COACHING ARTICLES

REPORT INTO YOUTH FOOTBALL
Mark Senior

Having had the same conversation up to 12 times per day with parents and coaches of junior football clubs, over the last 4 years, the time has come.

No longer could I speak about it and not doing anything about it.

This report looks at the coaching, club organisation and professional side of youth football in England.

This report is not to shock anyone, merely to let people take a step back from football and self analyse their role in the biggest game in the world.

Thanks for reading!

Defining Moment

Having watched back to back games of supposedly the best local teams in a large city in West Yorkshire, I felt I had to come home and write this. I thought whether I needed to, or whether anyone would care, as the situation gets worse every time I spend time watching junior football.

I was looking for potential players for an advanced centre. A talent development.

centre - plenty of talent but no development whatsoever!

Having watched an under 14 match for the first half, I turned to watch an under 11 game with a colleague and it was a mirror image, just with different ages. The same size pitch, the same size goals, the same number of parents watching, the same two managers, coaches, buckets, water bottles etc. The most alarming thing was the lack of quality on the pitch. Not because the players weren't good enough - here were kids that have played for several years each week, training etc and many attending professional club development centres in their early lives. The biggest reason for the lack of quality was the lack of confidence and increasing pressure and tension the kids faced and the lack of expression and enjoyment you could see in their faces.

This is why I had to write this report. Its been coming. And today isn't the worst I have seen.

Junior Coaching

Does having a level 1 qualification mean you can coach a junior club. In the eyes of the coach and the parents, yes it does. In the eyes of the FA, yes it does. The ego and reputation of the coach rests on his weekend attended. course that has cost him or the club £70 to attend. Don't get me wrong the additions of the child protection and first aid sections of the course are a must, but what about the rest?

The junior coaches I see, don't see the game through the eyes of the kids. They themselves want to see their own achievement, reputation in the pub/ family gathering above any young kid who turns up who loves playing football and might have a dream of being a professional player as every other kid does when they buy their first pair of boots.

An alarming example of the lack of foresight in coaches, not just at junior clubs, but centres of excellence and academies too is the fear they put into kids. The fear of giving the ball away that might lose them a goal. The fear that not beating the defender with a trick, will receive a telling off from several parents and the coach. The pressure that is placed on a young player is more than most would face in their day job. Is this why? Is it the long week in the office that leads adults to treat young kids this way to propel some of their own misery upon them?

Developing players for the future

"I don't let my kids play out from the goalkeeper. One thing they cant cope with the ball in that situation and secondly, if the defender loses the ball and they score that might be the difference between winning and losing." This was said to me last week by a coach of a junior club attached to a good non league club. Alarming so it may seem, if you watch junior games, the majority, will be the same. The goalkeeper must clear the ball as far as they can; kick the ball out of his hands, not put the team at risk. Is this going to develop any player on the pitch? Simple answer, no!

It is understandable that a coach might not understand how to play out from the back. But if this is the case, why are they coaching in the first place and secondly what are the FA teaching on their courses? Another thing, if you don't understand how to do something at work, do you forget about it or do you ask someone who does and develop your skills to do the job more effectively? I wonder! Coaching instructions make me cringe. People moan about the national team, although when they are giving instructions such as:

"clear it", "get rid of it", "throw it down the line," etc

It is no wonder that we don't produce players as technically advanced as other countries.

This brings me to my next point. This country! The country that invented the game, developed the first leagues, etc.

Also the country that was embarrassed by Hungary in that famous game that changed the way football was played in this country. The problem is, it has never changed again since! We are miles behind other countries, because of one thing - the ways our kids now play football.

I had a conversation recently with someone who moved to this country 3 weeks ago and was looking for help to get his son into a local junior club. Having visited 6 clubs, he still hasn't chosen one. The reason why is that in Cyprus (yes that massive football playing nation) the coaching and facilities were miles better than over here. He stated that the coaching was more technically based at the younger ages, with reduced sized pitches and heavy emphasis on development rather than the goalkeeper getting more practice touching the ball than any other players. We are falling behind, and if countries such as Cyprus have better youth coaching then watch out in the next 20 years!

