State Teams

[slazenger]

Anyone know when the trials are to be occurring?
Has it been finalised whether it will be 16's and 18's or 15's and 17's?

[pvfc]

Well since FFSA are now advertising the U17 Dev squad trials for 2nd and 5th Feb, I think we can assume it will be U15 and U17?

Apparently all players (including SASI players) must be in the dev squad to be eligable for the 2009 State Team. So if any girls have ambitions of making it into this years U17 state team then they must trial on 2nd & 5th Feb.

I am told that details for U15 will be out within the next fortnight.

[pvfc]

U17 trials were changed due to hot weather.

Latest update:

U17 trials 5th and 9th Feb, 6pm at SAWSA grounds, Greenhill Rd.

U15 trials 11th and 13th Feb, 6pm at SAWSA grounds, Greenhill Rd.

Details and forms can be found on FFSA web site.

[John Cena]

whos coaching

[pvfc]

U17 - Vito Basile
U15 - Richard Preston

[batumgoesthedynamite]

only 29 girls showed up for under 17 trials

very disappointing.

where have all the players gone.

should easily be a bigger amount out for the 15s, if not, then serious alarm bells should be ringing.

[Gusoir81]

WHILE Wang Lina's friends were wandering around shopping malls on the weekend, she was walking through strawberry fields; when others were sleeping in cozy beds, she was delivering strawberries to supermarkets.

Wang, 25, was chosen for the "100 best village heads in China" list last month, the only graduate to get the award.

She graduated from Beijing Union University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2005. But she decided to become an assistant to the village committee chairperson in Ertiaojie, Pinggu District of Beijing, rather than take a job with the Bank of China.

"I grew up in a rural part of Beijing and have a special love for country people," Wang explained, "so I decided to go there to do something useful for them."

No one really told me what to do

But upon arrival in the village, she found herself dealing with trivial matters all day: "As an assistant, I didn’t have any particular job. My work was to help the chairman deal with village problems, things like resolving quarrels between couples. No one told me I was here to do great things, but I thought that, since I’m here, I might as well do something useful."

She also found that the villagers just played cards since they could only rest during the cold winter, or just planted cabbage or white radishes, which brought in little money.

"I remembered that the price of strawberries in Beijing was very high in winter," Wang said, "so I asked myself, 'why not raise strawberries to earn money?’

"You’re seldom given much responsibility when you get to a new job like this. But if you have an idea that could benefit the place, why not try it?" Wang continued.

It was a tough row to hoe

Wang then hurriedly wrote a proposal and got 500,000 yuan in funding from the government. But it wasn’t going to be plain sailing. For one thing ?C no one knew a thing about raising strawberries.

Next, she turned to the marketplace, where she asked the sellers about their supplies. They told her that the best ones were in Hebei, Henan and Shandong provinces. So, she headed off to those provinces to learn about strawberries for two months.

"I showed the villagers several video tapes about strawberry planting that I recorded in Shandong," Wang explained. "After watching the videos, they could see that it wasn’t that hard."

After two months, they had 120 mu of land ready for planting. However, Wang didn’t stop here. She made weekly visits to the Agricultural Sciences Academy to talk with experts about the details of planting. It was a 200-kilometer trip, but she insisted on taking the bus to save money.

"You meet difficulties when you start out. But it doesn’t matter if you can learn from experts," said Wang. "Contact the people who can provide useful information. Learning improves your ability."

From local markets to Wal-Marts

To make it easier wow power leveling for the villagers, Wang Lina prepared a summary of planting methods and made a planting calendar for each farmer.

After four busy months, the strawberries began to mature. But then another problem presented itself. Where to sell the strawberries? wow power leveling "I tried contacting supermarkets but they didn’t trust us. I was really worried."

Then she remembered her cheap archlord gold university contacts, the professors and school officers. Why not try the university?

"Luckily, the university authorities agreed and helped me with a campaign to sell strawberries on campus. When I took 800 cartons of berries to the school, lots of students and reporters showed up," Wang went on, "the strawberries were all gone in an hour. Then, after word got out, many stores came to place orders. Pretty soon we were in the big stores like Wal-Mart and Carrefour."

But that still wasn’t enough to satisfy Wang. She found six "brokers" to sell the next batch before the 2007 planting. "We needed archlord online gold to change our way of thinking and plant according to market demand.

