Youth development in football in the UK is the single biggest factor holding back our national game. As we see countries like Spain and Germany excel in recent years with a new generation of skilful, creative players, when we see quality constantly being produced from Argentina and Brasil and the impressive nations of Holland and France producing good quality young players, then questions must be asked of the job that we in England are doing when we fail to see improvements being in our grassroots.
This weekend there is the annual grassroots show, which is chance for adults and children to see expert speakers and coaches from the professional game. The grassroots football show this year will be the biggest football event of its kind in Europe.
However, having attended for the past several years I have to say that I have been disappointed in the overall achievement of the show and more worried about the impact the show has on our grassroots game.
In the past several years I have seen some ofsessions carried out by ex-England manager Graham Taylor, Iain Dowie, Les Reed and Alan Curbishley of which I have been quite shocked. These are men who have had relatively successful careers in football, they are understandably respected football people, yet they are conducting sessions with youth players, sessions which are aimed at youth coaches, with clearly no understanding of what youth coaching is in the 21st century.
England training session
Graham Taylor conducted a 1v1 drill where he did the “classic” one line shooting drill, where the players pass the ball to the coach, who sets it to the side and they then look to finish on goal. As Taylor wanted more “tempo” he then made sure the players were shooting faster and the turnover was quicker. It was a shame for the keeper therefore as he had not chance to get back up after making one save and drill, which was rather unsafe, became just a barrage of shots at the poor U10, who was according to Taylor “not working hard enough”. It got better though when Taylor wanted to introduce a defender; as I awaited the allocation of two teams and a simple but effective 1v1 drill being conducted, imagine my surprise when Taylor did the same drill yet became the defender himself!
The worrying thing is that I am sure you have all experienced this, by either doing it yourself or seeing coaches in youth football doing it. You may think it is a good drill for the players, yet take into account the realism of it. Why is there not an actual team mate playing the layoff, who then can run to look for the rebound. Or in a 1v1, why not use the players themselves? Why have a line of 10 players when you can use two goals and increase the turn over? This is the problem; it is being carried out by a man who has no real expertise in this age group or level of player, yet because he has a known name he is allowed to conduct an educational session for coaches. These coaches then see this session and copy it. It is no surprise to see this session do many times in youth football training sessions.
Taylor’s willingness to be “involved” and active in the session, assuming that this would show his quality of being a coach, was again another problem with his work. Having the coach be a “part of” the session instead of observing the session is a big problem we have in England. Coaches feel that it is their opportunity to be involved in the session, this is not the role of the coach at all. They are involved in the educating of the players, yet that does not mean playing in the session. It amazes me when I see coaches partake in the small sided games in their training; they need to consider who they are there for and why. A coaches role is to plan and deliver a session which will challenge the players and which seeks to improve their technical skills and decision making abilities. Too often though the coach makes those decisions for the players, often by shouting instructions telling the player what to or structuring a session which is very simple yet which looks “perfect”; believing that a “good” session is one where no mistakes occur, because if mistakes happen then the session is poor. It is these issues which need changing, the culture of grassroots coaching in the UK is too much Graham Taylor and the grassroots show is not improving standards, but continuing them.
The most worrying part of it all was when you see dozens, and at times over a hundred coaches, scribbling the session down on their notepads. For me, I dread to think of the following weeks which follow in which these newly “educated” coaches now go back into their clubs with this new ammo, which if it’s good enough for an England manager, then it’s good enough for me mentality. I cringe to think of the impact that these sessions are having on our grassroots game.
Zonal marking, with U11's
Another session with a group of U11’s incorporated Iain Dowie coaching zonal marking from corners. This was unbelievable! Not only was it a very poorly conducted session yet it was completely unnecessary in the context of youth development. For the 30 minute session the players barely touched the ball. It was classic case of an adult coach trying to coach children. His language, manner and obviously the theme, were too complicated and simply quite boring for the players. Was he able to put on a transition based game involving attacking and defending, which could be progressed from 1v1 to 2v2 onwards? It appeared not, relying on something which perhaps is not required till U15’s+. Another one of his was called “fun football”; now I am not sure what he means by “fun”, yet watching him play he has a distinctly different idea of the term than many, however this was session which was supposed to be fun was pretty much just carnage; Dowie kept belting balls into the oversized small sided game and when a player was hit he laughed it off and said “fun, ain’t it”. As I look around, I see the inevitable scribble on notepads and think, “oh no”.
Walking the dog
Finally, I went to see a session from Les Reed. Now this was one I was genuinely looking forward to. Creating creative players it was called and I was interested to see what Reed, who works at Southampton, one of the best academies in England, would be doing with the U12 players he had. What I saw embarrassed me. His take on grassroots football was aimed at 4/5 years old, which although the session perhaps would have been enjoyable for children of that age, meant that U12’s he had found it rather boring, immature and pointless. He conducted a warm up where to inspire their imagination, he had them walking their dogs (ball) and putting it on the lead (step on ball) and that if the park keeper (coach) found them without the lead on their dog, then they had to do some forfeit. It lasted 30 minutes, in which time the session didn’t progress past this elementary warm up box and where the players looked quite simply bored mindless.
