Children and some reasons behind 'Play' - Part 2

Part of the discussions with the young people has been to hear their views on winning and losing and I’m sure what you are going to see will resonate with some of your own experiences. Firstly, this article extends from the previous blog post on ‘Children and Play‘ so please have a read of that one first if you haven’t already to get up to speed. 

Here’s a big thing from kids - winning and losing isn’t actually that big a deal for children. Now of course, there are always anomalies to everything but broadly speaking, the kids aren’t overly concerned. We heard some great quotes from children from the research we did:

“If we’ve lost I’ve normally forgotten about it by the time I’ve had a shower”

“I’m not that bothered about the score, trying your hardest is the most important thing”

“As long as I can have cheesy chips on the way home I don’t really care”

The big thing from children is that the disappointment is short-term. Ten minutes after the game their lives have moved on. But for the adults, it’s ruined their weekend!

So, it could be suggested from all the research and evidence out there that the outcomes of winning and losing is an adult paradox. People (grown ups) tell me that sport teaches you about winning and losing and makes you understand these important life lessons, but does it? 

I once gave 20 coaches on a course a really difficult spelling test and then put on the flip chart the scores from their efforts - 95%, 82%, 64%, 43% etc. and all the way down to the lowest score 4%. I then started writing the names at the top alongside the scores, starting with the highest. The feedback, unanimously in the room after writing the first name, was that the adults didn’t want me to complete the list as the lowest people didn’t ridiculing. Hang on, hasn’t that 20 years of sport taught you to win and lose? Evidently not... 

One of the questions we asked the kids was “would you like a close game where you win or lose 3-2 every week or would you rather win 9-0 every week?”. The feedback was overwhelming, the kids always want the close game, and recognise there is no value in winning 9-0 every week (“every one just starts hogging it”) or losing 9-0 (“it’s just no fun”) every week. But the development comes from close games are staggering, things like:

“You learn about coming from behind to win and how good that makes you feel”

“I like the game to be interesting from the start to the end”

“It’s a much better challenge to be in an even contest”

Now relate this to when we as kids organised our own football or what still goes on in playgrounds or before training now. Four kids turn up, so they play 2v2. One team will start to win and one will start to lose so when the next player turns up, what team do they put him on? The team thats losing, because they wan’t to even the experience up. And if another turns up, they either play 4v2 or move people around to keep the game even. Adults don’t see this - we still want massive goal differences because that might be worth an extra point at the end of the season!

I got into a discussion in the West Midlands with a League there and we were talking about an U13 match. One team had turned up with 14 players and the other turned up with 8 (standard stuff - school ski trip, someone’s birthday etc.) so the two manager’s agreed the score for the League and let the team with 8 play with the 3 subs to play 11v11. Great game, common sense and exactly what the kids wanted. However, the League found out so docked them points for playing ineligible players and fined them! Now, I understand why, because the League just followed the Rules that are in place, but sometimes we need the desires of children to drive the Rules, not the other way round. 

If we are going to make football truly child-centred we have to listen to the children. The outcomes of this might lead to a game that adults don’t agree with, but why should we agree? This is the children’s game and it’s probably about right we gave it back to them in some form. 

Questions to consider:

How important is the value of winning and losing?

What are children’s responses to this - straight after the game, 15mins after the game, at the next training session? Do they align with yours and the parents?

How can you create an environment that moves the child values and adult values closer together?

How do these values change as children get older? Should your behaviours change?

Children and some reasons behind 'Play' - Part 1

One of the interesting discussions I have around the country, often with coaches and other adults involved in grassroots football, is why do children play football? When I share my views this often traverses into tangents from adults, denying the belief in research we have done or thinking that, for some reason, their children are ‘different’. 

Well, I’d like to use this first part of a two-part blog post to share some of the views from the research we have done with children, and share a couple of stories from a recent coach education course and hopefully leave you a few things to ponder. 

When we first started this research into the whole youth football debate it made perfect sense to start in one place - what do the children think. After all, it is their game, they are the ones that play and know more about being a child today than an adult does. Our childhood was very different you see; You Tube hadn’t been invented, there wasn’t access to football on loads of TV channels from loads of different countries and playing football on a computer consisted of waiting ages for the tape on the Commodore 64 to load up. Now there is instant access to FIFA12 to play virtual opposition from the other side of the world. So who should decide what a 10-year old’s game looks like?

The focus group interviews with the children were built on the following methodology - get a dozen or so children together to talk about their views on football, on the game they play. Build the presentation into being about them, a few questions to prompt them talking and then listen. Let’s just pause on those few words, read them again, “and then listen”. They are important. Because, when you give children the opportunity to talk about what they want and to listen to what they think, it’s fascinating. 

