Courtesy: The FA.com

Long hot summer

By Graeme Dell

Thursday, 07 June 2007

After another busy two weeks, Graeme looks forward to the summer when his work kicks into gear with Futsal and University squads to pick.

Hello again,

The treadmill seems to be gathering pace now we are in the close season so it’s all systems go over the coming months for myself and my staff. Now is the time when my work as a National Coach steps up a level – bizarre with the domestic season at an end.

Last weekend I visited The FA Umbro Fives regional qualifier in Birmingham which, despite being wet, was a great event. I got a real chill down my spine at the end of the day when the PA announcer blasted out to the winning semi-finalists ‘you’re going to Wembley’.

It is a great concept whereby the top three teams in each qualifier are guaranteed the chance to grace the hallowed turf and there was just as much excitement for the girls teams as the men. And why not! I’m hoping to pick up some unearthed talent for Futsal and so far we have already identified a few probables.

We also met as an F30 Group last weekend, the first time since the end of March and whilst a number of the retained lads from last season are now on a well earned holiday it gave me an opportunity to do some focused work with the newer intake. They’re all aiming to stake a claim for a longer opportunity on the programme. As Futsal gains momentum and participation numbers are increasing, so are the number of players I need at the right level and that’s encouraging to see. It’s purely a numbers game.

I still get many approaches for players saying that they have several years’ experience at playing and that they should be selected but that’s always the way with England, everyone thinks they’re good enough. In many situations what they actually mean is that they have one years’ experience several times over but that’s not what we want. We want to get to the players who are constantly improving and developing their game.

It was also good for the newer F30 lads to be at Lilleshall over that weekend with some big hitters on the UEFA A Licence course. In my job you just get accustomed to the big names being around and it doesn’t phaze you in any way. But for some of these lads, irrespective of age, to be sitting on a dining room table with Roy Keane, Martin Keown, Gareth Southgate, Steve Claridge and many more it must have been an experience of a lifetime.

I’ve also been busy putting a group together to play at the Grassroots Show at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry next Saturday. There is always more to getting a team on the road than you can ever imagine and each event, its timing and location challenge the best of organisations but I think we’re just about there for this one.

It has proven difficult to get an international opponent at this time of year so I opted to use an FA Select team based around the F30 Programme with a few additions. This will give White Bear a good training game ahead of the foray into next seasons UEFA Futsal Cup Preliminary Round whilst giving me a relaxed chance to see our lads in a pressure situation.

We’ll approach it in exactly the same way as a full England game so they will still get to experience the Three Lions on the road.

We’ll join up on Thursday which will give us three days to get some technical work done and allow the players to gel. Having discussed it with most of the group I know they’re looking forward to being part of the show. We played Poland in London two years ago and this will be another opportunity to showcase the game to a wider audience.

Programme notes, player profiles to co-ordinate with the media team and a host of other minor details for the event have therefore kept me busy in the build up but now I can relax and enjoy some time working on court with the players.

I’ve also been watching how much the pro clubs have now started to pay attention to Futsal. Brentford now have a programme running as do Tottenham and Bolton who have all shown massive interest in the game as part of their young player development programme. I am sure there are more I don’t know about yet but already the professional football clubs are taking note which is great to see.

This past Saturday saw my 11-a-side commitment kick back in to gear as we held the Assessment Trial for the World University Games group heading to Bangkok in August. With almost 60 players based in either the UK or on US scholarship Programmes on show we had a great day. The quality of football played was fantastic but, as you come to expect from these groups, the selection can be difficult because there is little that stands out.

Most of these lads are technically gifted but are either late developers in the game or disregarded by virtue of physical attributes. Nonetheless there are some very fit and technically gifted players amongst the options open to me.

While it was a hot day it won’t be comparable to Thailand in either heat or humidity terms and that’s where the US based lads, specifically those at the Eastern seaboard teams will offer us better performances over the period. I’ve now got to set about finalising the squads and dealing with their club managers but they are generally all really appreciative what the opportunity offers the player and the club in the long term.

UK Sport will announce the squad on 1 July so there’s a lot to be done and some sleepless nights agonising over selection headaches ahead. It’s a lot easier get something like that wrong than it is right but generally my gut feeling ends up being right and I guess it’s where the experience from nine multi-sport Games comes in – blimey, that makes me feel really old now!

That’s it for now, catch you in a couple of weeks!

Graeme.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com