Kids Football (Soccer) in Adelaide

[Runcorn2Adelaide]

After been here 6 months, here is a quick overview on my impression of kids soccer scene here in Adelaide.

 

General

Football is managed by the Football Federation of South Australia, often called federation football or FFSA.

http://www.ffsa.com.au/default.asp

Football season starts with Friendly/trial matches in Feb.

Season Proper starts in March

Season finals are held in September. (6 months)

 

Mini-Soccer

Mini Soccer for U7's-U11’s is only being introduced over here for the 09/10 season.

 

School Soccer

Primary School level Soccer is managed by local associations which may or may-not be affiliated to FFSA. (Known as zones)

School level soccer is very much entry level competition, and is about the children having a go.

Zone Teams are selected from local school teams to play against each other in an inter-zone/state Tournament.

Trials/Selections for this squad take place around October/November for the following season starting in March.

 

Club Soccer

Club soccer is extremely well organised over here, with most clubs having large facilities with changing rooms, club houses and floodlights etc

To help in minimising travel, the junior leagues are split into North, Central, West and South. Most clubs will run an A & B Team, the B Teams play against each other in their own “B” team leagues.

Club soccer is very competitive and is played to a good level. Training is twice a week with matches at the weekend. – You will be surprised at how good the level is..

Club soccer prices can vary from around $300-$700 per season depending upon the club, but generally includes the registration, kit, polo shirt and bag.

Trials/Selections for clubs take place around October/November for the following season starting in March.

 

Private Academies and ClinicsPrivate Academies are popular over here for lots of reasons.

 

• The season is only 6 months, academies will train all year.
  
• Helps Children Bridge the gap between school and club football
  
• Supports the club coaching to emulate English/European academy levels of training (i.e. up to 6 times a week)
  
• Offers chances to go interstate and even overseas for tournaments and trials.
  

Two such academies are:

Premier Football Academy Australia

http://www.pfaasa.com/

Football Focus

http://www.footballfocus.com.au/

Hope this helps

Si

[cormcvcr]

Excellent post, really good information.

 

My OH is a coach for the U13's state team, coach for U'11's Cove team and coach for U11's HCEP school team.

 

There are also ways in which any adult with a keen interest in learning how to coach and develop skills can do so by going to licenced coaching coarses, through FFSA. These are really good fun, but also turn you from a player into a coach (there is a massive difference), these can be paid for through the school you wish to coach through or through a club you wish to be involved with, so the only cost to yourself is your time.

 

I myself have done the junior licence to enable me to give my all to coach kids in the school and clubs.

 

If I can do it anybody can, it's a very rewarding experience and I would highly recommend it.

 

Also without adults helping and participating in these areas a lot of schools could not continue to provide this sport for the kids who so dearly love it.

[Anne B]

Thanks for the information. When we eventually get there no doubt my son will want to continue playing - he currently plays U-10s. However, I suspect that football isn't really his best sport so maybe he will find something else that suits him better. He loves running and I can't wait to get him involved in Little Athletics. We live a bit out in the sticks here in the Uk and there's nothing like that here.