Every parent wants their child to be successful. As parents we seek the best for our children, be it in
sports or education.

At times unfortunately a parent can push their child so hard and demand so much of them that they
end up driving them away from the very thing they once enjoyed!

When it comes to football, especially at the younger ages, say six through ten, we need to let the
kids play, let them have fun. Parents need to understand that the game is the best teacher. When we
shout directions to children during a game we are robbing them of a beautiful opportunity to learn and
develop, to make their own decisions. Watching the light go on for six or seven year olds is a wonderful
thing. Their confidence begins to soar.

I have noticed that many youth coaches feel like they are being measured by their win-loss percentage.
This is a problem. It all comes back to the need for better coaches at the youth level. Your measure of
success is not how many games you win but how many of your players come back to play next year and
how your players progress.

Football is a passionate game, if this game doesn’t excite you then check your pulse but it doesn’t need
to be so competitive at such young ages. We should be encouraging our children to play good football.
How often at an under eight game do you hear parents or coaches shouting ‘get it out’ or ‘get it up
the field’? For the good of our game lets teach our young people to ‘keep the ball’, ‘retain possession’,
or play it out from the back. Surely this will benefit our standard of play in the long run as opposed to
simply winning the youth game on a Saturday!

Coach Pete