The U9 team will be phased out in the 2021/22 season and the U10 team in 2022/23. Thereafter, training at the FC Bayern Campus will begin at the U11 level.

Athletic director at the Campus Holger Seitz said, “FC Bayern is aware of its social responsibility particularly for very young soccer players in the Munich area and the neighbouring regions. With this step, it should be possible for the children to develop longer in the familiar setting of their home club without the pressure to perform and without additional time commitment.”

Seitz said the club wants children to have the free time to try out other sports and enjoy other experiences that might “have a positive influence on their footballing capabilities.”

Bayern will compensate for gifted players in the region by allowing local clubs to have special training sessions at the U7 and U8 level at the FC Bayern Campus beginning in 2020/21.

Source Bayern Munich, full transcript from German HERE

Having been involved with coaching players as young as 4 years old through to the senior game, I have had many discussions about what people expect within the game, and these expectations are vast and varied.
For example, some clubs want all the best players at their clubs and will go out of there way to get them; some coaches to develop players to improve as best they can; some officials want to work their way up the refereeing pyramid; some players just want to enjoy the game and socialise with their friends; some parents want their child to become the next Leo Messi. And who am I to make comment on whatever your motivation may be, or as to why you are involved in the game we all love.

What I would like to discuss at the moment is the rise in level of expectation that I have come across in recent years about how good our players are. Across the spectrum, junior to senior, somewhere, somehow, the majority of the footballing family in my opinion believe we are far superior than we actual are.

I could provide many names from the past 20 years of those who have had trials, managed to secure the old Youth Training Scheme / Apprenticeships but have not had the rub of the green, or indeed, just not been good enough at that particular time.

In recent years here, youth football has gone onto another level with huge national tournaments watched by various scouts; local clubs forging links with professional clubs, 1 on 1 coaching being more popular than ever and development centres in every town, Honestly, I can’t remember opportunities to develop ever being so good for our local footballers.

However, once I take off those rose tinted glasses, there are some things that still concern me, and one of those concerns is the weight of expectation I see around every match I watch or am involved in.

The pressure some young players are being put under by certain coaches and parents in my opinion is absolutely ludicrous.

The most recent example I have is recently I returned from a football trip with two squads where we played against one of the best; if not the best; football academies in England, Southampton FC.
On our return, when the players met their parents I was bemused that one of the first things I heard from the parent to their child was “How are you? Did you win?”
This is a usual question I hear a lot. It seems to be the default question of most people, but my concern was, the parent was actually serious…. “Did You Win?”
Reality check.

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The Academy teams we play against practice at least three times a week and have at least one match per week and play competitive football to develop there players… at the highest level. They are coached by some of the best youth coaches in the country. No less then 10 hours contact time with their coach and teammates per week. Some even have the school education at the training complex.

Our squads train once per week, and this season actually less than that due to facilities and weather conditions. We have excellent and highly motivated coaches who are qualified at various levels, but by no means do we believe we are at the level of Southampton Football Club’s staff.

So after reading just two paragraphs above…. Let me ask you… Do you think we won?
And more to the point…. Do you actually think it is important if we won?

The kids had a wonderful experience. A tour around St Mary’s Stadium, playing at the Southampton’s new £40 million training complex against some of the best players at their age, in the country.

The kids had a great insight for the day in what it might be like being a footballer at Southampton’s FC, and believe me when I say they improved on the pitch from start to finish and learnt a great deal.
So how about asking something like – did you have fun? How was the trip? Did you try you hardest? Did you play to the best of your ability? What did you learn?
Followed up by well done, I’m proud of you.

It’s a quite simple way to positively influence and motivate kids to learn more about the game.
I could give many other examples, but my point is, Those deemed to have the most ability at a certain stage each season will be called up to represent the respective academys’, both men and women, boys and girls.

Out of those, a handful may be fortunate enough to be offered a trial with a professional club.
And from that handful, how many have actually made a career out of being a professional footballer? Not many.

So why is this mentality that we can produce a conveyor belt of talent who will become professional footballers?

Why do I see some clubs, some coaches and some parents treating who they believe to be there most talented players like superstars and different to other players in there squads. And once the game kicks off, it’s usually those players who are given more negative comments and pressure applied to than anyone else, in most cases, by their own parents. The expectation of them for whatever reasons are sky high.

The stats don’t lie, there are fewer homegrown players playing at the professional level than ever before.
Over 100,000 youths play in the professional academies for years on end training several times a week, exposed to top class coaching and competition from the age of 8 years old to 16…. And if I recall correctly, 1% of them will make it professionally. A totally different world to from our amateur grass roots football in the UK.