Now if this was with 4/5 year olds I would have been fascinated to see how he would have worked the session, whether he would have progressed it and importantly, how he would have dealt with issues that arose from the players. Yet when he realised they were U12’s why did he not do a session which suited their age and ability? Surely he would have got more from them and coaches could have learnt something too. It showed me that Reed was not a good coach, because good coaches must be adaptable and ready for eventualities. I took nothing from this session which I was initially intrigued to find out how to create creative players.
These are anecdotes from the past and with new owners this year is apparently going to be one of the best. Yet this is heard each year. The main event this year will be Phil Brown, who by all accounts is a good coach, yet with adults. I could see the quality of Chris Houghton last year too, yet the problem was it was sessions which were suited for 14’s upwards. I have no problem with these men speaking about their experiences, about their views. But conducting youth coaching sessions? Well, they are very much of out their depth.
Quality and expertise over a name
The problem with the grassroots show is that there is a distinct lack of quality of genuinely top level youth coaches at the grassroots show, which is major problem to a show which calls itself the “the Grassroots show”. I understand the marketing value of certain names, although would still argue that the attendance of these “quality” coaches is because they are out of work ex managers whose careers have gone into the safe world of punditry. The best manager I’ve seen at the show was Ian Holloway; he was actually excellent and was a great example for coaches of how to coach players, not just what to coach. It is a shame he won’t be here this year. Yet the best sessions are those done by youth coaches, the problem is, there hasn't been enough of them.
What the grassroots show need to do in order to make it a genuinely educational experience for youth coaches, is to bring in youth coaches from top academies in the country. These do not need to be top names, what they need to be able to do is show grassroots coaches sessions of which academies may use to educate their players. These sessions should then be age specific and coached by a youth coach who knows HOW to coach and not just WHAT to coach. Imagine a coach from each age group to U8-U16 from academies like Arsenal, United and Southampton?
The youth coach could actually learn new ideas about the age level they coach, they could also pick up the key factors in being a good coach; manner, language – verbal/non-verbal, progressions to challenge the players and keep them stimulated, and the ability to make a session easier. It may be that the same coach does a different topic over the day; what and how does a U12 coach from Arsenal do for passing and receiving, attacking and defending. A grassroots coach can then take so much from this experience instead of just seeing a name without any substance, without any expertise. What they would see is a session made for kids and not an adult one adjusted, it is completely different.
The FA are accountable
With the new St George’s park facility being built this year there is a real desire from the FA to improve coaching standards across the country. Peter Ackerley, The FA Senior National Game Development Manager, commented: “The FA is delighted to be supporting The Grass Roots Show 2012 in what is a particularly exciting year for grassroots football in this country.” I am intrigued and interested to see what the FA will be doing at the grassroots show, whether they will be doing their own Skills sessions and talking to coaches about the needs and requirements of grassroots coaches? For me the grassroots game is an environment which is significantly unmonitored, but is the one where the most amount of players are. Surely something here is wrong?
If the FA wish to improve the standards of the players in this country then they need to improve the quality of coaching. Too many willing volunteers are ruining the potential of young players because of their belief that they are a “coach”. Would you go to a school and carry out a maths session because you can do the times table? An extreme case, yet why do people believe that football coaching is for everyone? There is an art to it and it should be seen as a vocation. The lessons taught to youth players will define who they are as they develop, which means the influence a grassroots coach has on a child is huge.
An event like the Grassroots show could be a great way of educating young grassroots coaches in the ways that children develop and learn. In reality there should not be anyone who works with a group of players who does not possess a Level 1 in coaching and more importantly, who has not been on the new Youth Module awards. Too many volunteer coaches are uneducated in the development of a young child, yet alone a young footballer. And without understanding “how” children learn and understanding the right environment needed to develop positive, creative footballers, then the FA and grassroots game is doing a dis-service to the young children in this country.
It is terrible what is happening at many clubs and the FA must be held accountable for what is being produced. Shows like the grassroots show need to assess their intentions; is it solely business or do they genuinely care about the grassroots game? If so, then they need to change the quality of coaching being displayed and bring in expertise of the youth game to educate grassroots coaches.
A new generation is needed
As the new EPPP plans seek to improve the quality of coaching to Academy players, more needs to be done at the grassroots levels in order to increase the pool of talent of players which can be moved into higher levels of coaching. While the FA are anxious to develop a coaching culture, it will take time to improve standards. Yet the FA need to do much more to monitor coaching across the country. There needs to be more of a collective understanding of how to play the game, the win at all costs mentality is ruining many players and destroying potential. Creativity is killed because it may lead to losing the ball.
In order to produce the quality required to compete with top countries then we need a new generation of coaches who can educate and teach young players. More needs to be done to produce technical, skilful and creative players, it will take a combined effort of all bodies working together to achieve that goal, it will take time and much patience also.
As for the grassroots show, I am eagerly anticipating seeing what is in store this year, I have been disappointed for many years, yet if the new owners mean what they say then hopefully this year can actually be beneficial for the grassroots game. Although I am not holding my breath.
Please feel to discuss your thoughts with me, you can find me on Twitter @The_W_Address 
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