Whats Under Age Football Like In Your County

robpurf

this has been bothering me the last two weeks.im a referee(for my sins) and in the last two saturdays ive refereed under 14 games here in meath at two different divisions.both ended up in massive wins for the winning team,but the skill level was terrible.lads couldnt catch balls,were afraid to go down and pick it up,couldnt kick it very far and had very poor hand passing technique to name a few things.in fairness the lower divison game i refereed was played on a bog of a pitch in a gale of wind and rain and actually produced better football.

now i know people that run underage teams do so giving up lots of free time and i admire them for it but i can definitly say the standard is slipping in meath in a big way and im wondering what its like around the country??

Yavvy

I watched a game last week out in Newbridge - Kildare and kids off the local team were pretty good. I guess they were 12 or 13 ( im not sure)

good catching, passing some amazing blocking and one kid even chipped the ball up into this hands while running.

However I did notice a significant number of kids who are clearly soccer players first, they are easy to spot - they can catch and kick ( although the kicking style is that of a goal keeper from soccer ) the are fast and tend to take a bounce but solo's are very dodgy and they tend not the bend their back for the ball instead rollig it up with the boot.

I think the Standard was good for the age and hopefully they willl get more enjoyment from GAA than Soccer.

Diabhal Beag

Galway is good. I can't really complain

Daysha

Significantly improved over the last few years. We've never had the best minor or U21 team in the world but there's always a few really good players coming through to keep the clock ticking.

Our recent highlights are definitely De La Salle College winning back to back Harty and All-Ireland trophies, which is really something to be commended for. There's certainly a few players on that panel that'll break into the senior panel in the future.

robpurf

must be just meath then.im waiting for someone else from the royal county to come on and slate my original post

LeoB

Dont think anyone will be giving out about your post at all. And it aint just Meath. We were only having a chat about this yesterday in our club after the parade and the basic skill level is terrible. But lets not kid ourselves it is not just juvenile level its at all grades. How many players do you know can repeatly kick a ball over the bar from outside the exclusion zone. Not many I bet.
Look at Dublin. Plan "A" keep the ball, there is so much handpassing the other skills are being neglected and when the oppertunity arrives players cant score. Most teams have 1 or 2 forwards who get most of their scores and they manafactur free kicks.

To much time is spent on physical fitness and skills are being neglected. How often do you see kids practising the basic skills on their own.
I have been coaching for years mainly juvenile running our club academy and I concentrate on Catching and Kicking with both feet. Nothing else. If kids master these skills early the rest can be developed later.

I have just got involved with U/14 team and we concentrate only on working with a ball. Players enjoy this more and drills can be developed to have plenty of running.

On the fitness side of things most kids today dont have jobs on farms like I did or maybe you did. These jobs gave us a good core strength which a lot of kids lack. We were doing weight training before it became a science. Most dont know what a 4stone bag of spuds look like yet we were delighted to lug them around fields and in the evenings it was off to kick a ball.

Yavvy

apart from Dublin being able to keep the ball I 100% agree

LeoB

Alany wrote: »

apart from Dublin being able to keep the ball I 100% agree

Its fine to keep the ball and have lads who can run all day but as Paidi O'Se said to me one day you can run all you want but if you dont know where your going or how to get there its not much use.

Tyrone play keep ball and Kerry can also play it, but they have 14 players on the field who can score which to me means they train hard but they have maintained a very high level of the basic skills throughout their squad. Look at the amount of times both their defences get on the score sheet, and more importantly get the vital scores.

This has let Dublin down over the years with only a few players capable of consistantly scoring. This in my oponion goes back to club football wher I feel in Dublin to much time is spent on physical fitness and not on the skills.

robpurf

what kills me is you see under 12 and under 14 teams spend ten fifteen minutes stretching.now i done a coaching course and we were told on it kids that age dont need to be doing so much because they are naturally more supple at a younger age.and leo your dead right to keep doing the ball work if kids enjoy training they will keep coming its that simple

phil

robpurf wrote: »

what kills me is you see under 12 and under 14 teams spend ten fifteen minutes stretching.now i done a coaching course and we were told on it kids that age dont need to be doing so much because they are naturally more supple at a younger age.

