.

In the after match presentation, Anna Green was unsurprisingly awarded the Player's Player of the year award, for her passionate, whole hearted and skilful performances from left back.

With the W League season over for Adelaide, attention now turns towards the next season and producing an Adelaide side capable of making the top 4. That starts with working with local clubs to improve the quality of coaching and play in The FFSA Women's Premier League and also with the younger players in the NTC and U12, U13, U14 and U15 sides in the FFSA Women's Player Pathway to develop the players of the future - but more on that soon!

Mistakes cost dearly

Hopefully everyone has had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

After a short break, albeit with conditioning sessions to be completed during their 'break', the Lady Reds faced the daunting task of playing Canberra in Canberra on the day they could complete an unbeaten season and confirm themselves as League Champions. To add to the task, injuries to Donna Cockayne and Grace Henry meant changes would have to be made to the Adelaide team that defeated Perth before Christmas.

A game plan was put in place and from the start of the game it was working well. Canberra had the greater share of possession but could not break down the Lady Reds. Kath Ebbs was working tirelessly to limit Sally Shipards influence on the game and the ever improving back four of Ashleigh Gunning, Emma Checker, Abby Erceg and Anna Green were doing well to control the dangerous Michelle Heyman, Ashleigh Sykes and Hayley Raso. Unfortunately one moment of lost concentration gave Canberra the chance they were looking for. After conceding a seemingly harmless throw-in around half way, the Lady Reds switched off, allowing Sally Shipard just a yard of space which was all she needed to lob a ball forward which Michelle Heyman reacted to faster than anyone else and in doing so beat Sian McLaren to the ball and headed home to give Canberra a 1-0 lead. 1-0 turned to two moments later as Heyman added her second after a tiring Ruth Wallace was turned by Hayley Raso.

Wallace who had been rushed back after injury due to the absences of Cockayne and Henry was then replaced by Nenita Burgess to try and slow the Canberra onslaught. This change worked and got the Lady Reds into half time just 2 down. Despite the scoreline I was confident that we could change things around a little at half time and cause Canberra more problems than we had in the first half.

Those changes saw the Lady Reds play a 4222 formation in the second half in an attempt to prevent Canberra from dominating the midfield but also to provide more support for Marijana Rajcic in the attacking third of the field. The changes almost worked straight away with Ashleigh Gunning and Anna Green able to get forward from their fullback positions and Racheal Quigley being able to support MJ more readily. With the score still at 2-0 Ashleigh Gunning got forward and provided a tempting cross for Racheal Quigley which she headed past the scrambling Aroon Clansey in goal for Canberra, only to see the ball bounce back off the inside of the post into the keepers hands. Moments later another cross from the right saw MJ force her way past some tight marking to swivel and shoot from 12 yards out, again only to see Clansey pull off an excellent one handed save to keep the score at 2-0.

As the game progressed the Christmas and New Year 'break' started to show and Canberra's better level of fitness prevailed and saw the scoreline blow out with 3 late Canberra goals. This was another lesson for the Lady Reds and more proof that if we are to be competitive in this league we must be professional in our approach both to our training but also in our social lives over the festive period!

Although the scoreline was dissappointing and although I was and still am frustrated by some of our fitness levels there were still many positives to take from the game. In the opening game of the season Canberra beat us 4-1 but it could have been 10 and their attacking players sliced through our back 4 that day, this time round we were much more solid and made life very difficult for them to break us down until the dying stages of the game.  The possession stats in the opening game were around 65:35 in Canberras favour whilst in this game it was 56:44. We still have a lot to do to get the Lady Reds in a position to challenge for finals football and titles but we are moving in the right direction.

Next year will see a much fitter and technically better side that will be able to keep the ball better and cause teams defensive problems instead of just being difficult to break down but before then we have our final home game of this season to play. The visit of Melbourne will be as tough as going to Canberra. Melbourne have finals football on their minds and they will be looking for a strong finish to secure their top 4 spot and to go into the semi-finals on a high. Hopefully we will have Grace and Donna back in contention for the squad to lessen the blow of missing Ashleigh Gunning through suspension, and hopefully we can give our enthusiastic home support something to cheer about on the 15th at Burton.