Juniors
Junior Football is for players 9 years through to 12 years old. Called Mini Football, the NZ Football curriculum describes the aim at this age is to develop the football specific movement and technical capabilities to support lifelong participation in football.
In Mini Football, each player’s experience should be filled with motivational and competitive challenges, with a growing emphasis placed on the learning of football skills within the context of the game. Mini Football players are hungry to learn, so coaches should be incorporating game-based approaches to learning the more advanced skills required in the game. As players progress through Mini Football, they start to develop a greater understanding of how the game is played both in attack and defence, and will start to understand how to create and deny time and space. It is the expectation that the season should offer motivation, competition and learning, to develop a well rounded player. Mini Football is referred to as the ‘skill acquisition phase’ and our qualified coaches will create a challenging environment for all players to learn the skills they need to succeed in football.
At WCFC we follow the Whole of Football program and NZF Junior Framework outlined by New Zealand Football. Both program booklets can be read by clicking on the below links.
NZ Football Whole of Football plan.
Key focus at this age:
Develop a team based culture through trust, responsibility and ownership and emphasising working together.
Allowing players to refine techniques and encourage advanced skill development.
Introducing more advanced tactical elements through game based learning.
Developing agility and speed techniques.
Giving all kids plenty of involvement in games and good encouragement.
Trainings will be scheduled following muster and team selection.
Higher graded teams may decide to train more than once per week.
First training will be March 4th.
Games are Saturday’s, generally 10am kickoff.
Season kicks off Sat May 2nd.
All trainings for this age will be held at Fred Taylor Park. All teams will compete in NFF competitions with alternating home and away matches.
Structure:
Teams.
All players will train in house and play a Saturday competition against other NFF teams, either home or away.
9th and 10th grade teams play 7v7 with 10 players per side.
11th and 12th grade teams play 9v9 with 12 players per side.
All teams will be selected following muster at the beginning of the year and a coach/ manager will be assigned to each team.
Delevopment.
The first and second teams in each grade are considered to be the development teams of the club. Through a selection process the best players will be given the opportunity to play in these teams.
Development teams will have NZF Qualified Junior coaches and train using the NZF Skill Centre curriculum. Players will have access to better training, better coaching and greatly improved development.
Teams will play at the highest level to challenge their development.
Additional costs will be applied to the fees of players that commit to these development teams.
Format.
Fields for 9th and 10th grade games are approximately 50m x 30m. Games consist of 2x 25 min games.
Fields for 11th and 12th grade games are approximately 70m x 50m (1x half field). Games consist of 2x 27.5 min games.
All grades play with size 4 ball.
Trainings will run by the team coach and delivered according to the Whole of Football plan and NZF Junior framework.
All games and trainings should be a safe space where the kids are encouraged to try something new and learn from their mistakes.
Basic rules.
All players are encouraged to enjoy themselves and not be afraid to try something new. Emphasis is on involvement and participation across all the activities and games.
Goalkeepers are introduced at 9th grade and are the only player allowed to handle the ball on the field of play. Any restarts from a keeper saving or stopping the ball must be thrown or played from the ground to a team mate. Drop kicking the ball from the keepers hands is not allowed.
The retreating line is introduced properly at 9th grade. Please read the booklet here to learn more about the retreating line system.
Goal kicks and corners are standard. Restarts from a goal being scored are taken from the centre of the field by passing to a team mate.
Throw ins to be used when the ball goes over the side lines. Coaches / referees to encourage good technique and allow for re-throws.Free kicks may be awarded for tripping, kicking or pushing opposition players, handball or any form of aggressive dangerous play. Coaches / referees may stop the game to ask / explain a better technique to tackle.
All players should be involved in games and any subs rotated so everyone gets plenty of game time.
Parents and supporters.
Parents are encouraged to be involved in the team management or coaching.
All parents and supporters should watch the games from the sidelines instead of behind the goals.
Positive encouragement and cheering makes for a great atmosphere for the kids.
Negative comments, don’t and shouldn’t have no place at WCFC. This is not the world cup!
Coaching.
Waitakere City FC invites anyone who wants to get involved in coaching or just as a parent helper to attend NZF coach education.
We can assist anyone who has a passion for teaching the kids to help them on their way through the coaching program.
For more information see here.
WCFC Team Shirts.
Waitakere City FC Team playing shirts are available to buy at the Club shop here.
Every First Kicks player wears the same Lotto black shirt, black shorts and black socks.
Coordinators
Drew Knauf: Junior and Youth Football Coordinator
juniors@waitakerecityfc.org.nz
021 357 507
Richard Petley: Junior Committee
022 670 1944