Does Long Term Player Development Work in the Youth Development Phase in Grassroots Football?

 

DOES LTPD WORK AT THE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PHASE IN GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL?

Long Term Player Development (LTPD)

LTPD is a concept first developed, I believe, by Istvan Balyi, who is a sport consultant and expert in Canadian Sport for Life and long-term athlete development.

His concept was based on what he called “Long Term Athlete Development” and was developed in conjunction with Richard Way and Colin Higgs.

The principle looks at 7 stages of a person’s development in sport (any sport) from an Active Start (play) at the youngest ages, through to fundamentals of movement, training to train, training to compete, training to win and eventually, staying active for life.

Like many other organisations across the globe, The Football Association adopted this concept, calling it Long Term PLAYER Development to signify the specificity of the term as it relates to football.

However, the basic premise of a gradual introduction to sport/games in general, not exclusively football at the young ages, continued in line with Balyi’s thinking.

The approach mirrored LTAD through development of movement skills or ‘physical dexterity’ and then a gradual progression through the other stages of learning to train, training to train etc in accordance with the player’s / participant’s needs and aspirations.

Age Phase Priorities

Having integrated the LTPD principle and approach across the coach education courses for a number of years, The FA introduced England DNA in 2014 which included “Age Phase Priorities” breaking the development of players down across three broad age ranges:

The Foundation Phase 5 – 11 years

Youth Development Phase 12 – 17 years

Professional Development Phase 17 – 21+ years (for the sake of this article being related to grassroots football, I tend to refer to this as the ‘Senior’ Development Phase)



The aim of breaking this down into age groups was to help coaches determine the level of challenge and readiness of participants and to be able to create and facilitate age relevant / appropriate practices.

Essentially the outline of LTAD / LTPD put into fewer, readily recognisable categories and with the emphasis on football.

Young Player Development

It is true to say that individuals progress and develop at different ages, stages and speeds, with ‘early developers’ and ‘late developers’ (I was one of the late developers) and those that progress more in closer alignment with their peers. This is true in school, as much as it is in sport.

Relative Age Effect

There is a known phenomenon called the ‘Relative Age Effect’ or ‘Birth Bias’ which shows that people born at the young/late end of an artificial selection period (school term, sports season) can SOMETIMES be behind the development curve as a result of when they were born and be ‘late’ in terms of physical, cognitive, social or technical development.

I need to point out at this stage that this is not an absolute – it is a tendency and there are always exceptions to the rule. However, studies have shown that children born early in the selection period can have certain advantages over their peers.

For example, if you are aged ten and were born in, say August, at the end of the selection period, but a friend in your peer group was born in the previous September, at the start of the period and is eleven months older, you are over 9% younger, ‘missing’ that amount of your life’s development in comparison with your friend.

I should also mention that this phenomenon is consistent across the world and across sports no matter when you start the selection period.

Equal Opportunity

So, using the links between long term player development, how and when young people develop and the relative age effect, The FA recommended a number of changes to youth football including formats of the game (5 – 7 – 9 – 11 a side football), different goal sizes, adapted game rules, equal game playing time and especially plenty of ball touches and game-like practices ( eg 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, 2v1, 3v2 etc) rather than ‘line drills’ with predetermined movements or over complicated patterns which often break down and don’t transfer well to “the game” anyway.

One of the keys being the equal playing time because if players don’t play, or don’t play so much as others, they won’t get better. If ‘training’ is practice, games are practice too.

Foundation Phase 5 – 11s Primary School Years

Now at this age group, I think, generally, the wider football community (both parents and coaches) recognises and sees the value of this principle. Whilst there are players at the youngest ages who may be nervous, shy and more inclined to be less involved in games at the outset, give them six months and you may find they accelerate past their peers in terms of skills, enthusiasm and game understanding. The joy of coaching players in these age groups is seeing their development and understanding grow – but sometimes at different ages, stages and speeds, as mentioned above.

Grassroots vs Academy (EPPP) Football

In grassroots football you will generally see a wide variety of skill, game understanding and application levels, even within the same age group teams.

Some participants are obsessed by the game, practicing at home or in the park, watching many games, live or on TV, or watching clips of their favourite players on You Tube where they can see and then try to copy the skills they have seen.

