A first ever Player Development Coaching Philosophy developed by Simon Richards from Oceania Football Confederation draws praise from Vanuatu Football Federation technical team and the member associations in a meeting last week at the Teouma football facility.
The OFC Technical Adviser to VFF, Simon Richards outlines in the new plan a player development pathway for Vanuatu after much discussion and observation when he was appointed by the OFC Technical Department to assist VFF in its long term 2026 plan.
Simon said he had to come up with a player model with higher technical and tactical intelligence.
“The games I’ve watched here, either on OFC TV, Port Vila Stadium or Korman Stadium, they’ve all said the same thing in our game, and that is we are missing some key elements in our game style”.
Simon has developed the youth coaching philosophy addressing four key concepts around vision and awareness, first touch and the passing, movement of players and the support, and also communication with combination.
“It is a coaching concept and is now Vanuatu football’s commitment to implement across all the member associations at the youth level”, he said.
Simon believes the best way to improve players is to follow the training plan in the new philosophy and the best way to do it is to spread it across the country.
“Everybody deserves the same opportunity and we don’t know where the next Brian Kaltack is coming from, he might be living in the next village over there”.
Simon Richard is a former Youth Coach for Auckland City FC.
