For young footballers, a 1–2 day tournament is very different from a normal match day. With multiple games and short recovery windows, the goal isn't just to eat “healthy”—it's to keep energy available, maintain hydration, and recover quickly enough to perform again. Tournament nutrition principles The biggest mistake is waiting until players feel hungry or tired. Tournament nutrition should start the day before and continue throughout the tournament. Carbohydrates = fuel. Ri

Speed, strength, fitness and technical ability receive plenty of attention in youth football. Mobility often doesn't. Yet the ability to move freely and efficiently can influence almost everything a young footballer does — from sprinting and changing direction to striking a ball, defending 1v1 and getting into good positions. For developing players, mobility isn't about becoming extremely flexible. It's about giving the body the freedom of movement needed to perform football

Barcelona and Spain legend Sergio Busquets was known for his high football IQ. We often hear coaches describe a player as having a “high football IQ”. They seem to see things before everyone else, find space others don’t notice and make the right decision even when the game is moving quickly. But what exactly is football IQ? And more importantly, can it be developed? Football IQ isn't simply knowing formations or understanding tactics. It is a player's ability to read, unders

Our Under 12 APL Champions kicked off a new season of tournaments with a championship win at the Albany United U12 Tournament on Sunday 16th August. The team comfortably beat Auckland United in the final to take home the championship with Courage Owusu winning MVP for the tournament. The side will now prepare for the Auckland Champions Cup at the end of September.

Bio-banding is the practice of grouping young players according to their biological maturity rather than their chronological age. Traditionally, players are grouped by birth year: U13 U14 U15 However, two 13-year-olds can be at very different stages of physical development. One player may: be 170cm tall have gone through puberty be physically powerful Another may: be 150cm tall still be pre-puberty be physically immature Bio-banding aims to reduce these developmental differen

The Relative Age Effect (RAE) is one of the most talked about phrases in Youth Football today, unlike a lot of other buzzwords and phrases, RAE is worth our attention. Arsenal's wonderkid, Max Dowman, goes against the grain of RAE being born in December. For those not familiar with RAE, this is the advantage players can have when they are born earlier in the selection year compared to players born later in the same year group. For example, if the age cut-off is January 1st: A