BAD WIMSBACH. From the summer, Austria’s youth football will be fundamentally reformed – the OÖN have reported. Last weekend, the first test run of the new game mode in Upper Austria was kicked off in Bad Wimsbach, and 14 further tournaments are to be held throughout Upper Austria in preparation for more.
And that changes in detail using the example of a game of the U7 teams: The previous five against five becomes a three against three. Each team has several such teams of three. Two goals become four goals. Each team can shoot at two opposing goals and must defend two of their own goals. The goals are no longer in the middle, but on the left and right edge of the much smaller playing field. The consequence: Every player automatically has many more opportunities than before to get involved in the game. The games are only eight minutes long. In the next game, whoever wins plays against a team of three that has also won, whoever loses against a team that has lost. This is how it should also work out that over time many games take place at eye level and the fun is maintained.
“Both coaches and spectators were enthusiastic,” says Raphael Koch, director of the Upper Austrian Football Association. “A trainer told me: The children understand it faster than I do.” You could really see the joy and fun of the young talents: There were many ball contacts, shots on goal and celebrated goals. There were only concerns before kick-off. Will chaos break out in the games without a proper referee and several games at the same time? Koch: “The coaches in particular were skeptical about the interpretation of the rules. In truth, none of that played a role, the children continued to play and sorted it out themselves.”
“Was worth the effort”
Johannes Starl saw it in a similar way: The youth director of the regional league club Bad Wimsbach was in charge of the tournament management of the first test run in Upper Austria. “The fears that nobody knew what was going on didn’t materialize. The children figured out the system quickly. I also had a youth coach who was critical of the new reform. After the tournament on Saturday, his opinion changed.” The time required before a tournament is slightly higher. Starl: “It took me 15 minutes longer than normal to set it up. But it was worth it.”
Source: Nachrichten
