“They play
because
they like
being there
AND making
new friends;
they play to
learn new
skills and
because it’s
a fun game.
Ask them!”
WhosE Game is it?
By Nick Levett
Who owns the power in the coaching
relationship between the player and
the coach? Who is the real focus of
this relationship? Are we really kidding
ourselves that it is about the player?
From grassroots to Academies, the one
person that has very little input into the
process is, allegedly, the most important
person. The player, or more relevant,
the learner.
If we were truly child-centred
it would be common place to find
local junior clubs with an avenue and
voice for young people to let the
adults know what they think and,
importantly, what they really want. Do
you understand, truly understand, why
children take part in football? You’d
be surprised that the majority don’t
play for medals and trophies; it’s just
not an important factor to them. So
who are the medals and trophies more
important to? Children are involved
for many reasons you would expect
but those probably don’t place high
enough on the list of importance. They
play because they like being there and
making new friends; they play to learn
new skills and because it’s a fun game.
Ask them!
And that is the key ingredient, they
“play the game” and playing games is
fun. It takes you away from the reality
of having a bad day at school, away
from being told off by mum for having
a messy room and into a world where
they can express themselves freely.
Or can they? Do we let children
enter the world of play often enough?
This ‘play’ can be defined as “an
activity which proceeds within certain
limits of time and space, in a visible
order according to rules freely
accepted, and outside the sphere of
necessity or material utility” (Huizinga,
1950). How much can children ‘play’
freely without the fear of being
shouted at for trying a new turn they
just happened not to get right first
time? (“And now you shouted at me
for trying it I’m not sure I’ll try anything
new again!”) But how do you know
when that coachable moment is, when
to jump in and offer help? “Do they
need it or have you decided they need
it?” (Kidman, 2008)
So, this is their game but how can
we let them decide what they want to
do without deciding it for them? I’m
not advocating that non-competitive,
non-scoring matches are the answer.
Children by their very being are
competitive. Playground banter is all
about what level you got to on a new
computer game and if you give two
children a ball they make a competitive
game. But it’s their game and they are
learning, that is until an adult comes
over and tries to add formal structure
to it! Wein (2007) suggests that
“children prefer to do things on their
own without depending too much on
adults” and this extends to making
their own decisions and solving the
problems posed by their coaches.
Amazingly the world of grassroots
football shows very limited ownership
and decision-making by the people
whose game it is. That power lies
elsewhere. “Children can’t run a club
or make decisions about what to do
and how to organise things” you may
say. Can’t they? How do you know?
Have you ever asked them? Roger
Hart (1992) proposes a continuum of
involvement for young people within
areas that affect their own lives and
a number of proposed ways that is
useful for clubs, coaches and other
agencies to engage young people in
decision-making. But can they really
make important decisions?
Well, surprisingly they can, but at
their level. Deciding the structure of
a club’s constitution maybe not but
having a choice on what “they” do at
training, what games “they” play and
what strategies and tactics “they”
employ, children most certainly can.
Have you ever played FIFA 2008 on
a PlayStation against a nine-yearold? They know more about how to
organise themselves to ‘play that
game’, one they are making decisions
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13
for themselves in, than any adult! Or
is that because many parents don’t
understand computer games and just let
the children get on with it themselves?!
Now wouldn’t that be a better way
of thinking for some adults when the
children get to play other games? We live
in a Playstation Generation, yet adults still
own all the power.
“Learning is whole – not the sum of
all the parts” (Kidman, 2008) and this
needs to be understood by today’s
coaches. We might not be developing
international footballers but if we could
be giving skills to a young person that
enables them to become the next
MP or the next Bill Gates. This is why,
along with what educational research
is telling us, we have to engage the
learner in their own learning, otherwise
the effect is short-term and minimal.
The challenge for coaches is to find
creative ways to go about doing this
difficult task when you have never
been shown how.
Even more of a challenge is how
we make our clubs more learnercentred environments that give young
people a role that allows them to be
empowered and take ownership for
their own development. This by its
essence requires the adult to think
closely about their role and how much
they play. Depending on the age of
the learner there are things they can
take responsibility for. Simple things
like organising the equipment before/
after a session, helping to set up the
practice areas at training are straightforward enough to engage learners in.
After six weeks most children from the
age of eight understand enough about
the elements of a warm-up to be able
to lead parts of it themselves.
Real learner-centred teams are
at the stage where children can be
involved in picking teams themselves,
being able to justify and discuss the
merits of different people in different
positions and recognising at halftime what is happening in a game
and deciding with the coach how to
change things. They may even be able
to objectively decide what they need
to practise at training sessions. But this
is real development work and needs
real bravery of the coach to give some
of the ownership of the game back to
the children.
This is a difficult factor in itself. I
heard a coach at my junior club at the
presentation night start his speech
with “my team this season….”, however,
I would ask the question, whose team?
And could the presentation night
actually be run and organised by the
young people themselves? I’m positive
it could be but we don’t give them the
opportunity. There are young people
aged 14+ at schools undertaking
leadership qualifications, yet we don’t
provide them the platform to lead.
Sure, they will need some guidance
and support but you’d be surprised at
what young people can achieve. Plus,
in most clubs, a few volunteers do all
the jobs so spreading the workload is
so much better!
Part two will look at what research is
telling us about learning theory and
further ways of enhancing a playercentred approach to developing
players. Comments welcome to
[email protected].
Nick Levett is the FA Skills Project
Manager, focusing on the development
of 5-11 year olds and a member of the
FA National Faculty (Education).
He has coached within professional
and junior clubs and left working
within education to work for The FA
in player development and grassroots
coaching. Nick currently helps an
Under-8 grassroots team learn about
playing football.
Hart, R. (1992) Children’s Participation
from Tokenism to Citizenship. Florence:
UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.
Huizinga, J. (1950) Homo Ludens: A
study of the play element in culture.
New York: Roy Publishers
Kidman, L. (2008) TGfU is widely used
at all levels of athlete [keynote speech
delivered 17th May 2008, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver]
Wein, H. (2007) Developing Youth
Football Players. Champaign, Il: Human
Kinetics.
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