Where's the best place to take my 5 year old for footy coaching? The boys got talent.

Dyke House

Saturday morning at Martyrs, 10 til 11. Not a team but some very good coaches who are brilliant with the kids in teaching them how to play without the pressure of trying to be picked in a team.

I shouldn't really have to explain myself to you Chip, but I will.

He's obsessed, like seriously obsessed about football. All he does morning, noon and night is play footy. His 3 brothers aren't into it anywhere near as much as him. I have a kick around with him almost every day, but it simply isn't enough. The boy wants to play and I see no reason why he can't learn and enjoy at the same time.

I like to see kids play football all day long, but coaching, surely that comes later.

Its okay to send your kid during school hols to some organised coaching, but I think up until 10 parents should do it themselves.

Disclaimer - unless the parents are Hartlepool United supporters

and if you spent more than 10 minutes with my 5 year old, you'd understand why that's a good thing

lets not misunderstand here, he's not going because I want him to be the next Messi, or in the hope that it'll give him the grounding to become a pro, it's not in my mind at all. He's going because he's desperate to play football. He goes to footy practice at school, most of the kids are 7&8 year old, he doesn't care, he just wants to play every waking second of every single day.

As long as he enjoys it then that's all that matters.

Oh and just to add, Messi started at his local football club when he was 5...

I went to a few weekend footy camps and shit And never enjoyed them anywhere near as much as having a kick about after school at Ward Jackson and playing 5 pots and in or whatever.

Hell even 'bagsy' in Tunnys tennis courts was more fun than them.

Does that already and by all accounts, is better than most of them. Then he comes home and kicks a footy around in the garden until I drag him in to go in the bath. Then he reads his Pools programmes, or wants to play on Fifa. When he wakes up on a morning, he goes downstairs and starts kicking around a sponge football until his mam persuades him to eat his breakfast.

The phrase eat, drink, sleep football was invented for this kid.

I went to one when I was about 9, I hated it too. We're similar ages, we were probably at the same one.

Kick arounds after school and over the park are great when your 10 and something I would rather he done, not so plausible at 5 though!

If that's the case Chip he won't last more than a month. If he doesn't enjoy it there's no point.

We used to get about 18 lads at Ward Jackson park most weekends having a game between ourselves then used to ask any other groups playing for a match. We'd literally have 18 a side games with a bike and jumper for posts. Proper coaching that.

Dibble was waxing lyrical the other week on here after spending years slagging Gray off

I hope his acedemy sticks closely to his own footballing principles and he only takes on hard working simpletons with no ability who are prepared to run all day and kick the shit out of lads who are actually good at football.

All of these these academy type things are set up for mug dads who are living on the belief that his son will 'make it' enough smoke will blown up the kids arse while they are paying to be in the academy as well! None of these kids will make it as a pro, they are better off going straight to America where with a decent scholarship you can play a good standard of football and get a degree then make decent living from coaching a bit where the market for it is huge.

To be fair it's not what Misterb is talking about though, it's good these days that a 5 year old who loves the game irregardless of ability can go somewhere and play with other kids.

Coaching for kids under 10 is turning something enioyable into a dubious science, which it aint.
When you see legions of kids in their new kit down to the finest detail, aping their heroes you have to wonder how much parent pressure is involved in some cases, hoping little Johnny actually becomes a pro footballer and keeps them in their old age. Most of the parents, just like kids on talent shows, really believe their kid is bursting with talent. The sight of of chubby kids and the downright talentless dressed in the top of the range gear reinforcing my belief that the parents and even some of the kids beieve that if you splash out on a pair of top of the range boots it'll do the work for them.
Talent will out regardless despite coaching.
Enjoy it for the sake of it, not for plastic trophies, mock medals on a ribbon and ostentatious cetrificates that count for jack shit.

I went to a coaching thing once and hated it, I think it was ran by terry bainbridge who used to do coaching in the schools in the 90s, did he ever play for pools? He had all the pools gear on n all the kids assumed he did.


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