I started writing this article in April 2013. I kept rewording and reworking it so I didn't sound like a man gone mad. I even had some honest friends read it over and they liked it, but I was still unsure to hit the "publish " button.
This past week (June 12-15) I attended the
FIFA Grassroots course and confirmed that I wasn't crazy after all.
So here it is (as written on April 24, 2013). I haven't touched it since then other than to add 2 pictures and the notes at the beginning and end.
ARTICLE
Don't call the psych hospital. I've put a lot of time into formulating my opinion of how sports should/could be handled from U12 and younger. And not having a team this season gives me more time to observe and refine my thoughts.
"Countless kids playing a lot of games."
I haven't lost my mind in a
"Jerry Maguire" sort of way. Ontario's adoption of
LTPD, personal research, recent personal and educational experiences and good old fashioned "listening" moves me in this direction.
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The grassroots festival held at the FIFA Grassroots
festival June 15, 2013 |
On first glance you might think I've lost my desire to compete and win. This is not about "not winning". This is ALL ABOUT WINNING. But winning when it counts. And the more kids you take on the ride (of all levels), the more that will gain confidence, the more will be able to compete for higher spots at U13 or keep playing and stay active.
It's also about giving as many kids the environment to develop their agility, balance and control and the ability to adopt another sport of their choosing later in life. Even if they are not "
good" at the sport they choose, the system needs to be a champion for these kids.
Here goes. :)
Sports for U12 and below, all sports.
- Lower to no cost. Get in as many kids as possible.
- No tryouts or cuts.
- General athletics/activities for ALL children U3/U4/U5.
- For all young children in Canada, physical literacy on land/water/ice/air (running, swimming, skating, jumping)
- Proper and appropriate training and playing environments for players in the sports of their choice U6-U12.
- Full manuals for ALL coaches, written by the best coaches in co-operation with educators, at every age providing full season, age appropriate program plans.
- For children who play basketball or soccer, a BALL to take home. :)
- Money or skill level never a barrier for entering the sport of their choice at the grassroots ages.
- All sports are all inclusive.
- In-person exposure to major or minor league professional games.
- Additional exposure for players who show interest, but all participate at set minimum levels.
- Equipment for tether-ball, small sided "street" soccer, lower basketball nets, "foot hockey" nets, game markings all over the play ground and outside of gym walls at ALL elementary schools.
- Daily, full period of phys-ed up to Grade 6 (minimum).
- Schools must be an active part of the community sports system.
The social goals are:
- Financially and organizationally healthier clubs
- Healthier kids with more confidence to make friends
- Children learning to embrace cultural diversity at younger ages
- More facilities and better playgrounds
- Have as many kids as active as possible, confidently heading into puberty and beyond
- More coaches coming out of the volunteer parent groups
- More officials
- More volunteers
- Calmer, more productive environment for development
- Better attendance at schools.
- Potentially better grades in school through physically stimulated bodies. Read here and the bazillion other reports that back this claim.
The competitive goals are:
- Better and more confident athletes through constant exposure to various movements and sequences.
- Smarter athletes exposed to various activities and problem solving through self/guided-discovery
- Maximizing technical development through Golden Age of Learning (U8-U12)
- Have as many trained players as possible heading into U13 sports, physically and mentally ready to compete for spots on competitive teams or simply wanting to keep playing. (How many kids were at the last U13 tryouts you attended? What if there were double that amount? Triple?)
- We don't tell a young kid in development that they aren't good enough. We keep them involved and keep alive the chance of something clicking at some point. At the very least they'll want to keep playing the sport into adulthood.
- Keep late bloomers in the loop so they don't quit at U9/U10 for being too small, increasing retention for your sport/club and talent pool at 13.
- Better, more confident coaches coming through GrassRoots stages.
Why today's setup is bad for development
- Losing kids too early to low confidence.
- Not enough exposure to athletic movements and problem solving. On average, young Canadians not active enough.
- Late bloomers being relegated too early to non-participation at high levels.
- Potentially the wrong kids are playing at the U13 high levels because the wrong kids were picked at U8.
- Fewer kids competing for Elite spots at older ages.
- Players are technically proficient but not overall good/smart athletes.
- Possible standouts are excluded because of money issues earlier in life.
Why today's setup is bad for clubs/business
- Fewer kids playing past U13 at clubs = less revenue.
- Fewer families (= Voters) involved means less pressure on local government to maintain/build facilities.
- Fewer children playing now means fewer adults playing in the future.
At the very least we should/could/would end up with healthier, more energetic kids who, on average, might have higher grades. Activities must include situations where even the least athletic kids can achieve some level of success in the use of their bodies.
"Even if they are not "good" at the sport they choose, the system needs to be a champion for these kids."
Am I looking for more coaching and structure? No, this idea would have much less control than we have today. We need some good, old fashioned "play time" and problem solving. More street hockey, playground baseball and small sided soccer games. Every physical literacy research paper backs this up. Putting the environment in front of them and giving them the time to play is the key.
Cost?
Think about it. There will be a cost, but how much? How much does it cost to let kids play? Some schools do need to update their playgrounds for games. School is where they have no xBox or online games. We use phys-ed for physical literacy and exposure to games, and recess for free play time. Sports clubs get them into the habit of structured teams and planned sports outside of school hours. Parents start to build better networks in less stressful environments.
"Schools must be an active part of the
community sports system"
Sometimes when you talk to people about this you look at you like you've lost your mind. Maybe I have. But I am not alone. If you read various reports on player development, where good players came from and physical development of children, they all point in this general direction.
I'm not crazy. Well, not 100%. This thinking has been brewing in me for years. It started during my first coaching course (1988) when our instructor said if it was up to him we would have no travel soccer until U12. I've watched kids play pickup soccer in Mexico, Switzerland, Holland and Italy, pickup basketball all over and God only knows how many street and frozen pond hockey games. It picked up speed when my son went to
Ridley College for Grade 5 and 6 back in 2005-2006. All students played something every semester. If you were not able to stick with a team, you played intramural sports at a level that was suitable for you. It may have been intense, it may have been casual. But it was physical, daily and mandatory. EVERYBODY. EVERYDAY. Nobody died as a result.
We need more broken fence boards, more broken windows, more balls ending up on school roofs, more kids stinking from sweating at lunch time, more holes in the knees of their jeans, less adults interfering in their play time, more kids being yelled at because they played too late past sundown ...
The
Ontario Soccer Association has seen the importance in this and hired a full time person to specifically lead Grassroots soccer, Manager of Grassroots Development.
Countless kids playing a lot of games. Some kids will scrape a knee or receive an accidental black eye. They'll be fine. And they'll be good.
P.S. Added June 18, 2013. During our FIFA Grassroots course we ran 2 mini festival type of sets for kids during their school day. On Saturday we ran a festival for 280 children on one field (see picture below). Very little coaching. Activities and small sided games. The kids loved it, the parents were ecstatic and it was a lot of fun. 280 kids with a ball on their foot is never a bad thing.
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| Yours truly at the FIFA Grassroots course |
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P.P.S Added August 2013. The OSA released a Grassroots Curriculum that can be downloaded and shared. It's a very good document.
