Controversial, but, should kids be playing football at this time of year?

[Monkey Man]

The football season for kids doesn't really stop. The season was prolonged by wet conditions in Jan-Feb (OK, they don't play but they still train and still prepare for matches). When the league season was over, we were straight into the tournament season, and there are more of those than ever. They require an even bigger commitment than the league schedule, at least in terms of the chunk they bite out of your weekend. Then there'll be friendlies before the season proper starts again.

Interesting contrast with cricket, where everything is much more relaxed, despite the small window of opportunity to actually play games. You're available, great. If not, no problem, see you next time.

Kids should get the chance to try loads of different sports. It's hard to give them the opportunity, especially as football makes such big demands on family time. But we try.

 

[Gwylan]

oh yeh you would pull the old one in a million shot out .......

One in a million? Rafael Nadal was also a talented footballer who chose tennis; the Neville brothers were both talented cricketers who played both sports into the teens; Daley Thompson had trials with QPR; Gary Lineker was another decent cricketer ... and so on.

The idea that playing two sports in childhood inhibits development of the main one is ludicrous. Yes, players should concentrate on one in their teens (the days of Denis Compton and CB Fry are long gone) but there's plenty of time to try several sports

 

[Postman Pat]

One in a million? Rafael Nadal was also a talented footballer who chose tennis; the Neville brothers were both talented cricketers who played both sports into the teens; Daley Thompson had trials with QPR; Gary Lineker was another decent cricketer ... and so on.

The idea that playing two sports in childhood inhibits development of the main one is ludicrous. Yes, players should concentrate on one in their teens (the days of Denis Compton and CB Fry are long gone) but there's plenty of time to try several sports

That Botham bloke was a pretty decent footballer I hear.

Rebecca Romero has won world championships in cycling and rowing.

My son's basketball team are almost at the end of a 8 week break after the end of the season, they have a 6 week 'optional' period of training and then back in August for team selection etc.. It helps to get over little niggles and things, and also he is chomping at the bit to get back on court.

 

[supaseagull]

Ok naturally biased here as a football coach / club secretary. However, here is my take on it...

I have players in my boys and girls team that play throughout the year, with the exception of around 12 weeks due to family holidays, Xmas, wet weather, breaks.

I've played around 4 tournaments so far for each of my boys and girls team and at school, Girls football runs from April to July.

My feelings are...

- No child is forced to play footbal and kids that play do so usually because THEY want to. If they are being forced to play against their wishes, then that constitute a form of abuse

- Of all of the children in my teams, football is their one and only sport and so if they did not play football, especially for the boys I coach, they would do very little else from a sporting side of things outside of the schooling environment

- For many, youth football isn't just about playing in games, it's about the social side of things aswell. They make new friends from different schools and actually, playing football isn't always about tournaments and matches. Sometimes it's about just getting the kids together and having a fun training session with their friends.

- Whilst I can't speak for every coach, those that I know do say that it's of benefit if any of their players wish to learn to play another sport especially during the summer and I wholeheartedly encourage it. I have players who are great at cricket and some who love swimming and athletics. Any coach should really encourage this.

- Whilst you isolate football, the Junior Cricket season and indoor nets for alot of clubs runs from January through to November and so there's really not alot of difference.

- Providing there is adequate periods of rest and recuperation around 8 weeks a year for the children and that they are not subjected to physically intense training sessions at the wrong time and prior to the ages of 12/13, then there's no reason why any sport has to stop. Especially when after the worst rain hit season meant that many kids didn't play for nearly 3 months last season!

I appreciate that it looks like tournaments happen every weekend of the summer in all fairness, at a maximum coaches will usually only enter three consecutive weeks worth of tourmanets at a maximum and as I've said, it's entirely upto the parents and the kids if they want to take part in them.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