Other participants though are what could be described as more ‘social’ players. They enjoy the environment and the exercise, regularly attend team practice but are perhaps more driven by wanting to be with their friends and having ‘a game’ at practice than necessarily being driven to practice on their own, or deliberately trying to improve their skills at practice or even, sometimes, watching the game, either live or on TV.

Now, in Academy football, (and I am talking here about professional clubs’ Academies not the plethora of commercial, or indeed charitable, independent soccer schools) the skill and application levels are usually much closer within a fairly narrow band.

Of course, there are still differences between the most and currently, least developed players – Relative Age Effect, level of experience etc are all factors in why some players are ahead in their development, but they are still pretty close together, when comparing them with a grassroots team squad. Another consideration here is that the players are actively seeking to get better and, possibly, striving to become a professional - not all perhaps, but the majority, I would suggest.

Of course, some of that is because professional clubs Academies ‘scout’ or actively recruit ‘talented’ players with a view to supporting their development towards, hopefully, a professional career when they mature. Most don’t achieve that level – there are studies that show that much less than 1% of the intake ‘make it’.

For grassroots, community-based clubs and teams though, the playing squad is generally made up from players within the community who turn up at the club.

I am aware that some grassroots clubs actively recruit more developed/’advanced’ players, but that might be a blog post for another day !

Youth Development Phase 12 – 16s Secondary School Years

Now at the Youth Development Phase, providing equal playing time is still a sound approach, on the premise that playing in matches is as much of a participant’s development and learning as practice or “training”.

However, there are now more factors at play – that from U12 age group games become ‘competitive’. Now, all games are competitive but at this age, teams are entered into leagues with rankings based on results, not merely based on geographical location which is how most of the development games at U7s-U11s are scheduled.

In addition, as players go to secondary school, it is common that they develop new friendship groups some of whom will be footballers playing in their local teams as well.

If you happen to have a mixed ability squad with relatively few better developed players (for whatever reason), it is not unusual, whilst trying to help develop all players in the group, that the team lose more games than they win.

It’s not always the case, of course, but certainly we can all recognise that that does happen. In some cases, there will be heavy defeats which can be very demoralising. Not in all cases though – you can lose a majority of games but if they are competitive, close games, it may not be such an issue – and the fun is in the challenge and being competitive as well as enjoying a win.

If your team loses or wins heavily most weeks, I suggest there is less enjoyment to be had.

Now, in theory, such a group are all friends, have often all come from the same community, been at the club, sometimes since they were 5 or 6 and you would think would stick together. It is also definitely the case that young players get over a defeat pretty quickly, generally.

However, for some of the players who are more obsessed with the game and are actively seeking to become better footballers, for whatever reason or at whatever aspirational level, constant losses can be a factor in demotivation.

For some of those players, new friendship groups including people who play at other more ‘successful’ clubs will entice their new friends to come and play with them at their team.

If that does happen, it can present a problem for the players remaining at the original team.

I have a friend who has experienced this over a number of years where his club has lost whole teams because of the exodus of some (currently) better developed players to other more competitive (or winning) teams.

The consequence of this is that the remaining players, form a less competitive team, often losing more games than before, when more players drop out as losing often, is no fun.

A further consequence is that they have now lost so many players over a couple of seasons that they have had to pull the age group out of the league as they are now unable to field a team because of a lack of numbers.

Participant Drop Out

I believe it is still true that the majority of young players drop out of football (in this case) between 13/14 and 16/17.

There are a variety of reasons why players drop out – school/college studies, part time work, other interests and pastimes, football has become less important, they have reached the end of their interest or in the case of losing often, less fun.

There are of course other reasons; pressure from oppressive coaches or too intense parents but I am mainly focussed here on the more organic reasons for drop out.

LTPD

So this is where my question originates:

Does LTPD work at the Youth Development Phase in grassroots football?

We try to integrate and develop ALL players at both practice and games including equal playing time, as far as possible.

But if players drop out between, say, 14-16 anyway and we lose (currently) ‘better developed’ players to other clubs, causing further and sometimes earlier drop out for the remaining players, how can we rely on the long term to develop players into adulthood and to keep them playing?

Additionally, do 13 / 14 / 15 year olds understand the concept of Long Term Player Development? Are they even planning to stay and play the game into adulthood?

