With the local season all but over, I am sure we have watched plenty of matches where it was do or die – where development, for the most part, went out the window; where the goalkeepers and defenders cleared the ball into outerspace under no pressure; where players scored from twenty or thirty metres because they can kick the biggest and the furthest. All these players would have received exactly the same feedback, “great work”, “what a goal”, “I’m so proud of you” and along with it came endless applause and smiling faces from their loved ones.
By now I’m sure you know, this is totally the wrong environment for football development, but what else is there? Our kids are playing a game they love, playing it with their mates, so how much could it really hurt? It must be a good thing, right? There are obviously many social positives to draw from the weekly training sessions and weekend matches and it is good to get the kids off their iPads and outside into some fresh air, but unfortunately, this is where the positives end.
In the area of youth development, we have certainly come a long way over the past 10 years, so I don’t want to put a total dampener on things. The FFA National Curriculum has given every club, coach and parent a great starting point, but they too have had to combine a wish list with reality. As parents, we want the best for our children each and every time we sign up to anything. So how do we really feel when we watch our kids train or play games? Do we ever think that our child hasn’t touched the ball much today? Or what about when our child gets less game time than others, or even why our child is always told to play at the back, when they would love to have a go at attacking? Of course we do, we are all biased, it’s human nature.
So can we ever get what we want? Within the current outside of college framework, the answer is no, we will always be settling for second best because the changes have not been dramatic enough. We still see far too many players on the pitch to properly influence development, inappropriate field sizes still cater for clubs which are busting at the workload seams. Finally, the big one, the pressure from coaches and parents to achieve the ultimate prize of the short term ego trip prior to the celebratory Maccas get together.
At IFS, with our youngest age groups, we play a 3 v 3 tournament on a Monday for over an hour. Each game goes for three minutes, everyone plays every second of every game, everyone wins, everyone loses, everyone attacks, everyone defends, everyone scores (or at least gets their chance to) and there are no coaches or parents demonstrating a win at all cost mentality which totally changes the way kids play. Do they want to win? You’re damn right they do. Do we have tears when they lose or when they miss the all important goal to move closer to the grand final field? Sometimes. Do we encourage them to put in maximum effort? We wouldn’t allow them to continue if they didn’t. Do the kids have fun? Ask them. Do we put measures in place to make sure football development is at a premium? That is our full time job!
Monday is only the warm up, though, as Friday is World Cup Day. This is where the big goals come out, fields slightly extended, 4 v 4 or 5 v 5 is the format, nets are on, referees take their position, players know exactly what one win or one loss will do to their team’s position on the table and this is all for real, it’s game on. Last Friday saw approximately 80 goals scored over three games within an hour of the best football development. With a 16 all draw being the pick of the games and most players regressing over what could have been, there is no bigger day in the IFS calendar week. It is then off to the showers and class with the IFS Head Chef responsible for completing this unique football experience. I was only 30 years too late!
As we freshen up over the summer break, with other sports and family time, we need to realise that the current outside of college framework is not ideal for football development and we need to be careful not to take two steps forward and one step back. I think it is important to consider that when we do offer our kids something that is second best, we shouldn’t complain about the outcome.
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