Changing Children’s Football Coaching – An Article By James Cutting

Those reading the title of this article may ask what needs to change within youth football coaching, so let me explain what’s great about it before I get going with what needs to improve.

The whole grassroots game is facilitated by passionate volunteers. 13.5m people play football regularly and stats suggest that this participation contributes to the reduction of 66,500 cases of child depression and anxiety and 213, 500 cases of childhood obesity. It’s clear for all to see that football is playing a huge role in society and without it and the wonderful people that enable the grassroots game, we would encounter some serious societal children’s health issues.

The grassroots coaches and other volunteers that facilitate the game give up their time at unsociable times to enable children to play the game that they love and many of them are absolute heroes. However, there are a minority that really aren’t!

My inspiration for this article was a grassroots sessions that I observed on the other half of the AstroTurf when I recently attended a Football Fun Factory session. Some of the words coming out of the mouth of the coach at this kids football session really shocked me to be honest! I made a point of noting down the following statements:

”You have to move the ball quicker!”.
”You’re not working hard enough”.
”You lot are not going to win on Saturday with that attitude”.

There was more on the night, but rather than waste time moaning about what I saw and heard, I’ll tell you what we are doing about it. At the Football Fun Factory we’re aiming to positively change youth football by educating coaches, parents and children and showcasing to everyone that, beyond safety, fun should be the number one priority.

In the session that I saw the children barely got a touch of the ball. It was cold, wet and miserable outside and the kids looked miserable in the session. In the FFF session on our side of the AstroTurf it was the polar opposite! The rain was still coming down just as hard and it was just as cold, but all of the kids were smiling and the reason was the coaches!

Every child within our session had a ball, every child was praised and encouraged and every child was challenged suitably for their own level of ability.

As we grow our children’s football coaching franchise across the UK & Ireland, we’re determined to make football fun for everyone and we’ll use the dinosaurs of the grassroots game as our inspiration!

If you’re a passionate football coach, who loves the ethos of Football Fun Factory, why not fill out the form below to learn more about starting your own franchise business.