"At the workplace, you shouldn’t look at problems in a traditional way. There might be better solutions. Dare to be creative," is Wang’ archlord power leveling s advice.

Last year, the village sold 20 tons of strawberries to more than 10 big cities and even received orders from South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, bringing a total of 1.5 million yuan in profits for the village.

[Missing Post Count]

WHILE Wang Lina's friends were wandering around shopping malls on the weekend, she was walking through strawberry fields; when others were sleeping in cozy beds, she was delivering strawberries to supermarkets.

Wang, 25, was chosen for the "100 best village heads in China" list last month, the only graduate to get the award.

She graduated from Beijing Union University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2005. But she decided to become an assistant to the village committee chairperson in Ertiaojie, Pinggu District of Beijing, rather than take a job with the Bank of China.

"I grew up in a rural part of Beijing and have a special love for country people," Wang explained, "so I decided to go there to do something useful for them."

No one really told me what to do

But upon arrival in the village, she found herself dealing with trivial matters all day: "As an assistant, I didn’t have any particular job. My work was to help the chairman deal with village problems, things like resolving quarrels between couples. No one told me I was here to do great things, but I thought that, since I’m here, I might as well do something useful."

She also found that the villagers just played cards since they could only rest during the cold winter, or just planted cabbage or white radishes, which brought in little money.

"I remembered that the price of strawberries in Beijing was very high in winter," Wang said, "so I asked myself, 'why not raise strawberries to earn money?’

"You’re seldom given much responsibility when you get to a new job like this. But if you have an idea that could benefit the place, why not try it?" Wang continued.

It was a tough row to hoe

Wang then hurriedly wrote a proposal and got 500,000 yuan in funding from the government. But it wasn’t going to be plain sailing. For one thing ?C no one knew a thing about raising strawberries.

Next, she turned to the marketplace, where she asked the sellers about their supplies. They told her that the best ones were in Hebei, Henan and Shandong provinces. So, she headed off to those provinces to learn about strawberries for two months.

"I showed the villagers several video tapes about strawberry planting that I recorded in Shandong," Wang explained. "After watching the videos, they could see that it wasn’t that hard."

After two months, they had 120 mu of land ready for planting. However, Wang didn’t stop here. She made weekly visits to the Agricultural Sciences Academy to talk with experts about the details of planting. It was a 200-kilometer trip, but she insisted on taking the bus to save money.

"You meet difficulties when you start out. But it doesn’t matter if you can learn from experts," said Wang. "Contact the people who can provide useful information. Learning improves your ability."

From local markets to Wal-Marts

To make it easier wow power leveling for the villagers, Wang Lina prepared a summary of planting methods and made a planting calendar for each farmer.

After four busy months, the strawberries began to mature. But then another problem presented itself. Where to sell the strawberries? wow power leveling "I tried contacting supermarkets but they didn’t trust us. I was really worried."

Then she remembered her cheap archlord gold university contacts, the professors and school officers. Why not try the university?

"Luckily, the university authorities agreed and helped me with a campaign to sell strawberries on campus. When I took 800 cartons of berries to the school, lots of students and reporters showed up," Wang went on, "the strawberries were all gone in an hour. Then, after word got out, many stores came to place orders. Pretty soon we were in the big stores like Wal-Mart and Carrefour."

But that still wasn’t enough to satisfy Wang. She found six "brokers" to sell the next batch before the 2007 planting. "We needed archlord online gold to change our way of thinking and plant according to market demand.

"At the workplace, you shouldn’t look at problems in a traditional way. There might be better solutions. Dare to be creative," is Wang’ archlord power leveling s advice.

Last year, the village sold 20 tons of strawberries to more than 10 big cities and even received orders from South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, bringing a total of 1.5 million yuan in profits for the village.

Now can you explain offside for us?

[pvfc]

only 29 girls showed up for under 17 trials

very disappointing.

where have all the players gone.

should easily be a bigger amount out for the 15s, if not, then serious alarm bells should be ringing.

The question is - was the quality there? No use having quantity if the quality is not there.
This age group tends to see quite a few girls leaving the game or not being so serious about it any longer. Also I am aware of at least 5 girls eligable for U17s who have represented SA over the past few years who are no longer interested in trialling for one reason or another - a real shame.