Having watched a junior game recently I recorded some startling facts. I recorded the reactions of parents watching the game and the comments they made. Other than, "that's useless, stop giving the ball away, what are you doing messing with the ball in defence, etc" the results were:

Comment - "well done great clearance" - said 34 times

Comment - "nice trick/ bit of skill" - said 6 times (4 by the same guy who seemed to know what he was talking about)

This shows the situation we are in. Kids are praised for ugly things and criticized for trying tricks, flicks and things they experiment with. They are not allowed to make mistakes and therefore are scared to try new skills, and subsequently never learn how to do them properly = when they get older they never reach their potential level!! Its not rocket science.

Watching a professional centre of excellence, in-house. match between under 11s and 12s, a player tried a different method of passing. He put his right leg behind the other and chipped the ball to a team mate. He smiled as it came off. Great. the coach should have said, or just kept quiet as the player knows he did something good. But no, you guessed it, "right, off you come, don't pass the ball like that, you must use the inside of your foot, you wont get anywhere with flicks and showing off." This is true, and the coach sent another player on in his place.

The player coming off then sat down and sulked. I would have too. Now he wasn't smiling anymore and his day/ week/ month/ season was ruined. Finally my last example of poor coaching and a conclusion. A player has a long throw, fine. He takes 14 long throws but the central defender commands each one and wins every header. What would you advise as a coach? Maybe to throw to feet instead? Not a chance, the manager criticizes each player, questioning their commitment etc etc you know the score by now.

Not great for anyone concerned.

Basically, football takes a lot of learning. Kids don't need people stifling that learning. They don't play on streets as much now. There are too many cars, crime, idiots, etc. From the late 1990s, less kids played sport on the streets, It's a fact of modern living as not being able to leave your window open is. The problem is, children now don't learn for themselves in the street or playground. They have to be coached. This is the problem.

Did Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard have a coach in the street in Liverpool. No chance. They taught themselves, by spending time with a ball or anything that constituted a ball and with kids of different ages, some older, some younger. Kids now don't have this time away from organised football. Is it not better to have no coach, than a coach giving the wrong instruction and the increased pressure to perform?

I would say so!

The generation of players in the 24-30 age range may be the last set of professionals that simply taught themselves how to cope with the demands of a football. Is this the reason why players such as Ronaldo who played with anything round on waste land and against walls when he was younger to develop his technique and amazing skill level or the increasing number of African players are playing in Europe at the highest level.

Many people say the facilities in England are not good enough. Possibly not but I bet they aren't brilliant in the Ivory Coast either but look at the players coming out of countries like that. The reason must be, the lack of wrong coaching. Players learn from each other. They learn by playing with each other, on their own, using their imagination with players as role models. Now the people they look up to as people demonstrating skills and passing exercises have never got near the level of their heroes. Again this needs to be reversed.

I said to a coach recently who is having trouble getting coaches of the right manner into his club that he should just coach all the kids the way he wants and then get one parent to merely supervise the kids on a Sunday and make everything a safe environment but let the kids play and have no manager on a Sunday. This needs to happen to reverse the street trend. Kids need to use their creativity without pressure and without worrying about giving the ball away, but experimenting and enjoying themselves.

BUT WE WONT WIN,,,

Junior football in England works in the following way:

Local junior teams play in leagues, for points, for trophies.

Professional junior teams don't. they play against other clubs, simple.

The result at professional clubs is secondary to the performance - how do we win? How do we produce players that can cope with adult football at 16/17 years of age and then win?

English football is simply the wrong way round. Junior football clubs should not play for points. Then we would see more players progressing to professional clubs. Non league clubs would benefit in the long term due to the amount of players playing longer etc.

It wont happen! But it should - did anyone play for points in the street?

It's the mangers and parents that want the competition, not the kids!

Yes we want to let kids be competitive, but its how they win that's important and that losing isn't a problem.

"we never lose, we just run out of time."

"we may not always win, but we'll never be defeated."

Short sighted, short term thinking will leave parents and players with regret and the old excuse of, "I could have made it, but,,,"

Lack of referees,,,

Players being booked for swearing at age 13.

Parents threatening referees for wrong decisions.

I'm not surprised.

The lack of referees is worrying people in authority, it shouldn't.

Why have them?

Young players do not need referees. I have all my centres matches without them. I simply tell the players there isn't one. Ask them to be honest if you hand ball it, or if you run it out of play. The results are there to see.