Another key aspect was the environment - let’s keep away anyone that could influence their views. So the coach of the team? Sorry, you’ll have to wait outside. Parents? You can sit and chat in another room too. This was because they can influence the views. For example, the coach picks the team (is often a mum or dad anyway) and the child wants to play so they aren’t then going to speak honestly for fear of damaging this opportunity. 

The first question for them to discuss was very simple - why do you play football? 

You won’t be surprised at some of the responses:

“Because I love the game”

“Because it’s really fun”

“Because I get to hang out with my mates”

These reasons are common and consistent with children across the country. No matter where we speak to children, whether from professional teams or grassroots teams, boys or girls, rural or urban, top of the league or bottom of the league, typically the responses all correlate. Why? Because they are children. They think like a child. What motivates a 10-year old child, motivates a 10-year old child, whether you are in Devon or Durham and I’ve done focus groups in both those places and many in between!

We then talk about the things they don’t like. Can you guess what they say? Here’s a few things that children don’t like; getting injured, not playing, bias referees, adults shouting at them. 

It gets interesting when you start talking about parents and their views on winning and losing but I’ll save these for future blogs.

After a few more questions we then get on to an interesting task. We provide the children, in small groups, 16 pieces of paper that have a host of different statements on, from intrinsic motivators to the extrinsic. They are as follows:

1. I love scoring or stopping goals
2. I like meeting new friends through football
3. I like to show off my skills
4. It’s a really good game and I love it
5. I like skilling people
6. It helps keep me fit and healthy
7. It’s important to me I win the league
8. I like learning new skills
9. I play because it makes my parents happy
10. Trying my hardest is more important than winning
11. It’s important to me I try to win matches
12. It’s important to me I win trophies and medals
13. I like playing football with my friends
14. I love playing football because it’s fun
15. Winning is more important than trying my hardest
16. I like playing matches against other teams

The task for the children is to select the ‘Top 9’ most important things for them about why they play football, discard the ones that aren’t important, and then organise those 9 into order of importance, with 1 being the most important. 

Reckon you can predict the Top 6 the children pick? Have a go now. Get a pen and write down the numbers of the top statements that are the most important for children. What did you have as the top one? I’ve completed this with over 50 groups of children and the results are very consistent and when I have done this with groups of adults, to predict the kids responses, they never get them all right!

So, the top answer by far is number 10. By a long way. Did you get it right? Trying their hardest is more important to the children than winning. Now, marry that up against the values that an adult brings to game day. Do they match or are they different? Read that again, do the adult values match what the children want from their game? They should do.

The next five you could probably have a good guess at - numbers 2, 4, 6, 13 and 14. The children, aligned with academic research too, are driven by internal motivators. That’s what gets the children there in the first place. It could be said that children come to training motivated and our job as coaches is to maintain that motivation when in fact some of us are probably good are minimising their motivation through unexciting drills and boring standing in lines. 

And the ones right at the bottom of the list? Number 12 and 15 have NEVER been picked by any group of kids amongst over fifty that have done this task. Number 7, winning the league, has been picked once and finished low down their list. They just simply aren’t important to the children. Who are they more important to?

On a recent coaching course delivered by one of my colleagues he shared this list, to which a couple of candidates strongly disagreed. He set them the challenge - send a group text to your teams’ parents and get them to ask their kids ‘why do you play football’ and see what they come back with. One coach that disagreed also did this with his own three children, ranging from 8 to 13 years old. Unsurprisingly, the results matched up, virtually identical! One of his own son’s even talked about trying his hardest being more important than the outcome. The next day the coach came back to the course, his head in his hands and apologised, not only for disbelieving the research but more importantly, for putting his own needs before those of the children. 

A question to finish... Where do some adults place their emphasis? How much money do we spend on trophies and medals? Why do we do a top goalscorer trophy every year that tends to go to one of two kids? Why do we spend thousands on them when we still put U11 kids in adult full-size goals and don’t have enough balls for one each at training? Where are the adults priorities? I’m not saying don’t buy them but maybe think differently.

One U12 lad in Hull said to me “I’d rather have a decent match ball for every game than a trophy at the end of the year”. Poignant. 

So let’s see if we can think outside the box, do something different, do something that meets their needs. Take them to a Premier League or Football League game. Buy them all a new boot bag. Or a football pencil case for school. Ask them if they want anything different. 

If you are sitting there reading this now questioning what you have read, do me a favour, send a group text out to your parents and get them to ask their kids one question - why do you play football? 

Nature v Nurture: Either or both...

