The Brisbane Roar Academy have introduced a raft of new programs in 2020 that will aim to strengthen Queensland’s Football pathway to the Hyundai A-League and the Westfield W-League.
The variety of programs offered to young footballers in Queensland’s only Hyundai A-League Academy include the new Talent ID, futsal, skills centres and goalkeeping development programs, as well as the Schools of Football.
Academy General Manager Warren Moon is looking forward to watching the next generation of football stars flourish in the revamped programs.
“It’s a massive 2020. After rain ruined the first round, the NPL season starts this week so all of our Academy guys are in full swing, they’re ready to go and they’re pretty excited by that,” Moon said.
“We’ve got the start of our Talent ID program all across the south-east, they kicked off last week – skills training centres as well.
“Also, we’ve just had a pretty successful introduction into futsal where we had our teams in the Craig Foster Cup and they did very well for our first year in the tournament.
“It’s been necessary and it’s the way forward. We believe in it, we’re passionate about it and we hope to see it grow from strength to strength not just this year but beyond and moving forward. We want to see a successful Brisbane Roar in the community in all programs that we put on.”
Moon is especially excited about the Talent ID program which will provide an opportunity kids from across South-East Queensland and Northern New South Wales to establish themselves in a dedicated elite pathway.
On Monday, the Academy formally established its presence on NSW’s Mid-North Coast in Port Macquarie.
“We want our brand out there because we need to engage and be in the community and play our part,” Moon continued.
“But also with Talent ID, we’re serious about our community. All of Queensland, we want to go into the regional areas to Talent ID and find the next young superstar and that touches on Northern New South Wales.
“It goes away from Queensland but at the same time it’s probably closer to us than it is to the bigger cities in New South Wales. We’re touching on the region we think has got some untapped talent and we want to see if we can unearth another superstar there as well.”
Brisbane Roar is also the first club in Australia to endorse Futsal as part of the curriculum, with the club sending teams to the Craig Foster Cup on the Gold Coast in January.
Moon is thrilled about both its introduction and its potential benefits to his players as it continues to become a more central part of the Academy’s program.
“It’s a massive success from the point of view that we’re active and it’s part of our curriculum. We’re just excited to grow it,” Moon added.
“It’s going to fully be embedded into our program by the time we hit this time next year and we actually hope to take our whole Academy to the Craig Foster Cup and not just some of the players, and some players from outside.”
On the eve of the NPL QLD, Moon acknowledged that there was plenty of excitement in and amongst the Academy at the moment.
“Just genuine excitement across every team. They want to play football. The biggest thing is we’ve brought in a new group of coaches,” he continued.
“They’re like kids in candy shops themselves, they’re ready to get going and can’t wait to see what their team is going to do on the matchday.
“We want one club, one community basically.
“When we have a full program on a matchday Sunday, we want our kids to not just play their game in the younger age groups, we want them to stick around, watch the NPL Men’s team and support them.
“It’s important for them to see them play on a weekly basis, knowing what they can do and the levels they need to get to before our NPL boys try to find their way into the [Hyundai] A-League team as well.”