LTPD/LTAD is, I believe, mainly aimed at the coach and club – to encourage them to develop all players, to not just focus on and perhaps play the currently better developed player to the exclusion or at least the detriment of those ‘striving to catch up’.

Are those more ‘social’ players mentioned above genuinely striving to catch up… or is football just part of who they are, or just something they do for fun rather than something they want to pursue for as long and as to high a level as they can?



Certainly in the Academy system, LTPD is absolutely a relevant and appropriate concept to apply. There is an end goal for coaches, club and (most of) the players in attempting to achieve high skill levels and professional status, either at the club at which they are being developed or perhaps, eventually at another professional club.

For the grassroots player though, are grassroots coaches (I am one) guilty of inappropriate expectations of the players we serve - that they will all develop, they will all stay in the game, that, actually, they even want to?



Streaming Players

One way to allow players to find their relative level, to keep them playing and achieve their potential is to employ a system of “streaming”.

The concept is familiar from school days and the idea that groups of individuals can be appropriately developed and challenged within a relative peer group based on current levels of ability (whether that be in maths or football).

The challenge now is to determine when streaming should begin, what does streaming look like and how it is practically implemented.

A club could decide to split the group with the currently more competent and the less competent in two team groups playing in different divisions relative to their current ability level.

That depends on whether or not you have enough players to form two teams and enough volunteer coaches to run another team.

You could decide to play the (currently) less well developed players in selected games where the level of the opposition is likely to enable them to make a competitive contribution to the game. But, as stated above, if they don’t play in games as well as at practice, they are missing out on part of their development.

Additionally, you may have to consider charging less for subscriptions if you are deciding that some players will play fewer games. If a child gets a lesser service, surely the parents/carers should have to pay a reduced fee.

Another way is to, again, charge a reduced subscription and then hand select friendly games, say, once a month, specifically for the less well developed group so they can play competitive games against teams matching their current development level. I am aware of teams that do this. They actually form a team and register with the County FA but don’t join a league and hand pick games against similar level teams. The savings on league affiliation, referees etc help facilitate reduced subscriptions.

TUAP – Turn Up And Play

The other question is: Do you HAVE to play in a league? The short answer is No ! There is no obligation to play in a league if you consider that not to be appropriate for the development level of a particular group of the players at your club.

Not too long ago a concept and project called ‘Give Us Back Our Game’ (GUBOG) and run by Paul Cooper (‘Martin Mucklowe' from the BBC comedy - This Country) advocated Turn Up And Play sessions for minimal costs. No expensive kit (save the basics of boots, shin pads and whatever kit the players had), no ‘coaching’ as such, no substitutes, no leagues. Just a series of small sided games, players put into small teams (3v3 / 4v4 / 3v4 etc) and encouraged to play a variety of games (4 goal game, end zone game, traditional game, switching play game etc) on a rota over, say, an hour. Just play, effectively, but where the game design allowed players to figure out the problems set by that game.

That way, players could enjoy playing (they were encouraged to switch players around as they would in the playground if the sides were unbalanced) with it being less likely that there would be one sided games. Then, after 15 minutes, they would rotate to another game with the intrinsic learning of playing that game.

Retention

So, if your club/team is experiencing a retention challenge are some of these suggestions ways in which you could retain players allowing people to find their own level and perhaps stepping (back) into competitive football as they develop rather than being discouraged from playing via early mismatched games?

Late developers or those who are unable to commit to practice and games regularly, especially via the GUBOG model, can be retained as club members.

Future View

Keeping young players playing the game in a fun yet competitive, even if not in ‘a league’, environment may also spark other interests; refereeing, coaching and, as they get older, planning, organising.

The people who may not become players for adult teams may easily become the club’s future volunteers, committee members or, if running their own businesses as adults, become club advocates and sponsors. Of course, if your club provided a great experience, you may well find that in future years they will bring their own children to your club and so the cycle continues.

Discussion

So we can perhaps recognise that there are multiple ways in which to keep young people involved in your club, playing sport (football) with all the social, physical and mental health benefits that brings even if not in a formal “League” environment.

However, I believe that the opening question remains:

DOES LTPD WORK AT THE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PHASE IN GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL?

Please feel free to comment below.

