Is there such thing as youth football development?

My journey?

My experience?

My practical knowledge?

My continued interaction with youth?all over the world

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I thought about writing about my journey in this department and thought about, what I might say here being amongst the most diverse, intelligent, experienced and knowledgeable bunch of people…I said to myself, I’m neither of those above and not to sound stupid… I looked up youth development and the word youth leadership and youth empowerment came up…

?So to sound all smart and intelligent here is what seri… said to me:?

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About Youth Development & Youth Leadership: Youth development?is a process that prepares a young person to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood and achieve his or her full potential. Youth development is promoted through activities and experiences that help youth develop social, ethical, emotional, physical, and cognitive competencies. Well you did not come here to listen to text book definitions so I shall share with you my journey…?

?Let me give you my version of it along with some intellectual explanations. My journey or my personal development had three to four main influences:

First My home and my family especially my father and mother… my football entirely my dad’s influence. Education my mom's doing for good or for bad...looking back all good.

?Second my schooling which is a big question mark? Because I did not like structured education but I knew it was important and needed just like the coaching licensing programs … not a big fan of the licensing but there has to be some benchmarks and I am going to support it reluctantly, because the format and evaluations must be changed.

?Third my village and my friends which had a huge influence on my character… there is an old saying “it takes a village to raise the kid”… in my case that’s absolutely ?? is the case!!!

Here are some thoughts for you to ponder as you navigate this situation in our own home or life...

I want to do a comparison between the western worlds of development vs. the African or the South Americans or some Asians or some Middle Eastern youth development as we see it who arrives at our academy or those who I get to interact with between the ages of 14 to 19 years of age…

?In short one school of development is becoming so structured and so by the books, rules with so many laws and regulations and structured curriculums and on the other side a development philosophy which is chaotic, unstructured, complicated and hit and miss theories of youth development…

?The outcomes very different… as a footballer or individuals … I’m not here talking about an ideal citizen or individual… I’m talking about rough diamonds with tremendous potential as footballers to compete at the highest levels…?

Here are some text book explanations... ?

Youth leadership?is part of the youth development process and supports the young person in developing: (a) the ability to analyze his or her own strengths and weaknesses, set personal and vocational goals, and have the self-esteem, confidence, motivation, and abilities to carry them out (including the ability to establish support networks in order to fully participate in community life and effect positive social change); and (b) the ability to guide or direct others on a course of action, influence the opinions and behaviors of others, and serve as a role model (Wehmeyer, Agran, & Hughes, 1998).

?Conditions that promote healthy youth development are supported through programs and activities in schools and communities. Youth development researchers and practitioners emphasize that effective programs and interventions recognize youths’ strengths and seek to promote positive development rather than addressing risks in isolation. Youth who are constructively involved in learning and doing and who are connected to positive adults and peers are less likely to engage in risky or self-defeating behaviors.

Providing the conditions for positive youth development is a responsibility shared by families, schools, and communities. The conditions for healthy youth development reside in families, schools, and communities.?

Families promote healthy youth development when they:

• provide support;
• have positive family communication;
• are involved in their adolescent’s school;
• have clear rules and consequences and monitor their adolescent’s whereabouts;
• provide positive, responsible role models for other adults, adolescents, and siblings;
• expect their adolescent to do well; and
• spend time together.

?Schools promote healthy youth development when they:

• expect commitment from youth;
• have a caring school climate;
• have clear rules and consequences;
• provide positive, responsible adult role models; and
• expect youth to do well.
• All of the above with a dictatorship approach?

?Communities promote healthy youth development when:

• adults advocate for youth;
• neighbors monitor youths’ behavior;
• adults model positive, responsible, and healthy behavior;
• youth model positive, responsible, and healthy behavior; and
• youth programs are available (Konopka Institute, 2000, pp. 3-4).

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It is unusual for all these positive influences to be present at the same time; unfortunately, too many youth grow up in circumstances that provide limited support for healthy development.

Well-designed and well-run youth development programs promote youth leadership by involving youth in needs assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. A growing number of organizations include youth on their boards of directors. Effective programs engage all participating youth in constructive action through activities such as service learning, arts, and athletics; and emphasize common values such as friendship, citizenship, and learning.

?Research on factors promoting resilience in youth at risk has shown that the consistent presence of a single caring adult can have a significant positive impact on a young person’s growth and development (Garmezy, 1993). Well-designed programs promote positive relationships with both peers and adults (National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, 2004)

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What is grassroots development??

Most basic levels of activities or organisations… basically at the root level of doing something…?Best example would be comparing my own resiliency vs. that of my son upbringing and lack of the resilience and the lack of hunger to beyond your own abilities or limitations…

?The Indian Story:?Let me talk about this subject because more and more parents are asking this important question in my line of work...

What is the missing components of Elite indian footballer and top Indian athletes...?

To answer this question let’s go back a bit in historical details of Indian footballers and Indian football...(research shows- the golden era of Footballers in 1950s and 1960s with great capabilities and the performances at international stage). Looking back we can say that some how somewhere someone dropped the baton while passing it from one generation to the next... including the Indian alienation policy of the late 70s and early 80s...(research shows that prior to 1991 the economic policies of Indian government were designed to be Indian and buy india, especially in the Moraiji Desai era - setting the country’s growth backward 20 years- did this have a negative effects on sports?)?

