SASFC Junior Player Pathway

The New Zealand Football Junior Framework forms the basis of the SASFC Junior Player Pathway, as part of a year-round, age-appropriate, player development programme.

4th Grade to 9th Grade: First Kicks and Fun Football

While the SAS journey officially begins in 4th Grade football, we encourage parents of even younger children to intruduce footballing fundamentals as First Kicks Early Years players. As soon as they are walking and enjoying ball play, often as young as two years old, kids are able to develop body-mind coordination through individual and group play, and now they can play in the awesome English Park stadium, the home of football in Canterbury.

From 4th Grade our qualified coaches progress fundamental movement by encouraging kids to simply run, play and have fun with a ball at their feet in a safe, controlled environment.

From 6th Grade the SASFC First Kicks programme introduces further oppotunities for team play, as the Friday sessions are enhanced with Sunday Morningstar games, played all-year-round during school term-time, included in the Friday First Kicks registration. 

Fun Football is when we move into playful technical training: manoeuvring, striking and passing the ball, as well as teaming up with other players in more structured, competitive game play.

For the first time, in 2026 Winter Season 8th and 9th Grade SASFC players will take part in a Fun Football Hub, playing 'home and away' 5v5 games against teams from other local football clubs on Saturday mornings. As with Morningstar games, participation in the Fun Football Hub is included as part of the SASFC Fun Football Friday training programme. 

Together, First Kicks and Fun Football form the Discovery Phase of player development. 

10th Grade to 13th Grade: Junior Football

Junior Football grades 10 to 13 are the ‘golden years’ of player development. The SASFC coaching team is focussed on further developing football-specific skills, working not only on physical qualities like speed and agility, but how to combine effectively with teammates to both score and prevent goals, understand basic playing positions within simple team structures, and develop a more tactical understanding of the game.

Players in 'social' teams play in less-competitive divisions and follow our Junior Stripes Development  pathway, while those selected into teams playing at a higher competitive level follow our Junior Excel Development pathway and ultimately aim to try out for a place on the Youth Football Talent Development Programme with Ōtākaro FC. 

We are fully committed to Girls Football and take a structured and methodical approach to female player development. A dedicated girls player pathway is provided from 4th Grade onwards and offers female Junior Football players the opportunity to play in either 'mixed' teams of boys and girls, or girls-only teams, following Girls-only Junior Stripes Development and Girls-only Junior Excel Development pathways.

Player selection and season structure

Each autumn we assess Fun Football and Junior Football players by invitation to Team Selection sessions: free, pre-season games and drills aimed at grading players and teaming them up with others of similar ability. Sessions are held mid-March, ahead of Winter Season team training. Teams then play Saturday morning games 'home and away' against other Canterbury teams throughout the season, with the more competitive players taking part in mid-season and end-of-season regional and national tournament.

SASFC Junior Football runs all-year-round, with a comprehensive Summer Programme and Holiday Programmes for those players motivated to keep up their skills and fitness during the warmer months. Following end-of-season tournament, this provides an extension to both our Junior Plus and Junior Development programmes in the form of mid-week Skill Training sessions for the remaining months of the year.

• To find out more about each phase of our Player Pathway, click through to the pages linked in bold text above. 
• Junior Football players are expected to play the game with respect for other players, coaches, match officials and spectators at all times. The Players Code of Conduct is available to download at the sidebar of the Junior Football page.