In a world where children can no longer play outside without supervision, parents and coaches have taken over.  And the competitive drive adults bring in the game means youngsters no longer have time to fall in love with football, to play for fun and thus truly to develop their skills.

A quick question to youth coaches & parents.  As a coach do you allow your players to play?  Or, as a parent does your child get the freedom to express themselves in a match?

It has been clear to me for a number of years that youth football is full of bad commentators stopping our children from having fun, learning, trying new skills...basically these poor coaches are stopping children from being creative & expressing themselves.

A child learns to develop through trial & error.  The coach should encourage them to try skills & turns to beat opponents.  Offering snippets of guidance but always positive encouragement.

If a 'coach' shouts at a child or tells them that they made a mistake by trying to beat an opponent it will strike a negative with them.  The outcome?  The child won't try it again.  They will only play within their comfort zone & therefore not develop or be confident to try new things.

A child, especially a young child, looks upon their coach as a father type figure.  It is essential that Club's appoint suitable individuals.

The poor youth standards is stopping the great British players of George Best, Stanley Matthews & more recently the Paul Gascoigne's come through.  Will the current structure ever produce a Messi or Ronaldo?

The problem needs to be addressed by the FA's, let's have more specialised youth coaching courses & specialised youth coaches.  We are a football nation that doesn't like to support each other or share ideas in case we give an opponent the upper hand.  Although the truth of the matter is that many youth set ups have a poor development programme in place already.

Maybe, if the 4 v 4 message can spread, we can rear a generation of footballers who play with creativity and without fear, who solve their own problems on the pitch, and who enjoy the game.  Footballers who play to win, instead of losing through fear.

At TW Academy we concentrate heavily on the technical side of the game.  This is achieved through always working with the ball through series of technical sessions, possession games & small sided games.  We give children the opportunity to play, try different skills & moves so that they can develop & be comfortable on the ball.

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