REFEREES REFEREE BECAUSE REFEREES LOVE FOOTBALL TOO

 I wanted to raise for discussion the thorny issue of officials, Referees and their Assistants, in football and, especially in grassroots football, whether at youth or open age level.

It is a topic that has prompted my reflection and increasing concern over the last few years, especially and which has been exacerbated by reports and comments on social media about the treatment officials (whether formally ‘appointed’ or last-minute volunteers) receive from managers, coaches, spectators, parents’ and players.

It also seems, again from social media comments, that many teams are not now having officials appointed to club games this season (2021-22).

Following the resumption of football post Covid-19 lockdown, the Club with which I am involved received a communication from the local County FA informing us that when football resumed after the previous Covid lockdown there was a spike in Misconduct incidents and charges and especially with abuse towards referees.

They also pointed out that, of around 650 active officials in our county, almost 20% were under the age of 18 and therefore, in the eyes of the law, minors - children.

 

CHANGING PERCEPTION

Please, when we attend football games, let us make a change in how we regard the referee and other officials.

I heard a great phrase once, from an American company for which I used to work that “Perception IS Reality”.

So, I wanted to implore readers to change their perception of how match officials are regarded.

Referees and assistants are not ‘the enemy.’

They are qualified, impartial and do their best to manage games to the best of their ability so that everyone can enjoy the game.

They are, or, in my opinion, should be regarded as guests of the club at which they are officiating. I strongly believe that if we can all change our perception of officials and strive to manage our reactions we will all be calmer and as a result enjoy the game more and be less stressed.

 

DECISIONS MADE ‘AGAINST US’

Officials do not give decisions “against us” – they just give decisions in accordance with the Laws of the Game.

Do they make mistakes? Of course…. Just like players, managers, coaches….as we all do.

As an active coach, previous referee, my local Club’s Welfare Officer and with some friends who are referees, I can absolutely ASSURE you that referees officiate because they love football too.

YOUNG REFEREES

Especially at youth games the appointed officials will often be only a year or two older than the players in the games they are officiating and are also therefore children.

Young referees are learning to referee the game in the same way that clubs’ young people are learning to play the game.

So, please, help football by intentionally acting as a positive role model for good behaviour and demonstrating by example that this is how you do things at your Club.

Some County Football Associations have introduced Yellow Armbands for referees Under 18 and to draw attention to the fact they are children.

Parents / spectators at youth games should feel empowered to challenge inappropriate behaviour considering this information, though I recognise it is not always advisable to do so if it would cause a confrontation or puts you in a threatening situation.

If that is the situation, please draw such behaviour to the attention of your team’s coach and ask them to address it with the opposition coach. If it is your coach, can you involve the assistant coach to modify behaviour?

Or report it to your club’s appointed Welfare Officer.

 

WE WANT FAIRNESS / CONSISTENCY

Many, many people, coaches, managers, players, parents, spectators, TV pundits often say they want ‘fairness’ or consistency.

Referees are fair – they give decisions (or sometimes, not) based upon their interpretation of what they have just seen and having cross referenced the incident with their knowledge of the Laws Of The Game.

My personal view, which has developed over the years is that, actually “We” (our team’s players, fans, coaches) just want decisions to go OUR way – to be given ‘in our favour’. But if they do, is that not giving decisions ‘against’ the other team (see above)?

As followers of the game, we perceive an ‘injustice’ when a decision presents possession to the ‘other’ team.

 

THE REF COST US THE GAME

The referee cost us the game, or a version of that comment, is something I suspect most followers of football would recognise that is occasionally made about officials.

Conversely, though, I have never, EVER heard a team coach, manager, fan say “We only won because the ref cheated the other lot out of it” – Never, in over 50 years of following the game.

If you believe what I have stated above is true, why do you think that is the case?

Officials don’t ‘lose’ games, players do. I have often used this phrase in conversation and am always happy to discuss other people’s perspective

I have often heard the example offered “What about the last minute ‘dodgy’ penalty when it’s 0-0?”

DO PLAYERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE LOSS / DRAW?

In that circumstance I would look at the challenge that led to the award of the penalty, initially. E.g. The starting position of the defender – wrong side, too close, too far off, did they tackle with the ‘wrong’ leg, should they have tackled at all, could they have shown the player away from the goal instead of challenging….etc?

