Sports Management Q2 2011 - UUM

FOOTBALL
formats at Under 7 level up to adult 11-aside
from 2013 to 2014 is mooted, as are
changes in selection that could see club
age groups determined by the calendar,
not academic, year.
Another element of the future vision for
youth football is the education of parents
and coaches to ensure a more child-centred
environment. Levett says it will draw
on the Respect campaign and the sharing
of good practice: “It’s about making sure
we share the messages that children are
saying about their game and recognise
that it’s ‘their’ game – not the adult game.
“Let the kids enjoy it and get away
from the win at all cost culture and teach
kids to play the game. By virtue they’ll win
more because they’ll get better,” he says.
Facility investment
Something that will certainly help facilitate
the development of players from
an early age is the quality of pitches and
training venues – an area, which Mark
Pover believes is vital: “It’s well understood
in football that if you don’t have
the pitches, you don’t have a game.
Somewhere along the line, somebody’s
ST GEORGE’S PARK...
S
t George’s Park is the FA’s flagship
development – a new national
centre for football that will be
located near Burton-upon-Trent in
Staffordshire. Construction is now underway
on the venue, which will provide
a base for the FA’s coach education
agenda and will provide a development
centre for refereeing, sports science and
administration.
The complex will also provide a training
venue for each of the FA’s 22 representative
teams – including the England
senior men’s team. The
FA’s head of the
national game,
The national centre for
football will be a hub
for player development
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There should be a move
away from the ‘win at all
costs’ culture so kids can
just play the game
got to look at the investment and the
stock of facilities and improve them.”
Kelly Simmons argues that investment
in pitches and facilities has benefited
greatly under the NGS, although she says
that more can be still be done. Pover
backs that sentiment up, saying that
there has been nearly £750m invested in
facilities over the past decade. However,
it is believed that only 5-6 per cent of
England’s facility stock has been covered
with that spending.
Kelly Simmons, believes its value will be
significant: “It’s about having a hub that’s
a real focus for excellence and having the
best courses, research and materials and
cascading that down through the coaching
networks,” she says.
St George’s Park has been a number of
years in planning, but it has been a project
that the FA had to put on the backburner
due to the construction of the new Wembley
Stadium in London. Now, the complex
is set to provide a purpose-built venue to
improve coaches and enhance the standard
of football in England.
“It’s beneficial in that you have a central
location that you can take people to that
With the FA unable to cover the remainder
itself, it is looking to support
improvement projects being carried out
by schools, local authorities and other
groups across the country. A Technical
Standards document is due to be released
later this year, which will contain
FA specifications for all aspects of a footballing
venue – from pitches, to changing
rooms, through to floodlighting.
“We would expect that, if we’re not
funding it, people would use what the
they can train at, and that everything
is there that will help and support the
development of those players,” explains
national facilities manager Mark Pover.
“You won’t just have the pitches and
video modules, but you’ll also have
sport science, rehabilitation – all of the
aspects of the professional game.”
Pover says the centre could also
have a positive impact on groundmanship:
“We’ll use Burton as a centre for
innovation, looking at new techniques
and supporting our partnership with
the Institute of Groundsmanship to
deliver and emphasise the importance of
groundsmanship as a profession.”
Issue 2 2011 © cybertrek 2011