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Everywhere in the world the older generation passes the leadership baton to the next emerging progressive generation and in Indian football as well as sports governance we failed our youth on a larger scale... we failed to implement modernization to our physical education as well as sports fitness... and training. Literally we missed three decades of progressive growth. Now it’s hard to completely understand this so let me explain... while we where competitive in football against Middle Easter countries like Iran and South Asian g Countries like South Korea including other middle eastern countries... since that generation was getting old the younger generation was not prepared to face the newer athleticism of modern training methodology and training protocols which other countries had already implemented and this gap has grown wider and wider each passing year.?

?However before you address the youth developmental issues we have to address the football ecosystem and that is right at the helm of it SAI (sports authority of India) And AIFF(all India football federation)?So, we are at a huge disadvantage and all our efforts what we are currently implementing are nothing but a drop a in the bucket without a progressive and well planned and thought out master plan.

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The Portuguese Model: Why study this model because its proven, time tested and successful...

Here is an overview with some specifics and details about the Portuguese football players development system including how the whole football ecosystem is interconnected Throughout the country.

?Lesson 1: consistency and progressive continuity is key to success:?

"The Portuguese Story Thru a foreigner lenses"... Every city or village has a club what they call football 7 (9) and football 11 - All financially and infrastructure support comes from the local municipality via national government mandate with membership and well wishers:

2- Football 7 has 4 divisions (petites, Tranquias, infantinis, Benjamin’s) 5 year olds to 12 year olds.?

3- Football 11 too has 4 divisions (iniciados, juvenis, Juniors, Seniores) 13 year olds to Seniors with no age limits.

4- Every age group has two or three sub divisions in each age category in each of the districts and national div with a progression to highest level. Basically 2 or 3 divisions in district level in the same age category and 2 national divisions in that age group in the football 11.?

5- The local municipalities based on the size of the community (population)and need provide a football ground sometimes good sometimes bare minimum and provides a subsidy and transportation vehicles to the clubs based on number of register members and youth in the program or at the club. They also provide an annual financial incentives.?

6- Very important part of this whole system is at the core of it you have coaches and administrators who are constantly involved and comes with a sports background of Physical education or sports science background or administrator background. This is the prerequisite for anyone wanting to pursue youth development in any of the clubs. (Licensed coaches- but fully supported and educated with very little or free coaching education programs)

(Is everything great- hell no! There are very poorly run clubs and poorly trained teams)?

?"The good clubs vs. the badly run clubs"

The question here is about the motivation and pride which is put on the heads of that municipality and its governance... so poorly motivated clubs, poorly run or coached clubs and individuals give poor results and highly motivated clubs give better results, because the clubs with better governance get higher subsidy from the local municipality and federation and the outcome is a very productive and effective system that keeps producing top quality players year after year throughout Portugal.

?All the competitions are held at two levels the district and at national levels... motivation factor is ranking and more subsidies. The seniors which is 19 years or older competes in 7 divisions- 4 professional and 3 amateur. In some cases it’s 8 divisions with National Pro U23 Division.

It’s like qualifying for the champions league! Huge payoff from broadcast rights... in this case the municipality awards the club and its a pride for that village, more agents are associated with that club so more money and city to boast about where you live and who you represent...

?Part 2: The Indian Story....

Going back to the Indian Football development question or strategy or strategies it’s a complicated and complex question taking into consideration the vastness of the Indian continent, the complexity of its demographics and the psychographics of this incredible country.?

?Some informed and educated suggestions for Indian football ecosystem:?

The best idea is to break this complex puzzle into smaller parts perhaps identify the top footballing states, like Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkatta, TN, Punjab, Gujarat in recent years and a handful of Northeastern States and do elite football academies there but overall break it down into smaller pieces: Here are my recommendations...

Five Zones:

North Zone: J & K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Harayana, New Delhi, Utter Pradesh.

North West Zone: Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Upper parts of MH.

North East Zone: Arunachal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram.

East Zone: West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Talangana, Andrdha Pradesh.

Weste Zone: Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu.

Sample Plan of Action:?

Model Goa:?

First step: Implement at micro levels or district levels football facilities (our recommendations is set up artificial football fields)and follow up the Portuguese plan in collaboration with local associations. Key here is facilities build and financed by the state (SAG)because most of the talents come from lower income families who can’t afford the private football academies or football schools as you see coming up in places like Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and so forth. Goa can be a model state or several other northern eastern states could fall in this same category, because of geographical size and population of that state.

?Second step: Implement a National physical education curriculum and football education program with all modernization and modalities along with policies with checks and balances with a time tested and proven football curriculum to educate and empower the youth coaches and players so there are qualified and quality training programs followed with over-site systems and processes.?If you don't have one please ask I shall provide it. www.ifapthub.com

Third Step: Is to organize districts level and state level leagues and competition which is tied up at Regional or Zonal level and on to National level competition with selection and scouting opportunities for clubs and National team coaches. With strict abide to FIFA players transfer and compensation rules and regulations.

If done right over the next few years, with these proven admin systems than one can make a statement about Indian football (Goan football) is on the right path of growth and global level success and representation… or else it’s someone’s fantasy as in the statements which uneducated and sometimes corrupt selfish politicians make to satisfy their own egos and their constituents with false promises.?

Why try to reinvent something that has been perfected by so many countries around the world. Why not borrow a master plan, fine tune and adapt it to the Indian conditions and Indian athletes. Well I said it first! ??

?Elvis J. Goes

Former International footballer

Certified and Accredited Professional football coach

BA in Economics U of Goa

BA in School of Economics U of Utah, USA

Executive MBA program Nextlevel?

India-USA-Portugal

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