Just Imagine!
Just imagine for a moment Youth football organised solely for the benefit of the development of children
Where coaches’ desires of living out their football managerial fantasies were non existent
Where parents sporting ambitions were not being lived via their children
A system of sports development that did not focus upon winning over development
Where the improvement of a child learning to kick a ball with his weaker foot was heralded as much as the top goal scorers latest hat-trick (or a 40 yard screamer)
Parents smiling on the touchline, non-judgemental, win or lose
Referees enjoying their duties as official, due to the genuine thanks and respect they receive from players, parents and coaches
Football designed for children and not for mini adults
An environment and culture that cultivated a respect for your opponents
Training programmes that stretched and motivated children of ALL abilities
Youth football matches played in a competitive but aggression free environment
A structure of football that catered for the specific and changing requirements of youngsters as they mature to prevent the drop-out in the early teens
Football facilities that allow the development of football skills all year round
Coach education that maximised the potential in our youngsters
Just imagine! For without imagination great goals can never be achieved
With imagination, belief and resolve English football could truly be “The Beautiful Game!”
Just imagine “England World Cup Winners!”
(c)Mark Edwards
A grassroots football campaign
6 comments:
Couldn't agree more. Parents could learn a lot from their own kids if they just put their own agendas and egos aside for a moment
The dream must be kept alive, and it may be an uphill battle, given what was seen on the Olympics gymnastic stage. Even though word is that the "academies" stress mastering the skill versus competition, it's hard to believe when 3,4,5 year olds are taken from there homes for a chance to "develop". So, given this, when is the first U-12 World Cup?
You've done such great work raising awareness of the problems in the game at youth football. Keep going. And visit my new blog site while you're at it!!
Parents aside, I am interested in your view on teams that have players of different abilities, and how practice session should be structured. When I have been coaching young players how to play soccer I have found it very hard to find drills that cater for a disparate range of players abilities. Moreover, if I group players into groups of similar ability, then I find it easier to coach them and set drills that will satisfy the group, regardless of their ability whether they are players of advanced skills or elementary skill level.
At what age should players be graded according to ability?
Surely if a team is of players of similar ability, then rotating players becomes a much less of an issue as any replacement player will be of similar ability to the player being replaced.
In my blog, www.aliveandkickn.com, I posted a piece called: Two Hours, Two Hours, Two Hours. It was about how, over the last twenty-four hours, I spent two hours discussing and trading emails over coaching style, positioning, and playing time regarding kids on my son's 8-year old soccer team (no, I'm not kidding). Then, I spent two hours meeting with some of the most influential people in North Jersey regarding the infrastructure and planning needs for the next 25+ years. Apparently, all we need is another $1.2 billion and we'll be able to afford everything needed to provide a more sustainable infrastructure. Then, I spent two hours meeting with election officials regarding issues/trends, guesses and what is legal/allowed in the upcoming local elections
welcome to youth football in the states.
Hi Paul, great site. Are you still working on this I have just set-up my own very similar to this thecoachdiary.com
info@thecoachdiary.com
Get in touch
Thanks Antonio
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