A perfect gift for parent and child
Why do some players make it as soccer professionals, while others fail? Studies show that it is not necessary the qualities that the player possesses that will determine their status as a professional. One of the key concepts is the environment the child is in. This article asks the question, which environment makes a professional football player? This environment can be achieved and improved by following certain procedures and going through specific stages. Find out what it takes to create an environment for future professional soccer players. In modern history, it all started in 1929 with an educational researcher named, Alfred North Whitehead.
Let the main ideas which are introduced into a child’s education be few and important, and let them be thrown into every combination possible. The child should make them his own, and should understand their application here and now in the circumstances of his actual life. From the very beginning of his education, the child should experience the joy of discovery.
The Aims of Education (1929) By Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
Whitebread was a British mathematician and philosopher best known for his work in mathematical logic. Furthermore, he is known about the philosophy of science. His books and essays are well known but are difficult to follow and implement into schools but are perfect for sports academies.
Whitehead coined the term “inert ideas”. Inert ideas are ideas that are received without being tested, experimented with, or being utilized. Picture a soccer coach telling you about doing a rainbow, without letting you trying it or experience with, improving it. While academic schools have a hard time being questioned in philosophy and theory, in sports results and progression are the ultimate standards.
Whitehead said;
Education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful
The Aims of Education (1929) By Alfred North Whitehead
Distinct Phases
Whitehead divided learning into 3 distinct phases; romance, precision, and integration.
Romance phase consists of play, exploration, and fun. This time should focus on learning the basics and a love for the sport. The coach should be encouraging fun, and basic skills and develop a long-standing relationship with the sport.
The precision phase is the phase in which the player playing soccer becomes the soccer player. In this phase, learning is systematic and the coach is there to instill technical skills and develop the student long term. This period is about 4-6 years. The coach in this phase would be a master coach that installs technique and develop a long term program.
Integration phase, this phase is the individual phase. In this phase, the learned skills and expressions are there to become his own. Think about all the great players who have their signature move (Cruyff turn, Ronaldo chop). This period is many hours of training every day and there is a commitment to the sport. The coach in this phase is a master coach that practices daily.
Bloom’s Investigation
Dr. Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist and elaborated the field of educational classifications and the theory of mastery learning. Bloom agreed with Whitebread after he investigated the topic. Dr. Bloom interviewed 120 top athletes, musicians, and scientists and found similarities across the different specialties. In 1985, Bloom published a book called “Developing Talent in young people”. Just like Whitebread’s 3 phases, Dr. Bloom divided the development of an athlete into 3 phases. Bloom called them the early years, middle years, and late years.
Bloom’s Discovery
Bloom found that the complete trajectory would take about 15-20 years. The difficulty of making predictions was noted by Bloom. Bloom noted that
“Only ten percent of the talented individuals in the study had progressed far enough by age 12 for anyone to make confident predictions that they would be in the top 25 in their talent field by the ages of twenty to thirty.”
Developing talent in young people Dr Benjamin Bloom
Dr. Bloom found that one of the dangers in the education of an athlete was the lack of patience. If one phase was entered too early, it would delay the process and the athlete had to go back to the previous phase. Overall learning was transitional, the learning curve was always going up. the steep parts would be the transitions into different phases. See the graph below.
Every athlete has his own trajectory. Some athletes spend more time in any phase than another athlete. This is why sports, like soccer, there is more difficulty in predicting talents. In soccer, the age groups are compared with the best players. These best players might be in a different phase, while the other players might not yet be this phase. See the graph below.
Bloom’s Insights was based on detailed interviews and investigations. He warned against early judgments and making predictions. Bloom’s contribution to youth development is very important. He brought the total picture into the forefront. The 15-20 years of investment changed the way…..
The study has provided strong evidence that no matter what the initial characteristics of the individuals, unless there is a long and intensive process of encouragement, nurturance, education, training, the individuals will not attain extreme levels of capability in the particular fields.
