The renowned NWSF Academy provides an opportunity for local club players to participate in additional sessions to enhance their football development.
The Academy is for players from U8s to U18s for all genders. Training is delivered by experienced, qualified NWS Spirit FC coaches at Christie Park.
Sessions will develop players understanding of the NWSF DNA by focusing specifically on their core actions through technical repetition and game-based training.
Receiving the ball
When taking a first touch, try to receive the ball with the inside of the foot as often as possible. This allows us to become unpredictable to defenders and go either way with the ball.
Getting free
When on the ball, we want players who try to pass the ball to free teammates, so if you are off the ball, try to ‘get free’ to receive. We want to be able to see the ball, see defenders and see the goal as much as possible. This will help us have an ‘open body’ to receive and play forward effectively.
Running with the ball
When running with the ball, our mantra is ‘get free’, by moving the ball away from defenders, keeping it out of tackling range and taking long touches into space when possible. Doing this helps us get the ball and ourselves closer to goal to score!
Go 1v1
We also love seeing players get past a defender 1v1! Try to use skill moves being used to beat players and get forward.
Scan constantly
At all moments, you should be scanning constantly! This allows us to see when defenders are going to put pressure on us, and therefore helps us make better and quick decisions on the ball.
Poachers
The best way to score is to find poachers! We encourage players to get free in the box so they can score. We also want poachers who can score 1v0, with nobody to beat.
Attacking team tasks
Some of the key skills we want to see in attack are:
- Can you receive the ball with the inside of the foot?
- Can you run with the ball into space?
- Can you keep the ball away from defenders?
- Can you get beyond the defender in a 1v1?
- Can you get free without the ball?
- Can you be a poacher who can score 1-touch?!
Listen out for these mantras and try your best to show us what you can do in attack!
See also if you can spot all these core actions in the following video from our Spirit Mens First Grade side!
Zone rules
Zone rules are a geographical framework that helps us divide the pitch into certain areas.
As you can see, the pitch can be divided into four horizontal ‘blocks’ that are titled Block A, Block B, Block C, and Block D. It is also divided into five vertical ‘lanes’. There are two wide lanes, a central lane, and two ‘halfspaces’ in between each one.
Blocks and lanes give teams structure on how to position themselves to make attacking easier! We will, for example, ask you during gameplay to ‘get into 5 lanes’. This means we want at least one player from the team in each of the lanes of the field. This will help you ‘get free’ and get other players free to be able to pass and run with the ball more easily and therefore create poacher goals!
You can see an example of ‘attacking over 5 lanes’ from our Womens First Grade below.
Parent presentations
We held Academy parent presentationsover the course of the program to give parents information and insight into the NWSF DNA and the pathway opportunities. You can view the recordings below.
Academy pathway
Player development
Tips for parents
The NWSF Academy is a great opportunity to role model to your child how they should reflect on and engage with their learning during training sessions.
We recommend parents ask questions in the car ride home after training such as:
- What were you learning tonight?
- What challenges were you given by the coach?
- How did you go in trying to achieve these challenges?
These open ended questions will encourage your child to actively reflect on their training, and to recall key information taught during the session. This can help them retain the coaching points into their long-term memory. You can support this by asking follow up questions like…
- What were some of the common words the coach used in the session?
- What do you think these words meant?
- How can they help you become a better footballer?
These questions will particularly help your child become smarter and more skilful, which are two of the key words. Another word is tribal, which is about belonging to a group and being loyal & committed to that group. To encourage this attribute, other questions you can ask are:
- What are some of your friends names in training?
- What do you like about your friends?
- How can they support you to become a better footballer?
What is the DNA?
The DNA is a framework for football that guides the NWSF development pathway.
The framework is built around the mission of NWSF, which is to develop the game of football in our local region. From here, we identified six key words that reflect both who we are and who we want to become. These are our ‘DNA’ – the attributes that can help high quality people succeed across the football pathway.
Academy curriculum
Academy sessions focus on developing these DNA attributes in players, by core actions. This refers to specific technical and tactical actions that players learn, and can repeat, again and again, to help them be successful in the game.
We developed our core action curriculum in consultation with Football Australia’s coach education expert and former head of the Australian Institute of Sport, Ron Smith.
You can see the full scope below for each age group. Click on the links to see further detail about what we are coaching, and examples of it in action from our Spirit First Grade teams!
U6-8s
Cycle 1
- Week 1: First touch
- Week 2: Passing the ball
- Week 3: Running with the ball
- Week 4: Turning with the ball
- Week 5: 1v1s
- Week 6: Striking the ball to score
- Week 7: Attacking World Cup
- Gameplay 1: Attacking team tasks
Cycle 2
- Week 8: First touch
- Week 9: Passing the ball
- Gameplay 2: Defending team tasks
- Week 10: Tackling the ball
- Week 11: Intercepting the ball
- Week 12: Stop them scoring
- Week 13: Defending World Cup
U9-12s
Cycle 1
- Week 1: Receiving behaviours
- Week 2: Get free (without the ball)
- Week 3: Get free (with the ball)
- Week 4: 1v1s
- Week 5: Scanning
- Week 6: Get free to score
- Week 7: Attacking World Cup
- Gameplay 1: Attacking zone rules
Cycle 2
- Week 8: Receiving behaviours
- Week 9: Get free
- Gameplay 2: Defending zone rules
- Week 10: Stop them getting free
- Week 11: Stop other players getting free
- Week 12: Stop them scoring
- Week 13: Defending World Cup
U13-18s
Cycle 1
- Week 1: Receiving behaviours
- Week 2: Get free (without the ball)
- Week 3: Get free (with the ball)
- Week 4: 1v1s
- Week 5: Scanning
- Week 6: Get free to score
- Week 7: Attacking World Cup
- Gameplay 1: Attacking zone rules & cues
Cycle 2
- Week 8: Receiving behaviours
- Week 9: Get free
- Gameplay 2: Defending zone rules & cues
- Week 10: Stop them getting free
- Week 11: Stop other players getting free
- Week 12: Stop them scoring
- Week 13: Defending World Cup
How we coach it
Our coaching methodology adopts the philosophy that players learn best when they experience a wide ‘football menu’. This means they should be exposed to a wide variety of sessions across the ‘practice spectrum’, ranging from isolated technical practice to focus on core skills, to game scenarios where they can apply these under pressure and against opponents.
As a core principle of the Academy is to create safe, challenging and fun learning environments, we design our programs so that the ‘football menu’ is varied from week to week. There are also some core ‘DNA exercises’ that become familiar to players so they can focus on applying what they have learnt from week to week.
This is also aligned to the two gameplay sessions which have a specific technical & tactical focus linked to the cycle of learning.
Academy stories
We are very proud of our pathway from Academy!
As you can see, the Academy forms part of the talent foundations whereby players can progress towards development programs at Spirit FC, as well as towards NPL First Grade and A-League academy environments.
Mary Stanic-Floody is one such example. From former NWSF club Kenthurst, she joined the Academy in U10s, before progressing through the NPL system and joining Western Sydney Wanderers. She’s now a proud member of our Womens First Grade squad!
