NEWS
HOME

PROGRAMS

RESOURCES

ABOUT YPT

CONTACT US

SIGN THE GUESTBOOK    VIEW THE GUESTBOOK

w w w . Y P T u s a . com

CONTACT US:
email: info@YPTusa.com
phone: [001] 610.529.7227
fax: [001] 717.391.8385
aol/aim IM: YPTusa1
msn IM: YPTusa


COACH CALLS FOR OVERHAUL OF JUNIOR GAME


1
And because of this, he believes too many parents expect their children to win.

Hewitt said: "The vast majority of problems at the junior football level are caused by parents."

Hewitt is a member of an organisation called Give Us Back Our Game, which was developed in October 2006 by youth football coaches, parents and academics across the UK who believe junior football needs to be revamped.
 
The organisation would like to see the UK adopt a style of junior football used in Holland and advocated by Rene Meulensteen - a former junior football coach at Manchester United who have produced some of the best home-grown talent in the modern game.

Under that system, children in U-7s and U-8s would play four a side (4v4) and the games would be non-competitive, meaning no scores would be recorded and no league or cup trophies would be awarded at the end of the year.

The system would progress to 7v7 for U-9s and U-10s and then 9v9 for U-11s before switching to 11v11 at U-12s. He also believes that young children should not be playing on full-size pitches used for the adult game.

"On a full-size pitch, kids don't get a lot of touches of the ball. On a smaller pitch they'll get lots and lots of touches which means they'll improve more."

By introducing children to 4v4, he believes it would allow them to "develop properly". 4v4 is the lowest number you can have and still maintain a basic formation.

He also said that the current set-up for U-7s to U-10s at many junior football clubs is to have 20 boys playing for two different teams.

But when they get to U-11s, there is only one team and no place for at least seven or eight boys - which is where the 9v9 idea would come in.

"The idea is not to lose such a large number of boys.

"At the moment, the UK has the highest drop-out rate in Europe."

Hewitt also said that keeping games non-competitive for U-7s and U-8s will not only help concentrate more on skill development - but also reduce the pressure put on youngsters by sometimes over-zealous parents.

He added: "The idea is that we don't care who wins as long as you're learning the game. But right now you see it every week with parents.

"There are always problems on the touchline because so many of them want their kids to win the fixture. We want to develop boys in a non competitive environment rather than getting them trying to compete."

Hewitt added that changing the system could only be a good idea because the current format is not working.

And he says the failure to properly develop our youngsters is one of the reasons behind the national team's ongoing woes.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Source: ThisisBradford.co.uk
A RADICAL overhaul of the way youngsters play and are coached football in England has been called for by the concerned boss of a junior side.

Richard Hewitt, secretary of Oakworth Junior Football Club and coach of their Under-11s team, wants to change some of the rules for U-7s to U-11s matches so that children can more thoroughly develop their football skills.

He said that a lot of problems with junior football today is that matches have too much of a competitive edge- with results and league tables being published for the above age ranges.