Lions launch soccer school
Tuesday 29th November 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
GUERNSEY FC are already looking to the future by introducing a new Soccer School for children, under the banner ‘Securing the Future’.
The brainchild of the Green Lions coach Tony Vance (pictured), it will feature GFC Skills Award Badges and be run by many of the club’s star players.
Vance explained: ‘In most other sports or activities, there are opportunities to be rewarded for achievements, for example in swimming there is a 25-metre badge,’ he said.
‘That isn’t the case in football, so hopefully by having Skills Badges, it gives children something to aim for and thus be more focused as a result.’
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So the local established clubs can look forward to losing their most promising minis then
Keep going GFC, only the youth age groups to go, then you have completed the hat trick
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I think this is a mistake.
Guernsey FC is/was a target for good young players in the Priaulx to aim for. They could improve their skills and advance their football careers by playing in the local league and, if good enough, get a place in GFC and/or the “national” Guernsey team. As mista joon says, there is a great risk that the new soccer school will suck ambitious school age players out of the existing system to the detriment of island football generally.
It would have been better if Tony Vance had lent his name (and his star players) to improving existing structures rather than setting up in competition.
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mista joon, if GFC didn’t make an effort to bring on younger players they would be ctiticized for stealing good players from other clubs only once they become old enough. Times are changing, GFC is here to stay. You should be proud of them not just having a whinge from the sidelines.
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I for one am pleased that we are now hearing others voice their concerns at GFC, myself and Laurie have been doing it for months and it is not because we are stubborn dinosaurs who are stuck in the past it is because we genuinely care and have seen these schemes fail in the past. Beanjar you have no idea what you are talking about. They are here to stay as long as Guernsey can provide players good enough to progress but eventually GFC will reach a level where, if they want to continue to move forwards, they will have to attract non locals. So they just cant win as if they continue as they are then their success will be their downfall and if they fail then they just fail. But in the meantime local football gets ripped appart by the wake that GFC leaves and now that they propose to start their own youth set up our clubs are destined to lose the best of their talent. What a mess, what a complete mess. I am so sick of the ‘be proud’ brigade who have only turned up to support local football in the last 3 or 4 months, some of us have been here for years. Keep your GFC and stop going on and on about it being a ‘community club’ it is a ‘local football killer’
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if as quoted it is for children i dont see a problem,as long as they carry on with their clubs. but i was under the belief that the football dev. officers duties covered children,is there still a f.d.o.?
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If you read the article correctly this is not going to replace the minis set up on a Saturday but work alongside and continue to improve the quality of coaching offered to our youngsters. Parents are always keen to get their children involved in something positive like this and I wish GFC and their team of coaches the best of luck in this new and exciting venture.
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Beanjar
It may surprise you that I am basically in favour of the objectives of GFC, but I am against the way they have muscled in and disrupted much of GFA football
Suarez
They have to start somewhere, and of course they will say that they are not going to take the more promising minis from the current Saturday set up – that announcement will be delayed a while
By the way, do the GFA still have their own Academy? If so, how will this new GFC scheme sit alongside that? In a recent radio interview, GFC’s Mark Le Tissier stated that his son played for Vale Rec minis and also attended the soccer academy (or whatever the correct name for it is), so it is possible the new GFC soccer school will affect that
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how is the GFC idea any different to what le tiss was running with Aztec as the sponsor?
Club players are selected for extra coaching on a week night and play up a year in the regular Saturday competions etc.
The only reason Aztec stepped in was because the fdo at the GFA made such a mess of running the “school of excellence”.
Laurie – I thin he is still there, unfortunately…
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Do you really think that GFC will run a youth section without giving them any games. Ed – I understand your point but the Aztec solution was to give the elite players the chance to train together and improve with players of their own ability. This GFC venture must be in opposition to this. I always thought there was strict rules regarding the amount of football youngsters were allowed to play, isnt it something within the child protection rules. Now we have club youth sections, aztec soccer schools and gfc soccer school and the elite players will be involved in all of them! Then we have school football, my god where does it stop!
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There seems to be too many egos getting in the way of youth player development on Guernsey. Parents need to research or be educated on what coaching their son/daughter will receive. Grass Roots is suffering at present due to the emphasis being on winning matches rather than developing!
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