Re: Kieran Dixon : Mon Aug 31, 2015 12:05 am
bren2k wrote:
He is lacking the skills that junior players should have mastered by the age of 12 or 13 - but many don't, because of the lack of decent coaching at many amateur clubs; couple that with the ultra-competitive league structure, which encourages the enthusiastic Dads coaching juniors to win every game, and you end up with a team of freakishly big lads banging into each other, with very little skill on display and not much room for the smaller, more athletic lads to get any game time or skills development.
I'd advocate top-slicing some central funding to sort out the grassroots game - get decent coaching and skills development into every amateur club that can achieve certain benchmarks, and revamp the jr league structures to disincentivise the current win at all costs mentality; and compel professional clubs to properly engage with their local amateur clubs, rather than ignoring them until they have a decent crop of U15's.
I'd advocate top-slicing some central funding to sort out the grassroots game - get decent coaching and skills development into every amateur club that can achieve certain benchmarks, and revamp the jr league structures to disincentivise the current win at all costs mentality; and compel professional clubs to properly engage with their local amateur clubs, rather than ignoring them until they have a decent crop of U15's.
Couldn't agree more
Not only does the current system not teach youngsters the required skills, it also puts off a huge amount of youngsters from either continuing to play or from joining up in the first place.