Each weekend I attend both my sons’ football matches. Both play locally.
I like to be the dad who sits back and watches my boys enjoy their match. I don’t have an opinion on the match or result and as far as I’m concerned my sons have always had a good game. They always make positive contributions or show new skills or a better understanding of the game itself. If they ask me, ‘how did I go dad?’, then it is these positives that I discuss.
My frustration grows each weekend when children on opposing teams have their enjoyment compromised by a barrage of instructions and commentating from the sideline. ‘Shoot!, pass!, get back, get back!’, they shout. I even had the situation in my son’s under 7’s match where the team he was playing had two clipboard coaches – one on either side of the pitch – both giving instructions. I had to bite my tongue. They were making it difficult for our boys to just simply play.
I have to keep things in perspective. I do understand that most of the coaches are parents. They obviously have their children’s and their team’s best interest at heart. Most are uneducated in the game and coach the way they were coached when they were children.
The game has changed and the way we teach the game has changed. I will come back to this later.
It’s the emotion that bothers me. I can see it. I can hear it. The match and the child’s performance in that match means more to the coach and parents than it actually does to the child. This constant overt emotional approach from either coach or parent will change the mindset of the child to the point where they will play not for fun, but to appease the adults.
When the child starts to play for you and not for the love of the game that’s where it gets troublesome in my opinion. As parents we should not be focusing on the performance or giving advice on what went wrong or what he/she could have done better. At this stage of their development we should just be worried about whether homework was completed and household chores done.
Children live for the game on the weekend. Well mine do. They both get up, look out the window and once they see there is no rain, they cannot wait to get to their game. That’s the point I am trying to get across. It’s their game. Children live busy lives these days. School has become more demanding and young lives have become busy. Don’t let football become another demand in their lives . Look at your son or daughter as simply that, not as a player. The player comes later but first they must love the game, they must be able to understand the game and in both these endeavours they must feel able to do it for themselves.
Teaching the game. Let the game be the teacher? What does this mean? To many it doesn’t sound like coaching. When children first enter the game it must simply remain that. A game. Kids love games. They get bored of drills – drills put holes in walls, that’s all they are good for as far as I am concerned. In the modern day players need to be effective problem solvers. How can you help players become better problem solvers? The way to do this is to use effective questioning. Let them discover the answer, rather than you give it. Some coaches like to give the answer in order to display their own knowledge but once again this is not keeping things player centred and that’s where they need to be if the player is to find their own way. Questioning demands a commitment from the coach to experiment because most people have a natural inclination to simply tell! While most young players live in an environment dominated by telling, you as the coach help them much more by trying to involve them in the decision-making process.
Examples on how to take this approach and effective questioning are:
“Dan, what is the advantage of an early pass?” or “When was the ideal moment to pass the ball?”
For older players it’s teaching them the ability to read cues and triggers. Cues are situations that arise in matches that lead to a trigger response from the player.
An example of this may be as simple as the coach prompting his team from the sideline. “Pressure or no pressure.” No pressure on the ball, means players must drop and narrow off. As opposed to if there is pressure on the ball prompting players to squeeze up, maybe defend in front and more aggressively.
Task related coaching is effective. I was asked to step in and look after my youngest boy’s team. At training we played a variety of games but the task was the same. When in possession how quickly can we get the ball to the oppositions goal? They can pass, run with the ball. I left the HOW up to them. The second task was as simple; when we lose the ball how quickly can we get it back. It became a game within a game to the young players involved. The score and the result became unimportant, as they were enjoying playing the game. Training facilitated the objectives. The weekend game was simply an opportunity to sit back, encourage and let the kids play and review how receptive to the learning process they were, individually and collectively.
So What does a player with game intelligence look like? Below are just a few examples:
An intelligent player does the following:
- Generally, chooses the best option in less time.
- Not only looks for the best solution to the problem he or she is confronted with but quickly prioritises the various alternatives and also calculates the risks involved. The player rarely loses focus until he or she has resolved the situation.
- Knows that things don’t always come off. This is why his or her performance level rarely dips after making a mistake (or two or three) in a row.
- Knows how to play football without the ball, constantly making himself or herself available to teammates to whom he or she offers possible solutions to many situations.
- Is not affected by stress, knowing that a high level of stress tends to narrow focus and perception and also influences decision-making negatively. This explains why sometimes key players do not make positive contributions in decisive matches. The pressure nullifies their usually intelligent play.
This ability to have game intelligence is key. I never understood how important until I started work in the performance phase. You need players who can problem solve because as a youngster they were allowed to discover the how without being told. You need players not affected by stress because the game is not seen as that to them – they have never been made to feel that way. You need players who are adaptive and use their creativity for the benefit of the team. It’s not about being big or small, fast or slow. The above qualities are more important.
It’s this approach I take when working with young players based on my strong belief that it’s this type of player everyone wants on their team. #LETTHEKIDSPLAY
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