This week saw the performance of an athlete in an elite football setting that marvelled many of us - Messi. And it was far from messy. It was composed, creative and captivating prompting many debates from radio to the pub - how do we create a player like that? Are they just born that way?


Apparently, if myths are to be believed, if I complete 10,000 hours of 'something' then I will become an expert. It's that easy. Well, that is the law according to some and the truth for all involved in talent development. However, is that the answer, just do loads of hours? 


The background to this field of discussion has come from work in the early 90's by Anders Ericsson, who looked at a variety of different 'experts' and concluded that this was the magic number. And the scary thing is, for those that have then gone on to read Bounce, Outliers, Talent is Overrated etc. it has become the Holy Grail, deeply ingraining this in modern talent development society. People are getting hung up on the fact that greatness needs to hit this number. 


Now, I don't profess to be an academic and a lot smarter people than me are debating this issue but one thing I do like to do is read around a subject. So, Ericsson says 10,000 hours is the number, what do others think? Why should I believe Ericsson and take it as read? When you actually read into this subject, it gets quite interesting, and for us involved in developing athletes in sport, or more importantly, developing people, things start to get unearthed about the matter. 


For example, Ericsson's research has no variables within it - so it doesn't say if some people took 2000 hours and some took 25000 hours, its just a neat average of those that became experts. Furthermore, the research was undertaken largely with finger manipulative tasks like playing the violin, or chess, so how does this relate to a cognitive, physical, physiological, technical team game like football? Or doesn't it?


Evidence exists in other research of elite athletes that have played international sport having completed 4000/5000/6000 hours of training and the work of the Australian Institute of Sport highlights athletes that have crossed into sports with no experience and competed with far fewer hours. 


The one thing that is evident is you need to work hard, using deliberate and deep practice, and this is why I'm not convinced totally that it is all about 'nature'. No-one gets born with a talent and they just become world-class without hard work. Messi has completed years of practice, honing skills, recognising pictures within games, understanding tactical elements in order to play the game successfully in amongst other exceptional players. You don't get born with that skill, it comes from experience. 


However, is it totally down to 'nurture' then, the environment you are in, the opportunities you get given and presented with and as it happens, the time of year you were born? I don't think you can totally rule out 'nature' either. Some of us born with a genetic predisposition to do certain things to certain levels. Height is an obvious one. I would have struggled however many hours of practice to play in the NBA. There is the odd one under 5' 10, but that is very much the exception. Sprinters from Jamaica, long distance runners from Africa - this is something that we probably don't fully understand but something makes this happen genetically. 


So what does this mean for us when developing our players? From my stance, it comes down to a focus on the environment and the things we can control. 


- Make it an incredibly enjoyable place for young people to come to. No-one stops doing something because it is too much fun!
- Try and use practices that are as close to the game as possible. That's what they come for, to play the 'game', not to stand in lines and take their turn. 
- Ensure your coaching knowledge is up-to-date and current. Do you understand questioning techniques? Do you know about when, where and why to use different coaching styles?
- Focus on aspects wider than just technical work, help them become better people through sport first and foremost.
- Provide opportunity for children to play. If they want to play, and are intrinsically motivated to do so, they will play forever. As someone told me recently, children are the experts of play, not the adults.
- Help kids fall in love with the game. 


Simple.  

Coach Development: Modelling Learning...

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of conversations on Twitter about the value of coach education courses and, additionally, the value of coach development. For me they sit as two slightly different variables within one world - it's about the coach getting better - but there is a difference and on these ramblings I'm going to propose a few things to consider for coaches. 

So, most people's first experience of becoming a coach is going on an FA Coaching Course? Right or wrong?

Wrong, and here's why. Depending on where you sit within the realms of learning theory it could be argued that every experience you have had within your formative years, through the process we know as socialisation, has had an impact on how you coach today, whether consciously or not. What you experienced as a child and the teachers/coaches that taught you, the experiences you might have had as a player, whether at school or within a club, have all shaped your beliefs in coaching. Some might have made you think 'Yeah, I really liked how they coached therefore I'm going to coach like that' or 'I wasn't a fan of that and therefore there must be a different way'. 

Then you might go on a course and depending on what learning you had already constructed and brought to the course, it will either open your mind (to those wanting to have their horizons broadened) to something new and a different way of coaching or reinforce existing thoughts. 

Here's the thing. FA coaching courses are not the be-all and end-all in your journey as a coach, they are an important part of the plot. Yes, particularly with the new FA Youth Awards, they give you things to think about from a technical and child development perspective but the learning doesn't stop there. I have a small frustration with 'badge collectors', those that think that the signal of a better coach is one that has completed the sticker book, but this might not be the case. Those that jump and accelerate their way up the coaching badge framework are underselling themselves and the learning that needs to be done. 

