The FA, in their infinite wisdom, have made a ruling that players with Centres of Excellence (CoE) or Academies, will only be able to play for them and not for any other teams.

This appears to have arisen out of a movement across the country to improve the level of the national game, mainly to get better players coming through to the men's national side.  The blanket decision appears to be without a great deal of consideration for the majority of grass-roots clubs across the nation.

Luckily, it links in with a belief at this club, which is focused on the player's development and not winning trophies at all costs.  The whole concept of football coaching should be to bring the best out of players of whatever ability and provide an environment where they can learn and enjoy the game.

The "win at all costs" mentality of some clubs and coaches produce moments of joy for their sides, but do they do the best for the players ?  I suppose they will say "Show us your medals", but then surely there is more to football than that.

A series of articles in the Times in November 2007 looked at the way youth football was going and while it was predominantly about the boys game, with the aim at looking at ways football could be improved for their development, the points raised are equally relevant to the women's game.

"Mini-soccer was supposed to be about coaching, not competition," said Mike Fellows of the Birmingham County FA.  Calls for the small sized game to be extended beyond it's current under-11 age group have been made ,to prevent smaller children running miles on big pitches and making goals smaller to accommodate the height of younger children, instead of playing in full size goals.

Some quotes make the prospect seem a sensible move ...
"As long as they are enjoying themselves, and playing in the right atmosphere, in a conducive framework and getting a lot of touches (of the ball), does it really matter ?"  Howard Wilkinson - FA Technical Director - on playing mini-soccer, whether six-a-side, seven-a-side or nine-a-side for over 11s.
"Manchester United decided to scrap eight versus eight for Under-9s and play four versus four.  In sports science, there is no greater determinant of skill acquisition than the number of touches of the ball.  They've got to be touching the ball, playing football for their neuromuscular systems to learn how to play." - Rick Fenoglio - lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of the Manchester United academy coaching manual.

Maybe a bit technical, but Fenoglio promotes the renouncement of league structures and just having festivals of football or fun days, where the kids can play their football and enjoy themselves without the win-at-all-costs mentality pushing them.  To develop players who have a greater ability on the ball, it is necessary to spend a lot of time with the ball and that is not always possible when you have bigger children kicking the ball half the length of the field or worse, kicking players up in the air.  By developing the strongest fittest teams, it may be that the individual interests of the players are not being properly catered for.  That is why coaching is so important.  It has to focus on the needs of individual players to promote their strengths and improve their weaknesses. 

Increasing the standard of coaching is another aim of the FA, to enhance the way children are taught.  This is fine, as most youth team coaches have a Level 1 qualification and some have progressed to Level 2 and some even to Level 3, but for many it is a way of helping to provide for organised football training for their son or daughter and other girls.  Moving up the coaching ladder might be something that is beyond them because of either time constraints (once you get past Level 1, the courses are longer to gain your qualifications) or because they do not wish to go along that career path.  Particularly in the women's game, there is no professional structure and the possibility of getting a paid position as a coach is extremely limited.

The articles looked at a range of solutions for youth football and these included -

• the reduction of numbers on the pitch
• reducing the size of the pitches
• reducing the size of the goals
• moving the time of year games are played to the summer, when children don't have to plough through muddy pitches
• improving the behaviour of parents to end the "win-at-all-costs" attitude amongst them

All food for thought and some ideas, which were even more controversial, like letting under-nine games be self-refereeing.  It was found that things went better when the players were allowed to referee their own games.  Parents lacked a hate-figure to berate and the kids made honest decisions about fouls, throw-ins and corners.  Obviously, such a move would need to be made before any cynicism has crept into the young player's game, but on the whole, it is a move which might teach them respect for each other as well as the laws of the game.

Academies and Centres of Excellence only play friendlies, which has attracted criticism from some quarters, but the end product is the real criteria on judging whether this is the way to go.

The move by the FA will produce a more level playing field across women's football (and maybe men's), but there is a worry that girl's teams will just be a breeding ground for the CoEs and they will be stripped of their best players, perhaps leaving many teams facing collapse, through waning interest from players who might not make that grade.  This is where the individual training needs must be addressed.

Many teams who have walked away with trophies this season and in the past, might suddenly find that they are no longer the top of the pile.  It needs a fresh approach to take their new sets of players forward in the same manner.

Rick Fenoglio said of his ideas in one of the Times' articles, "The people who don't like us are the youth leagues - because we think clubs should pull out of these leagues and start their own more ethical leagues and festivals instead - and all those "winning" coaches and their own little empires."  I think this does a disservice to those who give their time and dedication to operate the leagues that run across the country week after week, year after year, but it is an interesting concept.

So, if there are medals and trophies at the end of it all, it is all well and good, but does it necessarily produce better players ? 

The argument will continue to rage.