Gary and Carine Ireland have partnered with long time associate Liverpool FC legend Craig Johnston to develop a SUPAskills licensing model in North America. Craig has invited Carine and Gary to work alongside him to create a groundbreaking project designed to improve the technical level of players, increase membership participation and generate revenue for forward thinking football leaders and organizations. Craig became an national sporting icon, household name and role model in Australia, scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final and winning more medals and trophies than all other Australian players combined. Craig is the brainchild and owner of SUPAskills, a unique soccer skills measuring and testing platform. Craig also designed and patented the award winning and best selling revolutionary Adidas Predator soccer shoe worn by David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane. Craig is globally recognized for creating and managing original, meaningful football content and product development, in the media, merchandising and on the football field. Craig isn’t new to creating unique concepts and developing product after creating Prime Time TV game shows such as the ‘Main Event’ which was licensed globally. He was also head of Reebok International Soccer
“A lot of players made it off back of Craig Johnston”
Tottenham Hotspurs Manager Ange Postecoglou.
“If I had access to SUPAskills on a daily basis we would be using it with all the players we coach and train from local youth including youth kids, to national teams and college”. Carine Ireland
See SUPAskills Facility of the Future HERE
Pop Up customized SUPAskills ‘Skill Rigs’ are ideal for TV/streaming events for regional, national and global audiences. They are also ideal for bespoke large scale events eg. pro team tours, tournaments, league sponsor and activation events. SUPAskills ‘Skill Rigs’ are ideal for sponsor activations and ignition events as well as city or league promotional activities. ‘Skill Rigs’ can be 'skinned' with unique sponsor and partner branding. The content and DATA that SUPAskills ‘Skill Rigs’ produce is a game changer for news, sports and entertainment platforms and sponsors.
SUPAskills will develop a dedicated mobile app for players, parents and coaches so that players can compare and contrast scores. Freemium platform with premium subscription options and a revenue share model for clubs and leagues. SUPAskills gamifies this concept for players rather than it be used only as a coach/technical measurement tool. SUPAskills results are measured and shared on the SUPAskills app and website using their personal scorecard data. Coaches, Clubs, Leagues and Federations will find SUPAskills a useful tool for measuring baseline testing and skill development, while overlaying other educational and commercial content
SUPAskills isn’t disruptive but instead enhances players ability to Control, Pass, Dribble and Shoot and helps players to improve their touch and comfort on the ball. SUPAskills improves quality of players and the game and helps clubs and leagues increase player participation. SUPAskills focuses on the essence of individual soccer/football education and helps motivate players to self practice and learn while making practice fun and educational. Quantifying skill metrics has historically been difficult because assessing technical skills tend to be subjective and while coaches and trainers have long had measurements for the physical testing of players, players haven’t been able to share a universal standardized personal skill score that the player owns, SUPAskills provides a way for players of all levels and abilities to engage positively and enjoy the game more as well as enable them to improve, while also generating revenue for youth and grassroots soccer. SUPAskills enables players, coaches and parents to track their year round skill performance and is also ideal for ambitious players wanting to improve when team training isn’t available or technical training isn't provided. Enabling players to own their development and help them enjoy self practice in the objective of SUPAskills.
Craig created SUPAskills after developing his own method of self training on his way to stardom in England. Craig codified his self practice in a measurable and quantifiable way as seen in his heartwarming and incredibly inspiring animated story ‘Kangaroo in The Car Park’. Craig's story is about overcoming adversity, perseverance, sacrifice, obsession to achieve the impossible dream and desire to belong to something big. It’s is an inspirational story of one man’s life pursuit and a family’s love to sacrifice themselves for his dreams and the loneliness of a young boy’s isolation, humiliation and ridicule in a foreign land and how his resilient and tenacious character full of grit overcame failure, turmoil, setback to achieve success and finding a way to succeed and become a legend against all odds despite setbacks.
