(Photo Credit OFC Media via Phototek)
For the first time since 2017 OFC is hosting a Player Development workshop “Play like the Stars” with the aim of nurturing success on the field of play and in the field of life.
Organised by OFC Player Development Manager Phill Parker, the three-day workshop gets underway tomorrow in Auckland.
Representatives from 9 of the 11 OFC Member Associations will be attending the workshop along with the head of the OFC Football Division Patrick Jacquemet, OFC staff from Clubs &Leagues, Social Responsibility, Futsal, Goalkeeping and Women’s Football.
The workshop will induct new regional development officers from New Caledonia, Francois Josse and Tahiti, Yohan Tristant, into the Player Development network, commonly referred to as the OPDON (Oceania player development officers’ network) initiative.
The workshop will cover topics ranging from Player Development model and PLAY methodology, Gender Equality, Futsal, Goalkeeping, Alternative forms of football such as Walking Football, Cultural football activity design, Women’s Football, a practical coaching session with local grassroots players and attending a local school programme with OFC Champions League winners Auckland City FC.
Parker is excited about the opportunity to “Enrich all participants with a meaningful and impactful experience of all variations of football on any surface.”
” Due the covid pandemic that gripped the world and aftershocks of this global outage, we are finally able to bring member associations together to information share, knowledge exchange and learn from each other’s unique cultures and national context”. Parker said.
” The theme of Play like the Stars conjures up many exploratory opportunities and the imagination can run away from you. However with such an exciting theme, we will delve into areas of player development possibly not explored before with cultural integration into Football design. This particular cross-over has been manifested with NZ Football into their Kotuitui Schools program, which incorporates some Maori origin stories rewired into Football activities.”