People often ask me "what qualification have you got?" but actually, why does it matter? I'm not concerned about my status as a coach and where it puts me in a ranking system of other coaches and if I said "I'm a Level 1" does that mean my opinions are suddenly not valid or my experiences aren't valuable? Absolutely not. Now, I get the fact they are often minimum standards for jobs, I understand that, but let's look at additional learning that coaches should undertake.

Reading

Personally, and I can only speak for myself and a few close friends that coach, this has been one of the biggest factors in expanding our knowledge. Over the last possibly five years I have read more books, academic articles and blogs than ever before and all have added supplementary information to my mental bank. This is time consuming, sometimes dull, but ultimately an investment in my own personal development. It might only be on holiday when you are laying by the pool but consider taking something helpful rather than the latest Harry Potter! 

I often get asked for book suggestions so depending on what you might want to learn about, here's a few:

Coaching:

Developing Decision Makers (Lynn Kidman)

Athlete-Centred Coaching (Lynn Kidman)

These two have had massive impact on me as a coach and my personal philosophy of coaching, why I do it and what I believe in. 

Understanding Sports Coaching (Tania Cassidy et al.)

Sports Coach as Educator (Robyn Jones)

Play Practice (Alan Launder)

Teaching Games for Understanding (Rod Thorpe and David Bunker)

Learning:

Building Learning Power (Guy Claxton)

Accelerated Learning in Practice (Alistair Smith)

Teaching Children to Learn (Robert Fisher)

Drive (Daniel Pink)

Mindset (Carol Dweck) - Essential reading for every coach and parent.

The Same Book Four Times (ish):

Bounce (Matthew Syed)

The Talent Code (Daniel Coyle)

Talent is Overrated (Geoff Colvin)

Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)

I would put these in the popular reading list, easy to get through, quite straight forward but with all reading, view through a critical lens. Don't believe everything you read is true...you don't pick up a daily newspaper and think that do you?! For example, Matthew Syed rules out the impact of genes in the development of elite athletes, science would suggest otherwise. 

Currently working my way through:

The Learning Powered School (Guy Claxton et al.)

Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)

Visible Learning for Teachers (John Hattie)

A couple of these are quite academic, but challenge yourself, read something difficult. It's a great stretch of the brain. I am starting to wonder though when people say 'oh you have read xxx then you'll like xxx', is that expanding my knowledge or am I just reinforcing views from one into another, deep rooted rather than broadened? Not sure. 

Watching Good Coaches:

I understand this isn't always possible due to time, accessibility and other commitments but there can be a huge amount learnt from watching expert coaches work. However, a word of warning - don't watch the obvious. We've all been there...you go and watch a coaching session from an expert, copy down the x's and o's and then take back and try with our kids...and wonder why it doesn't work!! (and then blame the session!!)

This isn't what makes them an expert, it isn't just the practice itself, it is the detail. Look at where they stand, how do they observe the game going on? When do they speak? How do they speak? What language do they use and how do they interact with the players? What questions do they ask and how do they ask them? This is coaching, this is the difference in my opinion between novice and more expert coaches. 

If opportunity is an issue, have a look and see if there is a local Coaches Association, run through the County FA. Some of these across the country have fantastic coaches come and deliver sessions for them. Track down where the nearest Charter Standard In-Service Training session is going on, get out and watch the coaches delivering them too. 

So if you go and watch a session at the Grassroots Football Show for example, don't get embroiled in scribbling down the distances of how big the pitch is, invariably you'll have a different number of kids anyway. Immerse yourself in the detail. 

Other Sports:

Football is the game that I'm sure most people reading this blog coach, but here's a question to consider: Are you teaching football to children or are you teaching children' football? For me it's the latter. We do this to work with kids, to help them fall in love with the game, grow and develop them as people and my chosen sport just happens to be football. 

But look and learn from expert coaches in other sports. Read some things from John Wooden, Phil Jackson or Ian McGeechan. Find out what has made Wayne Smith one of the best coaches around, what stood Frank Dick out as being a truly expert coach and why Sir Clive Woodward achieved. Lessons to be learnt. 

Conversations and Debate:

Over the last five years one of the best thing that has developed my knowledge as a coach has been the 'communities of practice' I have been involved in. This is an academic term for the groups of people that regularly debate and discuss coaching things and may include the partner coach in your team you work with, other coaches in your club or colleagues with similar interests. It could be formal or over a pint, it's all valuable in shaping your beliefs. 

