When a player participates in a Player’s FC program, parents can be assured that their child is receiving a structured, progressive development program delivered in a social, and friendly environment.
Our program is a result of 12 years of research, study and extensive field testing in the area of football and sports development. This knowledge; reflected in our program design and delivered in each session is bringing quicker success for our players with a lot less training.
We realize most children are unlikely to train on a daily basis or even several times per week. We therefore looked for a method that would contribute to a player’s success with as little as one session per week. This knowledge and a professional approach means we can provide world class development opportunities for all levels of participation. This makes our program quite remarkable.
Our aim is to give our young players early success in the game. We know from experience, that if we can do this, and our players felt successful as they played, they would feel satisfaction and enjoyment. We reasoned that this enjoyment would be the encouragement to do more and associate good feelings about their activity.
If one likens football development to piano training that was taught in the same classical method for hundreds of years. Then the “Suzuki Method” was developed that changed teaching forever. Since then other advances have been developed that gives the student a better chance of learning and continuing their studies.
Interestingly, our research showed us that many of the current development methods, taken from the professional arena, are inefficient and give young players little initial success. The first experiences for most children have lasting effects and what we see are young players who have ingrained faulty movement and skill patterns because they were physically incapable of executing the new skills they were first asked to learn. Yet despite this, the system continues to teach these same skills whilst young players continue to compensate for their lack of strength or coordination, leading to inefficient patterns being developed.
Example..
A good example of this, is the emphasis in traditional programs on passing the ball. For reasons based on professional footballing views young children are taught to pass the ball. Instruction is given on how to strike the ball and which surface to use. If anyone has every watched kids trying to kick a ball they would quickly understand it is a wasteful activity and doesn’t lead to any form of success for their game.
- Firstly, young players don’t naturally pass the ball in a game. If fact we’re encouraging dribbling and many touches (therefore the two are mutually exclusive!).
- Secondly, the vast majority of children don’t have the strength, coordination or biomechanics for good passing, and
- Thirdly and more importantly good passing skills are not developed by practicing passing. Good passing skills come from a combination of good biomechanics and strength and from the ability of the player to possess the ball first.
With the continued emphasis on passing in programs your young players we have to conclude that little thought has been given to this process or other motivators are at work.
Please leave your thoughts and comments at the end of the page. We look forward to discussions on our approach and how we might help you in your programs.
