Coaching award reflects growth of junior football in New Zealand

The growth of junior football in New Zealand is continuing at a rapid rate with playing numbers on the rise and a historic advanced coaching course proving so popular that another has been swiftly scheduled to meet the demand.

The Junior Level 3 Coaching Award is the first of its kind on offer and the initial opportunity to obtain it will take place at Auckland’s Takapuna AFC from 7th to 11th September.

New Zealand Football Coach Development Manager Steven Dillon is delighted to have seen such an enthusiastic response.

Dillon explains "our first ever advanced award for coaches of junior players has proven to be massively popular and the inaugural course has filled up in double-quick time with coaches located all over the North Island."

Another Junior Level 3 course has been scheduled in Auckland later the same month to meet the demand, East Coast Bays FC playing host from 28th September while junior coaches in the South Island will get their turn from 9th to 13th November at the home of the Mainland Football Federation in Christchurch.

The junior coaching pathway previously extended only to Level 2 with graduates then moving on to the youth and senior frameworks if they wished to extend their footballing education.

Dillon says the introduction of a Junior Level 3 is a reflection of the huge importance of the early stages of a player’s development, commenting “creating strong football knowledge and expertise in the junior coaching space is a massive priority for our game.

“A specialist workforce who have a true understanding of coaching junior players will, in turn, ensure we help foster a positive learning experience for junior footballers, retain them in the game and help develop them through into the NZF Youth Framework.”

The course content will be delivered by New Zealand Football Junior Development Manager Owain Prosser and is directly linked to the Skills Centre curriculum - a development programme for the most talented nine to 12-year-olds - and will further reinforce the national body’s wider vision and philosophy on coaching.

Dillon adds “the variety of topics will equip coaches with new knowledge around best practice of junior football development and we are delighted to be able to offer this course as part of the NZF Advanced Coaching.”

New Zealand Football sees an ever-growing need for junior coaches of high quality across the country as the popularity of junior football shows no signs of abating.

The total number of players registered at one of the 347 clubs offering junior football now stands at nearly 53,000 and there are almost 6,000 junior coaches and volunteers involved in the game.

According to Sport NZ research, 71% of all boys in the country participated in football in some form last year while the figure was 52% for girls. 

Through NZ Football’s partnership with McDonald’s, 138,540 player of the day certificates were presented to junior players last year.

Dillon concludes “junior football is hugely important to the development of the game and it is vital that our coaching pathway reflects that by providing courses of an appropriate frequency and level.”

Upcoming NZF Junior Level 3 Coaching Award courses:

Takapuna AFC, Takapuna, Auckland
7th to 11th September
Registrations: FULL

East Coast Bays FC, Oteha, Auckland
28th September to 2nd October
Registrations: Click Here

Mainland Football Federation, Christchurch
9th to 13th November
Registrations: Click Here

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