Northern Suburbs Football Australia launched Australia’s first Pararoos Development Centre in April 2018 to provide a professional and structured training program to young players with Cerebral Palsy and Acquired Brain Injury.
Players from throughout NSW were invited to attend the program to gain access to professional coaching in an environment tailored for players with CP and ABI, as a complementary session to their normal club and school football training.
Ed Ferguson, Community Football Manager explains the reason for starting the program:
“After discussions with Kai Lammert (Head Coach of Pararoos) and others in the industry, it became apparent that there was a lack of pathway or opportunities for players to come together and develop themselves”
The first session, held on Sunday (April 22) at North Turramurra Recreational Area (NTRA) was well attended, with 15 players in attendance. During the two hour session players were fortunate enough to learn and be challenged next to current Pararoo players Ben Atkins, Ben Sutton and Taj Lynch.
“Having the Pararoo boys involved in the program has been fantastic. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the program whilst being role models to all the players and their parents” Ferguson said.
The Pararoos Development Centre has a strong focus on Skill Acquisition, with ball mastery, manipulation and players ability in 1 vs 1 scenarios forming the base of the session. Players progress to be challenged in a series of games, working together in teams to complete tasks within conditioned games.
“We believe ball mastery provides the foundation for all players to learn from and develop themselves,” Ferguson explained.
“In their normal clubs or schools players may not have access to ball mastery and therefore it is important we work on specific areas to prepare players for their club football and also for their future in Pararoos football.”
NSFA were fortunate to have Football NSW and FFA in attendance, with Charlotte Ercil and Nick D’Amore providing support to the program. Nick D’Amore has recently taken on board the role as Assistant Young Pararoos Coach and FFA Pararoos Head of Recruitment.
“When creating the concept of the program, our vision was to use NSFA as a pilot, before working with Nick to create Centre’s in every state capital city,” Ferguson said.
“These feeder programs will help lift the standard of Pararoos football, as well as supporting each state with their player identification.”
“I am looking forward to watching the NSFA program grow over time as promotions and word of mouth spread to different areas across Sydney and NSW. This time next year I hope to look back and please with the development of players confidence and technical ability to allow them to enjoy their football more”.
The next Pararoos Development Centre will take place on Sunday 6th May, 10am – 12pm.
If you are interested, or know someone interested in attending please visit our Pararoos Development Centre page for further information.
Special thanks to Tom Ferguson for the production of the above video.