Engaging young people...

What looked like it would be a fairly quiet week has now got a few things going on, of real variety too. Coaching very much in the diary on Tuesday and Thursday, along with the England game on Wednesday night too. 

Spent the day working from home today, adding some new elements to the 'Your Kids Your Say' roadshow presentation and making a few amendments. One of the key drivers behind this whole agenda is about ensuring young people have a voice for their game. The question is, in your club, league or coaching setting, do you give this real credence and value as something important?

There is an academic model, put forward by Shier (2001), that talks about different levels of engagement for young people in their activities and I'll give you the highlights of this, so you can then think about your own setting. 

In a nutshell, adults organise football for children but we aren't very good at engaging them within this process. I've visited about 300+ youth leagues over the last 18 months and I have come across two, just two, that have a young person still playing in the League, on their Committee. Yet they organise football for kids, so how do they know what to organise if they don't allow them some kind of input into the decision-making process?! The power stays firmly with the adults. Because, of course, they always know best. 

Shier's work breaks down policy into five very simple levels;

1. Children are listened to.

2. Children are supported in expressing their views.

3. Children's views are taken into account.

4. Children are more involved in decision-making processes.

5. Children share power and responsibilities for decision-making.

At each level there are three questions to ask yourself around openings, opportunity and obligations. For example, at Level 1, are you ready to listen to children? If as a club or league you aren't even willing to listen to the views of young people, then you really should question your motives.

At Level 3, are you ready to take children's views into account? It's all very well giving them a platform to speak and engage with you, but if this is a tokenistic, meaningless gesture, what's the point? Do your decision-making processes enable you to take into account their views and if so, how do they inform developments? Level 3 is the minimum if you are going to meet the United Nations Convention regarding young people, too. 

At Level 5, it's about sharing the power with young people, having procedures and policies in place that ensure this has to happen. 

This isn't about letting the kids do what they want; otherwise it would be pizza every night followed by ice cream. Although, come to think of it, that sounds alright and isn't far off my regular diet anyway! However, it has to be about shared decision making; not adults tell, tell, tell. 

Link this into your coaching - do the children have any input into what they learn? Why not? They should have a role in setting their own goals and outcomes, the objectives they want to achieve as an individual and as a team. This is because their goals might be different from yours. You want to win the league. The children just want to have fun with their mates. This could lead to clashes...because you haven't met their expectations. 

So, have a think about yourself, the club or league. How do young people not only inform direction and choice, but actually share in its inception and outcome? Like to hear some examples of good practice, or changes you might make.

Speaking at the England Badminton Coaching Conference at the end of the week with Sir Trevor Brooking, not due to our in-depth knowledge of badders thats for sure, but more on principles of coaching. I'm going to chuck a few grenades in to challenge some thinking, that's for sure. Should be fun.