Every afternoon in every sports venue in every city or town, every coach, every parent and every training session, hundreds of thousands of children, millions of hopes, millions of dreams, hours and hours of training ahead, competitions too, good and bad moments, laughter and tears, victories and defeats.
That is how I would describe in broad terms, what sport is like at its very basic level – the future of sport. So, how do we want to manage the training of our future athletes and, above all, our children? I will explain the two trends that, in my opinion and experience, seem to be popular at the moment:
On the one hand there is a school of thought that sees the youth teams as a kind of factory that produces champions in the broadest sense of the word. Teachers, coaches, parents and people who surround the children see this initial stage in their sporting lives as a time of training, but also a time of physical growth as well as improving in their chosen sport. Training sessions are centred on the child´s physical and psychological well-being and even as a way of socialising the child. Consequently he can develop gradually and, when reaching adulthood, can become a trained athlete , ready to try and achieve success in his field of sport.
On the other hand there are some who regard the youth teams as a way of selecting and training only the most talented children. These people think that the child in question (usually their son or daughter) is or is going to become a champion, and from a very young age he has to be coached and be treated as such, even if he still hasn´t achieved anything.
People would be surprised to see the amount of budding Cristianos, Messis, Gasoles, Nadales, Hortelanos and Mireias that there are in our country today. And they would be even more surprised if I told them that 95% of these children will not make it in the sporting world. Indeed, they may even end up hating sport because of the pressure they are put under from an early age from the attitude of the people who surround them.
Let our children play, let our children have fun with sport, let our children develop, let our children grow and mature. Sport should always contribute to a child´s personal, physical and psychological well-being . Let´s give the child an all-round ,comprehensive training, helping him to be the best he can be every day. This is the way to create a well-rounded, whole person, a person who, whether or not he becomes successful in sport, will have learned many positive values which will stay with him forever.
Let’s work hard to make sure our children become future champions – in life. Let us work on nurturing in these children important habits such as punctuality, discipline, and good manners as well as values like effort, sacrifice and resilience. These are fundamental in a child’s life and will provide a strong foundation for the child if, when he grows up and develops in his chosen sport, he obtains remarkable results.