Top Tip Tuesday – 3 Questions to decide it it’s time to leave a team or activity

What have they learnt in the last 6 months?

If your child has learnt a fair bit and developed during the last few months then that is a great sign that they are in the right place and it might be too soon to think about moving on.

Alarm bells should start ringing if you can’t think of much or haven’t seen an improvement.

What are they likely to learn in the next 6 months?

It could be they’ve learnt a lot, but what’s next?

Is their coach looking at new ideas and techniques?

Will they get chance to play in different positions to enhance their game-understanding?

Have they improved to the point where they might now get a chance with the ‘A’ team?

All of these things are worth considering.

If you’re struggling to see how they will develop any further then it might be time to look at other options.

Maybe they have gone as far as they can with their current team.

Are they enjoying it?

The most important question of all!

SOMETIMES a lack of learning/development can be balanced out by the fact your child simply enjoys playing in the team.

Socially, they may have friends there who they want to continue playing with, for example.

But, if you can see that they visibly don’t enjoy it, regardless of how much they might be learning, it is time to leave.

You run the risk of them quitting the sport altogether if you persist for too long when you know they don’t like it.

One thing we have found over the years is that the most enjoyable part of football for kids (in their opinion) is when they improve.

So, if they aren’t learning much but say they enjoy it, it might only be a matter of time before they start enjoying it less because they’ll start to feel that they aren’t actually improving.