STFA Under 12 and Under 13 boys preparing for NSW Country Cup campaigns

The STFA Under 12 and Under 13 Boys teams will travel to Griffith and Orange respectively this Saturday, where both tournaments will run for three days.

With two teams full of young and eager players ready to go, STFA football manager, Craig Norris, expects them to give it their all this weekend.

"The Under 12s are relatively unknown, this is their first year of competitive football," Norris said.

"So this will be their first shot at a major tournament. They played in the Branch Championships and did okay, held themselves well. Under 12s is always pretty level, so they'll be there or thereabouts.

"The Under 13s is a good looking squad, once again due to COVID they didn't compete in a tournament last year. They had Branch Championships as well, where they came together pretty late, so I think they might go okay."

Eight association teams in each age group are expected to compete in the Country Cup. As the two youngest competitive age groups, Norris hopes the Under 12s and Under 13s can use the event as a learning experience.

"It's a great opportunity to get out there and see where you are as a footballer," he said.

"A lot of kids have said in the lead-up to rep tournaments 'I'm not good enough to play rep', and then they play these tournaments and realise they're pretty competitive.

"We're really excited to see what they do, and at the end of the day it's a good experience for the kids."

Another potential benefit of the Country Cup is the presence of scouts from the Football NSW Talent Support Program, who will be on the lookout for promising young players to develop.

"They'll identify some kids with some potential," Norris said.

"They can get invited to the TSP, and from there they get some higher-level coaching and can get picked in NSW Country squads for national championships and the like."

Such opportunities are particularly important, Norris added, because they are harder to come by for regional players than those in metropolitan areas.

"Sydney's got a lot of the NPL squads, coaching clinics, and academies on their doorsteps," he said.

"It's not too hard for them to get access. But in our case, it's a matter of when we can get coaches out here or run a clinic. So getting them out in these bigger tournaments is ideal for their development."

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