Youth Development

Asterix

At the risk of sounding a bit like a football hipster, I enjoyed this article on the German method of developing young players. It makes a good point about the lack of success of England and the lack of English players in the Premier League.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/may/23/germany-bust-boom-talent?INTCMP=SRCH

The point about allowing youngsters to experience competitive play at a younger age is interesting too. Some theories suggest you don't do this until mid teens or so. I don't think it's such a bad thing. A bit of healthy competition is realistic.

My country, Australia, has been grappling with the question of youth development for a while. We went all Dutch with a Dutch technical director who has set up a very good national coaching curriculum.

The Japanese decided several years ago that they were quite good technically and had fast, fit players, but they were being bullied too much. So they directed referees in the J League to start letting players get away with slightly rougher play in order to toughen themselves up. Seems to have a worked quite well, as they aren't intimidated by us as much as they used to be. They're also much more skillful than the Aussies - we hardly ever get the ball off them now.

goon

Meh, we were in awe of French production system once upon a time, then Spain followed and now Germany is flavour of the month. And what about the Dutch? They were supposed to be the masters of producing players with fantastic technique but their talent pool has completely dried up.

You can manufacture good players if you work on them at a young age but ultimately the very best are natural talents and nothing can really change that.

Qwiss

otfgoon wrote:
You can manufacture good players if you work on them at a young age but ultimately the very best are natural talents and nothing can really change that.

I don't know about that. If thats true why are 90% of the best players from the same 5 or 6 countries?

goon

Combination of a few factors. Because they have strong national leagues who can find and make the most of these talents and because the kids are into football to name a few.

I don't think the fact that Brazil keep churning out great players with loads of flair is down to their training methods, academies or infrastructure.

Patters

You do need natural talent but in discussions like this I always remember Agassi talking about his childhood (if you can call it that). Since he was 3, his dad used to smack tennis balls at him at impossible speeds and expect him to return them. Today it'd be called child abuse. Psychotic parenting does lead to some phenomenal results at times. When Xavi or others talk about that Barca la masia thing they make it sound like some sort of footballing auschwitz hell where if you lose the ball your life is over. Internal mindfuck pressure is pretty awesome.

Captain

Grass is always greener... although there is something to be learned from the way that Germany turned it around so quickly. It's a disgrace that here in England technical directives set forward in 97-98 were still prevalent upto just three years ago.

Still, that model is not one that can be followed and we have to find our own way (as glib as that may sound).

Timbob

Roy Jones Jr's dad used to stand him in front of a garage and throw rocks at him to improve his reactions.

We should try that with Flappy.

Burnwinter

Bradman trained himself hitting a golf ball endlessly with a cricket stump. 10,000 hours etc.

kamikaze

all that's fair, but i agree that this stuff happens in waves. there's an element of randomness as to where the best footballers are born in the lottery of life. but obviously, you see more footballers in countries with the largest footballing populations (france, spain, germany, brazil, argentina) where children focus on it from a young age.

Kurtz

Of course sometimes people are born with natural inclinations and physical traits. But football is learned like any skill. For example, many good footballers grew up playing football in tight spaces or on "the streets" which leads to good technical ability. Of course infrastructure, leagues are very important as well.

Biggus

Did you learn to play on the streets Kurtzy?

Captain

In the cage.

On concrete.

It's amazing that everyone made it out in one piece.

Armor

I bet Kurtz saw some crazy shit in his day

Patters

Tbf I'd have hated being a toddler during the London riots.

GaelForce

Kurtz is from the Cambodian Jungle, no?

Kurtz

😆

kamikaze

He's from the heart of darkness, is what I heard

Captain

Arsenal Mania?

Aren't we all mate, aren't we all..

Biggus

Bold Tone

"Stuart Pearce refuses to defend 'really poor' England Under-21s"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jun/11/stuart-pearce-england-under-21s
I think this will harm his managerial career as players will never trust him.
We see top managers defend their players even though they are clearly wrong and that has the effect of making players run through brick walls for them.