HILLS INDEPENDENT HILLS 116 February 2025 | Page 26

Nick Susko Elite Football Coaching

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Professional sports around the world are big businesses these days , particularly football . It was estimated that in world football in 2015 that globally 3.71 billion Euros ($ 6.15 billion Australian ) was spent on transfer fees and by the end of the 2024 calendar year , this had increased to 7.33 billion Euros ($ 12.15 billion Australian ).
Nick Susko has worked in the Elite Football Pathway and has held roles as a Head Coach and Community Development Officer with Manly United Football Club for four years . He works in the area of youth and coaching development , is Head Coach of the Skills Acquired Program ( SAP ), which is for elite young player and youth development also helped develop the technical knowledge of coaches within the district with education and training courses .
Nick is an ambitious young guy and became entrenched in Elite Coaching when he was at Macquarie Uni , home of Sydney FC for their A League and NPL
Delivering a training session classroom style .
men ’ s and women ’ s programs . Nick took the opportunity to work with Kelly Cross , Sydney FC ’ s Youth Technical Director , who was establishing the youth system at the time . Sydney FC finished building their Centre of Excellence at Sky Park on Macquarie University . They have two grass and two synthetic fields as well .
The academy focused on developing match winning players and creating and scoring goals as opposed to just worrying about trying not to concede goals . They had seen that there were not enough match winning players developed in Australia outside the superstars of Harry Kewell , Tam Cahill , Mark Viduka and others from the Golden Generation . Only 10-15 % of training focused on the creation and scoring of goals throughout Australia . This helped them produce the philosophy of game-based focus on producing goal scoring opportunities and scoring goals .
There was a focus on the training of the past and what was being done and why there weren ’ t as many players being developed with flair and creativity to be producing goal scoring opportunities .
There is also a focus in elite coaching to hone into what it takes to help players develop and advance to another level and improve their skills .
One of the key focuses of elite football is to actually focus on game play development where you interconnect all the skills of passing and shooting to help develop the attacking flair of players with game simulation in compact areas . The aim with skills acquisition is to give kids from u8s to u12s or u13s the technical foundation skills while they develop their gross motor skills , while players in the u14s upwards are learning how to really play the game with their baseline skills fundamental to their overall development .
It is definitely possible for players who do not play SAP or NYL football in elite football , physio and recovery to develop the foundation skills , vision and talent to make it to higher levels and be captured through the NPL and A League club ’ s scouting networks . Nick realised that coaching early on was going to be able to help him achieve his lifelong goal of working in High Performance professional football .
He said that some of the key elements is to help develop players to bring out their best and improve in a safe and
Nick Susko coaching in the technical area for Sydney FC . Credit : Sydney FC .
conducive environment that helps the players become self-sufficient , plus develop their skills to help them achieve and exceed their goals .
High performance is about building strong relationships with people that can perform and achieve goals in a group where there is a high level of trust and self-motivation . In this scenario it is important to create connection before correction and the players all understand their roles and work towards achieving the overall goal of the team . It also works well when you give players ownership of the style they play .
Nick enjoyed his transition into being the Sydney FC Academy Manager last year and is looking forward to new opportunities in 2025 and is excited to see what the future brings .

Hexagon Rugby – giving over 35s a place to play rugby

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Everywhere you travel over the countryside , you ’ ll meet some old timers with some rugby stories about back in the day . Everything was better back then ; it resonates with me too . The older I get the better I was or at least I thought I was . There ’ s nothing like being a legend in your own lunchtime !
On the backend of the Covid lockdowns in 2022 , the idea was borne to provide these weekend warriors the opportunity to get back out on the field to keep the dream alive and keep playing rugby , where many had slowly dissipated away from the game . This was much to the relief of many chemists , physiotherapists and even wives of players who needed their own time .
So , Hexagon rugby was born . Mark Swindell and Matt Smith started it . The name came from the idea that there would be six clubs with six teams to create the Hexagon competition . The objectives were to create a rugby product that engages our target player group ( 35-55 ) to play rugby regularly and increase participation across the local area .
They also wanted to expand the pool of players across all clubs and keep rugby being played , to create a competition that eliminates barriers to participation ( travelling distance , Sundays , lots of games ), get ex-rugby players back to the game , especially rugby dads / coaches and provide mental health benefits for core age
group through building a community .
Some of the barriers for participation that the organisers of Hexagon Rugby found were the games provided for o35s players on Sunday were played very often , right across the Sydney area and regional NSW and quite a lot of these players who were dads were involved in kids ’ rugby , worked throughout the week and wanted something that was semi competitive without being overboard .
The target was to run matches on Friday nights , and this was a big hit with the original founding clubs who wanted to provide their members with opportunities to play .
The initial clubs involved were – Eastwood Charcoals , Oakhill Withered Oaks , Hornsby Busted Lions , Hills District O ’ 35 ’ s , Lindfield Funnelwebs , KWP Limping Leos and Wahroonga Toothless Tigers . In 2024 the result saw a 45 % increase in participation compared to 2023 – they expect continued growth again in 2025 .
It has seen the continued growth with guys who have played now bringing their mates to help grow the game , with a huge focus on the mental health and social aspect of rugby , still play and be involved .
The social element and community of rugby is huge and they ’ ve had social events such as the end of season curry night ( with a sing song – always good fun ), Bathurst tour where players from all teams are invited to join the ‘ Hexagon Barbarians ’ and unite as one squad for the weekend Gala .
Their point of difference is that they don ’ t want to detract from the existing Golden Oldies rugby which provides everyone over 35 an opportunity to play rugby .
They want to focus on their demographic of the 35-55 year old guys who have been lost to playing club rugby , but now have an opportunity to keep playing , and free up their weekends for family and all other lifestyle things that come up .
Matt and Mark both say it ’ s the opportunity to play rugby and throw the
ball around a bit , have a beer and socialise with their mates and do this with trained and qualified referees and trained qualified medics to ensure they can go to work on Monday without being busted .
If you ’ re a new player in the Hills area looking for somewhere to play you can find the details on how to get involved with Hexagon Rugby via their website at www . hexagonrugby . au or on https :// www . facebook . com / hexagonrugby /
You never know , this may help you become a weekend warrior too and you ’ ll have a blast .
24 ISSUE 116 // FEBRUARY 2025 HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR ! theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT