JJFC Curriculum

All teams are JJFC are developed through a spiral curriculum designed to consolidate and revisit key learning messages throughout each Soccer Season, specific to each individual player and team within our Academy, Development Academy and Travel/High-School programs. Our focus is developing lifelong learning and love for sport (soccer) by developing 'Individuals within the Collective'.

Our methodology is underpinned by years of research and best practice from around the world, aligned with key principles of coaching - written and implemented by our Club Director of Coaching who is a UEFA 'A' Licensed Coach, FA 'A' Youth Specialist and USSF (US Soccer) Licensed "Grassroots Instructor" and USSF National B License Holder. 

Model of Play

All teams at JJFC will be developed in line with our Club playing philosophy which is: 

"Exciting and effective possession based approach, focusing on our collective ability to play in the future in order to create and prevent goals, with a value on being able to operate under changing circumstances"

We simplify the game into two clear moments, as our teams are either (Attacking: Building-up & Scoring) or (Defending: Disturbing & Regaining) with transitions between. This simplicity allows us to coach players when we have the ball (Our Half, Opponents Half, Close to their Goal  or  Their Half, Our Half, Close to Our Goal) in order to create a clear "Road-map". We want our teams to play purposeful possession without fear of failure, with our coaches promoting skill, intelligence and decision-making across all ages.

  • Our teams will retain possession by passing, dribbling and moving quickly to build-up & score, finding creative solutions on the field!

  • When pressurized we will encourage our teams to 'play' their way out of trouble rather than kick the ball away 

  • When we lose the ball, we will try to regain as early as appropriate

  • Upon regaining possession, we will try to counter-attack or retain to score 

  • Everything we work on is based on 'Principles of Play' that under-pin the game of soccer, which don't change no matter what system of play or strategy the team operates

Across all teams we have an Age-Phase specific Curriculum designed to develop skillful players who are comfortable with the ball and resilient out of possession. We want to develop intelligent decision makers which we term "Self-Learners". In order to achieve this we have grouped Ages together to create:

  • Discovery Phase (U3-U6s) - Focus is on fundamental movements (Agility, Balance, Coordination) as well as physical literacy with a soccer-ball

  • Ball Mastery Phase (U7s-U12s) - Focus on control, ball manipulation and individualism 

  • Skillful Possession Phase (U13-U16s) - Focus on when to pass/dribble and more emphasis on Game/Positional understanding

  • Game-Leaders Phase (U17s-U19s) - Focus on how to manage the game, become a leader and adapt to different game-styles

Individual Learning

Every child at JJFC will be given an Individual Learning plan designed to maximize their strengths and develop areas that they need to improve. At JJFC we value learning first! Winning isn't important, winning with style is important! We understand that the objective of the game of soccer is to score more goals than the opponent in order to win the game, and we do want our teams to win and play to win - BUT not at the detriment of learning!