The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) has spent several years developing the new National Football Curriculum. The purpose of the NFC is to provide a framework to guide coaches and players in how the FFA wants Australian football to be played and coached. The important word here is ‘guide’.
The NFC highlights many aspects of the learning cycles that players go through, from the youngest age through to senior levels. Age bands have been defined to illustrate groupings that, for the most part, suit the maturity and physical development stage of the player. In the diagram below, we can see the four stages of the Training Building Blocks defined by the FFA.
The grey column indicates the age bands, which are only a guide because not all kids start at age five, some start late and some start earlier. Each player grows differently in attitude, maturity and physically, which therefore takes them through these defined blocks at different ages. This is where coaches and parents need to be mindful of what they’re trying to achieve. For many parents AND coaches, accelerating kids through the blocks would be seen as the ultimate goal – get them to the top ASAP so we have the star they (or we) want shining for all to see. The danger in this, of course, is that they skip over all the values that could be learned and adapted in a way that develops players for a more enjoyable experience.
The discovery phase is a period where players learn to enjoy the team sport and grasp the concept of football as a fun activity with other beginners. It is the phase where coaches should really just facilitate and let the kids learn through a variety of games that enable a love of football to grow. As the players learn more about the game they will also start to show a desire to progress and improve their abilities which in turn will lead them into the skill acquisition phase.
In my opinion the discovery phase doesn’t really stop! Players of all ages try things and learn to adapt their own style of play to suit the challenge. We have to accept that there’s never just one way to play the most popular team sport on the planet! Time to explore and discover more footballing fun.
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