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Craig has been featured on FIFA Football. On his journey as a player Craig developed his method of self training, codifying it in a measurable and quantifiable way, forming the basis and ingredients of SUPAskills
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Carine and Gary assisted Craig in assembling a SUPAskills course at the Silverlakes Tournament facility in Southern California in 2016
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Craig was Liverpool FC Australia Ambassador in 2013 See Craig Johnston ‘You'll Never Walk Alone’ Liverpool F.C Promo Video here
“A lot of players made it off back of Craig Johnston”
Tottenham Hotspurs Manager Ange Postecoglou
Craig's former Middlesbrough coaches John Neil and Ian McNeil coached Gary and his brother Simon at Chelsea FC and nicknamed them next Craig Johnston’s. “Craig a supporter of our work and material which helps players become more technically comfortable and focuses on soccer specific physical movements and consequently he has invited us in the past to work with him and help develop SUPAskills. SUPAskills has a very important technical component built into it which is missing in most players early phase of development. The time is right to combine our resources and knowledge because the game and players need it more than ever. SUPAskills also has a technology aspect to this which is right up our street due to our experience in designing, architecting, developing and managing soccer technology platforms.” Carine Ireland
"We are excited to work more closely with Craig because not only was he an inspiration to me but to every young Australian player trying to make it in Europe, as Tottenham Hotspurs manager Ange Postecoglou said. SUPAskills appeals to our specialization of technical technical development and also provides a solution for clubs, right holders, media, sponsors, spectators, facility and event owners and most importantly players” Gary Ireland
SUPAskills players are:
• Tested and Measured
• Rated and Ranked
• Tracked for improvement
• Displayed in the Global Scouting Network Portal
• Given a unique ID & DATA score for their entire playing career
By using SUPAskills players and coaches will know what skills and techniques they have at their disposal. A players SUPAskills score can be tracked and compared with other players to pinpoint strengths and target areas that players need improving and to identify the most talented individuals. SUPAskills offers a worldwide 'football handicap' type skill challenge in an obstacle course type format
Using SUPAskills, players strengths and weaknesses are assessed by focusing on the 4 fundamental skills of soccer. Craig has developed a fun and engaging system that provides benchmark analysis for uniform statistics. SUPAskills turns skills into scores into stats with a simple formula.
SUPAskills provides the equivalent of ‘golf handicap’, only for soccer. SUPAskills is a GPA/SAT-type skills scorecard football skills handicap allowing players of all ages to compare skills scores and compete with peers and elite players within their team, clubs at a tournament, ID event or globally
The Craig Johnston Story
SUPAskills Promo
Craig Johnston and SUPAskills Basic Overview. Click on image to see video. A visual rundown of various Craig Johnston projects including the FIFA Endorsed Skills Measurement and Ratings mechanic.
SUPAskills at Isleworth Golf Course (A Tavistock Group owned Golf Course) in Orlando, Florida (features Gary & Carine associate Tom Sermanni then Orlando Pride Women's Pro. team coach former USA, Australia and current Canada Women's Assistant National team coach). Click here to see video
Fabio Challenge- Florida
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Florida Cup SUPAskills I Drive Orlando Promo Click on image to see video.
This chronicles the development of the Adidas Predator soccer boot from concept and design by Craig Johnson to final production by Adidas.
Soccer 6ix's Tournament, Amsterdam Arena (2000)
The tournament was created by Craig Johnston. Four of Europe's top clubs Ajax Amsterdam, AC Milan, Liverpool FC, Glasgow Rangers competed in a 2 day event.
Johnston and Johann Cruyff proved that training ground formats could be very entertaining for a global audiences. The tournament was a huge success. Some of the best players in the world participated: Baggio, Maldini, Kluivert, Littmanen, Barnes, Gascoine, De Boer Brothers, Redknapp, Owen, Fowler & more.
http://pjbdrummer.blogspot.com/2016/05/football-legend-johan-cruyff-craig.html of
Interview BEIN Sports 'Keys & Gray Show' Qatar: (May 9, 2020)
BEIN football presenters Richard Keys & Andy Gray interviewed Craig Johnston, the Australian Liverpool FC soccer legend & inventor of the world most famous soccer boot, The Adidas Predator Shoe & producer of the inspiring 'Kangaroo In the Car Park' cartoon about his life. "A football story, the likes of which there has never previously been before. A story so good its being considered being turned into a film" said Richard Keys...'It wont be" says Andy Gray. "why?" asks Richard Keys. "Because it's unbelievable!' says Andy Gray. Craig's story is It about overcoming adversity, perseverance, sacrifice, obsession to achieve the impossible dream and desire to belong to something big. It’s is an inspirational story of one man’s life pursuit and a family’s love to sacrifice themselves for his dreams and the loneliness of a young boy’s isolation, humiliation and ridicule in a foreign land and how his resilient and tenacious character full of grit overcame failure, turmoil, setback to achieve success and finding a way to succeed and become a legend against all odds despite setbacks.
See 3 min mark Craig Johnston interviewing Frank Arok (1989)
EXTENDED INTERVIEW WITH CRAIG JOHNSTON (2012)
The SUPAskills system has been trialed over the years with Premier League Academies, first team players and the Australian National team. It's a unique training methodology that is guaranteed to make players better on a daily basis by turning football Skills...into Scores...into Statistics. Click here to see video (2012)
Six-day/800km charity bike ride aimed at raising funds/awareness for kids with rare diseases with Steve Waugh; Olympic Gold Medalists Anna Meares & Daley Thompson
https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5758146/steve-waugh-lauds-the-boy-from-boolaroo/
25 yrs since the creation of one of the most iconic boots in football.
Designed by former Liverpool FC player Craig Johnston
Liverpool legend Craig Johnston checks in for an engrossing football discussion
https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=397929
If Craig Johnston's soccer career happens in today's digital age there wouldn't be a kid in Australia who didn't know his name and have the Liverpool #7 on their back