SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Winning or Success?

Found these sound bites from "Premier League World" on FSC today interesting in regards to this issue:

U-10 U-11: Premier League Initiative

Initiative not geared totally towards improving football skills, “If you’re in an academy you have to have a disciplined lifestyle. You have to eat healthfully, be organized, you have to make sure that you conduct yourself correctly, because you’re representing your family and your academy. So again, all those things can only help the boys socially, mentally, to be a better person because they all know that they’re not going to be footballers, a lot of them, but with the environment they’re in and the process they go through they can achieve the highest level possible.
Paul Lever – Academy Assistant Director (Liverpool)

“We in the academy structure are not just about producing players. We want to produce good human beings as well. And out of these young boys that are playing today, it will not only be footballers of the future, but coaches of the future. And it doesn’t always mean to be successful that you work at the highest level. There are many contributions that you can make to sport and development in many different roles throughout the world.
Jim Cassell – Academy Director (Manchester City)


Goal of the initiative is to have 25% of the participants turn pro by the age of 18.

At what age are the two lessons referenced valid?

As for life not being fair, as soon as the child is old enough to understand what the meaning of fair is, and says for the first time, "that's not fair".

As for tomorrow being another day, the first time the child has a day that both the child and parents wished hadn't happened.

Children develop at different rates, so there is no set age. For some, it can be very early, for others, it's later. In my opinion, regardless of when it happens, the parents need to both set the example, and help the child learn, and assist them in moving through this potentially painful process.

I guess I'm thinking differently. I'm pretty sure that being able to positively spin a negative should NOT be considered on par with an event that betters you as a person.

How does being slapped in the face with "life's not fair" make you a better person? That's a coping response, not an improvement event.

Taking your child with you on a monthly basis to a Rescue Mission to serve lunch to the homeless....can make them a better person. A friend of mine went on a mission trip to Africa this past summer where they used soccer as tool to reach kids....and took along his son.

How you compare those scenarios, with getting a bad hand at a tryout or being treated unfairly by a coach or a teacher or whatever.....are different. At least to me.

For adults, there are GREAT lessons to be learned thru adversity. But I think they are adult lessons....and even then, personally I don't want too many of them. There are only so many learning opportunities I can handle!!!!

I would say the age these two lessons become valid will differ from child to child depending on the maturity level. The "life's not fair" lesson is kind of tricky. It is one of those things we hear it all our life and we realize is the truth, but it is used normally as a coping response.

It is just another way of saying things can't always go your way - accept it - live with it - move on. Hopefully learn something from it. So to that degree it can an improvement element.

I think in this day of instant gratification way too many people don't accept either of these two lessons. Nobody likes them or wants to deal with them - but are inevitbale.

What a great thread!

My hope is that I can rear my children such that they see every negative event as an improvement event and never just as a coping event. And not just in adulthood, but in childhood as well.

When coaches and parents emphasize playing their best, never giving up, learning new skills, and having fun over scoring more points, youth begin to develop positive values about winning and losing. By seeing adult role models encourage team members to do their best and support each other and accepting each player's abilities and limitations, teens learn respect for others, and that respect can go with that teen into adulthood.

Responsibility for your actions and respect for others doesn't have to wait until the teen years to learn. Often times, by the teen years, it's very late in the process. Some might say too late, but, I'll settle for very late.