This blog is maintained by Percy Hoff, Hollandia's Director of Coaching & Player Development. Born in South Africa, Percy came to Saskatoon in 1982. While living in Warman, he founded the Valley Soccer Association. He moved to Saskatoon in 1994 when he became the Director of Coaching and Player Development for Hollandia. Percy is well known around the country and has played key roles in player development both on the local scene and at the National level.
Why The 'Hurry Up" Mentality
September 15th, 2015
How 'pushing' your child forward harms development
In this day of predators and sometimes unethical adults, I understand perfectly the common urge among parents to 'advocate' for and protect their children. However, over-parenting can be detrimental to the development of children, their eventual independence as adults and their confidence in having to deal with setbacks in many aspects of their lives.
Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of the book 'How to Raise an Adult' offers many insights into the effects of over parenting. Listen to Julie's very engaging recent interview on CBC.
Julie talks about parents "protecting and preventing" rather than preparing children. I would add to this and call it "Pushing, protecting and preventing". Unfortunately, since I began coaching back in 1987, I have noticed a dramatic increase in these tendencies.
I am constantly urging soccer parents to let their kids develop at their own pace, to let them become independent and go through the soccer experience without constant intervention on their behalf.
Parents must start to understand that just like math, science, music, karate or swimming, learning soccer is a step-by-step process. Children must learn skills in predetermined order, but they must also learn to think, to advocate for themselves, to be assertive, to have confidence and to take responsibility for themselves in the sports environment.
The pushy parent always wants their kid on the Premier team, or worse still, they want them to play in an older age group. Insightful soccer people understand that putting a child into a group with older children (unless they are physically, technically, tactically, psychologically and socially ready) is harmful.
Stressing children in this way leads to the elimination of a critical factor in the development of confidence and the ability to perform at peak levels - something coaches call "Flow".
When a player is in a state of flow, they are able to perform to the best of their ability, and this ultimately increases confidence. When they are stressed and put into a situation where they may feel overwhelmed, and they will stop using the skills they have learned. They will often revert to making simple backward passes in games; passing off the responsibility of doing something useful with the ball to others, so as not to make a mistake.
And we keep complaining that Canadian players are not creative enough!
Unfortunately, the soccer system in Saskatoon in badly flawed with respect to its developmental model. For example, two-year age groupings lead to possible five-year physical maturity gap between the oldest and youngest player in any age group.
And I still have parents requesting to have 9 year-old players play in the U12 division! I still see some of our clubs placing 10 to 13 year-old children on PSL U14 teams. The science against this practice is overwhelming, but too lengthy to discuss here. Not to mention that the cardio-vascular systems of players at this age are not even ready for full-field play.
When a coach asks me to move a younger player to an older team, my experience tells me that most of the time, it is about the coach's own desire for results, rather than a desire to see the child develop properly.
So parents, please allow people who are trained and knowledgeable in the game to nurture your kids through their soccer experience. The bottom line is that if they do not thoroughly develop the fundamental individual ability to maintain possession of the ball (technique and individual tactics) they will forever be the weakest link on their team. Pushing them up when they have not mastered the basics is foolish.
Certainly ask questions, but please try to avoid personal attacks against coaches who are trying to help.
