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<blockquote data-quote="Bruce_ma gooshvili" data-source="post: 1139468" data-attributes="member: 74121"><p>Good news / Bad news</p><p></p><p>The good news was reading that Scottish youth development from u16 to u18 does cover the four corners of Scotland (literally, dividing the country into quarters). Recent u18 selections for these sides showed guys from the Highlands, Dumfries (far south west) and even a lad from a state school from my old council area being selected for one of these teams (I just about fell off my chair). All very positive.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.theoffsideline.com/fosroc-u18-festival-challenge/[/URL]</p><p></p><p>The bad news is that the national u18 team selection was made before these 4 regional u18 teams even had a chance to meet up and play. The national training camp actually took place at the same time as the regional matches were scheduled, so there wasn't even a chance for the overlooked lads to prove their ability against the 'chosen ones'.</p><p></p><p>So the Scottish u18 selection policy is, at best, to pick based on performance at u16 and u17 rather than actually seeing who is performing at the top level at u18! This is where suspicions of nepotism and closed shops come in. Guys from up north or the borders typically do not make this u18 national selection (1 of each this time out of 31 players). By the time the overlooked have the opportunity to play a regional u18 match on a level playing field the decision to exclude them has already been taken. The anecdotal suggestion is boys get disheartened or aggreived and find something else to do with their time.</p><p></p><p>Plus, the union pleads poverty and says it only has the funds to host a regional u18 semi-final and final, so overall there seems very little potential for someone who makes strides aged 17 to catch up on those who maybe had superior training and facilities aged 16 and under. Youth development money is focussed on younger age grades, which I am not unsympathetic towards.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.theoffsideline.com/scotland-u18s-squad/[/URL]</p><p></p><p>Overall though, I am more positive that we are starting to see some kind of genuine attempt to look further afield in Scotland for young athletes. Hopefully not naivety on my part.</p><p></p><p>(PS - on a side note Italy apparently won all three partial matches against Ireland, Wales and Scotland at this u18 training camp, so rumours of the wheels already coming off the Italian youth development wagon seem a bit premature. And yes, this moment of historic triumph was my sole reason for this post).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bruce_ma gooshvili, post: 1139468, member: 74121"] Good news / Bad news The good news was reading that Scottish youth development from u16 to u18 does cover the four corners of Scotland (literally, dividing the country into quarters). Recent u18 selections for these sides showed guys from the Highlands, Dumfries (far south west) and even a lad from a state school from my old council area being selected for one of these teams (I just about fell off my chair). All very positive. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.theoffsideline.com/fosroc-u18-festival-challenge/[/URL] The bad news is that the national u18 team selection was made before these 4 regional u18 teams even had a chance to meet up and play. The national training camp actually took place at the same time as the regional matches were scheduled, so there wasn't even a chance for the overlooked lads to prove their ability against the 'chosen ones'. So the Scottish u18 selection policy is, at best, to pick based on performance at u16 and u17 rather than actually seeing who is performing at the top level at u18! This is where suspicions of nepotism and closed shops come in. Guys from up north or the borders typically do not make this u18 national selection (1 of each this time out of 31 players). By the time the overlooked have the opportunity to play a regional u18 match on a level playing field the decision to exclude them has already been taken. The anecdotal suggestion is boys get disheartened or aggreived and find something else to do with their time. Plus, the union pleads poverty and says it only has the funds to host a regional u18 semi-final and final, so overall there seems very little potential for someone who makes strides aged 17 to catch up on those who maybe had superior training and facilities aged 16 and under. Youth development money is focussed on younger age grades, which I am not unsympathetic towards. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.theoffsideline.com/scotland-u18s-squad/[/URL] Overall though, I am more positive that we are starting to see some kind of genuine attempt to look further afield in Scotland for young athletes. Hopefully not naivety on my part. (PS - on a side note Italy apparently won all three partial matches against Ireland, Wales and Scotland at this u18 training camp, so rumours of the wheels already coming off the Italian youth development wagon seem a bit premature. And yes, this moment of historic triumph was my sole reason for this post). [/QUOTE]
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