Overseas tours for youngsters may become a more regular fixture on the local footballing calendar following a successful trip to Scotland conducted by FX International in November last year.
Comprised of a squad of youngsters and well-known figures in Victorian football from a number of backroom positions, the tour was spearheaded by tour coordinator Arthur Kiousis and co-director Peter Kokotis, and assistance from the Heidelberg management duo of George Katsakis and Jeff Olver.
Both Katsakis and Olver came on board to prepare the group after learning of the tour objectives, offering their time in an honorary capacity to assist aspiring youth and promoting the game, with Katsakis insisting on coming to Scotland due to the organisation of the tour, the contacts he was introduced to, and the access to the nation’s top SPL managers.
Katsakis was approached to ask permission to speak with some of his youth players, and “after hearing our proposal and ideas we were delighted by the news he would love to get involved to give something back to the football community and youth development in a limited market,” Edinburgh based FX partner Colin Piechniczek said.
The group of players included Alfred Battista, Damian Iaconis, Franco Vanni, Gerry Kavadas, Pete Roiniotis, Ben-Harvey William Robinson, Anton Nardella, Sammy Dalipis, Giuseppe Francesco Guarnaccia, Billy Floros, George Filopoulos, Peter Kostopoulos, Dimitri Kiousis, Yianni Kiousis, Jack Evans and Jack Louziotis.
In addition to the traveling Victorian squad, there were three invitations handed to Edinburgh based boys club, Edina Community Football Club: Jordan Keenan, Ross Jamieson and Nick Aitchison.
According to Melbourne based FX partner Ben Hudson, the tour’s point of difference, which included matches against Scottish Premier League academy sides, was its focus on player exposure rather than providing merely an experience in another country.
“At FX, we’re all football lovers. We want the best for the players. It took a long time to set the tours up properly – so that they would benefit players – and a big part of that was about having the right partner in Europe. Colin has turned his contacts book inside out to ensure that we are associated with the right clubs, offering the right experience,” Hudson said.
“A lot of tours, they go over and they train on the club’s facilities and that’s it. With our tour the players go over, they go to the club and train with the club’s development coaches, train with their youth team and play against their youth team. You do this with three teams, watched by coaches from the club and other clubs not even involved in the tour who are interested in the players.”
The Scottish clubs involved as part of the tour included Heart of Midlothian FC, Dundee United FC and Motherwell FC, with the Australian representative side spending two weeks training and playing at the facilities of the host clubs, with coaches and players under the watchful eye of scouts from as far away as Everton FC and Sunderland AFC.
For instance, one of the squad’s training sessions was conducted by Hearts’ lead youth coach and Under 20’s manager Liam Fox, who was later joined by club legend, John Robertson.
In addition to the hosting clubs, three of the touring players – Anton Nardella, Ben Robinson and Dimi Kiousis – were also handpicked by scouts to train with St Johnstone FC away from the main group.
In addition to the training, the schedule also involved attending a Scottish Premier League match, and a short trip across the border for an English Premier League fixture.
While in Scotland players were able to meet fellow Australians Ryan McGowan and Adam Taggart, who were both plying their trade at Dundee at the time.
Gerry Kavadas, one of the players to participate, commended the tour for providing an opportunity to the players they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
“Overall the trip was a great and very rewarding experience and I would thoroughly recommending it to any young footballer that is trying to constantly improve and create something for themselves within the game,” Kavadas said.
“I can confidently say that the training that we did in Scotland with teams such as Hearts was the best that I have ever been a part of. It was clearly evident that the training that we were doing had a purpose and we could all easily understand how we could implement the skills and tactics we were learning into a game situation.
“Overall the training and game intensity was much higher than what we were all used to from Australia and this meant that we needed to adapt to this unfamiliar style of play. Being able to cope with this high intensity and less space on the park makes football much easier to play when the space opens up. This was the deciding factor that really made everyone improve.”
Peter Kokotis said the tours helps in a small way to bridge a gap in Australian football development that can’t be catered for along by A-League clubs.
“There’s a lack of professional clubs in terms of opportunities for players. Outside of the A-League there’s not a lot of a scope for players outside of that. A lot of them don’t don’t get a chance to go sideways or downwards to build their career. I use the example of Leicester’s Jamie Vardy who built his career up from lower league clubs in a system of promotion and relegation who was able to reach his potential,” Kokotis said.
“Unfortunately, a lot of players in Australia fall by the wayside and hit a brick wall and part time football is not going to let them reach their potential.
“Clubs are starting to realise this and the opportunity to go overseas is become more prevalent for these players. In older times they were told not to go and rely on the system here, but it’s pretty clear the system is not catering for enough players. So this tour in November in Scotland was tailor-made for players to be exposed to potential placement overseas.”
Kokotis is a licensed agent and former general manager at South Melbourne – his club has also been taking its junior teams overseas as part of a high-profile partnership with Spanish giants Real Madrid.
He said the tours provide an eye-opener for players and coaches alike.
“Where are the coaches going to get their new ideas and mentors from in our system here. Where do they go and learn and be inspired? It’s a huge demand, football is not just the A-League and the elite squads, there are so many players and coaches that want exposure to better football, better ideas,” he said.
“Here, we’re so isolated and there’s a huge demand for these tours and I believe previously it was a luxury, but it will become a part of the football curriculum of most clubs and the ones that are doing it will attract better players who will want it not just for the experience, but the exposure.”
Both Kokotis and Hudson also outlined the organisation’s future plans, which includes new destinations and improving the tours in many areas, including talent identification for the benefit of players both internationally and domestically.
“James Galanis is one of the leading coaches in America, he’s the mentor to Carli Lloyd, one of the greatest players on the planet – the female market is so strong there. So we’re discussing things to do with James. He’s very keen to do work with us and he’s a proud Australian and hes now consulting to the American Football Federation,” Kokotis said.
“We’re also looking at tours for different ages and going to exciting countries, Spain, Italy, Germany for benchmarking and getting exposure to different clubs and the coaches get exposed to different ideas as well.”
“What I would say we are looking for is talent identification to get better players every time we go, we are not really into the idea of taking players along just for the experience, we want the lads that go over to have an opportunity – we want players that are of good enough standard rather than taking people who are willing to pay. That’ll keep our relationship good with clubs over there,” Hudson added.
“It’s not a case of trying to get the guys out of Australia, either. We would be happy if Victory or City came along said, We heard about this and we’re happy to have these guys train with us,’. If we can create chances for them within Australia, we’re happy to do that.”
There are two planned trips as a minimum in November coming to the UK, with the recruitment process underway. Players have been identified and will be closely monitored over the next couple of months and following that they will be invited to attend trial days.
“I will fully coordinate the tour logistics from the UK side, covering such things as accommodation, transportation, nutrition, private training with our UK Academy director of football Scott Bonar and also meeting with clubs to discuss our project,” Piechniczek said.
“The clubs we will work with in the UK also have to be on board with our concept and to see why we are offering Australian players this chance. Clubs in the UK that only look at this as playing against another opponent will not be selected to visit. It’s important to us that clubs see we are offering players of a certain criteria that they are able to offer a contract to so this benefits them just as much as our touring squads.”
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