[Football] Youth football changes teased by FA.

Biggest change I would make would be to stop academy football before u12 age group. I coach u7 and the number of parents fixated on trying to get their kids into the pre-academy for Albion, Pompey, Fulham, Chelsea etc is crazy.

In my view, U7 kids should be having fun playing grassroots with their mates. Instead some of them are prioritising showcase games and not training/playing grassroots. Likehood is, those talented kids will end up dropping out of football altogether by the time they get to u15 as, even if they do get picked up at by academies at u9, it’s highly likely they’ll get released which will impact their mental health and turn them off the game.

W1A said:

Biggest change I would make would be to stop academy football before u12 age group. I coach u7 and the number of parents fixated on trying to get their kids into the pre-academy for Albion, Pompey, Fulham, Chelsea etc is crazy.

In my view, U7 kids should be having fun playing grassroots with their mates. Instead some of them are prioritising showcase games and not training/playing grassroots. Likehood is, those talented kids will end up dropping out of football altogether by the time they get to u15 as, even if they do get picked up at by academies at u9, it’s highly likely they’ll get released which will impact their mental health and turn them off the game.

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I agree with this and I say that as someone that's works in academies and had a child in one. It's a nonsense really, especially the Chelsea one! Maybe under 10/11 to start but not before then, they don't need it and they're not emotionally equipped for it.

The clubs are just getting in as many kids as they can from the age of 5/6 onwards that have a modicum of talent just to see how they develop over the next year or so and then they'll release most of them at a drop of a hat. It is free good training for them though (except Chelsea!) so a lot of parents do just use it for that. Even when they get 'signed on' from under 9 onwards, the clubs are basically signing on 10-15 kids per age group to support the one mini Haaland they think might make it. It can be a great experience for them but also brutal.

It gets ridiculous though. I genuinely know some parents who's 7 and 8 years olds are training with Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton, Bournemouth AND Chelsea. These kids don't have a break, they will burn out and lose the enjoyment of playing football.

I say this from experience, my youngest is a very talented player and he got picked up by Southampton at 5. My other half didn't want him to go then as he was too young but I thought despite his age it wouldn't do any harm and would only help his football. As with most things, she was right and I was wrong. At the age of 5, 6 and 7 he was intensely training for 90 minutes each time and the Southampton way of coaching kids is to go big on individual ability to beat a man so they spent 70 of those 90 minutes basically just dribbling and doing one on ones. He was by far the youngest there, playing against talented and big kids who were two years older than him too. He hated it after a a while, it really effected him and knocked his confidence in football and life generally, he was a little kid who just wanted to play football with his mates and score goals. I pulled him out and he actually stopped playing altogether for a while as it it put him off. I felt awful, and as someone who played for academies and have coached in kids football for years, I should have known better but even I got a bit swept up in how good he was. I learnt a big lesson though which has helped me as a parent and coach! In fairness Southampton did apologise for the way they looked after him at the time as they had cut back their academy/coaching staff as they were cutting costs at that time which is why he was playing with the older kids and not following their usual pathway.

Anyway, he left Saints and had a break, got his love for the game back playing for his grassroots teams and is smashing it again. Saints have asked him back a couple of times but he has said no each time which actually made me proud. Bournemouth want him and I like their youth set up, it's a lot more kid friendly than Southampton's so think he'll probably end up there at some point but we're definitely not rushing it if he goes back to an academy at all as the chances of him 'making it' anyway are so tiny and I just want him to love football.

Definitely not better back in my day. Full size goals and pitch, 11 a side and Under 11s. 31-0 was our record defeat. Favoured the kids who could kick the ball high as there was a 2-3ft gap under the bar the tiny keepers could never reach.

OK, I give up! I haven't worked it out yet. Predictive text I assume - or possibly fat fingers - but I'm sure the FA were teasing anyone. So, what was 'teased' meant to be?

Right Brain Ronnie said:

The biggest change the FA can do is monitoring played mins and making sure equally time is a rule and not a recommendation, I have seen too many kids mental health take a smashing from Dave and John who only give a sh"t about their "star players".
The fa should also make squad size, ie in 11 aside and 5 subs you can not have 20 players, that end up missing more minutes, too many kids drop out of football because of poor people management.
I have had to call poor practice more times than I would like, the whistle blowing really doesn't work.

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Interesting, that's something I struggle with as a manager of U13 (started with them at U11).

Our team is poor, bottom team generally in Div 10 of a 10 div league. We have a couple of very weak players, we do worse when they're on.

This year I have been a little bit more ruthless - we won 3 games at U11 and U12 and half the team wanted to leave at the end of last season. Although it's hard on the weaker boys not to play so much I have given them less game time in an effort to help the spirit and motivation of the rest of the squad and try and get some wins - results are better this year. Previous years felt a little bit like 'just for fun', but I decided there has to be an element of competitiveness and being equal in terms of time on the pitch is to the detriment of the team. I don't feel good about it however, and don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not. U13 just felt like the right moment (particularly as this is the first year with a proper published league, points for a win etc).

lost in london said:

Interesting, that's something I struggle with as a manager of U13 (started with them at U11).