Dr. Benjamin Bloom
It Starts At Home
The model at home is what the child most likely will become. The parents of gifted have high standards and comply with these standards. The emphasis is on “working hard if you want to achieve something”. If the child achieved something of value, the parents would be really proud. The would-be athlete learned to have responsibility and independence early on in life. Furthermore, rewards were given for hard work and punishment for wasting time. The families of future professionals are very tight and spend a lot of time with each other. The time was centered around the activity of the talent.
Talking with the parents of the talented child, certain qualities and characteristics were found. Parents found that the future-professional would distinguish themselves from their brothers and sisters. The talented child tends to have a better work ethic, a desire to be seen, and competitive nature. Furthermore, the child can not stand losing. To add to this point, if the child lost, he would turn this loss into increased motivation to try harder. Although parents bring the child into the soccer world, the coach is needed to perform an intensive workload. Studies show that in 65% of children that are potential professionals the coach encourages this development.
The Problem With Soccer And Youth Development
1 coach for 15 players in development is not enough. While the coach for solo sports can overcome specific obstacles, the soccer player is left on their own devices. Furthermore, in solo-sports, there is a chance to change the coach or add an extra coach. In soccer this change is limited.
The parents of potential professionals soccer players should take their time to ensure that there is a good fit. The culture and environment of an academy could make the difference between the talent breaking through or breaking down. Overall professional soccer academies are expanding their support system. In Germany, in order to have a licensed professional youth soccer academy, the schools have to focus on the physiological development of the students. Furthermore, scouts have to include “psychological characteristics” in their assessment.
Avoid Stress
One of the problems noted as a cause of stress and the increased dropout rate for youngsters is the combination of school and a busy training schedule. Another problem is the lack of enjoying fun activities. Certain soccer clubs adjusted their training program and introduced measures to ensure more private time for the athletes.
Tips For Parents For Choosing The Right Environment
Don’t be impressed with being invited by a professional soccer academy. Many kids are invited by clubs and within a professional soccer team, there is a high turn-over rate. While for academics, it is a numbers game. For you, as a parent, have to make sure your child does not become a statistic. Usually, contracts for youngsters are on a 1-year basis. One suggestion would be to let your child practice at the team where he is playing and also practice and play games with the professional academy. This way your child will have a role model function in his amateur team while having no shame if things don’t work out. After about 3 months you can access the situation. If your child handles himself well, he can go full-time into the academy. While if he is not coping well, you might want to consider pulling him out of the academy entirely. Good players will have more chances. The focus should be on long term success.
Letting Go
Once, you as parents and child feel comfortable with the coach and the academy. Let go of your child in the technical aspect. Once there is a master coach present, don’t interfere. During this phase, children have to learn specific skills, and parents should stay out of this part. Support should always be given form the parents side. See the graph below.
Important decision parents can take is to the child keep in touch with the child home environment. Keeping in contact with friends, and relatives is an important part of your child.
Special Note For Fathers
Fathers are of immense importance for boys and girls. Usually, it is the fathers that bring the child to soccer. Keep talking to your child about soccer if that what the child wants. Marco Van Basten once said in an interview;
“My Father has also been very important for my development as a soccer player. When he put me to bed at night, we were oftentimes still talking about soccer….my father really enjoyed talking with me about soccer….My father brought me to practice, he went to see my matches… He was tough on me. If I did not play well, he would tell me that I did not play well. If I played well, he would tell me also””
Interview with Marco van Basten “Nieuwe Revu” August 1993, (authors translation)
EndNote
The most important aspect of creating professional soccer is the home environment. The home environment provides a confident child with high standards. The belief in your child can provide the jump start needed to launch his career. To end with a quote of Dr. Bloom in an interview with Educational Leadership (EL) November 1979.
We’re studying the progress of talented individuals from the age of three until the time their great talents were fully developed. What we find is that somebody “thought” each of these individuals had special gifts at an early age. They persuaded people around the child to treat him or her as special, as gifted”
Dr Bloom