Development Program

Each year we run a Development Program (DP) for children selected into the club’s graded teams. Those teams play in the local Football Canterbury competition on weekends and are typically placed in Division 1 of their respective age groups.

Selection into the DP is via an annual grading process and this process usually takes place in November each year.

The DP provides a great opportunity for your child to be coached by qualified and club approved football coaches. We aim to create the ideal environment for your child’s individual growth.

Player development is right at the heart of what we do because we believe that developing players is the best way to keep a child interested and engaged in a sport.

In our program, teams train twice a week with the club coaches and for games on the weekend they are led by a parent volunteer coach and manager.

Programs will commence in March 2025

The DP season plan is based around the Australian soccer pathway but also includes more detailed aspects of technique and tactics of game play. The plan is general and each coach within the DP will be allowed to include his or her own personal interpretation of selected skills and strategies.

Within the overall DP plan, we have two main plans – one for U8 till U12 and one for U13 till U16.

To support the plan, we aim to build a strong and connection between the DP coaches and the parent volunteer coaches.  This is to help the parent coach take lessons from the DP sessions into games and to also allow for learning from games to be fed back into the DP training sessions.

Details on how DP sessions are run will be updated soon.

  • The parent coach should be aware of the training plan and after discussion with DP coach help to incorporate relevant problems from game days.
  • The parent coach is welcome to consult or be part of sessions at any time.
  • We strongly recommend participating and coaching your team, gaining experience and learning new approach to coaching.
  • The DP coach will follow the BDFC annual plan but will be open to accommodate your thoughts on improvement.

The annual DP training plan is based on:

  • Individual game skills
    • Attacking skills
      • Behaviour without the ball
      • Passing the ball
      • Receiving the ball
      • Dribbling
      • Beating an opponent
      • Shooting
    • Defending skills
      • Marking player with the ball
      • Marking player without the ball
      • Marking space
      • Capturing the ball
  • Game combinations
    • Attacking combinations
      • Passing
      • Position swap
      • Action pass and go
    • Defending combinations
      • Securing other teammates
      • Passing over responsibility for attackers
      • Multiplying defenders, doubling up
      • Cohesion in zonal defending
  • Game systems
    • Attacking systems
      • Combination play
      • Contra attack
      • Build up
    • Defensive systems
      • Zonal defence
      • Personal defence
      • Combined defence

2025 DP Info Pack

Click below to access the DP Information Pack

DP Info Pack

2025 DP Training Schedule

Click below to access the DP Training Schedule

Schedule

2025 DP Training Calendar

Click below to access the schedule for our DP programs

Calendar

Behaviour Management Policy

Click below to read the DP Behaviour Management Policy

Policy

DP Vision

Click here to read our Development Program Vision

Vision