Tips, guides, and insights for parents and coaches tracking youth athlete performance.
Your kid just lost a final. They’re in the back seat, hood up, not talking. You have about eight minutes of driving to work out what to do with that....
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Your kid made finals. Somewhere between Monday and Saturday, you are going to feel an urge to do something about it.
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Coaches remember the kid who was warming up before training officially started, more clearly than they remember the kid who kicked the best goal that day. Talent gets noticed in...
Read more →You’ve probably heard the phrase somewhere — a coach mentioned it at training, another parent dropped it in the group chat, or it turned up in a club email about...
Read more →Testing days exist because coaches can’t compare a hunch to a hunch. When a program has forty kids trying out and eight spots, “he looked quick” isn’t something you can...
Read more →The thing everyone gets wrong about a penalty shootout is thinking it’s about nerve. It’s not. It’s about routine, and routine is something your kid can actually copy.
Read more →From this weekend, every World Cup match is win-or-go-home. That’s a useful thing to point at, because your kid’s grand final works exactly the same way, and they’ve probably never...
Read more →Your kid has watched more football in the last two weeks than the rest of the year combined. Good. That’s not a distraction from training, it’s free coaching, as long...
Read more →A proper warm-up isn't just a formality — research shows it can cut serious knee injuries by a third. Dr Brooke Patterson, the La Trobe physiotherapist who co-developed AFL's Prep-to-Play...
Read more →Your child had ten touches last week and three this week. Same kid. Same club. Different oval.
Read more →If your child spent most of last Saturday on the bench, you already know this feeling. Something sits in your chest on the drive home. They say they’re fine. You’re...
Read more →When your child keeps getting moved to a different position each week, it’s not because the coach doesn’t know where to put them. It’s because the AFL doesn’t want them...
Read more →A carnival weekend tells you more about your kid’s development than ten regular-season games. Three or four games in two days, against different clubs, different styles, different pressures — it’s...
Read more →Before your kid’s first pre-season session, it’s worth asking one question: what does a good season actually look like?
Read more →Development coaches at junior AFL games barely notice the goals. Goals are fine. But goals aren’t where the game actually happens for a nine-year-old.
Read more →Seven AFL stats will actually tell you whether your child is getting better. Three others get most of the attention on the sideline — and they’re the least useful ones...
Read more →Every junior AFL age group has different rules, different field sizes, and different things your child should be working on. Here’s what those are, and why they’re designed that way....
Read more →Tracking your child’s AFL stats on your phone during a game is easier than it sounds. You don’t need to know the game inside out. You don’t need to be...
Read more →Supporting your child through junior AFL is one of the most rewarding things you can do as a parent. It’s also, if we’re honest, one of the most confusing —...
Read more →Volunteering to coach a junior AFL team is one of the most rewarding things you can do in your community — and one of the least prepared-for. Most new coaches...
Read more →The fastest kid on the field doesn’t always touch the ball the most. But the kid who can accelerate over five metres — who gets to the contest a step...
Read more →What your child eats in the 24 hours before a game — and how well they sleep the night before — has more impact on their performance than almost anything...
Read more →We’ve been working hard building ScorX into the best youth sports performance tracking app in Australia, and now it’s time to share what we’ve learned along the way.
Read more →Every parent tracking their child’s game has been there: you’ve got a spreadsheet full of numbers, or a notebook of tallies, and you’re not sure what any of it actually...
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