Development of Talent in India

Monday, 16. November 2009 - Horst Wein (GW)

There is a need for specialists to deal with the development of young Football Players in India.

It is quite reasonable to conceive that young children cannot be taught and coached to play the game in a manner that is meant for adults. Youth football or hockey coaching is a specialised affair and therefore youth coaches need to be specialists to deal with the developing child. Youth coaches need to be armed with a sound knowledge of the biological, motor, growth-related, physical, physiological, psychological and analytical capabilities and limitations of a growing child. This would require specialised youth coaching courses to be conducted involving specialists from different areas related to the game. Such a knowledge base would be imperative for the youth coaches to adequately deal with the young players and to prepare developmentally appropriate coaching and training programmes for different age groups.

In order to encourage the Sports Authority in India and their associated institutions to spread out the magic of football to further develop the amount of school children to play and enjoy the game we should provide a unique guide with detailed information and recommendations about developing step by step young football  players with an age-orientated football development model which any novice will be able to put in practise with children.

A right talent nurtured in a wrong manner is almost criminal. Few of the suggested reasons for children opting to drop-out from a sport are that they feel they are being made to play a rather difficult-to-handle game like football and hockey. To make decisions and deal with situations which are beyond their comprehension and capabilities. They have limited opportunities of success, not having the much-desired fun in the game and not being given the freedom of play.

Moreover, they perceive adults as too dictatorial who want the children to do things as dictated.

These factors constitute the perfect poison to kill a child's desire and motivation to continue with a sport. It is often observed that young children are made to play the game that is meant for adults to play. It is unreasonable to consider the children as miniature adults and expect them to meet the demands of an adult-like game.

Children want to play the game for the sake of enjoying it. They want to deal with situations that are compatible with their playing abilities.

They want opportunities to be successful in the game and above all, children want to have fun and enjoyment while playing the game.


A child-centric approach

One of the ways to make the game child-centric is to adopt a modified-game or simplified game approach. This involves playing football or hockey on a smaller­-sized field with a fewer number of players with minimum and simplified rules. There is ample evidence to suggest that simplified games provide a significantly greater degree of learning and success to a young football or hockey player. Such a play structure has the advantage that it can accommodate more number of players in the field at any point in time, it can be organised as a half-a-day or a one day festival and provides far greater amount of playing time to an individual child.

It's worth mentioning that realising the significance of simplified football games for player development, a group of enthusiastic football fans has taken now initiatives to promote the popularity of football amongst Indian school children.