The Optimal Learning Environment for Youth Football

An open letter to the parents and spectators of ______________

We all want the best for our children.  As football parents and coaches, we want our children to learn this beautiful game, have fun while they do so, make friends and have a season full of great sporting experiences and memories.  For most parents (and I include myself here), we also want our boys and girls to reach their full potential in whatever activity they engage in.  In short, I want my own children to develop as football players.  This is supposedly why you come to this club and expend considerable time and money in doing so.

As a sport scientist and coach educator at Manchester Metropolitan University, I have access to all the latest studies on skill acquisition, coaching science, child psychology, developmental physiology and pedagogy.  I, humbly, have also worked with some of the leading Premier League Academies and youth development programmes in this country.  And I like to keep things simple.

Player development is fundamentally about two things:

1.      What players do

2.      The environment they do it

Thus, optimising player development is all about optimising what players do at home, in training and in matches and optimising the environment they do it in.  The latter, the environment in which young players learn and especially, the matchday environment, is why I’m writing to you today.

The Optimal Learning Environment for Youth Football

What is the optimal learning environment for young player development?  In order to answer this fundamental question, I reviewed different theories of learning (e.g. social, behavioural, etc) read psychology studies about motivation, coaching behaviour and reward systems and learned about teaching and learning methods used in The National Curriculum and multi-national companies.  I am NO expert but found consensus that the best learning environments for children in whatever endeavour they were attempting (be it in sports or in school), had the following four characteristics:

Secure and safe – Children learned the quickest when they could try new things, make mistakes (and inherently learn from those mistakes) without fear of ridicule or ‘immediate’ reprimand.

Highly supportive and positive – Positive’ reinforcement by significant others (parents, coaches and teachers) works ten times better overall than ‘negative’ reinforcement – for many reasons.

A controlled and reasonably ‘quiet’ environment – This allows for concentration and analysis of the problems presented by the task(s) at hand.  Think of the learning environment in school.

Greater emphasis upon performance and effort (how the children tried the task) than upon outcome (winning or losing).  This is not to say that winning is not important - it is.  But a much better yardstick of player development is how the child attempted the task of playing rather than upon winning or losing – which, to a large extent, is influenced by factors outside of the child’s personal control.

So what does this mean in a youth football match situation?  What type of spectator behaviour contributes fully to achieving an optimal learning environment?

1.      Let the players learn for themselves. 

Please do not offer advice or instructions from the touchline during the match.  If you wish to (and we would greatly support this) offer your own suggestions and coaching advice, discuss these with your child after the match, possibly in the car on the way home or over dinner.  Find a time when both you and your child can analyse the match in a more relaxed atmosphere. 

2.      Always be positive from the touchline.

Personally, I like the ‘clapping only’ rule, clapping good play from EITHER team.  If you must shout, be positive only please.  Be aware that even positive shouting contributes to a highly-charged atmosphere that can quickly turn negative and, in any event, is unlikely to improve learning in young players anyway.

3.      In no event, comment upon a referee’s decision.  Because of spectator comments and actions, youth referees are leaving the game in droves.  If a decision doesn’t go your team’s way, be respectful and ignore it.  If you had no referee, good or bad, there would be no game anyway.

4.      Help us to help ourselves.

If a spectator next to you is detracting from the learning environment for the children by shouting or being negative, first assess the situation.  If the spectator appears approachable, have a quiet word, asking him or her to ‘please be more positive in his/her approach to our children’.  If the person is not approachable, please tell a club official.  If the person becomes negative or responds negatively to you, walk away immediately and inform a club official.  Do not confront the person, especially in the vicinity of children.

By following these simple rules, you can help our club create the optimal learning and fun environment for our young players, their families and other spectators.

Football is a sport that can be very exciting and teach our children the values of hard work, perseverance, individual growth, health and fitness, good nutrition and teamwork.  We believe it has the power to be a major force for good in their young lives.  As adults and spectators, our children have placed their trust in us to create a healthy and positive environment for their game of football.

We have a duty of care to ensure that our children’s rights – and the rights of their team-mates and their young opponents – are upheld.  Our children are counting on us.

Many thanks,

Rick Fenoglio

Manchester Metropolitan University and

Give Us Back Our Game!