There are some things in football that I love:
Seeing the kids develop as players, developing friendships. Watching them enjoying trainings sessions we have put on. Seeing them win, lose or draw together. As a team.
There are some things in football that I don’t love quite so much:
Hearing or seeing adults shout at children. Hearing or seeing children cry because of peer pressure from adults who should know better. To borrow a phrase from the book ‘You’ll Win Nothing With Kids’ by the fantastic Jim White, ‘Kids football is second only to Stella Artois for making grown men behave like idiots’
The ‘win at all costs’ attitude displayed by some teams is sickening to see at a young age.
The state of pitches up and down the country. Whilst this isn’t fault of the clubs that are trying to play on them, it’s just another contributing factor to stopping good, skillful play.
Scouts plucking kids from their teams (Where they are with their friends and enjoying their football) and taking them to academies where ultimately the clubs are only interested in the biggest, fastest, strongest boys because ‘skill can be taught’. (A genuine phrase from an Academy Coach). Scouts flattering parents telling them their child is fantastic and how they can get the child a place in ‘The Academy’. This will inevitably lead to young children who are not emotionally mature enough to deal with high pressure, cause and effect (if you don’t do this, then this will happen) situations, then being ‘dumped’ back in to amateur football, because they haven’t grown/developed at the perceived correct rate, leaving both parents and children confused and disillusioned with football. According to a study 98% of all players taken in to an academy as a kid, have gone by the time they are 18.
How can any of this be for the good of English football as a whole, never mind the kids themselves?
Professional clubs and academies should not be allowed to approach children until they are at high school (year 7) at the very least. The children are best left in their club teams with their friends.
If the FA really want to develop grass roots football, then why not look at implementing the following things:
Currently amateur club coaches can coach whatever they like, however they like. There are no guidelines as to what should be taught, when and how. That is why there is a massive discrepancy between the brands of football played across the county, never mind the country. Very often, the amateur coach is just the Dad who was too slow to step back when the Cubs coach asked for volunteers to take the boys forward. Maybe he played football in his youth, kicking a ball about for the school, taught by the PE teacher who would clip him round the ear for not ‘hoofing’ it into row Z, or maybe he actually did play for a decent team and was a pretty good player for his standard, but we all know that the best players don’t necessarily make the best coaches. What I’m getting at is, although he might be full of enthusiasm, his actual skill levels in teaching football to children, might be a little lower down the ratings chart. So give him a bunch of kids, a second hand kit, some goals that you need a degree to put up, a boggy bit of grass/mud and away he goes.
If the club that he’s associated to is an FA Standard Chartered club, then he might get sent on an FA Level 1 course. Whilst this course is a good grounding and certainly better than nothing, it’s still only really a small education in making sure the dog poo is cleared from the pitch, apply first aid if required (no pills, potions or lotions though) and remember not to touch the child in any way…………….So why not send them on to an FA Level 2 course? Well firstly there’s the cost, and if you’re not planning to make a career out of coaching, then can you justify at least £250? Secondly, there’s the time. As a coach of a kids football team, you’re already giving up massive amounts of your time. Much more than just the couple of hours on a Saturday and Sunday that is ‘seen’ by others. So can you afford to give up at least another 60 hours, plus homework, that is required to achieve Level 2? Perhaps there is another way?
Instead of sending scouts out to pluck away the ‘best’ boys at a young age, why not make all professional clubs send their coaches into the community to put on sessions with the teams and the amateur coaches in attendance, at least once a month, a ‘coach the coach’ session if you will. This will benefit everyone because the amateurs will become better coaches and see how to put on sessions like the ‘professionals’ and it will ensure that if the kids do go to pro clubs/academies at an older age, they will have been coached in a way that the professional clubs approve of, thus benefiting the whole game.
Perhaps we could also make the professional clubs give some of their training pitches to the local clubs so that the surface the kids are playing on is more akin to a football pitch than a ploughed field? How can you expect children to learn touch, passing, possession, when the ball doesn’t reach them because it’s stuck in the massive lake enveloping the center circle?
If the FA really wanted to be radical they could go one step further and look at implementing a national curriculum for football. Currently if your child is 8 and goes to school, he/she is working to the national curriculum for 8 year olds. Up and down the country, teachers are teaching the same lessons from the same framework. Maybe different teachers do it in a different style, a different way. That’s why some teachers/schools are outstanding and some are good, but the point is they are all teaching the same thing. So why can’t the FA introduce a curriculum for football? So that in week 25 of a given year, all U8’s coaches up and down the country are working on headers? In week 38 they might be working on left footed games and so on and so on. Of course they will be taught in different styles by different coaches but the basis of what they are learning will be the same. Couple this with the ‘coach the coach’ sessions, the better pitches and suddenly you’ve got a whole different ball game……………
Glenn Stephenson
Get your FREE Grassroots Handbook HERE
Agree with the problems 100%, need to avoid win-at-all-costs but some of the solutions are already in place/ coming into place shortly;
‘Coach the Coach’ – the FA has a Community Coach Mentoring Scheme which supports coaches in their club environment. Capacity on people’s time, and money, will limit this, but whether academy coaches are the best coaches to support GR coaches is another question?
Level 2 – not the only courses available. Youth Awards (YAMs) have given coaches a 2nd pathway which requires less commitment and arguably teaches coaches more important information around the learning and practice environment etc. However, the coaches pathway is changing, which will see YAMs incorporated into Level 2. Level 2 will be delivered a 3 blocks, which will give coaches more flexibility in terms of when and how to complete Level 2. This could be a solution to some of the points raised. Also, assessment on new Level 2 will be done at the coaches club, so a more real measure, but also the tutor will be able to mentor and suport the coach too.
Curriculum – in my opinion, this is exactly what’s wrong with the education system so should not be incorporated because each individual player is different and needs different things. Maybe some guidance, which is already offered through the Future Game document would be useful, but curriculum shouldn’t be imposed. Even if it was, how is it policed?
Good post, thought provoking but my view is there is a possibly a need to raise awareness of what’s already available, which could be utilised better.