In England we teach children to win rather than play football….

I remember first hearing about grassroots football changing to a more non-competitive structure.

I wasn’t a fan.

As someone who has always been pretty competitive, I couldn’t work it out.

But, the more that time has gone, and the more I’ve learnt, the more I get it.

By removing the competitive element, I guess it was hoped that coaches and parents wouldn’t be consumed by winning.

Maybe there would be less shouting from side-lines and kids could just enjoy playing.

Some would argue there is still work to be done here.

I do still think there needs to be a balance – there’s nothing wrong with creating a winning mentality in our children.

But there is everything wrong with making them believe winning is the be-all and end-all.

And there is everything wrong with placing winning over the development of each child.

You know what is interesting?

Some of the our most talented players have been those who didn’t even join teams until later into primary school, let alone play competitive football.

I remember a conversation recently with a parent whose lad had only ever done our after-school club…he got picked for the school team ahead of some of his classmates who had played formal football from a very young age.

Another didn’t play any football until joining us at 7 years old.

He didn’t join a team until a few years later…he’s now in an academy.

We’ve taken some teams to play in mini tournaments and one-off games this season.

We’ve stood back and observed.

One thing we noticed was the players who aren’t yet in teams were the ones who were more confident of taking the ball in tight areas.

They were playing backwards as well as forwards instead of just booting the ball up field (something that is learnt from constantly being told to do so at matches ).

They weren’t afraid to try things even if it meant they lost the ball.

You can’t totally pinpoint the reasons but you get the sense a lot of it comes down to the fact they haven’t been conditioned to win at all costs and have been allowed to play with freedom.

‘Play’ being the keyword

That word evokes an image of kids ‘messing about’ or being left to just play matches instead of doing formal drills…That isn’t what it means at all.

The best coaches are the ones who can create these environments whilst providing activities that maximise learning/development (sorry to those who still believe line drills are the way forward )

We’ve met a few grassroots coaches who get this balance very right but there are still far too many who don’t.

The better ones coach by guiding and encouraging the players to try things without fear of being shouted at or dropped from the team.

We mentioned last week that Germany are making radical changes to their grassroots structure and a lot of it comes back to that word – PLAY.

There needs to be more education for coaches, and parents also need to get onboard.

There comes a time for more of an emphasis on winning.

But, from what we’ve learnt so far, those kids who have been in right environments (with a focus on PLAYING the game) are the ones who seem to develop the fastest.

More importantly, they seem to enjoy it more.