Last season I had the pleasure in my part-time coaching role at a Premier League Academy to work with a coach that really challenged my views. He came from an alternative standpoint, viewing player development very different to me and we clashed, but we clashed in a great way. That season of coaching, four times a week, discussing and throwing ideas about on how to get the best out of the players and support their learning as best as we possibly could was superb. Did it change me as a coach? Absolutely. 

Equally, a couple of colleagues at The FA within the coaching world have really challenged and shaped my views too, regularly speaking to them after sessions to openly reflect on what happened, what I tried and what they would suggest I tried next time or did differently. Makes you think and time in the car well spent!

Experience:

Nothing can buy this. You can't suddenly go on a course and become this. It is time doing all of the above, time spent on the grass, time spent getting coaching sessions wrong but importantly, time spent after reflecting on why and what you would do differently. 

The challenge is to get a broad experience where possible. If your life allows, go and spent a bit of time in a Primary School, see how the teacher engages with Year 1 or Year 6 children, and experience the National Curriculum in action. Volunteer for a few sessions with a local disabled group and see the joy you can bring to young people by providing them an opportunity. Run a team for a few years; experience what it's like dealing with putting up the goals, organising training and managing parents. 

Everything I have rambled about above goes towards creating a well-rounded coach that is more than just a coaching badge. Coaching badges are important however and I wouldn't take away any knowledge I have learned from one of them in favour of something else, it's all part of the learning. 

Young players come to football and want to learn more and they want to get better. But do you understand how this feels? Do you understand what to do yourself when things are hard going, when you just can't get something? Do you know what it feels like when things are tricky and what other approaches to solving the problem you might use? Remember what you found difficult about learning a new language at school because some of your players might be experiencing similar feelings learning new football things too. 

Be a learner yourself; model learning. It shows them that you understand, too. 

Redefining Winning; a grassroots perspective

Building on the previous post about competition, and a modern interpretation of, I want to throw around some thoughts on what winning really is for grassroots football and the children that play. This is perhaps something that extends a lot wider than simply football, to all grassroots sport maybe. 


See, my point is, adults get hung up on the scoreline, like this is the be-all and end-all of young people participating in football. Typically, the first question mum or dad asks when you get home from a game, is "did you win?". I understand why and where this comes from, because it is a game between two teams, and because of that there is a winner and a loser, and I'm ok with that. We enter games for the spirit of pitting our wits against another, whether this is playing chess or running races, and there will be someone or a team that does better than another. I get this. 


However, and this is where my ramblings are going, I think we need to extend this definition of winning much wider in the lives of young people. So much wider that I think the scoreline should be a little further down the list than Number 1 and the only thing on the list. 


I had a discussion with a grassroots coach about this a couple of months ago as he felt the only thing he could use to determine the progress of his team was the league table. I disagreed, I thought there was so much more. So, building on the 'Four Corner' model The FA uses to support long term player development, I will propose some alternatives to consider:


Technical/Tactical:
One of the roles of a coach, in any sport, is to help the players improve their technical abilities and understanding of how to play the game. Vygotsky, a well respected educationalist, suggests the coach is 'the more capable other' and therefore the principle of just leaving the kids to it and hoping they solve all the problems could be questioned. They do need a little help, sometimes. 


Therefore, 'winning' in this corner is a fairly easy one to predict but something we perhaps don't shout about it enough. Children could get better at a whole host of different things in this area, most of which you will know about and this is by no means exhaustive, add your own!


- passing over short distances gets better (increased accuracy and weight)
- ability to decide when to dribble and when to pass improves (get into trouble less)
- more shots hit the target over a period of time (more saves from the GK/more goals)
- gets beaten less by wingers when playing at full back (defends tighter)
- combines better when attacking centrally areas (less touches and quicker play)


This is the staple diet of the coach - helping the players get better at the game. But how often do we discuss this when we talk about individual winning? Probably a bit, sometimes. 


Physical
With the changing lifestyles of children in modern society and the world of informal play on the streets being banished to history we need to find a way to provide this for children. We used to naturally develop physical literacy skills in daily life, from climbing trees to get the ball back and jumping rivers to chase frogs, this gave us all sorts of hidden benefits. But today, children are restricted from anything remotely dangerous and risk assessment forms for a school trip are multiple pages long.


Therefore 'winning' in this corner is even more of an essential role for the coach. You might be providing those children with their only couple of hours of focused exercise they get in a week. The last thing they want is to be standing in lines taking forever to get a kick or you constantly stopping the game while they are trying play every 20 seconds because they make a mistake. Try and keep the stoppages to once or twice in a 20 minute spell - let the kids play and run about! You can still coach, I would hope you have more to your armoury than just stopping and telling, so get in the pitch and talk to kids during the game, ask a question here and there that makes them think, without needing to interrupt their heart rate. 


