The majority of people have got it all wrong about the competition.
Agressive parents and coaches are the worst offenders. Regular youth match attendees have all seen these parents and coaches that go completely bonkers, yelling from the stands, ruthlessly making it into some life or death competition.
What they should be doing is to make football a positive experience for the kids instead of making them pawns to use them to vicariously re-live their own childhood. The main problem is parents and coaches who put too much pressure on the kids to perform rather than develop and the programmess that emphasized winning as the main focus.
You see, competition is a good thing, infact it’s a fantastic thing… if it brings out the best in a person. Competition can show a person where his or her true weaknesses lie.
But, it can also bring out the worst in a person and that can lead to lasting damage both physically and mentally. Especially when the young football player has a negative frame of mind.
Competition amongst trialists at some pro club centres of excellence and academies is particularly intense and in many cases intimidating. Coaches drum it into the trialists that they are fighting for their position and invoke a host of negative actions from the stronger characters; swearing, bullying, pushing, cajoling, fouling and altogether bad sportsmanship.
The newer trialists with less agressive personalities, tend to be left out of the team spirit and fall by the wayside. They can’t wait to move on.
Some may argue that they need to get used to the realities of the game, both on and off the pitch, and need to develop a stronger more agressive attitude. They need to be able to stand up for themselves.
I think that kids, in whatever field of endeavor, need to be nurtered and evolve naturally. The biggest competition they should face is themselves.
Future Asian soccer stars need to realise that competing with others will not always lead to positives outcomes and is therefore out of their control. Kids develop at different time spans and the nature of the game means there is never a constant.
The best athletes and football players don’t compete so much with others as they do with themselves. After all, once your better than all your competitors how can you keep improving yourself if your focus is always on ‘being better than others’.
Making yourself your greatest competition is the way to go.
Keep a log of all your stats before you start your programme; height, weight, bmi, strength, speed, agility, endurance, kicking distance, awareness, mental toughness and focus on improving each area step-by-step.
Monitor and log each area of focus weekly, and before you know it the improvements will start to show.