Uh, no ... kids should be stretching. They should be learning good habits at a younger age, but aside from the fact that it'll help them in later life, it increases their flexibility and range of motion.

Please don't propagate stories like this - kids should be stretching and stretching well at training and before and after games.

Phil.

LeoB

phil wrote: »

Uh, no ... kids should be stretching. They should be learning good habits at a younger age, but aside from the fact that it'll help them in later life, it increases their flexibility and range of motion.

Please don't propagate stories like this - kids should be stretching and stretching well at training and before and after games.

Phil.

I think you may be missing robpurf's point, what is actually happening on the ground is a lot of kids are being ran into the ground by coachs and managers doing ridiculous exercises and it is not doing them any good. Some stretching is fine and shuttle runs with a ball. I think I read somewher that in New Zealand they have compulsory P.E.from SENIOR INFANTS. Its just to teach them good habits.
Some people coaching teams are doing their best and in some cases are doing it because no one else will. But there needs to be a policy of educating more people about the requirement needed to coach at the various age groups and the qualified coachs in clubs need to step in and shout stop to people who run kids into the ground.
The Leinster council tutors are very good at developing plans and if anyone is in doubt contact the Leinster Council. We hae a coaching tutor in our club and have just set up a committee of 3 experienced people who understand the physics of it all and they also played to a high standard. Also Dr Niall Moyna in D.C.U is well worth contacting. One of our lads done an 8 week course with him and was amazed at what he picked up. He is now helping other coachs in our club and the night sky is littered with as many balls as stars.:)

robpurf

thats the point leo managers doing full training sessions with kids as a warm up to a game.its laughable at adult level let alone under age

Ruffina07

In fairness if the kids arent picking up balls properly and general skills are lacking, there is only one possible answer to why thats happening...and its not down to soccer or any other sport that they may be playing outside of GAA. Its all down to training. GAA is a faster game than most other games but also one of the games that you are not only expected to have speed but finely tuned skills also. Where does a kid learn this??? Training. How many of the kids off that team you refer to in Meath spend time on skills alone?? Most kids who are dragged off their playstations / WII or whatever other sins they like to indulge in are able to run. God knows as a Mum of a 9 year old its stopping him running is the problem. But it takes a great trainer to teach the skills they need while running during a game. Young kids are constantly watching soccer skills on the tv and listening to endless debates on radios of how the Ronaldo's/Scholes/Giggs played the ball during the game whereas not so much about GAA skills which is a sad state of affairs. So to answer your question...skills skills skills.and although I agree that a warm up and stretching is good before a match but I dont know too many kids that havent been warming up since 8am on a Saturday morning when they have jumped out of bed and are kicking a ball around on the green outside the house. And if they arent then try unplugging their Playstations and kick them out the front door to practice their GAA skills...

Poor_old_gill

Underage is good from what I have seen (Kerry).
I have a younger brother who was playing under 8 and ten last year and is under 10 this year. The standard at their games was quite good- most players could catch and kick to a good standard.
They do a lot of practicing with their weaker leg, my brother and his mates who often call over could pass into your hands about 20 yards off weaker leg which is good skill to acquire early.

LeoB

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Underage is good from what I have seen (Kerry).
I have a younger brother who was playing under 8 and ten last year and is under 10 this year. The standard at their games was quite good- most players could catch and kick to a good standard.
They do a lot of practicing with their weaker leg, my brother and his mates who often call over could pass into your hands about 20 yards off weaker leg which is good skill to acquire early.

And this breeds a very high standard of basic skill which can lead to success in later years. Kerry the prime example of wonderful skill.

Ruffina07 agree with you on the playstations, plug them out. Throw your kids out onto the green apart from improving their skills it should improve their social skills also.
But remember parents need to get off their backsides and give the coach a hand picking up cones and markers. You dont have to like the coach but more parents need to appreciate the efforts most coach's put into their team and a litle more help could improve things greatly. Instead of running players into the ground to take the edge of them the coach could do more skill work and really raise the standard