Comments on: If you could do one thing to improve the next generation of British footballers?

By: msb

msb — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:16:42 +0000

I find elements in most of the above i agree with. The facilities available to junior clubs are poor at best. There are many parents who have become coaches because if they don’t there will be nobody to run the team, we take the FA 1 course which you pass by turning up and then you are left on your own. To go to level 2 takes time and not everyone has the free time to do it. The local and National FA’s do nothing to help local football. The whole system has become so full of red tape volunteers to run clubs are leaving because of the time it takes to tick all the boxes, The professional clubs pinch all the good youngsters in the teams at an early age, train all the individual talent out of them and let them play 5-10 minutes in a game once a fortnight. The kids need to have a ball at their feet, on good grounds, no pressure to perform at an early age, good coaches to teach the technical skills but not erase the individual flair. Let the kids enjoy their football with their friends whilst they are young and when they reach early teens put them in quality academies or clubs and teach them the tactics etc to move on higher up the ladder then

By: Gary Taylor

Gary Taylor — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:33:03 +0000

Protect and nurture Charter / Community Standard Clubs and put in place a rigorous checking routine to ensure that any New Club that breaks away from one of the above is held accountable for their reasons and motives for breaking away in the first place – hopefully this will prevent know-it-all level 1 coaches and parents from breaking away from a CS club because they think they are better than the club or because they want to win-at-all-costs.
At the moment there is nothing in place to do this as I well know from bitter experience – maybe all New Clubs should have at least 1 level 2 coach which should mean that at least one person has a deeper knowledge of the game and the 4-corner development of young players – I believe most of the problems emanate from the Level 1 which is basically a coaching introduction to football but has no control over the coaches afterwards – it is easy to pay lip service to something for the course but then coach to a completely different agenda after passing it.

By: Jeff Lewis

Jeff Lewis — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:51:25 +0000

Swap the budget for the management of the national team with the budget for training of youth coaches.

The possibility to achieve the same as Spain which has more professional level coaches than England has lip service Level 1 ‘s (like me) is there, all it requires is the will to divert resources to where the priority needs to be.

By: paul bilecki

paul bilecki — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:12:42 +0000

I believe we need a new strategy with a financial commitment and long term vision to once again make us a force in world football.

My strategy and vision would be as follows:

Primary School children
1. Appoint and send appropriately qualified FA Coaches into Primary Schools to develop the technique and the skills for all 5 – 11 year old’s.
Minimum of 10 hours a week over the full school year.

Secondary School children
2. Provide a residential National Football Academy for our most talented coaches and
11 – 18 year old English players, along with the necessary educational and medical support services required.
I would suggest a maximum intake of 30 – 40 players within each age group with a minimum of 20 hours coaching time per week, over a 40 week Academy year.

The ‘in-house’ Junior School Coaching and the Football Academy to be funded by the following;
The Government, The FA, The Premier League, Football League along with any Business partners/sponsors.

I appreciate it will require the desire and commitment from a number of parties but if we are serious about protecting the National game for future generations then we need to do something sooner rather than later!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:34:45 +0000

I have always been a big fan of football but wasnt good enough to play in the school team, I have since developed through playing regularly whilst at University. I would suggest that all kids that want to play football at school level get to play. I cant help but think how many late developers could have went on to be decent players, not to mention the fact that so many kids will feel upset not to get to play football at school with their friends.

On this issue I would also note that my primary school had a sloped concrete football pitch with the wrong markings. Whilst my secondary school had a new astroturf pitch that was nicely located outside of the scool “playground” meaning we couldnt get to play on it at lunch times etc and this resulted in the older kids using the only decent bit of ground at the school to play football and stopped any of the younger kids from playing.

Kids should be encouraged to just play football at every possible oppertunity! More time playing football to develop their ability, more kids that are going to be generally healthier and also more competition for the early developers who seem to get labelled “elite” far too early nowadays.

By: andrew moir

andrew moir — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:48:01 +0000

it is very hard for young children to get access to good quality training,many of those who have gained the fa level 1 badge don”t really have any ability to coach,there has to be a higher standard of coaching from 7 years upwards with each club having to have at least a level 2 coach

By: Doug Gill

Doug Gill — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 05:18:17 +0000

Just let the kids play football and enjoy themselves without putting pressure on to learn ‘tactics’.When they are in primary school they have enought to woryy about with acedemic things,play and enjoy,learn the skills the way the older generation did by playing with their mates ! When they get to about 14/15 they can learn ‘tactics’ !

By: david ferry

david ferry — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:50:25 +0000

firstly its fun. then. its more fun with friends. then is gets funnier when you have fun and win. we have got to teach our kids not just how to be good losers , but be brilliant winners. why train kids to do things with a football then tell them its okay if they dont put all the training into practice. in this political correct society which we live in making our children winners is not incorrect. we set out challenges for ourselfs in life to do the best we can. so why tell kids any different

By: john stubbs

john stubbs — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:26:13 +0000

I have had 18 years involvement with youth football spanning with three teams during this time period. The problem in this country is due to the professional clubs, youngsters on trial for 6 weeks then cast aside, seen the nerves this creates, the ploy of staying in set zones, not allowed to make a mistake, simply allowed no expression. Has been coaches whom think they know it all stinks, they may have been good footballers though good footballers don’t allways good coaches and managers as most have an ego and cannot relate or man manage, all they seem to install is fear. Some of the pitches youth teams are allowed to play on are a disgrace, how can play a pass and move game on an uneven dangerous pitch. At 11 years play on a full size pitch and goals practically where’s the sense in that, it dosen’t happen in Italy or Holland and there they are taught from an early age to be in control with the ball and at one with the ball and encouraged to use both feet, technically superior and the aggression comes into there game at a later stage of their development. Crux of it is that professional clubs are looking for the finished article to early they must take a step back and work with the potential in a friendly calm, construstive, supportive environment that brings out confidence and a willingness to try that something different that may turn a game, losing is part of the game, it is how you lose, how one responds and importingly the management on their preparation of the team they were playing and their responce to the defeat, not to make an issue out of it, work at what went wrong and fundamentially team spirit and togetherness.

By: Rob Brooker

Rob Brooker — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:44:48 +0000

Making sure that the youths are taught the basics so that as a result they can consistently carry them out correctly!! I.e. playing with both feet, passing, tackling, movement, discipline… the list goes on… however, if they master the basics then that will improve their chances of becoming much better than any opposition in the future!! none of this marlacy about how skill is the most important thing as the better than can carry out the basics, the skill is natural!!!