Our team is poor, bottom team generally in Div 10 of a 10 div league. We have a couple of very weak players, we do worse when they're on.

This year I have been a little bit more ruthless - we won 3 games at U11 and U12 and half the team wanted to leave at the end of last season. Although it's hard on the weaker boys not to play so much I have given them less game time in an effort to help the spirit and motivation of the rest of the squad and try and get some wins - results are better this year. Previous years felt a little bit like 'just for fun', but I decided there has to be an element of competitiveness and being equal in terms of time on the pitch is to the detriment of the team. I don't feel good about it however, and don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not. U13 just felt like the right moment (particularly as this is the first year with a proper published league, points for a win etc).

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I have been there, so i get your predicament.
I took over a team of 2nd teamers shall I call them, every single one of them loved their football, I was very realistic with them and their parents but I decided the only way from the off was to keep them all on board.
The initially target I set myself and the team was to give them plenty of recognition and help with their organisation, particularly defensively and as a unit, as the bigger picture was to be able to sit in games if we needed to in our first competitive year.
This was 9 aside, I didn't want excess numbers for one reason, you destroy kids as they feel unsettled, so i made sure we only had 14 players, yes when we did have the full 5 subs it became complicated, but I balanced it so no child was harmed under Ronnie watch, that I feel is the sole target with progression and results to follow.
Our first competitive season we won the league against all the odds.
So I would build up your weaker players thats what coaches have to do, coach and don't poach is my motto its far more rewarding all around.

lost in london said:

Interesting, that's something I struggle with as a manager of U13 (started with them at U11).

Our team is poor, bottom team generally in Div 10 of a 10 div league. We have a couple of very weak players, we do worse when they're on.

This year I have been a little bit more ruthless - we won 3 games at U11 and U12 and half the team wanted to leave at the end of last season. Although it's hard on the weaker boys not to play so much I have given them less game time in an effort to help the spirit and motivation of the rest of the squad and try and get some wins - results are better this year. Previous years felt a little bit like 'just for fun', but I decided there has to be an element of competitiveness and being equal in terms of time on the pitch is to the detriment of the team. I don't feel good about it however, and don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not. U13 just felt like the right moment (particularly as this is the first year with a proper published league, points for a win etc).

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I sympathise. It is tough. I coach U14s and have had this squad for a few years. I always say to them that the mantra for the squad is ‘equal minutes’ but in reality this becomes very difficult to achieve, although I try my best.

For a start, we have one goalkeeper, so he plays 100% of every game. Then in my squad of 14 I am fortunate to have a great back 4 and as soon as I rotate one or more of them out, we start to ship goals and heads drop.

Also, I have a few lads who rarely come to training as they do winter cricket nets or just don’t fancy it sometimes. But then they turn up on match day with an expectation of equal game time vs the lads who trained in the pouring rain for 90 minutes two days earlier.

So, yes, it’s hard - and as well as managing all this, there is also the task of navigating the endless and ever growing list of utter shite the FA eagerly impose fines for, including late submission of match, ref, pitch and player stats on their wank website that looks like it was built by a someone with a significant head injury and a ZX Spectrum.

Bry Nylon said:

I sympathise. It is tough. I coach U14s and have had this squad for a few years. I always say to them that the mantra for the squad is ‘equal minutes’ but in reality this becomes very difficult to achieve, although I try my best.

For a start, we have one goalkeeper, so he plays 100% of every game. Then in my squad of 14 I am fortunate to have a great back 4 and as soon as I rotate one or more of them out, we start to ship goals and heads drop.

Also, I have a few lads who rarely come to training as they do winter cricket nets or just don’t fancy it sometimes. But then they turn up on match day with an expectation of equal game time vs the lads who trained in the pouring rain for 90 minutes two days earlier.

So, yes, it’s hard - and as well as managing all this, there is also the task of navigating the endless and ever growing list of utter shite the FA eagerly impose fines for, including late submission of match, ref, pitch and player stats on their wank website that looks like it was built by a someone with a significant head injury and a ZX Spectrum.

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If any player put cricket ahead of football, I'd let them play cricket.
I am also strict on training attendance, that said I have been lucky with that fortunately.
Sorry but I don't understand why anyone gets fines on filling in fulltime, I think you have enough time to do this, if I can do it anyone can.
The site is shite, I do agree it wasn't designed well for dyslexics either.
Do you use the app on the website?

Right Brain Ronnie said:

If any player put cricket ahead of football, I'd let them play cricket.
I am also strict on training attendance, that said I have been lucky with that fortunately.
Sorry but I don't understand why anyone gets fines on filling in fulltime, I think you have enough time to do this, if I can do it anyone can.
The site is shite, I do agree it wasn't designed well for dyslexics either.
Do you use the app on the website?

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Yes - I agree there is sufficient time to complete fulltime stats. I guess I just resent the amount of time the task takes as the site is so poorly designed. I tend to use the app.

Bry Nylon said:

Yes - I agree there is sufficient time to complete fulltime stats. I guess I just resent the amount of time the task takes as the site is so poorly designed. I tend to use the app.

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I have always found the app to be temperamental so I have only used the web for the past 3 years. Do you show your player sheets?
There are some cunning managers out there that say they forgot them......yeah right!