Words: Staff Writers

Brisbane Strikers have announced an agreement to pool their coaching resources and skills with Cavendish Road High School.

The agreement is set to see Strikers coaching staff conduct training sessions at the school, share player information and benefit from the school’s training and auditorium facilities.

Strikers and Cavendish Road High School already have links with five students joining the club’s PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues junior ranks over the past three seasons.

Cavendish Road High School, based at Holland Park in Brisbane’s south, boasts a strong reputation in developing footballers through their Football Academy program, which is directed by former Brisbane Roar Youth assistant coach Joel Smith.

Smith said he is excited about the potential benefits of the agreement for the school’s talented group of players.

“The partnership benefits us in terms of there being another pathway for our students to be recognized for their progression in football and in terms of having Brisbane Strikers associated with our academy and having that National Premier Leagues link,” Smith said.

“It gives us the ability to have coaches come in from Strikers and work with some of our players from time to time and get them exposure to different coaches.”

"It’s good to have that in youth development – another perspective or another learning experience,” he concluded.

Strikers Technical Director David Large said the partnership will deliver improved communications in the development of players shared between the club and the school.

“One of the advantages for us is that we get good communication with the Cavendish Road school so that we don’t overload our players,” Large said.

“If we know exactly what the school is doing and what our commitments are we can make sure we are not over-training the player and harming his development.”

“Good communication also means we can make sure that our club and the school are focusing on the same needs for a particular player and, since we’ve got our High Performance Unit going, we can use the data we are gaining from that about a player’s progress to help inform Joel and the other coaches at the school,” Large concluded.