I’m not writing to quash dreams, I writing because I am genuinely bewildered as to why expectations have soared so wildly high that perhaps we have forgotten to keep our boots on the ground.
Players need to be treated equally.

At youth level I have seen a coach talk to his team ‘star player’ for 20 minutes whilst the rest of the squad runs lengths across the pitch for a warm before the game. Only the for the so-called star player to go and join the team for a game of ‘Piggy in the middle’ just a few minutes before kick off.

What expectation does the coach have of this player? – Why was he being treated so differently to the rest of the team?

We have some very talented players, senior and junior and even those players recognised to be the best we have to offer, for whatever reasons, cannot make it in the professional game.
It’s a damn hard thing to do.

I don’t know if its just me seeing things so differently to others, so I am really asking for your opinions and comments as a player, parent, coach, club official or spectator….

However you’re involved in the Grassroots game, what are you expectations?

With thanks to Aaron Travers for this article.

Although the programme was focussed upon the professional game and academy program there are many underlying issues regarding young children’s sport and the attitude of adults that surround themselves in it.  This does not apply just to the professional game but also to grassroots sport.

At WWPIS we have a lot of sympathy for many well intentioned parents who set their children out in sport without any real underlying knowledge of the system that they are going into.  Many are peaceable human beings who just get swept along and in  many ways become a product of the environment that has been put in front of them.

Many just want what is best for their child and anything that they do is out of sheer love!  We need to find ways to channel this love and emotion in far more productive ways as opposed to some of the ‘bashing’ and negative criticism that is currently aimed at parents from coaches and organisations.

There is going to need to be a culture shift.  All stakeholders are going to need to evolve in some form or another and I include organisations, coaches and parents in this. Greater education and resource needs to be in place for parents from organisations, without parents living the fear that if they challenge or are unsure of their behaviour that it will have a negative impact for their child.

Coach education needs to include some of these personal and social elements of the growth of the child away from just the technical aspects of the game. Coaches need to be developed to have some of these other skills and not just the ability to put out cones and coach the session itself.  The coach role should be about developing character and life traits amongst young sportsman and women as well as having the ability to make them better on the field.

If young and inexperienced volunteers find this daunting or just believe that they are there just to coach the children then perhaps each organisation could have someone in place who takes on this role within a club to mentor these coaches and support where appropriate.

My good friend in the USA Coach Reed Maltbie sums this up beautifully when he says, ‘many coaches have the hardware in coaching now but often struggle with the software to run it efficiently.’

From the documentary itself as a current sporting parent I took away the following:

Try to ensure your child gets the opportunity for unstructured play – The ‘cage’ football reference was particularly interesting.  Parental involvement has increased as there is far more organised sport now, often replacing the park football or sport that happened a generation ago.  As parents we need to encourage creativity, make sure the back garden in particular does not become an extra coaching session.  Allow play to flourish!

Create an environment that fosters a great love of the sport and encourages hard work –  Steven Gerrard spoke about love, working hard and learning every day. If we criticise our own children at a young age, verbally bash them in the car on the way home and live our life through our child then the chances of this great love flourishing diminish.  Likewise, we should be praising the hard work and effort, not how many goals they scored or whether or not they won at the weekend.

Try not to adultify the process too soon –  As adults we lose sight of the fact that the version we see on TV is the end product.  It is not a success getting a 7 year old to play this way at the expense of all else.  Great work is already going on in a number of sports changing the formats of the games to make them far more child friendly as opposed to some of the older versions of sports that benefited adults more than children.  This needs to continue and sporting environments need to be as child centred as possible.

Beware of the scout – It will be human nature that as a parent if somebody tells us something nice about our child that we will let our guard down and want to hear more.  Scouts have the easiest job in the world telling parents that a child is good – job done!  As a parent try to learn more, ask lots of questions and ensure that what you are signing up for is going to be in the best interests of your child.

Inform yourself more and ask for help and support – If you are unsure about  the system you are going into please ask questions or ask for help and advice in the best way to support your child.  Here at ‘WWPIS’ we have created an independent portal for parents to visit without fear or ramifications to try to assist in this.

Keep it in perspective – Family events are important, missing one training session or a match should not mean that you will never be selected again.  It is not a lack of commitment.  I personally have to admit that we have already done this on an occasion where we missed a major family event for a game of football a few years ago and now very much regret it.  We would not do this again.