[shorty]

who's the coach

[prefly]

Read all the posts shorty it will become clearer

Maybe there is also a bit of apathy in the girls elite pathways in SA?

[beaches]

PVFC comment and questioning reasons is a good one. Maybe Year 12, just wanting to play club football, not willing or do not see time to put in the committment required. Finding other interests outside football. Hopefully there is enough quality turned out who are willing to give total committment.

[Easy Tiger]

Many girls aren't excited about State anymore. I don't know if it's the coach tho who are they anyway? Where do they normally coach? I nver heard of them but you know...

[Commando]

god how things have changed so much

everyone used to want to play State..and everyone knew who everyone was.

i dont know who anyone is anymore.. or who the coaches are

[pvfc]

Yes some girls have lost interest in State, but believe me there are still plenty who really want to play, especially in the U14 and U15 age groups.

As far as coaches go, the current state coaches will be new/unknown to most people. There is a reason for this.
For the first time this year I think they have decided that the coaches should not be actively involved with any womens soccer clubs (correct me if I'm wrong.)
So due to the shortage of coaches who have a background in the womens game but are no longer actively involved with a club it follows that the coaches appointed now tend to have history with the mens competitions/clubs. Hence people in the womens game may not have heard of them. They have still had to satisfy relatively high criteria to be appointed (I think a minimum of a Senior Licence has been set) - the FFSA would surely have appointed the best candidates you would think?
Give them a fair go, and they will soon become 'known', for the right reasons hopefully, and at least they will be selecting players based on what they see and not simply 'reputations', favouritism, etc. as they dont have the 'history' with the womens competition.

[Leppskiii]

whats wrong with these kids
state was what you played for ..
nothing beats going away on that trip and reppin sa!

[Commando]

which is good having new coaches.. don't get me wrong..

good to see what they have to bring to the Women's game

[pvfc]

whats wrong with these kids
state was what you played for ..
nothing beats going away on that trip and reppin sa!

My daughter would TOTALLY agree with you there Lepps

[greavsie's_daughter]

The one issue with the FFSA imposing the rule of no club coaches coaching state squads is that it severely limits the opportunities for female coaches. I understand the intent of the rule, which I assume is to prevent state coaches from poaching players for their club sides. The problem is that the rule makes an already small pool of female coaches smaller by limiting their coaching opportunities. Whereas male coaches are seen as suitable applicants for female sides, I would be very surprised if a woman was ever hired to coach a male state side. It is unfortunate because there are several really great women coaches out there.

[ARodgers]

A big problem for the girls is how cliquey it all can be if you are new to the system. Some of the stories coming back really discourage new girls from trying it out. Girls don't tend to mix outside of their clubs, and any girls that have played state together before seem to stick together. It's hard to get geed up for playing state if you feel extremely unwelcome when you get there.

[pvfc]

I couldn't stay for the U15 trials on Wednesday (had to drop my daughter off and go and take club training), but I'm told there was a reasonable turn out of about 35-40 girls?

[Easy Tiger]

A big problem for the girls is how cliquey it all can be if you are new to the system. Some of the stories coming back really discourage new girls from trying it out. Girls don't tend to mix outside of their clubs, and any girls that have played state together before seem to stick together. It's hard to get geed up for playing state if you feel extremely unwelcome when you get there.

What are these stories that discourage girls to try for state?

State is open to everyone and I know so many players who mix outside of their club but it's true that players who played at state stick together and even move to eachother's clubs to play together. But how makes this feel players "extremely unwelcome" I don't see it...What is it that makes them feel like that exactly??

[Leppskiii]

Its just like starting at a new school or highschool with one exception..you will find it hard to make friends at trials..considering one would go there to train and get their spot in the team before anything else. You cant stand around getting to know each other. Its a part of life really. I never knew anyone when i went out for state trials my first time.

After trials coaches should be having the team bonding once its picked and they should stamp out anything that could harm the chances of the squad being successful.

[Commando]

agreed lepyyy

anyway soccer girls are different to school girls.. everyone just needs to get to know everyone.. then u all become friends..

There are always going to be little groups anywhere u go in life.. u just have to be urself ..

[ARodgers]

Yes, I also agree. Unfortunately what teenage girls SHOULD do and what they actually do can be very different. Just relaying what a number of talented girls from different clubs have told me as to why they aren't bothering going. I also know a girl or two who have given up Dev/State because they miserable because they percieved themselves as being left out or shunned by the main groups. Just a possible reason as to why numbers are down a bit!

