For the regular readers of the blog, this one may seem a little bit off the beaten track, but I've been pondering this one for a while. There's been a lot of stories and naval gazing on sports development, especially in football in recent times and from past experience, I do have a bit of a view on this, but not just in football.
It goes back to when Dominic used to play football. He played for a team in the village and the general ethos seemed to be about the kids enjoying themselves and keeping fit, but as they got older, it then became much more of a winning kind of thing. Sadly, like me, Dominic will never be a great footballer, but he turned up for training (which many didn't), worked hard (which many didn't) and always turned up for matches. As the game time got less and less with more kids from all over the area turning up and playing ahead of him, he sharp got cheesed off.
I thought it was a shame, as a lot of the kids from the village felt the same and had already either packed in or left for other teams. When we look at sports development, just how many kids go through the same experience ? Most of the teams are run by parents and whilst they all seem to have the best intentions at heart and all pass CRB's etc and have FA Charter Standards etc, do all the kids get a fair crack and the best chance that they could get to improve ?
It's a no from me on that one.
As I said, Dominic would never be a world beater, but how many get to a certain level and then get cheesed off and they're gone. The lack of English footballing talent is worrying and there just doesn't seem to be much of a system to engage with youngsters and really bring them on. I think the FA just seems to pay lip service with all this Charter Standard stuff as there's too many sports clubs which are clique's and aren't all about improving all of the kids that are involved.
We've also experienced this with Philippa with her athletics. She was at a club and we were really pleased with her performance, especially as her first season of competing, she came 6th at Gateshead's Quadkids event and then the following year, came 2nd. So, as we headed into the winter, we couldn't believe that the "elite" development group didn't include Philippa, but kids who'd finished below her from the same club where picked. Needless to say none of us where happy and she stuck with it for a while, but it was clear that they weren't all that bothered as we had a few broken promises from the coaches and it got to a stage where enough was enough and she went elsewhere. She wasn't part of the clique and she certainly isn't the only one who's had the same treatment and have subsequently left. Indeed the club she's at now has quite a high number from her former club who have all had the same experience.
The funny bit is, that history is repeating itself this year as the elite group now contains someone who finished way below Philippa at Quadkids this year, but is in the clique - so, it kind of proved my point.
In both instances, the kids have either packed up or gone away from their local clubs in either football or athletics and I just think its a real shame, especially as the kids enjoyed their sport a lot. So should we wonder why we struggle with some sports and don't develop the talent - no, we shouldn't as its no surprise that kids don't do enough sport and we don't develop the talent that we should. The answer must be to have more professional coaches and assessment of them, but I suspect that nobody wants to pay the bill.
For our kids, it hasn't disheartened them. All 3 of them are involved in athletics, although Dominic isn't competing, again largely as he's not in the clique but he loves the group he's in and his coach as he keeps him focussed and working hard. The girls are both at a different club and the culture is totally different as they want to give everyone a chance and not just the chosen few - hopefully there's a lot more clubs like that and we can produce more talent.
Hopefully I've not huffed too many people and I've not named names or clubs, but I'm always open to discuss my views if anyone's interested !
It goes back to when Dominic used to play football. He played for a team in the village and the general ethos seemed to be about the kids enjoying themselves and keeping fit, but as they got older, it then became much more of a winning kind of thing. Sadly, like me, Dominic will never be a great footballer, but he turned up for training (which many didn't), worked hard (which many didn't) and always turned up for matches. As the game time got less and less with more kids from all over the area turning up and playing ahead of him, he sharp got cheesed off.
I thought it was a shame, as a lot of the kids from the village felt the same and had already either packed in or left for other teams. When we look at sports development, just how many kids go through the same experience ? Most of the teams are run by parents and whilst they all seem to have the best intentions at heart and all pass CRB's etc and have FA Charter Standards etc, do all the kids get a fair crack and the best chance that they could get to improve ?
It's a no from me on that one.
As I said, Dominic would never be a world beater, but how many get to a certain level and then get cheesed off and they're gone. The lack of English footballing talent is worrying and there just doesn't seem to be much of a system to engage with youngsters and really bring them on. I think the FA just seems to pay lip service with all this Charter Standard stuff as there's too many sports clubs which are clique's and aren't all about improving all of the kids that are involved.
We've also experienced this with Philippa with her athletics. She was at a club and we were really pleased with her performance, especially as her first season of competing, she came 6th at Gateshead's Quadkids event and then the following year, came 2nd. So, as we headed into the winter, we couldn't believe that the "elite" development group didn't include Philippa, but kids who'd finished below her from the same club where picked. Needless to say none of us where happy and she stuck with it for a while, but it was clear that they weren't all that bothered as we had a few broken promises from the coaches and it got to a stage where enough was enough and she went elsewhere. She wasn't part of the clique and she certainly isn't the only one who's had the same treatment and have subsequently left. Indeed the club she's at now has quite a high number from her former club who have all had the same experience.
The funny bit is, that history is repeating itself this year as the elite group now contains someone who finished way below Philippa at Quadkids this year, but is in the clique - so, it kind of proved my point.
In both instances, the kids have either packed up or gone away from their local clubs in either football or athletics and I just think its a real shame, especially as the kids enjoyed their sport a lot. So should we wonder why we struggle with some sports and don't develop the talent - no, we shouldn't as its no surprise that kids don't do enough sport and we don't develop the talent that we should. The answer must be to have more professional coaches and assessment of them, but I suspect that nobody wants to pay the bill.
For our kids, it hasn't disheartened them. All 3 of them are involved in athletics, although Dominic isn't competing, again largely as he's not in the clique but he loves the group he's in and his coach as he keeps him focussed and working hard. The girls are both at a different club and the culture is totally different as they want to give everyone a chance and not just the chosen few - hopefully there's a lot more clubs like that and we can produce more talent.
Hopefully I've not huffed too many people and I've not named names or clubs, but I'm always open to discuss my views if anyone's interested !
Comments
Post a Comment