Mistakes are necessary and indispensable in the process of learning. We all make them, draw the right conclusions and learn. Working with young players, but above all with people, I have made a lot of mistakes and as a result I have become better and more effective coach when coaching children and young people. Over 20 years of work (and a great hobby) in several countries around the world is enough to share conclusions that can be drawn from these mistakes. Below are a few mistakes that should be avoided at all costs when working with children.
1. More is not better!
At the beginning of my adventure with football, it always seemed to me that the more exercises and games I prepare in one training unit, the more children will learn. Unfortunately, it was quite the opposite. Before the players had time to understand what the first exercise was about, I was already moving on to the next one. I didn’t even give the kids a chance to understand anything. There could be only one result? The players spent more than an hour in training, from which they did not learn anything or very little. The conclusion came quickly! Less is more!
2. Talk less and say more at the same time – the art of communication!
Children generally do not know what concentration is, and rightly so, why they need adult lectures. After all, they came to training to play, not to listen to lectures (it’s not a university). While working in the USA, I made two very costly mistakes in communication with children: First, it always took me more than 1 minute to explain an exercise or a game. Here, of course, we come back to the first point: less is more. Secondly, I have never had a specific, clear and consistent message that I want to convey, which will take no more than 30 seconds. Reflection? What is my most important, clear, short and consistent message regarding the purpose of learning, which I want to convey to children?
3. Can we play, coach?
The more you learn about how children learn, the more you realize that young players come to training to play, not to practice! The game is about making decisions, opponent, solving situations on the pitch. I remember that when clearly bored kids asked me: “when will the game be” I with my stupid coaching ego answered: “if you do all the exercises the way I want, then we will play” I understood how important the game is for children only when I had less and less of them in training every week! Reflection? Play as much as you can, especially for the youngest children!
4. Do not intervene if it does not bring any value to the players learning!
As adults, we are convinced that children will not be able to learn anything without us. However, this is far from reality. We should not be the centre of attention, but children. However, many coaches find it difficult to accept the fact that children in many cases will do well without them. All the time interrupting exercises, instructing children where to run, play, etc… You take away the fun of young players from playing, making decisions, thinking independently, and consequently learning. Reflection? I quickly learned that my interventions have a negative impact on learning and how children interpret them. Instead, I focused on the observation and feedback. I decided that I would intervene only if:
A) The same child repeatedly makes the same mistake – individual intervention
B) In a given situation on the pitch, the group makes the same mistakes and does not draw conclusions from them
5. If you see chaos, don’t worry – this is how children and their receptive brains learn!
Children’s creativity knows no boundaries and their brains love chaos. That is why it is so important to let children play freely and allow them to experiment with the learning process. Children don’t think like adults. We should not use our logic in relation to them. A children’s match will always be chaotic and they should not be disturbed or try to control everything from an adult’s point of view. Conclusion – as little control as possible and more well-prepared individual challenges tailored to the individual abilities and needs of each child.
6. Don’t kill creativity, develop curiosity and use children’s imagination!
It took me a long time to understand that creativity, curiosity and imagination are the three most important traits of children! They should be nurtured and developed through intelligent and skilful selection of training measures. Have fun, a lot of games will help develop creativity. Individual challenges will help arouse curiosity. All this leads to positive brain stimulation and thus children want to learn!
I hope that my own experience described in this article and the conclusions from it will help you not to repeat costly mistakes.
Hopefully you will benefit from it, but especially the children you work with every day.
