The final game of the first U15 Girls Petrichor Tournament in Yaounde, Cameroon, was over. In an exciting upset, Regina FC narrowly beat Green City to become the tournament champions. Green City, coached by Armand Bessala, normally dominated the youth competitions, especially on the girls side, but not this time. Coach Biyong Auguste of Regina FC and his team battled through the group stages and semifinals to get a shot at beating a top team, signaling a new era of girls football in Cameroon. With handshakes and congratulations, Coach Biyong and his team celebrated their big win! Coach Biyong, known as “The Educator,” used his teaching background to develop deep relationships and techniques with his players. He was part of the initial group of coaches that formed the original Petrichor Football Association and over the years has improved and added depth to his academy through community service projects, character development, and growing a quality youth girls program.
Petrichor Football Association (PFA) is a sports organization in Yaounde, Cameroon, that is developing youth football structures, pathways, and education. It started because of a request from local coaches for assistance in creating coaching development and a youth football structure. Founders Jordan Cone and Paul Dreisbach worked closely with Armand Bessala (Coaching Director) to develop a unique model based on inclusiveness, working with existing talent (coaches and players), and creating clear and transparent pathways in a sustainable way.
Academy Model
The academy model is widely used across the globe by football clubs, nonprofits, and social enterprises. This model selects the best talent and works with this exclusive group of players with the hope that they will develop into prospects for a paying club. The goal is to sign players as early as possible and develop them into first team players or sell them to other clubs. This can limit the greater talent pool, as it does little to develop wider pathways of talent into the academy itself. This approach relies on clubs and teams across their region to find and develop young players that can later enter the academy. These originating clubs often do not have the training and technical tools needed for developing talent year after year to feed to the higher-level academies. And when they are able to develop consistent talent, they usually try to retain these players and find their own outlets rather than giving their best players away. This method can often stifle local club development, as limited resources and connections can rarely compete with international backing and support.
The academy model has in some cases worked well around the world, and concepts within it are essential to player development and movement. One of the main aspects of this model is control. Academy directors and staff are able to set the rules and control the environment, style, and selection. This is necessary in regard to the fundamentals and technical side of player growth and development but draws a line in the sand when trying to build larger-scale football development pathways. However, this may not even be the goal of an academy. The mission and vision of an academy direct how it is run, so some of these aspects of larger-scale development might not apply.
Association Model
The association model promotes wider-scale development and is focused on building capacity and larger pathways starting at the grassroots level and building up to higher-level play. Petrichor was created with the mission of investing in and building local clubs, which collectively strengthens the level of play and education. The model reflects long-term sustainability and trust in local talent to take the game forward. This wider approach allows for larger scale and training in ways that an academy model cannot. Instead of starting an academy that only works with an exclusive group of players, associations empower its members to succeed in their own club pursuits by providing member support, gear, structure, and pathways. The goal is to identify local clubs and help take them to the next level.
Petrichor has adapted the cliche phrase “community over competition” to fit the goals of the association more closely. Its focus is “community and competition,” as Petrichor believes in building both member clubs and their local communities. This mission emcompasses both community service activities as well as a serious approach to competitive play and player and team development. Regina FC beating Green City is one example of community and competition. They are both members who respect each other but at the same time want to beat each other. Quality competition helps all the players develop at a higher rate, which is reflected in Petrichor’s value of excellence.
Petrichor’s Approach
Petrichor started with 15 member clubs in 2018. Prerequisites included things like being registered with the local federation and having youth development teams. As member clubs applied and were accepted as members, they signed an agreement to build the game together and abide by association guidelines. These guidelines and goals were developed by local leadership along with the Petrichor staff and included some of our highest priority goals:
Build full girls teams within your club
Run community service projects with your youth leaders
Show competence in Petrichor values: Excellence, Integrity, and Be Different (stand above)
Member academies receive support that includes coaching education programming created by Soccer Shots OC, LA Galaxy OC and others, as well as equipment, training curriculum and sustainability training, tournament hosting, and player pathway outlets.
Petrichor aims to develop it’s members into self-sustaining and thriving local clubs that can build into their communities in ways that provide long-term value for players, coaches, and supporters. Petrichor holds its members accountable to its standards, and many clubs have not been able to continually meet the requirements. These clubs are put on probation, and some are expelled for not meeting the basic standards. However, strong relationships with these clubs are maintained, and they are encouraged to apply again after a 1-year waiting period. This process embodies Petrichor’s commitment to its values and to the local clubs and communities.
Is one better than the other?
In many ways it comes down to goals. An academy might solely want to find and develop the next Drogba, Kante, or Salah. In this case, then the larger development goals do not apply and the main growth is focused internally within the control of the academy and specific player identification. I believe that a healthy blend of the two is the answer to this model for the future. Taking the best aspects of high-level training that players get at an academy and adding value to the greater developer of the surrounding football community can go hand in hand. This is what Petrichor is doing, and this approach is starting to show exciting results.
by Paul Dreisbach, Co-Founder of Petrichor Football Association
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