Also, I would then look at the preceding pass – should it have been intercepted by someone screening / cutting off the passing lane, did the immediate defender make the pass difficult for the passer, was the passer under pressure at all, or should they have been?

Earlier on in the game, I would be looking at the ability of the team in attack to create shooting opportunities; movement to create space, unpredictability in the final third, combination play to get into shooting positions. Having been in those shooting positions did players take the opportunity to shoot, or delay too long, play an extra pass that meant the opportunity was lost…. Or did they shoot but off target – over the bar, which gives no other chance to score although past the far post, for example, at least gives another opportunity for follow ups or rebounds.

Did other players actually follow in for a far post finish or to deal with rebounds…or not?

 

TEAM STRATEGY & TACTICS

How about the process to achieve a result? What is the coach/managers approach to the game? Have they changed approach because of the opposition? Is it something they have practised with the team before implementing it on match day? Have they made an in game change that has effectively reduced their chances of creating opportunities?

 

SHOW ME A VIDEO

Show me a video of any game, and I am pretty convinced I will be able show half a dozen reasons why a team lost or drew a game that is nothing to do with the referee

A throw in on the half-way line is not, or should not be, more of a challenge than the opponent having possession in open play, for example. What does a team out of possession do in open play? Close down, press, cover, balance, try to force play, position for interceptions etc. It should be no different for a throw in or free kick.

I would suggest that most deep free kicks delivered into the opposing penalty box are largely unsuccessful, in any case. (I do need to do some analysis.)

As soon as the ball is in the air, it’s a bit of a 50/50 anyway. Next game you are watching, consciously watch for deep free kicks and see how successful they are in creating scoring or secondary opportunities and what really happens. (Nought From One – if you know, you know!)

 

CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLES

I have recently worked with an U18 group. One of the key messages throughout has been around Emotional Intelligence - controlling their emotions and responses to stressful or frustrating circumstances.

Some players naturally have things under control, others less so and so we have provided guidance, instruction, scenarios to imagine and prepare for before they encounter them so they have an intelligent response – we have used the phrase “Be Response-able” (not my phrase; as a coach, I nicked it from someone else but if you wish to accredit it to me, I will gladly claim it as my own !)

As coaches/managers we can help players and our colleagues re-frame things in our minds, deal with the situation in front of us and not succumb to imagined injustices when, in fact, decisions are just part and parcel of the game, which, in the cold light of day, we all know, really.

 

IT’S JUST ‘PASSION’

Another phrase I have often heard – football is a passionate game – is almost a justification for losing self-control and shouting insults or questioning a (sometimes seemingly every) decision that are ‘awarded’ to the other team.

For me, passion is about following your team, being a student of the game, as a coach, helping individuals as well as the team to become better players and people, staying up late (especially if you are a grassroots coach) designing practices to help develop players’ understanding of the game – generally, or what is required in the match this weekend.

I would expect to be challenged on this, but my view cannot be that ‘passion’ allows people to shout insults or constantly challenge decisions of officials and especially, but not exclusively, when that official is a child.

 

OFFICIALS HAVE TO EARN RESPECT

When I was growing up (quite a few years ago now, I grant you) Respect was afforded to EVERYONE in every circumstance as a matter of course and was only EVER withdrawn once the individual demonstrated they were no longer worthy of respect. But that didn’t mean withdrawing Respect because someone made a decision with which we didn’t agree …or wish had been different.

The FA’s Respect Programme was introduced primarily because of the deterioration of respect across the game; Respect for officials, but also for coaches, our own and opponents’, our teammates, opposing players, for ourselves and for the game itself.

 

LEARNED BEHAVIOUR THROUGH ‘CULTURE’

But is this not just learned behaviour brought about by the (toxic? Tribal?) culture that has been allowed to evolve in football.

The people who live in Britain, generally I think, are still regarded as having a very high regard for integrity and ‘fair play’. Let us all try to maintain that global perception and to respect all who participate and run the wonderful game we call football…..or soccer, if you prefer.

Thank you for reading and I hope I may have influenced your perspective, just a little, or at least helped you think about how we can make football more enjoyable for officials and perhaps reduce the stress apparently suffered by players, coaches, managers, parents, spectators and fans because a decision was made ‘against’ us.

Please, help make a change……Thanks for reading.