At this time, with new coaches looking to plan their first sessions with the kids and get the season underway, here are a few additional, important principles which you might find of assistance to enable our kids to learn the game in the correct manner, to learn ‘jogo bonito’, not kick and run.

Youth Football is for Development - kids playing under the age of at least 18 are there entirely for one thing, to learn the game of football. To learn it to become a professional player, or to enjoy playing properly and with technique for a lifetime, not to be left as an adult with no skill or technique and thus resigned to a lifetime experience of the game as a kick and rush merchant.

Now, the only way to develop completely at anything is to be criticised, to be told you are doing the wrong thing, to see adults screaming at each other and you, and to be told what not to do far more often than what to do, right?

Wrong of course, but take a moment to consider how close to the reality of your child’s football experience the above will be, because it doesn’t have to be if you give the issue some thought now.

Development and fun, enjoyment, remember that thing you had as a kid, mostly when the adults weren’t around and you could make your own rules and be free of negative input, which is the heart of why kids play football.

You may not have considered so, but research says kids would rather play and be involved in a game and lose, then have little involvement, no enjoyment, and win.

It is a game, and the main principal should be how the player and team plays, not the ultimate result, because not only can results in football be somewhat beholden to lady fortune, but the football itself is the best determinant of both whether you are likely to win the next game, and whether the players will actually learn.

Australia must be the most competitive nation on earth and this assists with the development of our kids in many sports but here’s the key you have to comprehend, an emphasis on winning above the football played at youth level actually does the opposite, and this is the great paradox of football.

Here is the technically brilliant future World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi of Argentina and Barcelona, in the Guardian recently (UK): “’The Barcelona youth programme is one of the best in the world,’ said Messi (an irrefutable point given that, in recent years alone, it has produced players of the quality of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and - of course - Cesc Fabregas).

What was the secret?

“As a kid they teach you not to play to win, so much as to grow in ability as a player. That’s why, in contrast to the experience I’d had in Argentina, where it was all much more physical, at Barça we trained every day with the ball. I hardly ever ran without a ball at my feet. It was a form of training aimed very clearly at developing your skills.”

Let’s be clear - if you are a youth coach, in charge of an impressionable group of kids between the ages of 4 and 18, your job is to teach them how to play football the right way, the passing game not one of running, and every decision you make should have this aim in mind.

The best youth coach develops the best players and the best football, that’s the true guide, not whether you can compile trophy after trophy, especially if your players aren’t capable of playing at a higher level.

Football is different to any other sport your child plays - and thus the same rules can’t be applied to the education of a young footballer.

Playing for results only at youth level encourages everything wrong from a coach and team, you have seen it, the big kids up front, best kids always play, lesser kids get little time particularly against fierce ‘rival clubs’ (as if the kids care whether you dislike the other coach or club or not), rigid positional allocation of youngsters too early compromising the learning environment, all expedient decisions designed to support the club and coaches’ desire for ‘success’ as measured by trophies, when the only success should be the development of every single player, the type of football being taught and thus played by the kids, and their experience of the game in total.

The hurdle we have to overcome in Australia is to understand that the finest football produces the finest players, and the finest results. “Winning with style” I call it, which produces teams and players who can play football beautifully with technique and skill, and overcome an opponent through football expertise not effort and hard tackling, which in the modern game is never enough anymore.

Not just winning, for there is no honour in playing ugly football just for the result, it is an affront to good players, nor just stylish football, because the ultimate aim is to better your opponent, and anyway we are Australian and thus serial winners, but to combine the two.

Get rid of the Parents - the scourge of the game and kids’ enjoyment of it, and before you get upset, remember I am one!

The fact is that the experience of a vast majority of young players in this country is far too restricted by all the elements surrounding football, one of the key ones being the parents.

The coaches restrict what the players are allowed to do or try, the clubs allow coaches to play defensive or ugly football which is anti-development because they haven’t thought through the issues surrounding styles of play, believing incorrectly it is a matter only for the coaches themselves, and many parents are a disgrace to the game and of basic sporting principles.

And one of the critical factors in us moving forward as a football culture is to understand that aside from encouragement and support, a parents’ involvement in actual training and games is better kept to a minimum, the optimal amount being only to encourage.

I have lost count of the number of times I have seen a game between juniors, notice it is called a game not a fight or World Cup Final, and the parents are screaming at the players, predominantly telling them what not to do and particularly chastising mistakes, screaming at the coach and opponents, the ref (who often is just a kid), and anyone within earshot.

Make no mistake, this is not only against the principles of fair play and the basic ethics kids should be learning whilst they develop their game, but it is against the interest of every player there.

At most top class professional clubs overseas, parents are not allowed anywhere near youth training sessions, and have no part to play in games, and that’s the way it should be.

I’ll give you a personal example to illustrate.

My son was playing for his school in midfield, and being well in front the coach shuffled the line-up and put an attacker in goal and my son in central defence. This is excellent coaching at age 10, as long as everyone understands this is in the interests of development of the players, and inevitably leads to mistakes as the kids learn.

Great, that’s what they are there for, but not surprisingly an opponent came forward, was not closed down by my son, and scored. No problem there, great learning opportunity for the kid.

Until, that is, the father of the (stand-in) goalkeeper walked over and started to chastise my son for poor defending!

Having not played there, and being unsuited to the role, a mistake was inevitable and an opportunity to then work on in training during the week - that is called development.

What is anti development is to berate any child for making a mistake, particularly if it is not your own child!

I couldn’t believe my eyes, and asked the gent if he had a coaching license? No. Had he played internationally then? No. Had he been a celebrated defender, since he was in the midst of trying to make a point on this principal? No. Then what exactly was he doing speaking to someone else’s child?

I stressed that he was not the coach, even if he was a coach, and thus had no role to play in the game except to encourage. If he had an issue with the coach for any reason, the time to make this clear was during the week before or after training according to the coach or club’s policy, and to stay out of the way during games.

After the match my discussion to my child was well done, you played great, did your best which is all that’s ever asked of you, and you tried to adapt to being a defender and played a few beautiful passes forward, controlled the ball always, and never kicked it away, as I have taught you to.

In short I encouraged him, because he had done everything right, and his mistake was a chance to develop, but the actions of one parent can go a long way towards ruining the positive experience a child has of the game.

Now, this is about as close to absolutely disgraceful parent behaviour as one can see in junior football, and I would encourage every junior club to have policies on parent behaviour which clearly explain at season’s start that there are times to discuss issues with their child during the week or over the phone; that during training and games the coach has control and parents are not to interfere; that any negative comments against any referees or opponents are not acceptable; and that the entire club environment is designed with the child’s welfare in mind, not the parent.

Here is some reading material on this critical issue holding Australian football youngsters back:

Referees, Coaches and Parents: Role Models for Life

For Coaches and parents: Cheshire (Connecticut) Soccer Club’s Dos and Don’ts Keys to Peak Parental Performance

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 10:45 am and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.