Northern NSW Football is delighted to announce its Talent Support Program squads for 2021.
The Talent Support Program, or TSP, is a Football Australia initiative which provides opportunities for identified talented players to access extra training to help progress their football development.
The TSP also provides players with opportunities to represent Northern NSW Football at National Youth Championships and potentially transition from NPL and WPL to A-League and W-League academies.
Northern NSW Football’s Hunter Region TSPs consist of under-12s to under-15s girls and boys groups who will be embedded into the Newcastle Jets Academy to achieve better integration between the region’s most talented youth players.
Mid North Coast, North Coast, Far North Coast and Northern Inland TSPs involve combined age group programs for girls and boys aged 13 to 15.
Northern NSW Football’s TSPs will be conducted in three 10-week cycles. For each cycle, players within the program will be assessed and reviewed with NNSWF having the ability to alter each group to ensure the best players are provided the opportunity to participate.
This also means that players who were not selected for cycle one have the potential to be identified and invited to a later cycle during the year.
TSP players may also be invited to attend NNSWF State Team identification/selection trials, elite games and special tournaments which aim to integrate and expose talented players to the best possible standard of competition and to benchmark themselves against the best in the region, the state and nationally.
Players named in cycle one of the 2021 TSP program are listed HERE.
Northern NSW Football Head of Football Development Peter Haynes said NNSWF worked closely with the Newcastle Jets and Football Australia as part of the National Talented Player Pathway to implement bespoke TSPs which provide supplementary training in addition to regular club training for its most talented female and male youth players outside the Newcastle Jets Academy system.
“We’ve been committed to implementing a state-wide series of Talent Support Program Hubs in 2021,” Haynes said.
“Importantly, TSPs will be delivered locally across the region through the establishment of the five TSP hubs encompassing metropolitan and regional northern NSW including Hunter Region, Mid North Coast, North Coast, Far North Coast and Northern Inland.
“This gives our most talented players an improved chance of maximising their potential and hopefully be identified to continue their journey along the Talented Player Pathway.”
Northern NSW Football Youth Technical Director Kew Jaliens said the TSP had a number of benefits.
“The Talent Support Program provides alignment and integration with the Newcastle Jets Academy,” Jaliens said.
“It is also really important to continue to push our existing Jets Academy players and the TSP will help us do that by identifying even more talented young players hungry for an opportunity.“It’s also really important for our best regional players and gives them a better chance of being identified.”
Talent Support Program squads will start training across northern NSW from the week commencing Monday 24 May.
