Research Report on the "beautiful game"
By: Mike Vernol - please also visit giveusbackourgame.co.uk
The views of those involved at a Development Centre who have many years experience in youth football at grass roots level up to and including non-league standard is that currently football does very little to develop the individual child and has a detrimental effect on the behaviour and personality of children as they mature and later as adults.
It is of course right to say that many things have dramatically improved in the last few years following F.A. initiatives in particular in relation to child protection. Even so there is little doubt that views expressed in the first paragraph are accurate and appear to be confirmed by research in several countries in particular the U.S.A., Canada, Spain, and Norway; no evidence of similar research has been found in respect of England. We consider that in our country the attitudes, behaviour and development of children will be similar to those involved elsewhere.
It can be argued that the main reasons for the lack of individual development and detrimental effect football appears to have on many of the children involved are:-
- Youth Football clubs are often organised and run in the same manner as professional clubs.
- Parents (other than those involved in “running” teams) have very little input or involvement unlike most other youth organizations.
- There is a win at all costs mentality. ( i.e. The game is more important than an individual child, which leads to:- poaching players, abusing referees, scouting for players rather than developing, bullying and abusing team members, no ethics, profanity and cheating)
- It does not seem to be understood that anything a child does or tries to do should be “FUN” “EDUCATION” “LEARNING” and “DEVELOPMENT”.
- Most of those involved (including parents) in grassroots/non-league youth football lack even rudimentary knowledge of the emotional psychological, social and physical needs of children.
- Many qualified coaches while capable of running excellent sessions appear unable to organize or programme their activities and actually develop individual children to their full potential or teach them the skills they lack.
- A need to recognise and understand that every child matters and training programmes/sessions need to be arranged in the best interests of each and every young player not just the talented.
Despite our detrimental views there can be little doubt that sport if presented and organised in the right manner it can have a positive effect on a child’s development, growth, maturity and be a life learning experience.
There needs to be a fundamental change of attitude/belief of those involved in “Youth” Football at all levels. It needs to be recognised they have a responsibility to develop the individual and not just the team and obviously talented and the difference between “winning at all costs” and learning how to win!
- All activities should be “child centred”
- Children in most clubs are dealt with the same as those in with professional clubs i.e. replaced when someone better appears or when a team is promoted, which has a detrimental effect on the individual involved.
- Very few clubs actually “develop” a player as they can easily replace him/her with someone better, which encourages or forces children to give up their involvement in the game.
- As it is not practical that all involved in youth football lacking rudimentary knowledge of child development should study child psychology etc., there needs to be more direction, information and rules supplied to those involved and for the F.A to take the lead in a change of emphasis.
Research in the United States suggests that:-
- There is a need for all those involved in children’s sports – including parents – to promote moral values. Parents have an influence on the child’s endorsement of aggressive behaviour etc. (Boyes & Allen, 1993 and others)
- “The longer boys played football (soccer) the less moral they tested on the moral values of honesty, justice and responsibility”.(1)
(Miller & Murk 1999 similar research re girls by Aziz 1998 (Malaya))
- Player’s decision to engage in “aggressive” behaviour the Coaches influence was paramount. (Guivernau & Duda 2002). The coach is perceived by young players as the one predominant figure to pattern (Shields et al 1995).
- Four major components of moral education with an at risk population i.e. co-operative learning, a moral community, creating a mastery motivation climate and personal and social responsibility are lacking (2). (Miller et. al. 1997)
- There is also evidence (USA) that the “win at all costs” mentality drives a large proportion of children from the sport as they mature. (60% by the age of 14 years) (3). (Deconstructing Youth Soccer Thos. Turner-2002)
- In addition personal experience suggests that this attitude (win at all costs) can have a negative effect on family life by challenging loyalties – e.g. Mother Day, St. Georges Days, Remembrance Sunday, visiting relations and friends etc.
Research from Canada suggests: - (“Boys will be Boys (breaking the link between masculinity and violence) 1991)):-
- “A child who watches acts of violence committed by thieves and murderers on TV knows that society disapproves of these acts. A child who watches sport knows that athlete’s acts of violence are approved of”.
- “Examples abound of coaches teaching youths the wrong things, in many cases (most!) without knowing it, to the point of being a serious social problem”.
- “…emphasis was very much on winning – to the point that it was no longer fun. This emphasis deprives youths of the pleasure of playing the game…..Eventually integrity takes a backseat to the pragmatic concern of winning games”.
- “Ironically, instead of focusing on enjoying sports, reaping physical benefits and instilling a life long involvement too many of our programmes are geared exclusively to winning.”
It is likely that many British children are driven from the sport in the same manner indicated by evidence from North America i.e. an absence of playing talent due to lack of personal development. However if they had been treated correctly and encouraged to develop their techniques, interest and remain in the game they might become referees, administrators, coaches or play another part in the sport. (ensuring & encouraging have a life long involvement).
