Minimum coaching qualifications in JDL: what Football NSW requires of your child's head coach, and what to do if yours does not have it.

Your kid has been in the JDL program four weeks. The coach is enthusiastic, well-meaning, and runs sessions that look nothing like the JDL curriculum you have started reading about. There is no first-touch work, no one-versus-one structure, no ball-mastery progression. You ask another parent what the coach's licence is and they shrug. You ask the team manager and the answer is vague. Section 8 of the Football NSW JDL Parent Information Guide March 2025 says four roles in a JDL program each carry an FA prescribed minimum coaching licence. The head coach is supposed to hold a C Diploma at minimum. The next question is whether yours does, and what you can do about it in writing.