Development phases in a football program
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Richard Alagich Richard gained his qualifications as a specialist football Coach from the University of Zagreb, Croatia.
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A common question that I always get asked in youth development is at what age should football specialisation start?
My attitude is that football can be played at any age but specialised systematic coaching should start around the age of 9 to 10 years. At this age the psychomotor and intellectual functions are well balanced.
In other words the players are physically and mentally well balanced to start learning the technical-tactical elements of the game in a structured systematic development program.
I say that it is around the age of 9 to 10 years simply because there are biological differences between players even though they are of the same calendar age. For example, in a junior team, you will always have players that look older and behave much older than others even though they are of the same calendar age.
This is why there is no definite age when to start on the development program, just around 9 to 10 years. (This period of 9 to 10 years does not necessary apply to other sports.)
It takes almost a decade to develop a player so coaches should be patient with the development process and not try to ‘feed’ too much information in too short a time.
They should get away from the winning emphasis, where concentration is on tactical and physical development, and spend more time in the early phases of creating a solid working base with technical development.
In understanding this it is necessary for the coach to plan and execute structured coaching sessions with movements the player will experience in the game.
This modern tendency is called situational coaching.
My football development program is made up of 6 levels or 3 phases:
Level 1: 5 to 8 years – fun phase
Levels 2 and 3: 9 to 12 years – technical phase
Level 4, 5 and 6: 13 to 18 years – tactical – physical phase
