THE NEW western Sydney team has adopted a similar strategy to existing clubs and looked overseas to the latest in sports development coaching.

Western Sydney high performance manager Alan McConnell has returned from a study trip to the United States, encompassing visits to Notre Dame University in Indiana, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Major League Baseball headquarters and attending the First World Congress on Positive Psychology in Philadelphia.

McConnell, who was the former AIS/AFL Academy coach, said Academy programs were based upon the positive psychology philosophy. The two-week trip gave McConnell, AIS/AFL Academy assistant coach Nathan Buckley and AFL game development manager David Matthews insight into player education through programs such as the NFL draft system.

Unlike the AFL, which oversees clubs, the draft and the elite football competition, drafting to the NFL occurs via the college system and is then professionally managed by the NCAA.

“[It was] interesting to see the relationships and how I guess we’re blessed that we are all one and the same and all working hand-in-glove with one another at all of those levels, because in many instances they actually work in isolation of one another,” McConnell said.

McConnell observed a much greater focus on personal growth and development in the Major League, with a greater responsibility for players that are drafted as young as 16 years of age. With the addition of the Gold Coast and western Sydney AFL clubs placing increased demand on the talent pool, the AFL could soon adopt similar strategies to identify and develop younger players.

McConnell was also keen to explore the link between education and sport that is common in United States programs.

“The notion that not passing at school means not playing on the college team is a concept that’s pretty foreign to us here,” he said.

While the Clontarf Academy in Western Australia and Qantas Kickstart – both football programs for Indigenous Australian youth – focus on developing leadership qualities and encouraging school attendance in its participants, McConnell is interested in applying similar concepts to other player pathways.

He said the culture at Notre Dame, strengthened through alumni, past players and a sacrosanct sense of history, provided inspiration for developing a positive environment at western Sydney.

A coaching session on Long Island with Australian football side, the New York Magpies completed the trip. McConnell said he relished the chance to coach the squad, which attracted a variety of people including women, expatriates and visitors from Europe and England. And while playing on a synthetic field with a backdrop of Manhattan skyscrapers was novel for McConnell, one thing was clearly just like home.

“I come from country football, I’ve coached in metropolitan Melbourne and the experience was no different,” McConnell said.

“People turned up, they were energised, they enjoyed the activity, they love the game, they have a sense of team that’s inherent in any club you go to, despite the fact that they come from all sorts of mixed backgrounds.”