- volleying to a team mate as a pass improves (better single leg balance)
- change direction quicker during a dribble (improvements to their agility)
- they get faster (better technique, they now use their arms)
- they don't fall over when trying to turn quickly (increased coordination skills)


This is a vital part of the development for children and the coach is key to improving physical literacy of our players. Not only for football, for the health of the nation. If you don't know enough about how to develop agility, balance, coordination, core stability etc in children, try and find some places to fill in your gaps in knowledge. Help them 'win' physically.


Psychological
It's difficult to see and even harder to know if it is you that has helped, but part of our role as a coach is to help kids 'win' inside their own head. When children come to football we need to see the bigger picture of their lives - what has gone on during their day? What has happened since they left school? What kind of mood are they in when they get to football? These are all key things to understand very quickly once coaching starts as getting this wrong could have a negative impact on the session and more importantly, a negative impact on the young person. 


I remember one kid I used to coach, regularly turned up late, and the co-coach i was working with at the time made a big deal of it. "Why are you always late?", "Late again I see" and those kind of comments. What he never understood was what that child had gone through to get there - underground train, overground train and then a walk from the station (on his own at the age of 9 years old by the way), and there he was getting grilled for being late!


So, how can we help kids 'win' in their own head? What can we do or see that shows progress for them?


- goalkeeper now comes out and dives at the strikers feet (increased bravery)
- striker constantly misses the goal but keeps shooting (more self-confidence)
- player keeps making mistakes but keeps trying (developed resilience)
- they keep coming back and feel better about themselves (improved self-esteem)


These are the little bits of information you can help them with, the words of praise and positive reinforcement you can offer the players when you catch them doing something well. And that's the challenge; try and catch each kid doing something well in every session. Have a read of Carol Dweck's work, in a book called Mindset, essential reading.


Social:
This one for me is what grassroots football for children is all about, the benefits it can bring to the wider lives of children and the lessons that can be learned through being involved in the game. The gains that can be made to young people here are substantial and the coach should reflect these high on the list of priorities. 


Football, as a game, can bring huge wealth, prestige and a life of luxury for those that make a career at the top end. However, it is less than 1% of players that go on to achieve that but 100% of children that play football are going to become citizens of this country. Therefore, there is a moral obligation to teach them life skills and lessons that can be of value to them forever, through the vehicle of the game.


So, what social skills do they develop through football, how can you help them 'win' in these areas?


- working in small groups to solve problems (better listening skills)
- choosing the right tactic out of three put forward by teammates (conflict resolution)
- packing their own bag and cleaning their own boots (developing responsibility)
- playing a particular role they might not prefer in a game (better teamwork skills)
- making new friends with people from different backgrounds (respect for others)
- give different roles for kit managers, off field captain etc (develop leadership skills)


Helping children to become better people is a key function of the role of a coach and fits very much in the social corner. Seeing these skills get better over a season of football is testament to winning, and for some children, will probably be more important to them in their whole lives than that three points at the weekend you were bothered about. 




So, ramblings over for now, but please do have a think about where you position the scoreline from a game in the whole scheme of things. Winning could be having more kids at training than you had last year, or just they keep coming back and don't quit, or they smile more - it could be loads and loads of things. How important is the score for their development, as footballers but importantly, as people? Equally, the behaviour you portray on the side of the pitch, the emotions you model for all to see, what you put an emphasis on, will have a huge impact on them too. 


Where do you put 'the score' in the scheme of things for children and what determines 'winning' for you? Just a question. 

The Art of Adult Communication

Standing on the side of the pitch produces what can only be said is a myriad of nonsense, jargon and random industry-related phrases. Half of these, well, maybe well over half don't actually help our young players learn and in fact reinforce messages that we probably don't want them to have. Furthermore, how do we know the way these messages are being received - is it helping them understand the game? Is it developing their decision-making skills? Is it doing anything for their self-esteem or feeling of worth?

I've collected a whole manner of information from the side of pitches and I think its time to try and translate some of these. From the 50 focus groups we have done with children across the country there is some fascinating insights into how us, the adults, make them feel with words. I would say most of what the children hear isn't deliberately meant by adults to have the effect it does, it's probably meant with good intentions but just a little misguided. 

I'm sure you've heard a whole manner of different things from the side of the pitch over the years, whether as a parent or a coach, and will relate to some of these.