Also as trials aren't open this year, you have to be nominated by your club, that may have a bearing on how many turn up.

[Drusetta]

Yes some girls have lost interest in State, but believe me there are still plenty who really want to play, especially in the U14 and U15 age groups.

As far as coaches go, the current state coaches will be new/unknown to most people. There is a reason for this.
For the first time this year I think they have decided that the coaches should not be actively involved with any womens soccer clubs (correct me if I'm wrong.)
So due to the shortage of coaches who have a background in the womens game but are no longer actively involved with a club it follows that the coaches appointed now tend to have history with the mens competitions/clubs. Hence people in the womens game may not have heard of them. They have still had to satisfy relatively high criteria to be appointed (I think a minimum of a Senior Licence has been set) - the FFSA would surely have appointed the best candidates you would think?
Give them a fair go, and they will soon become 'known', for the right reasons hopefully, and at least they will be selecting players based on what they see and not simply 'reputations', favouritism, etc. as they dont have the 'history' with the womens competition.

Stand corrected PVFC. The FFSA stated that this year they would allow coaches linked to club to coach at state level as a transition year. From 2010 onwards state coaches must be indepedent. What shortage of coaches?
Just because a coach is affiliated with a club, or in the womens game awhile does not mean she/he won't be objective. Jono Ruse has been involved in the womens game for a number of years. He is the U14 State Coach in 2009. I believe he is a objective as they come.

[Drusetta]

The one issue with the FFSA imposing the rule of no club coaches coaching state squads is that it severely limits the opportunities for female coaches. I understand the intent of the rule, which I assume is to prevent state coaches from poaching players for their club sides. The problem is that the rule makes an already small pool of female coaches smaller by limiting their coaching opportunities. Whereas male coaches are seen as suitable applicants for female sides, I would be very surprised if a woman was ever hired to coach a male state side. It is unfortunate because there are several really great women coaches out there.

Decent coaches for the good of the game, not for the benefit of the club or team they currently coach.
I agree there are many great female coaches out there. How many state head coaches are female in 2009?

[Drusetta]

A big problem for the girls is how cliquey it all can be if you are new to the system. Some of the stories coming back really discourage new girls from trying it out. Girls don't tend to mix outside of their clubs, and any girls that have played state together before seem to stick together. It's hard to get geed up for playing state if you feel extremely unwelcome when you get there.

It's the responsiblity of coaches to encourage participation at state level, if the players have the talent.
I have pushed many players (girls and boys) to put themselves forward as potential state players; and they have been usually from a different club of where I'm coaching.
In my experience, the FFSA have always welcomed recommendations for state representation and have followed through and come out and watched players.

[Drusetta]

Yes, I also agree. Unfortunately what teenage girls SHOULD do and what they actually do can be very different. Just relaying what a number of talented girls from different clubs have told me as to why they aren't bothering going. I also know a girl or two who have given up Dev/State because they miserable because they percieved themselves as being left out or shunned by the main groups. Just a possible reason as to why numbers are down a bit!

Also as trials aren't open this year, you have to be nominated by your club, that may have a bearing on how many turn up.

Sorry I don't see it! The FFSA have emailed all clubs. It's not hard to fill in the form and get the girls out there. A couple of girls from my club were nominated a little late and the FFSA thankfully accepted th "updated" form and they went out to trials.

[greavsie's_daughter]

The one issue with the FFSA imposing the rule of no club coaches coaching state squads is that it severely limits the opportunities for female coaches. I understand the intent of the rule, which I assume is to prevent state coaches from poaching players for their club sides. The problem is that the rule makes an already small pool of female coaches smaller by limiting their coaching opportunities. Whereas male coaches are seen as suitable applicants for female sides, I would be very surprised if a woman was ever hired to coach a male state side. It is unfortunate because there are several really great women coaches out there.

Decent coaches for the good of the game, not for the benefit of the club or team they currently coach.
I agree there are many great female coaches out there. How many state head coaches are female in 2009?

My point was that the system that will be implemented in 2010, which bars club coaches from coaching state squads, severely limits opportunities for qualified women coaches. I haven't heard of any state coaches in 2009 that are female.