I’ve seen a couple of negative stories surface in the last week or so on the introduction of Small Sided Games this season but having read them I think their missing the point of their introduction. The introduction of SSG is not about the parents...it’s about the kids....it’s not about how many medals they have as a 6 year old it’s about how many touches of the ball they get each weekend. And as for the one article I read where someone said that playing on a big pitch at a young age taught them valuable life lessons about disappointment...that it was good for someone to be bored in goal...purlease....isn’t that your job as a parent? Can’t you at least wait for them to hit their teenage years so they can experience genuine feelings of isolation and despair for the first time!
I fail to see how kids watching the biggest and strongest amongst them dominate week in week out is good for the game unless you are the selfish parents of the biggest kid on the block. Make no mistake football is about being an athlete but it should be about being a footballer first and for me this is what SSG teaches the kids...that with good ball control, awareness, technique and game intelligence in tight spaces you can take the “hoofers” out of play. Being the strongest and fastest is not enough anymore on a smaller field...size is much less of an advantage unless it’s coupled with technique. Have any of them seen players like Messi play?
At my club, Georges River, we run 68 teams at all levels but the majority are at the junior age groups...last Saturday we had 5 SSG pitches running simultaneously on an oval that can only house two full size pitches...games were still being played on one of the full size pitches as well maximising all the space available. As far as I could see the kids loved it....more involvement...more touches...more goals....more goalscorers...I’d rather my 6 year old felt the joy of hitting the back of the net even with or without a keeper than the despair of not touching the ball for 20 minutes and potentially going a whole season without scoring. In my view at this age football should be as positive an experience as possible...there’s plenty of time for them to learn the harsh realities of life on and off a football pitch in their later years.
The kids I watched know when they have come off the pitch whether they won or lost...of course they keep score when playing....of course it’s competitive during the game and of course they don’t want to lose...all healthy traits to develop at any age...and of course they know whether they played better or worse than they are capable of...but they don’t need a league table to remind them all week. It doesn't matter.
As a kid growing up in England playing in the playground or in the street there were no league tables...just the score at the end of that lunch break or when your mom called you in for your dinner...it might have been 15 minutes...it might have been 3 hours...there were no draws...most games ending with the infamous "next goal's the winner" shout...we knew who'd won and lost, who played well and who didn't but next game was a clean slate....0-0...let's play....there was certainly no end of season award presentation because the season never ended...it was always about the next chance we were going to get to play.
I’d ask all parents to ask themselves who’s really more disappointed by the lack of a Grand Final and medals at the end of the season....their kids or themselves? And if come August your child has had a phenomenal season and deserves a medal....there’s nothing to stop you buying them one yourself. It will almost certainly mean just as much to them...who knows...maybe more.
I fail to see how kids watching the biggest and strongest amongst them dominate week in week out is good for the game unless you are the selfish parents of the biggest kid on the block. Make no mistake football is about being an athlete but it should be about being a footballer first and for me this is what SSG teaches the kids...that with good ball control, awareness, technique and game intelligence in tight spaces you can take the “hoofers” out of play. Being the strongest and fastest is not enough anymore on a smaller field...size is much less of an advantage unless it’s coupled with technique. Have any of them seen players like Messi play?
At my club, Georges River, we run 68 teams at all levels but the majority are at the junior age groups...last Saturday we had 5 SSG pitches running simultaneously on an oval that can only house two full size pitches...games were still being played on one of the full size pitches as well maximising all the space available. As far as I could see the kids loved it....more involvement...more touches...more goals....more goalscorers...I’d rather my 6 year old felt the joy of hitting the back of the net even with or without a keeper than the despair of not touching the ball for 20 minutes and potentially going a whole season without scoring. In my view at this age football should be as positive an experience as possible...there’s plenty of time for them to learn the harsh realities of life on and off a football pitch in their later years.
The kids I watched know when they have come off the pitch whether they won or lost...of course they keep score when playing....of course it’s competitive during the game and of course they don’t want to lose...all healthy traits to develop at any age...and of course they know whether they played better or worse than they are capable of...but they don’t need a league table to remind them all week. It doesn't matter.
As a kid growing up in England playing in the playground or in the street there were no league tables...just the score at the end of that lunch break or when your mom called you in for your dinner...it might have been 15 minutes...it might have been 3 hours...there were no draws...most games ending with the infamous "next goal's the winner" shout...we knew who'd won and lost, who played well and who didn't but next game was a clean slate....0-0...let's play....there was certainly no end of season award presentation because the season never ended...it was always about the next chance we were going to get to play.
I’d ask all parents to ask themselves who’s really more disappointed by the lack of a Grand Final and medals at the end of the season....their kids or themselves? And if come August your child has had a phenomenal season and deserves a medal....there’s nothing to stop you buying them one yourself. It will almost certainly mean just as much to them...who knows...maybe more.
