In the group sessions, places are open to players currently registered to play in Under 8 to Under 1 4 competitions.

For 1-to-1 coaching, players up to 16 years of age in 2024 are welcome to sign-up.

The more advanced players – those who play SAP, Diamond League, Super League and Dev – and those more serious players in social teams, as long as they are motivated and have the required work rate. The players need to be able to behave in a disciplined, focused manner.

Lindfield FC players have priority placement in program sessions. If there are still places available in the sessions, we will accept players without a Lindfield playing history.

The focus of the academy program is to improve a player’s individual technical skills, so the majority of time in each session focuses on a limited number of core skills which the coach asks the players to continually execute and, based on their coaching, improve. Most sessions will conclude, however, with game-like drills that replicate the contested game environment.

The sessions are for one hour.

The first 10 minutes will be dedicated to a warmup including variations of FIFA 11+.

Most of the session is focused on individual technical skills, with repetition used to embed and hone those skills.

The final 10 minutes of the session will feature game-like drills, where players will be asked to execute the skills they have been focusing on in a contested environment.

Some of the skills focused on include: shooting; heading; dribbling, including ball skills and tricks; passing; tackling.

The final 10 minutes of each session will feature game-like drills. There will not be any ‘full’ games as such.

Players who are motivated to improve their individual skills and who can focus on this element of their game for 60 minutes are best suited to Academy participation.

If a player is likely to find this individual focus, or a lack of contested team vs team game playing, demotivating, then this environment is not suited to them.

To ensure each player gets enough individualised attention, no Group session will have more than eight players per coach.

Intense 1-on-1 sessions are now avialable mid-week - you can read more here

The sessions’ focus is on individual skills, so the impact of other players in the group on an individual is not as significant as it would be in a full team training environment. Having said that, we intend to group players together by ability as much as we can. That means that most sessions will be open to girls and boys and there may be some slight blending of age groups, but nothing significant.

In many cases we will provide an option for girls-only groups.

Technical skills are those related to what a player can do on an individual basis – this is the focus of Skills Academy program.

The tactical dimension of the game is more related to how the entire team plays together, with team structure, how players relate to each other on the field through their movements and how much focus is on ball retention over higher risk approaches being just some aspects to consider. Having said that, the close interaction with our experienced coaches will no-doubt lead to tactical learnings as well.

Mostly the sessions are not designed to make a player fitter, but that will be an outcome of the sessions.

Some sessions may, however, include a speed and agility component.

Players will have a ball at their feet for most of the session, and they will frequently be moving!
Enhanced fitness, strength and agility will all be outcomes, but the focus is on the technical skills enhancement of the individual participant.

Yes, we do! We offer these 60-minute sessions either for one player per coach or two players per coach in the same session.

The price for the session remains the same, at $80, whether one or two players participate.

Parents need to register one player and advise us of the name of the second player at skillsacademy@lindfieldfc.com.au .

Read here to get more information on this offering, which we have introduced due to player/parent interest.

A consistent, quality experience for LFC Skills Academy participants is ensured through:

1. All Skills Academy coaches meeting the minimum criteria of Foundations of Football qualification; 18 years of age; three seasons of coaching and/or playing at NPL level or above.

We will not run sessions using coaches who do not meet our minimum criteria, unless these coaches are being overseen by one of our Head Coaches.

We have an extensive coach development program at LFC and will be producing more coaches who meet these criteria.

2. All Academy coaches participating in Lindfield Football Club’s extensive, customised in-house coach development program

3. Session coaches are frequently overseen by a club head coach, who also actively coaches the coaches (before and during the program)

4. Coaches using a customised curriculum devised by the club which all coaches are trained to implement.

Players receive ongoing feedback for the duration of their session.

In many cases there is no time following a session for player-parent and coach discussions, but these can happily be arranged to occur separately. Head Coaches will often be available during the session to answer any parent questions.

We are completely open and transparent in our communication and welcome player-parent questions and interactions.

It’s possible that weather (e.g. lightening, torrential rain, excessive heat) or another factor could cause a session cancellation. Players’ safely and well-being will always be our number one priority. You will be notified by email or text of cancelled sessions.

We are flexible in offering make-up sessions to players, and that includes perhaps on some weekends doing a Saturday and a Sunday session – please email skillsacademy@lindfieldfc.com.au with queries on this.

In principle, each program that is advertised (for a term, over a holiday period etc) is a unique product within itself and that is what players sign up and pay for.

Players will be expected to sign-up for a minimum of 6 sessions.

No refunds will be provided for missed sessions unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Please make sure you sign up to the correct age group - the system will not allow you to pay if you are not in the age group you are turning in this current year.

If you want a girls-only slot but the age group session is full, please sign up in the mixed session, email info@lindfieldfc.com.au to let us know your preference and we will endeavour to make another girls-only session is there are enough girls booked in.

If the timeslot is fully booked, please either look at the alternate day ie sessions are available on BOTH Saturday and Sunday for BOTH girls-only and mixed teams.