The major factors involved in football becoming this all-consuming monster in our sporting lives are.....
1) As our society has become faster and more demanding of speed and simplicity, so football has taken over. The lazier in thought and deed we become, the more we will turn to pursuits that are easier to play and easier to understand. The other traditional ' big ' games in this country ( Cricket and Rugby ) are more cerebral and need years of learning and maturing to understand. They are not overnight. They are not a quick fix. Football is possibly the most simple game on the Planet and is therefore Universal. Anyone can start kicking a ball about and know what they are trying to do.
2) The recent trend to get kids playing organised football as early as six years old has had a significant effect on this country. They are so young, so naive, so lacking in strength that it borders on the criminal. Years ago, there was very little structured football below the age of eleven. There was respect for a child's natural development. By the time they got to senior school they were starting to build up the strength to play competitive sport. Skills had been honed in the street and in the playground, playing with tennis balls or bound-up rags. Kids were naturally more active and were building up their core strength. Now, they are less active but they are being thrown into a competitive environment before they are ready. The more desperately competitive coaches and parents become, the more the desire to play outside the traditional season and strive to be more active than the opposition.
3) Schools. The old tradition of football in the autumn term, rugby in the winter and cricket and athletics in the summer seems to be the preserve of the fee-paying schools now. In those days, kids got a balance throughout the year, in what was on offer. The most talented kids tended to play all sports anyway and eventually, after much experimentation, they settled on a favourite later in life. A lot of kids now only play football, whether through choice or not. They are not broadening their experience and giving themselves a chance. If a lot of kids are putting all their eggs in one basket ( i.e football ) other sports will miss potential and the fall-out rate will be huge. Ultimately, a lot of kids will simply not play sport, through expectation of rejection.
There was a time in this country when cricket was on a par with football. Clearly defined seasons. No more. There are no boundaries any more in the football season. Players resume training six weeks before the season starts and have sometimes played 7-8 games before a ball is kicked in anger.
The balance has gone in this country and we will never get it back. Football is big brother and we are all in its grip.

3) We have ' wall to wall ' exposure with football. It dominates our lives.

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

I tend to agree with Supaseagull here..I tended not to enter tournaments over the summer to give the boys a break, but also to give me a break as well! However, I found that not only did most of my players want to play, if I didn't have tournaments they would then go and play with another team, and often sign for them the next season!!
I offer training sessions for those who want to come, (get between 8 and 10), enter just 2 tournaments for those who want to play, but let the others who have interests elsewhere, come and go as they wish until September...I know there are clubs who play almost every week over the summer at one tournament or another - each to their own I suppose...

 

[Cold Gettin Dumb]

There is the reality of a kid overdoing it and possible interference with his/her later physical development.
It's very good to do another sport such as tennis/ cricket to counteract any over exertion from football.
Lots of coaches see it this way too.

 

[IXBHAJakester]

Kids are only going to play sport they like. I personally didn't start to play a 'summer sport' just because it was summer.

 

[smeariestbat]

Because there aren't enough people playing the sports. My daughter's got her first cricket practice of the season as there haven't been enough to make it worthwhile until now and my son's team struggles to get a complete complement of players - and that's without the distraction of other sports. Run regular football and rugby games besides the cricket and we'd never get a side out.

maybe this has got something to do with the dullness of cricket that kids dont want to play it. Lets be honest, its hardly interesting throughout unless you're the bowler or currently at bat.

 

[BN9 BHA]

i think they need a break jan/feb would be good

They do get a break in the winter, well my sons U-10s team did, I can't remember the exact dates but I'm sure it was some of December and all of January, from matches but they still trained.

They also missed a few matches last season because of the wet weather.

 

[Monkey Man]

maybe this has got something to do with the dullness of cricket that kids dont want to play it. Lets be honest, its hardly interesting throughout unless you're the bowler or currently at bat.

I think cricket is a really interesting sport in that respect. You don't have to be the finest physical specimen to enjoy it and it teaches kids a lot of useful things to do with team play, concentration, social skills ... even a bit of maths. The fact Americans can't understand it makes it worth playing, if nothing else does.

Don't knock it, my son is football crazy but cricket offers a welcome change of pace. And the parents are much nicer too ...

 

[drew]

Ok naturally biased here as a football coach / club secretary. However, here is my take on it...

I have players in my boys and girls team that play throughout the year, with the exception of around 12 weeks due to family holidays, Xmas, wet weather, breaks.

I've played around 4 tournaments so far for each of my boys and girls team and at school, Girls football runs from April to July.

My feelings are...

- No child is forced to play footbal and kids that play do so usually because THEY want to. If they are being forced to play against their wishes, then that constitute a form of abuse

- Of all of the children in my teams, football is their one and only sport and so if they did not play football, especially for the boys I coach, they would do very little else from a sporting side of things outside of the schooling environment

- For many, youth football isn't just about playing in games, it's about the social side of things aswell. They make new friends from different schools and actually, playing football isn't always about tournaments and matches. Sometimes it's about just getting the kids together and having a fun training session with their friends.

- Whilst I can't speak for every coach, those that I know do say that it's of benefit if any of their players wish to learn to play another sport especially during the summer and I wholeheartedly encourage it. I have players who are great at cricket and some who love swimming and athletics. Any coach should really encourage this.

- Whilst you isolate football, the Junior Cricket season and indoor nets for alot of clubs runs from January through to November and so there's really not alot of difference.

