The football family has been saddened to learn of the passing of respected junior coach David Lee.
Lee had been widely credited as the coach who helped shape the career of Harry Kewell.
The NSW based coach was a passionate advocate for technical coaching and was still helping kids develop well into his 70s.
Lee was influenced by English coach Eric Worthington, a former director of coaching in this country, as well as Yugoslav guru Ivan Toplak.
I first met Lee seven years ago in Bossley Park. I was writing a feature for FourFourTwo magazine on coaching methods of juniors in Australia.
Walking stick in hand, baggy tracksuit hanging off his gaunt figure, Lee ran an academy called “IQ” alongside Jeff Stanmore, another respected junior coach.
Lee told me he wasn’t “results driven” in a sense of winning matches.
“The philosophy is to create a competitive environment as opposed to a competition environment, whereby the primary focus is on individual technical development,” he said in an accent as ocker as Paul Hogan as he rested his walking stick next to a wooden table and sat down for a chat.
“You’ve got to be motivated to improve, that’s the first thing you check.
“Ten percent usually want to be there, 90 percent don’t; it’s the parents who want them to be there. And it’s very hard to tell. You’ve got to run tests. They’ve got to be intrinsically motivated, not extrinsically," he told me.
FFA would like to extend their condolences to David Lee's family on his passing.