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Philosophy
East Coast Soccer School (ECSS) is a skills-based soccer program designed for players aged 5-15 years old. Our goal is to develop the complete footballer by providing players with a great place to train, learn and develop their football capability. We have brought together experienced, quality coaches from all around NSW to deliver and execute a variety of precision junior soccer training programs.
Here at ECSS, it’s not just about learning essential soccer skills, we aim to improve on all sides of the game including the technical, tactical, physical and psychological. Our goal is to see development, not only in soccer but essential life skills required to succeed. We encourage and nurture sportsmanship, respect, teamwork, mental strength, and the development of listening skills in all our future soccer stars while operating in a safe environment.
At East Coast Soccer School, a substantial focus is on the players as individuals and their development not only as footballers but also as people. We aim to develop what we call ‘the complete footballer’. A variety of factors are involved in developing the complete footballer, and below we dive into what we believe these are.
Technical and Tactical Development
Our core football focus is on developing a player's technical and tactical abilities. We believe a player with good core skills including ball mastery, first touch and striking the ball is the foundation of a solid player. In addition, spatial awareness, intelligent decision making and speed of play are just some of the tactical sides of the game we stress are crucial in the development of the complete footballer. In order to achieve our desired outcomes, a large focus is put on small-sided games such as 1 v 1, 2 v 1 and 3 v 2. Creating a numerical advantage in favour of the attacking team promotes a greater success rate, reinforcing positive outcomes and instilling confidence in players. With this approach, regardless of ability, it maximizes touches of the ball and involvement in every single moment of the drill, on and off the ball. This allows us to shift the focus onto the development of the player and not the result.
The Importance of Winning and Losing
Too often we see kids become a shell of themselves due to a coaches ‘win at all cost’ mentality. This approach has polluted junior sports so much so that it can turn kids away from a sport that they once loved and adored. On the opposite side of the spectrum, we also see the coaches who put no emphasis on winning at all and are simply there to take part without any real hunger or desire to win.
At ECSS we believe the right recipe is a balance and we sit somewhere in the middle of the 2 extreme approaches above.
It's important children learn how to win, whilst its equally important kids learn how to lose. No one plays a game with the goal of losing. A degree of focus should be results-driven. However, it's important that children recognize losing is part of life and in order to better themselves, they must go through adversity and hardship to learn and progress. We teach to win with grace and lose with grace whilst placing more focus on the children’s development as people, which in our eyes is creating winners.
Life Skills
We believe that coaches play an essential role in the development of children's life skills. Therefore we aim to instil respect, leadership qualities and social competence in all of our players. It’s generally believed that kids can transfer the skills learned in sport to other areas of life. We recognize that different personalities respond well to different approaches and we believe through our coaching experience we have built up the knowledge to truly get the best out of each kid. Whether it's through discipline or nurture, our coaches are well equipped with a wide set of skills to get the best out of every kid we come across.
EDUCATE
We are advocates of learning and we believe it is our job to educate, on and off the field. Whether it's teaching technical, tactical, physical or psychological skills we are always trying to explain the importance of what we are doing and why we must do it. Giving kids a reason ‘WHY’ reinforces the information we are giving and allows kids to go on to think for themselves, instead of relying on other external influences like parents, teammates or even coaches. In turn, this improves the speed of play, reaction times and encourages good habits during the game.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, our goal is simple. We aim to produce well-rounded, technically gifted footballers as well as confident, respectful and well-disciplined younger athletes while having fun!