- Providing there is adequate periods of rest and recuperation around 8 weeks a year for the children and that they are not subjected to physically intense training sessions at the wrong time and prior to the ages of 12/13, then there's no reason why any sport has to stop. Especially when after the worst rain hit season meant that many kids didn't play for nearly 3 months last season!

I appreciate that it looks like tournaments happen every weekend of the summer in all fairness, at a maximum coaches will usually only enter three consecutive weeks worth of tourmanets at a maximum and as I've said, it's entirely upto the parents and the kids if they want to take part in them.

Have to agree with this. I manage a girls U10s team and, due to the wet weather, we didn't play a match between the beginning of Dec and beginning of March. That aside, out league programme finished on the 11th May and we entered one tournament the following week. However we have had two training sessions as we have some national indoor finals on the 28th. That said, my daughter has taken up cricket this summer as well. Clubs don't have to enter every tournament and kids don't have to play in every tournament their team enters.

 

[BN9 BHA]

My youngest son plays football , cricket and goes to a trampoline club, he is still going to training and played in a friendly match yesterday evening and a tournament last Sunday, he is also playing in a small friendly tournament this Saturday.

I am always willing to take him to his clubs,but I have asked him if he wanted to do the tournaments and the training in the summer, he has said he is happy carrying on with football, as I have posted above his team had a winter break.

If my son didn't play football in the summer he would be sitting around playing games on his IPod or up his friends house playing Xbox or whatever, I would rather he is out in the fresh air keeping fit with his team mates, it gets me out of the house to.

 

[BN9 BHA]

maybe this has got something to do with the dullness of cricket that kids dont want to play it. Lets be honest, its hardly interesting throughout unless you're the bowler or currently at bat.

Kids cricket is different to adults cricket with a different scoring system, Newhaven has a very good youth cricket set up, you would be surprised how many kids really enjoy the game.

 

[Gwylan]

....
The old tradition of football in the autumn term, rugby in the winter and cricket and athletics in the summer seems to be the preserve of the fee-paying schools now. In those days, kids got a balance throughout the year, in what was on offer. The most talented kids tended to play all sports anyway and eventually, after much experimentation, they settled on a favourite later in life.

There was a time in this country when cricket was on a par with football. Clearly defined seasons. No more. There are no boundaries any more in the football season.

Totally agree with this. We have a situation right now where half the England cricket team went to public school and as fewer schools play cricket, it's a trend that's going to get worse. I played cricket at junior school but my kids don't. And there's not so much chance to watch it, like football, costs have gone rocketing up but unlike football, there's no cricket on terrestrial TV these days. I have taken the kids to Hove by my kids have never seen cricket on television.

The same could happen with rugby, although the authorities, to their credit have started to address this and the England team is actually less public school dominated.

If you think that football is the only sport bothering about, all well and good, but I reckon it's better for the well-being of the nation to have a wide variety of sports to watch. Lets' face it: which team is more likely to win a World Cup - the England football team or the rugby one?

 

[Frutos]

Presumably the kids who are playing football at this, or indeed any other, time of the year are doing so because they enjoy it?

If they enjoy it, why should they not do it whenever they want to? Surely that's what being a kid is about?

 

[Frutos]

Kids should do summer sports in the summer months, cricket, cycling, tennis, athletics etc.

No, kids should do what they enjoy not what someone dictates that they should do.

 

[RexCathedra]

Presumably the kids who are playing football at this, or indeed any other, time of the year are doing so because they enjoy it?

It's not all pick-up games and goalposts for jumpers.

Parental bragging rights, keeping up with the Joneses, a lottery-ticket odds shot at a comfortable old age -- kids are playing organized football for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with them, and everything to do with their parents.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Kids cricket is different to adults cricket with a different scoring system, Newhaven has a very good youth cricket set up, you would be surprised how many kids really enjoy the game.

Indeed, the youngest of players play a form of cricket called "pairs" or KWIK Cricket. This places much more emphasis on participation - basically 8-a-side softball, every player bowls one over and batters bat in pairs for 2 overs. Start the score at 200 and its minus five runs for a wicket - each match lasts about an hour - best of all for the kids, no LBW .....

its hardly interesting throughout unless you're the bowler or currently at bat.

Only true if you're too ignorant to actually understand what's going on in the game as the bigger picture.
What about the wicket-keeper and other 9 fielders, do you REALLY think they find it uninteresting?

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Practice makes perfect.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. If ever such a simple statement was so misused. Any decent coach (of any sport) will tell you "Practice makes permanent".

If you're practicing something wrong [eg technically incorrect], you will not become "perfect" but the incorrect aspect will just become permanent through muscle memory.

For those interested in a deeper understanding, read "The myth of talent" by Matthew Syed