Quotes: "If in doubt kick it out", "Get rid of it", Get it forwards", "Whack it up the pitch"

Interpretation: I must have heard these phrases more than any others, which loosely means "don't take care of the ball, just don't concede a goal". Managers and coaches seem to be happier the further the ball is away from their goal, regardless of direction or purpose of playing forwards. It is about the adult ego here; the reflection on themselves and what the possibility of conceding a goal might mean. 

It is also probably the one reason we have young players in this country that aren't comfortable in possession of the ball, because they know if they lost it and heaven forbid, make a mistake, then the world will end! Equally, children then do it because the panic sets in, the mum or dad on the sideline screeching this information at them would scare me into doing it too!

We need to allow children to make mistakes, to learn what to do when they have the ball and to learn to pick the most appropriate passes. Sometimes it might be into the forward, sometimes it might be across to another defender. It might be different to the one that you picked but so what? 

Alternatives: "Take your time and choose the right pass, Darren", "Try and find a team mate, Nicola", "Try and play forwards when you think its the right pass, James".

The difference? Decision-making is owned by the child, they try and do what they think is the right thing yet with a modicum of coaching support and help. 

Quotes: "We have two goals to get and your trying all these tricks", "Don't hold on to it", "Get it down, pass, get it down, pass, get it down, PAAASSSSSS!"

Interpretation: It basically means - stop having fun. You aren't here to come and emulate your heroes, you aren't here to try things that might just boost your self-esteem and ranking amongst friends if it works, you are here to be a 'robot' and do as the adult defines. 

The adult here is showing a lack of trust and support for their players and is basically saying "you aren't good enough to try something new so get rid of it". However, from what I know about learning, unless you try something and practice it you will never be very good anyway?! I can imagine that some of the players we know and love watching at the top level - Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, the young Giggs, and the Gazza's and Waddle's of their time - would they have been the same player they are/were if they had adults on the side barking at them to pass every time they got the ball? Probably not.

Flair players are exciting, they can change the game in a heartbeat and create opportunities from nothing. They can unlock defences with a moment of magic and a dribble, but they can't if they are going to feel vilified for even trying. Do they fail more than they succeed? I'm sure they do. But they do things that are incredible, breathtaking and make you sit up in your seat and make noises like you are watching fireworks. 

Alternatives: "Great attempt, try again Jack", "Try and vary your style, Ishmael, to keep the defender guessing - are you going to pass or dribble?", "Where do you think your dribbling will be most effective to help the team, Roger?"

Of course, use training to help them refine these skills but the whole purpose of practising these is to do them in a game. It sends a better message of when and where is appropriate and the coach has a role to help develop understanding of this.

Quotes: "Don't just stand there, move about", "Come on, move", "Get in the hole", "Look up"

Interpretation: This was one of the funniest moments I have seen in a Mini-Soccer match, the first quote there. I was watching a game of U9's playing and the ball was down one end a fair bit with a few corners on the trot. Near the half way line was an striker from the team defending and a player from the other team. The manager clearly decided his forward wasn't doing enough to influence play so demanded he moved about. So he did. 

Despite the ball being at the other end, 35 yards away, the striker did what he was told. So he started running in a massive figure of eight in the opposition half, nowhere near the ball! The defender, not sure what to do at this time having never seen such creative off-the-ball play, was told to "stay with him" by the coach. We then had a scene from Benny Hill, with these two kids chasing each other across the pitch from side-to-side! All because the coach hadn't thought about how his words were going to be interpreted by the child.

I remember the "get in the hole" at a tournament which followed with the U10 kid coming over to the sideline and saying to the coach that there wasn't any holes in the pitch and I recall three U8's 'looking straight up' into the sky when a parent shouted this on, like there was a passing helicopter or something.

Be careful with the language you use; don't use football jargon for the little ones, it won't make much sense and some will take you literally. Try and use language that they will understand and questions to promote thinking, rather than telling. 

Alternatives: "Becci, try and find some free space when you don't have the ball", "Try and see where your teammates are, Zoe, before you pass the ball", "Well done for getting into a position to help your team, Tyrell"

This is about encouraging players to think about the game without getting confused with the words you say. Try and keep it simple and introduce more game-related language when you see is the right time with the age and stage of your players. 

Finally, some quotes directly from children about how adults can make them feel when they shout negative comments on to the pitch if they make a mistake:

"Parents embarrass me when the shout and they just confuse me"

"I don't like it when we try something new and it doesn't go right first time and the adults shout at me"

"When adults shout at me, it's like it all goes quiet and it's a big spotlight on me"

"When people shout negative stuff it makes me just want to leave the pitch and go home"

However, when we say good things, this is what the kids say:

"I feel proud, confident and honoured to play for the team when people shout good things"

"It makes me feel really good about myself and I try even harder"

"It boosts my self-confidence and energy"

The only thing that us as adults can control in the coaching and match environment is what comes out of our mouthes. We can't control how the message is received, the actions of what happens after or how the child feels after hearing something. Please, think about the words you choose carefully and try and be positive as much as you can. That's what the kids want. 