Instead of learning fair play and teamwork too many of our children are learning winning is everything. It is time to regulate children’s football so that youth will really learn the pro-social attitudes and values that they are supposed to learn from sports, instead of the obsessive, competitiveness, emotional callousness, and disdain for moral scruples that are so often the precursors of violence. (Canadian source)
A more sophisticated view of youth football is required one which looks beyond playing statistics, we tend to judge coaches solely on their win-lose record, whilst this may be acceptable in the professional game, “wining” needs to be redefined in grass roots youth football and the position of children in the non league game carefully assessed. There is a requirement for it to be understood and accepted that there are far more “goals” that can be achieved than winning a particular game in the development of children.
The Development Centre has had several years experience of trying to re-direct and develop school leavers (16 years) with identifiable football talent whose further, development, progress or entry to the professional ranks was severely hampered or impossible due to bad habits, lack of programmed development in their early years and parental attitudes
Obviously there is little point in not attempting to win a particular game. The problem with much of Youth Football today is that winning is more important than the development of an individual, long term performance and improvement is sacrificed for the “quick fix” and ego of coaches and/or parents. A comment from an Australian youth cricket coach during research sums up our views:-
“…it is about developing players to be better in 5 or 10 years time, not essentially right now. Yes winning is nice but not everything….”
We consider that in Britain a young player’s progress and development is hampered or they lose interest and leave the game for the following reasons:-
- Abusive coaches not able to communicate
- Spending too much time on the bench.
- Over emphasis on winning
- Fear of making mistakes
- Not having their individual ability developed
- Not taught skills they lack
- Boredom (during training sessions)
- Favouritism (different rules for the “stars”)
- Injuries
- Parental attitudes/abuse
- Poor facilities/organization
- Grassroots youth teams “aping” professional clubs/players
It could be argued that the following extract from the National Institute for Sports Reform (USA) sums up the current position of Youth Football in the UK and reasons for a radical rethink of the ethics and ethos of the way many Youth Clubs and Teams are organized and managed.
“Sports participation can be a wonderful experience in the lives of developing youths. In its purest form, sports allow us to improve as individual human beings. A sport fosters the development of character, fitness, teamwork, ethics, integrity, fair play and sportsmanship. They allow our youths to experience the thrill of victory as well as the disappointment of defeat. Learning to win with grace and to lose with humility has also been a cherished by product of an experience in organized sports. At one time sports were a positive educational experience for all those who participated. But there is presently a sick and gloomy sense that sports are not what they used to be and that the educational principles upon which they were founded have become sadly irrelevant. Sports at one time were part of the educational process but now they stand distinctly separate from it. The end result is that our young athletes are being exploited and abused as never before.
Conclusions
It is accepted that any attempt to change the way in which youth football is controlled, managed or viewed particularly at “grassroots” and non-league level is likely to be very unpopular and would meet with scorn and resistance. There is a need for independent research into various aspects of youth football. Should research reveal similar results (problems) as in the USA (as has progressive personal experience) a major change is urgently required.
“There is a need to transform sport so that sports can transform youth”.
Development Centre considers there is an urgent need for the F.A. to:-
- Initiate independent research into the effect youth football currently has on the moral development of young people.
- Discourage “win at all costs” mentality.
- Stress the importance of individual child development
- Re-define winning.
- Encourage parental involvement (other than coaching) into the management/ administration/social side of non-league and grass roots youth football clubs.
- Closely monitor and examine all current aspects of youth football particularly at non-league level.
- Investigate the possibility of an OFSTED type inspection process for Youth Football Clubs including on going coach assessment.
- There needs to be three different levels of rules, control, management and supervision of youth football :–
1. League clubs.
2. Non- league clubs.
3. Grass roots clubs.
Appendix
1. Similar findings recently reported following research by a Glasgow
University tend to support these findings (their research was after my research and was probably more professional!)
2. It is probable that the “win at all costs mentality” has a marked negative effect on socially deprived children.
3. Information from Counties illustrates a loss of (teams) players not dis- similar to the U.S. experience (although of course it is accepted that as children develop their interests may alter.
NUMBER OF REGISTERED TEAMS
U10 U11 U12 U13 U14 U15 U16 U18
County “A”:- 240 204 177 161 144 136 118 18
County “B”:- 258 241 242 203 210 148 157 82
County “C”:- 292 254 280 233 252 184 167 87
County “D”:- 210 217 222 207 207 180 151 82
Some Research References
The Positive Coach Mental Model – Research Summary. (Positive coaching Alliance)
Deconstructing Youth Soccer (Thos Turner PhD – (8.2002))
Kids First Soccer (setting goals) (Daniel Frankl PhD)
Understanding why children participate in soccer. (Dr Colleen Hacker)
Avon Soccer Association’s Coaching Philosophy
Sports: When winning is the only thing, can violence be far away (Canadian Centre for Teaching)
Crisis on Our Playing Fields (National Institute for Sports Reform)
Moral Atmosphere and Athletic Aggressive Tendencies in Young Soccer Players (Marta GUIVERNAU & Joan DUDA)
Athletes for a better World. (USA)
Discussion on the “Big Soccer Forum” and others (International)
Education World – Emphasizing Sportsmanship in Youth Sports