Poor lad

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

I've just seen on internet that a young boy playing for our U14 team scored a great solo goal in a tournament in The Cayman Islands. I feel sorry for the lad, he will now become the second coming for many who have never seen him or the games he plays in. I wish these boys would be allowed to develop without the spotlight on them and all the expectation and pressure it brings with it.

 

[parklane1]

It goes with the job i guess, having worked with good young players for most of my working life one of the hardest things we had to deal with is the hype that surrounds so many of them. Trying to keep the kids feet on the ground and the over the top ( in most cases) hype from (especially the parents) is/was a nightmare.

 

[Craig_J]

I tried to watch that but they said the goal was around the hour mark, so I kept moving the vid to the hour mark and advertisements would pop up in the way. In the end I gave in.

At his age there's a lot going on. He could end up playing centre back, he could end up joining a gang and becoming the next Nile Ranger, he could be released at the end of the season and become a paper boy or he might be so good that he leaves us having never played a single match and join the youth ranks at Barcelona.

Time will tell. Hopefully his main focus is passing his GCSE's so he has something to fall back on!

 

[Rorschach]

It goes with the job i guess, having worked with good young players for most of my working life one of the hardest things we had to deal with is the hype that surrounds so many of them. Trying to keep the kids feet on the ground and the over the top ( in most cases) hype from (especially the parents) is/was a nightmare.

How true this is and often even before their the kids have any recognition at all.
Kids parents (dad's mostly but sometimes moms) who think little Johnny is destined for the top and try and live out their own football ambitions using their sons as a proxy. I understand having ambition for your children, I have it myself, but the harsh reality is that even the best of young players have only a remote chance to make a living in the game.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

How true this is and often even before their the kids have any recognition at all.
Kids parents (dad's mostly but sometimes moms) who think little Johnny is destined for the top and try and live out their own football ambitions using their sons as a proxy. I understand having ambition for your children, I have it myself, but the harsh reality is that even the best of young players have only a remote chance to make a living in the game.

My son and his mate both stop playing when they were 9 because of all the shouting, luckily they played cricket in their next school and have had a great time playing it for nearly 30 years.

 

[parklane1]

How true this is and often even before their the kids have any recognition at all.
Kids parents (dad's mostly but sometimes moms) who think little Johnny is destined for the top and try and live out their own football ambitions using their sons as a proxy. I understand having ambition for your children, I have it myself, but the harsh reality is that even the best of young players have only a remote chance to make a living in the game.

I did some work at the Norwich academy in the late 90's with the youngsters aged between 14-16 and we had to ban the parents from standing pitch side during games and drills. They were shouting all sorts of rubbish at the kids and Norwich decided to end it. We told them that if they wanted to come and watch the games, sessions' they would have to stand a pitch width away.