Have a plan B –  We have the stats…. the chances of getting to the other end are slim.  However, that does not mean you should not have a damn good go at it!  It is better for children to have a dream than none at all.  As parents however we need to manage this expectation.  Ensure there are other things going on in the child’s life. Think now, if it ended tomorrow have I given my child plenty that they could also get their teeth stuck into?

Try not to fuel their ego – We have discussed this before in a number of articles on this site.  If we give them too much too soon and help fuel the dream, then without actually realising we are potentially diminishing their chance in the long run as where does their real desire come from particularly when the going gets tough?  Do they need to have the most expensive boots, be glorified on social media and put on a pedestal?

Keep external voices quiet – Try to make sure that the people giving your child the advice are doing so for the right reasons and are appropriately qualified to do so. Too many people delivering different messages can cause significant harm to young sportsmen and women.

Ensure they work hard at school – Arsene Wenger made a valid point that a generation ago parents would issue the threat that if you were not working at school, you would not be allowed to play football!  Keep it this way, never let the dream overtake the academic studies.  Try to make sure they are working hard at school. Could higher education attached to some decent level of football be an option such as college opportunities in the USA?Many footballers now are getting great GCSE and A Level results whilst still finding the time to train professionally in the football clubs.  It is all about attitude and time management.

We very much hope that you have enjoyed this summary of the documentary and the messages as parents that we could potentially take from it to make sure that our children are still allowed to dream big, but we have it all under control for them if perhaps things don’t quite go according to plan.

Article by guest writer Gordon MacLelland of http://www.wwpis.co.uk

]]> https://www.teamgrassroots.co.uk/no-hunger-paradise-take-outs-show-grassroots-parents/feed/ 0 https://www.teamgrassroots.co.uk/4821-2/ https://www.teamgrassroots.co.uk/4821-2/#respond Thu, 06 Oct 2016 06:39:23 +0000 http://www.grf-football.co.uk/?p=4821 • Radwan Hamed collapsed on his first professional appearance for Spurs

•Hamed was left severely brain damaged following the incident in 2006

•He played despite scans showing his heart was ‘unequivocally abnormal’

•High Court judge ruled Spurs ‘breached its duties’ to Radwan, then 17

•He has been awarded £7million in damages after a 10-year battle

•Tottenham found 70 per cent liable with FA cardiologist 30 per cent liable

•Spurs will not pay directly due to indemnity clause with former physicians

Radwan Hamed was unaware of his abnormal heart function when he signed for Tottenham Hotspur’s youth team

A Tottenham Hotspur youth player has agreed to damages, believed to be £7m, after he was left brain damaged from a cardiac arrest on his debut.

Radwan Hamed collapsed during a game in Belgium in 2006. Last year a judge ruled Spurs breached its duties to him.

In a screening prior to signing for the club, an electrocardiogram test showed his heart was “unequivocally abnormal” but he was not stopped from playing.

The club regretted a former employee had been remiss in their duties.

‘Potentially fatal’

In a statement, the family of Mr Hamed, who is now 27, said they were “relieved” a settlement had been reached, following a decade-long legal battle .

“Just as Radwan had no choice but to start his difficult journey towards recovery, we had no choice but to start the difficult journey to obtain justice,” they said.

“We risked losing our home and faced personal financial ruin in order to pursue justice for our son.

“The club did not tell us or Radwan about his potentially fatal condition. Had they done so, Radwan would not have continued to play football.”

The teenager collapsed during the game against Cercle Bruges on 4 August 2006 and was rushed to an intensive care unit but suffered oxygen starvation to his brain.

In the 2015 hearing, Mr Justice Hickinbottom ruled the club was 70% liable or Mr Hamed’s injuries and Dr Peter Mills, the Football Association’s regional cardiologist for South East England, was 30% liable.

The Premier League club will not be hit with a fee directly as their 70% portion was incurred by physicians they previously employed, who have agreed to indemnify the club.

Football Association rules require all football academy recruits to be referred to a cardiologist to help identify those prone to potentially fatal heart conditions.

Mr Hamed’s MRI scan showed no obvious signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but Dr Mills wrote to Spurs saying the condition could not be excluded on these findings alone.

Eleven months later, the teenager, who was unaware his tests had revealed an “abnormal” heart condition, signed a contract with Spurs.

A spokesman for Spurs said: “The club wholeheartedly regrets that a former employee, as adjudged, was remiss in their duties to Radwan.

“This judgment will hopefully now secure the best possible treatment and care for him.”

Story credit BBC See details HERE