The launch of the FFA National Curriculum last year was a key moment for Australian football, but it means nothing if its ambitious targets are not matched by a proactive approach to meeting them.

Quashing such concern at the tail end of last year, FourFourTwo found ourselves standing in Valentine Sports Park in Sydney's North watching the next generation of Aussie coaches cutting their teeth in the presence of one of the most respected coach educators in the world.

That man is Alfred Galustian, a Londoner with 30 years experience of coach education experience, including work with the French, Japanese and English Football Federations, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, where the Frenchman rates Galustian highly.

Galustian is in Australia to teach a five-day course to 19 coaches from around Australia. His's role is to tutor these coaches in the art of training and developing elite players between eight and 13 years old. They will be shown what to teach and how to teach it to the youngsters through demonstration and communication.

"Between eight and 13 are the ages widely accepted as the golden age for learning," the affable Galustian told us. "These coaches will be training the elite players in Australia who already have a good skills set, so their job is to spot any weaknesses and teach the skills, like running with the ball, one versus one, passing and first touch."

The program is the brainchild of FFA technical director Han Berger and sits in-line with the wider reaching and longer term aims of the aforementioned FFA National Curriculum.

"Han has a long-term vision to have a building block for teaching skills to elite players, which means players that might play for the national team," said Galustian. "We're not talking about grassroots, this is the best of the best. We want to teach coaches how to indentify top talent and teach skills to these players.

"I committed in May to come over to Australia for the next three years and help with this vision of elite player development - taking highly talented young Australian players and making them technically better. You have wonderful athletes in Australia, but the weak link is the technical side."

Hearing that Australian players need to improve technically is nothing new. It serves to highlight the short-falling of every Australian side, across all ages.  So how is Galustian bucking this all too familiar trend?

"Nearly everything we do in terms of drills is with the ball, technical ability is the foundation of players between eight and 13 and other aspects like physical power and running without the ball can be added as they get older," said Galustian.

"I have worked in 15 countries in the last two years, both pro clubs and federations, and I know there is a global shift to effective possession football and keeping the ball. You need to have perfect skills for this including first touch and passing the ball to create space. Coaches need to know how to teach this."

A common misconception of Galustian's work and his programs is that they serve to teach 'tricks', an impressive side of the game but widely unusable at the highest level against the top players.

"These are skills, not tricks," stressed Galustian. "I shared Han's vision. He thinks technique is what you build all parts of the game on, especially in the formative years."

When it comes down to which coaches are in attendance, it seems to teach skill you need some. Within FFA's handpicked selection of coaches are ex-pros from across the country, including former Socceroos Milan Blagojevic and Matt Horsley, former A-League players Richie Alagich, Remo Buess, Andre Gumprecht, old EPL players such as Hamilton Thorp and Spencer Prior and even an ex-Real Madrid player Milan Jankovic.

"Han wanted to recruit top players to become coaches, but why are top players important? Because teaching skill needs demonstration and it helps to have been a player. You can write tactics on the board, but you need to show skills," said Galustian.

"I've been really impressed with these guys here. You've got great ex-pros here learning how to coach elite players. There are some heavy hitters here and that's one of the reasons I agreed to come out here."

The man that got Galustian, Han Berger, was on hand during proceedings to ensure his seeds of hope for Australian football sprout into fruition.

"There are four building blocks in the new FFA National Curriculum," explained Berger. "The first is small-sided football for the youngest ages to play as much as possible. We also use small-sided football to indentify the talented kids.

"We then take those talented kids and put them into a program for eight to 13 year olds, as that is the most important period where they can learn multiple skills, ball techniques and movement. If you don't teach them in that period it could be impossible for them to learn as they get older."

It will be the task of the coaches to mould the most talented young stars of small-sided games in Australia into future Socceroos.

"The coaches here this week need to be able to work with this specific age group, plus they need to be able to demonstrate the skills to perfection," said Berger. "So we select people who played at the top level, are still fit, know what they are talking about and can show this to the kids. You must have a passion for working with kids."

The first week was only the start. The second stage of education for these coaches will take place early this year, most probably in March, where a more practical approach will be used. The group of 19 coaches will be cut down by then, and those remaining at the end will be appointed by the FFA in July as the first draft of skills educators for elite eight to 13 year old players across Australia. Then it will take the evolution of current state systems to form the new agenda.

"At first these coaches will start working in the structures and systems that are currently in place, which will vary from state to state," said Berger. "Then we will look to pair the best players and coaches together in a state-wide program so the most talented players are influenced by the best programs and coaches to perfect their game skills.

"There will be one skills educator in each state, and two in the bigger states. More coaches like this will be added over the years too. We are looking for the 25 to 50 most talented players in every state in each age category," added Berger.

The Galustian schooling is unlikely to produce an army of Wenger doppelgangers overnight. But the Galustian, and indeed Wenger, philosophy is attempting to bridge the gap between Australia's competitive and athletic talents and the technical ability needed to succeed at the highest level. The velvet glove on the iron fist if you will.

Whether this will all come together to provide the knock-out punch that Australia is looking to land, not even Arsenal's French maestro could say that without the advent of time and dedication by all involved with the FFA National Curriculum. But the first steps of a long journey have been taken.