Development Program 

Our Development Program coaches are qualified to coach football.  It is not their role to discipline inattentive or disruptive players.  While the club will endeavour to resolve issues through discussion, the behaviour of your child is your responsibility.  The club’s responsibility is to ensure every player in our Development Program gets the most from it. Unfortunately, that may at times mean removing players who are rude, disruptive or unwilling to follow instruction in a training or game environment.

To that end, the Behaviour Management Process described below has been put in place for our Development Programs to deal with poorly behaved players:

  • The DP Coach running the session will talk to the player explaining that their behaviour is unacceptable and warning that he/she will sit out for part of the session if it continues. After an initial warning, if the player continues to be disruptive, the coach will sit him/her out for a few minutes (coach discretion) and player will not be allowed to play the match at the end of the session.
  • The DP Coach running the session will speak with the Head Coach during the session debrief, explaining what happened, so we can record the name of the player, date, age group and brief explanation of the situation.
  • On the second occurrence (as in a subsequent training session after initial warning), where the DP Coach has had to speak to the same player again, the DP coach will follow the same process (verbal warning and sit out). On the third occurrence, a formal warning will be issued.
  • A letter will be sent as the first formal warning, informing the parent/guardian that we have observed some behavioural issues that are having a negative impact on the group. The parent/guardian will be encouraged to talk to the child and the Head Coach to resolve the situation.
  • A second letter will be sent if there has been no improvement in behaviour observed since the first letter was issued. The second letter will also include notice of a 1-week suspension from the Development Program and from that weekend’s match, as well as a final warning.
  • If, after 2 formal warnings, there is no improvement in the child’s behaviour, a third and final letter will be issued informing the parent/guardian that the child is to be removed from the Development Program. This will also affect the player’s eligibility for match day.

As always, we look to parents and guardians to ensure every child arrives at each session with a positive attitude and an appetite to learn.