The Island Bay way
encouraging participation & supporting excellence
“At Barca, I hardly ever trained without a ball at my feet” Lionel Messi
“Size is not important. Most important is that the player has talent, that they can play with the ball, not that they are the strongest or tallest. From the age of seven to the age of 15 everything is about working with the football” Albert Capellas, Barcelona Youth Coordinator
The Island Bay Way captures the Island Bay Football Club’s philosophy for junior football. The Junior Way is the result of Island Bay’s research of world best practice, such as Barcelona FC, Bayern Munich FC and other Professional Clubs.
Our primary responsibility is to help the young players to have fun, learn, improve and play a beautiful game through the four corners approach: Physical, Mental, Social and Technical/Tactical.
It highlights for our players, coaches and parents some of the messages that are most important to achieving success in our Junior Programme:
We aim to shape the children’s values as well as their Football skills
Our trainings will focus on the children’s needs and interests
We will train the youngsters to be good people and to enjoy a healthy lifestyle
We want them to grow as a footballer and as a person
We will encourage them to be the more sporting team on the field
We will encourage them to try to win by playing creative, attacking football
We aim to give the players the freedom to play high risk football; to make mistakes, solve problems and make their own decisions
Our programmes will focus on providing players with more football opportunities, more football hours and a high number of touches
We will develop fundamental physical skills in a safe, fun and rewarding environment
Players will play free of fear and free of the notion of failure
Coaches, Players and Parents will work together and share the same goals
Player Development - Fun - Beautiful Football
We urge our players, coaches, parents, caregivers and anyone else involved in our club to support The Island Bay Way.