The concept of a bored child is something that strikes fear into the heart of most parents. Think of those long summer holidays, six weeks’ worth of days in which you have to try and keep your kids entertained – and what happens when you eventually run out of ideas.
When children are bored, they are more liable to misbehave. If they find a task or activity boring, then they can lose enthusiasm very quickly. Often, it can have a lasting impact, leaving them feeling negative and unwilling to engage again in whatever was the cause of their boredom.
Which can be problematic when it comes to mastering new skills. One of the most effective ways in which children learn is through repetition. Whether it is playing the piano, riding a bike or scoring goals with their weaker foot, repeatedly practising the same action over and over hardwires it into the brain. At We Make Footballers, this is the practice that makes permanent ethos that underlies all we do.
Repetitions though are boring – especially to younger children. How then do we make repetitions fun, ensuring that our players get the practice they need to achieve their potential without becoming bored and having their enthusiasm for the game dampened?
Before we get into that, it is helpful to understand the importance of repetitions. The science is well established. At its most basic level, the more that a person repeats a task, the more efficient their neuron cells responsible for transmitting information become. These cells talk to each other as well as send signals to the muscles needed to perform a skill. The faster the response, the better chance of success.
Say a football player is in a tight spot, marked by an opponent on the touchline. If neuron cells are responsible for alerting the brain to where the space is into which they can exit quickly transmit that information to the neuron cells that fire the muscles required for a Cruyff turn out of the situation, the chances of getting away are greatly improved. Repeatedly practising Cruyff turns would have trained those neurons for that exact scenario.
Hours of practice is what enables the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar to look so effortless when they play football. Their brains and muscles have become hardwired to produce moments of outrageous skill at the drop of a hat through constant repetitions on the training pitch.
Performing flicks and tricks come as second nature to Neymar because of years of mastering skills. Messi does not have to think about the process needed to control a ball on his chest, turn and hit a half-volley with their back to goal into the top corner. He has done it so many times on the training ground that it is easy.
Ronaldo can jump higher than anyone else because his timing is impeccable and his muscles fire and react to produce the optimum leap. That comes from practice, practice and more practice.
Arguably the best exponents of the benefits of repetitions are free-kick takers – and none more so than David Beckham. Beckham was famous for staying behind after training, spending hours on end practising direct free-kicks into an empty net.
He knew the perfect way to the run-up. He had a sweet spot where he connected with the ball. He could pick out the very top corner of the net with laser precision from 30 yards. Unforgettable goals like his free-kick for England against Greece were Beckham’s prize for that dedication to his craft.
Children aged between 4 and 12 are not going to have the same patience or the willingness to go through the often tedious process of repetitions as Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar or Beckham. This is why We Make Footballers uses an approach that essentially involves tricking and hoodwinking our players so that they barely recognise they are performing repetitions.
For younger children at our academies, our coaches take the powerful imagination of infants and use it to our advantage. Children are not asked to practice drag backs for 15 minutes; they have to perform drag backs to escape pirate ships, avoid deadly lava or get away from their coach who has suddenly turned into an alien.
It is a similar technique to every adult’s favourite children’s party game, sleeping lions. You fancy a bit of peace, so you fool the kids into giving it to you by presenting them with a challenge that involves being as quiet as possible and not moving. The mind of a child is truly incredible.
For older children, we employ different methods. They are less easily tricked and should not be spoken to like toddlers. Instead, we use their competitive nature and need for motivation to set them challenges with specific targets to achieve.
How many goals can they score with their weaker foot? How many times can they successfully get past a man using a stepover in a set time? If there is a purpose to the repetition rather than doing the same task simply for the sake of it, then it suddenly becomes much less boring.
Most important of all in ensuring that repetitions and football are not boring however is the attitude of the coach. When a coach speaks in a boring tone or does not believe that the session they are delivering is fun, then that quickly translates to their players who adopt a similar attitude.
Every coach at We Make Footballers is enthusiastic, the result being their passion rubbing off on the players. The best way to ensure that a child learns and wants to keep coming back every week is by making football fun.
When you ask your child if they want to sign up for another 10 sessions with We Make Footballers, we want your child to think back to all the adventures they have had with us. Cruyff turning their way out of a volcano is what they will remember; not the fact they repeated 50 Cruyff turns in a session, to the point where they can now reel the skill off without even thinking about it.
By making sessions as fun as possible, We Make Footballers do everything that we can to eliminate the chances of your child being bored. That helps them reach their potential via our practice makes permanent ethos.
