Football West’s commitment to lifting the technical standard of youth football continues with the appointment of Gareth Naven as Development Officer.
Naven needs little introduction to fans who followed Perth Glory in the heady pre A-League days.
He was captain when the club joined the National Soccer League in 1996, and later helped them reach their first two grand finals.
He then went into coaching. He worked for six years at Glory, including a spell as assistant to Head Coach Alistair Edwards. Most recently he has had three-and-a-half years at Melbourne Victory, leading them to the Foxtel Y-League Grand Final last month.
Now Naven brings his wealth of experience back to WA as a Football West Youth Development Officer.
He will be directly involved in elite technical programs, including the Hyundai Technical Support Program (TSP), the Hyundai Skill Acquisition Phase (SAP) for Girls and the Hyundai Skill Development Program (SDP). He will also help select and coach many of the Gold Fields State Teams.
“This is a great opportunity to come back to Perth and work with the young players coming through,” Naven said.
“I am happiest when I am out there, on the training pitch. The biggest thing for me is – what are the kids good at and how can we make them great at it?
“It is about delivering quality content but also making sure the kids enjoy playing, so they want to come back to another session, another game.”
Naven added: “The focus changes for players as they get older. Between nine and 12, they are the foundation years where we get players to love playing and have fun. Then you get the 13 to 16-year-olds, where it is about game awareness and understanding. And 17 and over, it’s about finishing it off, the performance end of their development.”
Naven will be the third AFC/FFA Pro Diploma holder in the Football West Development Department, along with Head of Development Jamie Harnwell and Technical Manager Cris Ola.
“Yes, I played with Jamie at the back end of my career, for about two years,” Naven said. “He’s also from Perth and followed a similar path to me coming through. We both understand the landscape very well.”
Harnwell in turn is delighted to reunite with his old teammate.
He said: “It is a fantastic coup for Football West to be able to bring someone of the calibre of Gareth Naven to the organisation as our Youth Development Officer.
“Gareth has worked at the highest level of development in this country during his time with Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory and I am looking forward to him sharing that knowledge, not only with the players through programs such as our Talent Support Program or Gold Fields Australia WA State teams, but also with club technical directors and coaches.
“This is another indication of the investment that Football West is making to raise the technical standards across the game in WA.”
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Hyundai is the name sponsor of the Football West TSP, SAP and SDP programs
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Gold Fields is the name sponsor of the Football West State teams
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