Comments such as,

"wasn't it a great atmosphere at the game and no ref."

"I cant believe there was no cheating."

"Im surprised the players owned up to fouls, etc"

Try it, it works!

In the long term, does it really matter if a referee makes a bad decision? Without one, there is no-one to blame other than your own son/ daughter. Its not nice having a son that lies or cheats therefore the kids don't do it.

Football forgets teaching life skills is part of the game. And only football changes people in the way it does. Animal instincts occur. Would you really treat your staff the way you treat a referee who is giving up their time to help the kids play football.

The old quote, "you can have a match without a referee," is totally wrong. Again, did you phone a qualified ref to come to the school playground and pay him £20 for the hour. No you didn't - let the kids run the game!!

I've nearly finished,,,

Methods of coaching

Over the last 12 months, I have watched junior club (level1 and above) coaches and the session is structured in the following way. This is probably 85% of coaches I have seen.

1. WARM UP - running around the playing around 6 or 7 times.

2. Stretching - static

3. 2 teams of about 8 players in lines, shooting practice

4. match - 2 teams

5. go home
   
   
   
   You may be reading this and think, yes I do that, great.

Well stop doing it! Think about it properly before you plan your next session; that's if you plan it.

1. Warm up - what is a warm up? Can I not do ball work as a warm up in a smaller area and get my players having about 500 touches on the ball straight away?

2. stretching - having run round the pitch, I'm now warm. Standing still stretching, oh I'm now cold again - thought it was the warm up? It doesn't prevent injuries - you never stretched before a break time game at school did you? And you didn't get injured and you only have 15 minutes so, no game time then?

3. queuing - its annoying standing in a shop waiting to be served so why make kids queue up for a shot. One player doing something and 15 stood waiting - it happens all the time - let them spend time with a ball, oh and why warm up again? I'm stood cold again now - now I might get injured!

4. match - how many touches is each player getting? Probably not many if you are playing 2 teams. The great Liverpool sides played 5v5, Manchester United play 4v4. enough said!

Stop, think, and re-assess what you are doing. You may be copying coaches if you are new to the game. Watch the best ones as you used to as a young player. You never copied the local put team winger who fell over every two minutes did you. You copied George Best, Pele, Ryan Giggs, etc.

New Modern Coaching Methods

SAQ - Speed, agility and quickness

You may see professional coaches doing this with their players. Fine, copy their methods as I've said. The thing is, coaches copy the methods but don't find out the detailed information about the reasons behind it - they teach it incorrectly and the players get no benefit.

Often I see coaches having players doing SAQ through ladders for 15 minutes, thinking it will increase their speed. It wont! Do your research and find out min/max workloads for improving things like speed, power, etc.

Fitness

"My players need to be fit"

And then they run for hours on end, never touch a ball, etc. the majority of fitness work can be done using a ball. Again its not rocket science - produce footballers, not robots.

Robots

The problem with some professional clubs.

Having philosophies is ok. How do we play as a club to get the players to the best standard and do the same with all our players so they progress to the first team?

Good question.

Many clubs have the philosophy that each coach works with, so each player knows the system all the way through from under 9 - youth team level and beyond.

The problem:

Producing robots that cant cope with problem solving on their own. Players that cant adapt to the game and other clubs if they are released. Players that always seek advise and never make their own decisions and players that think they will never play at any other level that the one they are at now.

Quote from a pro club coach:

"he should have passed the ball there, as when he play against Man United or Liverpool he wont get away with that."

Well, how will he if he never tries it?

Also, you have just told the kid he isn't as good as the players at the better clubs - that's great for his confidence.

Conclusion

I don't expect to change the world through this report. But if you are passionate about the future of young people, not just within football, but their lives in general, and their behaviour, respect for others, etc than you need to act.

I cant do this on my own.

You might be in the majority who cant see the problems and wont admit to it.

Football is not a different, sectioned off part of life. It is very much a part of it.

Football teaches young people major life skills, creates major friendships that last a lifetime and strengthens communities, making areas nicer to live in. that's the power it has, the problem is that society in general is weakening. Football is a major reason.

Do something about it now before its too late.

We are falling behind!

Thanks for reading.

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