I have been involved in youth football actively as a football coach for the past four plus years. In that time I have witnessed many children in tears and many aggressive and poorly behaved parents and coaches.
Unfortunately, parents want to turn children’s football into a mini premier league. The focus is upon winning and the early discarding of players that coaches (in THEIR expert opinion) do not believe are "good enough" or "will never make it".
What they don't realise is with 4+ million youth players in the UK if the main objective was to find professional players then the vast majority of coaches are failures. The objective must be to develop all players and ensure that they enjoy playing football. We are in the middle of a health crisis with our UK youngsters with an every increasing level of obesity and related health problems. There are also behaviour problems that we all at times witness each day from children who have little self respect and an equal level of respect for others.
From a pure football viewpoint the focus on "Winning" has produced in the English game a selection of the early maturing boys that are big and strong. They can run faster and kick the ball harder. The more skilful players are neglected or give up as they do not get the same level of encouragement.
My most enjoyable days of football have been witnessing our (GNFC) 5-a-side inter club games when winning was not a priority and all the players had the opportunity to play. Parents and coaches were more relaxed and strangely enough so were the players.
The bad behaviour I often see in players in the competitive league games is a exact mirror of the parents and coaches who shout swear and scream from the sidelines.
As well as behaving badly they continually try to make all the decisions for the players by shouting step by step instructions thus preventing the players from learning to make their own decisions.
The greatest gift these parents could give their children is to applaud and praise when they do something right and to smile at the end of the game regardless of the score and ignore their child’s mistakes. We all make mistakes EVEN the same parents who criticise so loudly from the touchlines. The mistakes do not have to be highlighted to everybody present. The children know when they have made a poor pass or miss-kicked the ball. All they really want to see is a smile of acceptance from their parents win or lose.
I have a suggestion for all parents that believe that their criticism is helpful. Let me follow you to your place of work and look over your shoulder all day and announce to the world with a megaphone each mistake you make! Do you think your level of enjoyment would increase or decrease?
I think the shouting and over competitiveness the parents and coaches try to put upon the children is merely a symptom. It is a symptom of their own pent up frustration due to their own lack of competitive outlet. If they took part in more competitive sport themselves then I am sure that their touchline volume and their waistline would both reduce.
At Great Notley Football Club we have instigated a number of initiatives to overcome the ugly problems we have seen in youth football. The first begins with Coach education and communication with parents. The club has started a series of education workshops to help coaches in the development of the children in their charge not only from a pure football perspective but also from a psychological viewpoint as well.
GNFC has also joined two forward thinking campaigns the first is Don’t X the Line Campaign see http://www.dontxthelinecampaign.com/ which aims to protect referees by educating spectators and players to prevent opinions being expressed in an aggressive manner.
The other campaign which GNFC is supporting is Give Us Back Our Game http://giveusbackourgame.co.uk/ That aims to make Football the beautiful game once again for youngsters. The campaign organiser Paul Cooper believes that the main problems are:
No longer the children's game - it is controlled by adults
The same children on the bench or omitted every game
Coaches and parents screaming from the touchlines
Winning before fun and development
Not enough free play where children can solve their own problems
Children are not encouraged to express themselves
Children no longer learn about the spirit of the game for themselves
As parents and coaches we have the opportunity to help children become so much more than just a good footballer. Becoming a professional footballer should not be the ultimate objective. A list of the top thousand people of the last century that have made a difference to this country would see few if any footballers listed. Consequently, need to be more ambitious and realise that Football is the medium and not just the ultimate objective. Football is a great game where children can learn to work as a team member, where hard work over time will pay off, where discipline can be taught at an early age, where you can learn respect for your team mates, coaches, parents and the opposition. Let’s move beyond the blinkered vision of just developing footballers and instead help nurture in our youth confidence, self discipline, self esteem and a foundation for them to become great citizens.
Mark Edwards
Vice Chairman
Great Notley Football Club
Unfortunately, parents want to turn children’s football into a mini premier league. The focus is upon winning and the early discarding of players that coaches (in THEIR expert opinion) do not believe are "good enough" or "will never make it".
What they don't realise is with 4+ million youth players in the UK if the main objective was to find professional players then the vast majority of coaches are failures. The objective must be to develop all players and ensure that they enjoy playing football. We are in the middle of a health crisis with our UK youngsters with an every increasing level of obesity and related health problems. There are also behaviour problems that we all at times witness each day from children who have little self respect and an equal level of respect for others.
From a pure football viewpoint the focus on "Winning" has produced in the English game a selection of the early maturing boys that are big and strong. They can run faster and kick the ball harder. The more skilful players are neglected or give up as they do not get the same level of encouragement.
My most enjoyable days of football have been witnessing our (GNFC) 5-a-side inter club games when winning was not a priority and all the players had the opportunity to play. Parents and coaches were more relaxed and strangely enough so were the players.
The bad behaviour I often see in players in the competitive league games is a exact mirror of the parents and coaches who shout swear and scream from the sidelines.
As well as behaving badly they continually try to make all the decisions for the players by shouting step by step instructions thus preventing the players from learning to make their own decisions.
The greatest gift these parents could give their children is to applaud and praise when they do something right and to smile at the end of the game regardless of the score and ignore their child’s mistakes. We all make mistakes EVEN the same parents who criticise so loudly from the touchlines. The mistakes do not have to be highlighted to everybody present. The children know when they have made a poor pass or miss-kicked the ball. All they really want to see is a smile of acceptance from their parents win or lose.
I have a suggestion for all parents that believe that their criticism is helpful. Let me follow you to your place of work and look over your shoulder all day and announce to the world with a megaphone each mistake you make! Do you think your level of enjoyment would increase or decrease?
I think the shouting and over competitiveness the parents and coaches try to put upon the children is merely a symptom. It is a symptom of their own pent up frustration due to their own lack of competitive outlet. If they took part in more competitive sport themselves then I am sure that their touchline volume and their waistline would both reduce.
At Great Notley Football Club we have instigated a number of initiatives to overcome the ugly problems we have seen in youth football. The first begins with Coach education and communication with parents. The club has started a series of education workshops to help coaches in the development of the children in their charge not only from a pure football perspective but also from a psychological viewpoint as well.
GNFC has also joined two forward thinking campaigns the first is Don’t X the Line Campaign see http://www.dontxthelinecampaign.com/ which aims to protect referees by educating spectators and players to prevent opinions being expressed in an aggressive manner.
The other campaign which GNFC is supporting is Give Us Back Our Game http://giveusbackourgame.co.uk/ That aims to make Football the beautiful game once again for youngsters. The campaign organiser Paul Cooper believes that the main problems are:
No longer the children's game - it is controlled by adults
The same children on the bench or omitted every game
Coaches and parents screaming from the touchlines
Winning before fun and development
Not enough free play where children can solve their own problems
Children are not encouraged to express themselves
Children no longer learn about the spirit of the game for themselves
As parents and coaches we have the opportunity to help children become so much more than just a good footballer. Becoming a professional footballer should not be the ultimate objective. A list of the top thousand people of the last century that have made a difference to this country would see few if any footballers listed. Consequently, need to be more ambitious and realise that Football is the medium and not just the ultimate objective. Football is a great game where children can learn to work as a team member, where hard work over time will pay off, where discipline can be taught at an early age, where you can learn respect for your team mates, coaches, parents and the opposition. Let’s move beyond the blinkered vision of just developing footballers and instead help nurture in our youth confidence, self discipline, self esteem and a foundation for them to become great citizens.
Mark Edwards
Vice Chairman
Great Notley Football Club