It's Not Non-Competitive. It's Child-Centred Competition.

I think it's time to clarify, clear up, eradicate and move on from some of the nonsense I keep reading about some of The FA's plans for youth football. 

Let's get this very clear from the outset: The FA is not making youth football non-competitive. The game is a competition; the battle between two teams to see who wins over the period of time the game goes on for, whether you are 7 or 57, the game is still about seeing if my team can beat your team. End of story. Hope that's now clear. 

Non-competitive implies everything is a friendly, like the game doesn't matter. That's simply not the case. All games matter to the kids, for some adults it matters too much and therein lies a lot of the problems.

What the plans are looking at are about making flexible competition, where children can still experience the importance of winning and losing, still feel the highs, the lows, the exhilaration and depression that all get associated with the game we know and love. However, this is about making sure that they experience a children's approach to competition, not an adult's approach. 

We have taken the adult model, league tables, three points and goal difference, and imposed this on young people. What we have found from listening to young people is that it has increased pressure and is a reason they leave the game. I can't find any academic research that says pushing children down an over-competitive route is good for enjoyment or development. None. All I can find is the opposite, such as the writings of Lynn Kidman. 

I have heard from managers about children being sick before the game because they are so nervous about losing a game in a relegation battle and children not turning up or wanting to go on because they were so scared at doing something silly and making a mistake and they didn't want the repercussions. The repercussions from adults after a kid makes a mistake?! I heard one manager about Christmas time last year say to his U11 team that today was a "must-win game"! Nothing is must-win when you are 11. Please, give it a rest!

However, children have also told us they like seeing their progress and they like to see themselves get better, something they like from leagues. We simply have to find the balance between the two that enables development and enjoyment from a young person's perspective. 

So, the plans are this; Give leagues the flexibility to organise football for the children in the primary school age group which involves periods of development matches, time to learn the game, interspersed with periods of competitions, where they might play for a trophy or two. 

And this flexibility is open to the league. For example, one of the issues we have found from looking at youth football around the country is in most leagues there are only two maybe three teams that might win the league and they invariably know this before the season even starts! The teams that aren't great know they are never going to win anything either, therefore might monitor development and progress in a different way - losing by less goals, sneaking a draw here and there, social and player outcomes etc. 

What we are saying to the leagues is this - can you find a better way that encourages and promotes more opportunity for more teams to be competitive? So, in a division of 12 teams, have 6-8 weeks playing development matches, putting into practice what you have been learning and then some form of competition, but be clever and smart with this. Organise a little competition for the top six teams to play for a trophy and the same for the bottom six, where the teams in the bottom six now have a realistic chance of winning something, of feeling good for this, or feeling down because you lost in the final. Something the kids might otherwise never have felt. 

And use the scores from the blocks of development matches to get teams in the right groups. No team wants to have games that are too easy or be beaten by loads every week so there is a crucial role still in the administrators making sure teams get pitted evenly against others. 

One guy from a league said he had 32 teams at the U10 age group, could he organise a World Cup format with 8 groups of four, little round robins and then go through to a knockout and a final? Absolutely! Do things that are going to capture the attention of the kids. Just don't stick them in one league for 8 months a year!

When this has been discussed and understood by people on my travels they have started to get it, to understand why. Not listening to hearsay, fourth-hand information or making up their own spin on something because it suits them. I met the KNVB (Dutch FA) Technical Director, a UEFA Grassroots Panel member, a month ago and discussed these with him - he was hugely impressed with this modern approach and asked if I would meet with his team to discuss further what we are planning. England leading something in football and the Dutch liking the ideas of!? There's a first!

This isn't saying what we have doing has been wrong for years, we are saying this might be a great way of engaging more kids in the game we love, for longer, in a more modern way. We have to move away from the win-at-all-costs culture in this country, we quite simply have to. It is ruining the game for everyone, stifling development and hindering enjoyment. Winning is important, but somewhere down the list behind a number of other more important factors. 

Striving to win? Absolutely important.The score? Not as important.

The game is evolving rapidly; new types of player and no longer just giant athletes, new types of football and no longer just 4-4-2, new formats of the game and no longer just 11v11. 

"The difficulty lies not in new ideas but in escaping the old ones" (John Maynard Keynes). And he was a smart man.