How to raise John Terry (part 1)

Everything you wanted to know about #destitutes in Russia through the eyes of a parent, but didn’t know who to ask. Emotionally, mentally, truthfully. Take, made for you and all future dads footballers.

My name is Alex, I’m 38 years old and the last three years of my life football for me and my family takes all my free time 7 days a week. No, I’m not a coach and I don’t work at a football club. I don’t even own it. I don’t have an uncle they’d like to put up a monument to or a brother they’d talk about in the sports press.

It’s easier. My son plays football. He will soon be 9 years old and a third of those 9 years I see him with a ball more often than with toys or a joystick from the console. The ball becomes the main element of weekends, gates the main figure geometry in life.

Can we say that it has completely transformed our lives and family? Certainly.

Interested? Then I’ll tell you how football changes you for more than 90 minutes a week. If you are a fan of any club, then you understand me. Football changes everything around you and changes forever.

At least now my son believes in it and I, as a father, support him in it. And being his personal cheerleader and worst critic, and even help as we know we can.

BEGINNING
The idea to give my son to football belonged entirely to me and it was the first idea that initially quarreled me and the whole family. But when your kid says to you, “Dad, let’s go try to sign up, I want to play,” you don’t care what happens next. So one autumn day I took my son to a small cozy stadium near Moscow.

Took to show the coach who led 2009, the year of my son’s birth. We were both scared then. Me, because I knew it would change everything, and my son, because he was afraid not to get into the section, which was even worse than my fears. Our fears matched, but not in the way we would have liked.

The world was no longer the same. Although you begin to understand it, after a year or two.

All game sports are always competitive not only externally, but also within it. For football this competition is born immediately, when after several training facilities (you must understand, that this can be week, but rarely more) in dependence from level, your son find place on the field and composition. That playing position from which he will start perhaps his very long way in football. And the level to which it corresponds. I do not take into account the goalkeepers, this other world. In my son’s team, all the goalkeepers, coming, understood their purpose on the field.

In any community that is regulated by the game of football, there is a division of children into squads. One and all. The first, this is the main, there are selected for a number of indicators. About them below. This selection, depending on the coach, can be biased or objective. We’re lucky our son’s coach picks the best ones to recruit. I have seen the opposite, when a player on a number of indicators can not perform, so to speak, in matches against opponents. But his place. And put. And put.

The results of such decisions of the coach are usually visible immediately, children’s football does not forgive mistakes.
TRAININGS
Training with the ball takes place in all schools and sections in different ways. Someone pays more attention to the technique with the ball, the movement with the ball. Small players initially try to “tame” the ball, using various exercises. As a rule, it all starts with the ball, with the beating of racks, movement around static objects, stretching exercises. Later kicks on goal, training matches, finding a position for players, stretching exercises begin. We must understand that children are children, distracted and play for them at this age is an indispensable attribute of training.

For myself, I brought two different approaches to the learning process. The first is intensive training with a small number of pauses, rest, exercises designed for repetitive actions in a short time. Such trainings require the presence of control over the group of children, the influence of the coach and maximum obedience without the participation of parents. In such circumstances, was done by my son in private school, where he once set the position of a winger or “post”. Such training led to the setting of the game “through pass” to the open space, children learn immediately the basics of primitive tactics, the game “over the goalkeeper”.

The second path, slightly different, and apparently applies to more traditional, “Soviet” school. The same job with the ball, but apart from this the first years lays a large amount of cross-country exercise, the jerks, the gradual increase of the load on the background work with the ball, sometimes at the expense of equipment, installation of the basics of pressure, the ability to “modulepath” on his opponent’s half of the field. In this scheme, important speed of the attackers, the attack is using wingers, the fastest pass with the ball in the midfield. From defenders it is important to first pass and ability to beat 1 to 1, which creates an advantage in single player when you play 5 V 5. In turn, on small sites, this game leads in the early stages to the ability to destroy, and the process of creation is a little secondary.

In this scheme, the son plays fullback, occasionally in the center of the field, using his ability to select the ball, cover it with the body, give a small and medium pass. These are the minimum characteristics that distinguish the first composition from all the others.

You learn to hit the goal almost immediately. Gradually increase the distance to the gate increases the size of the ball, all the children start with 3 size of the ball, but after a year transferred to 4-ku, and after a year in the top 5 and it is already starting to play and practice constantly. In our case, the balls are purchased by parents, but some schools buy them centrally. “Big teams” come and go always with their balls.
HOW IT HAPPENS
The first friendly matches for children begin with 5-7 minutes per game and even in these terms at the level of my son there are 4-5 shifts for players. As a rule, it all depends on the physical form.

The first part is always and everywhere prepared separately, under them are formed the schedule of the training process and identified the places and times fees. I saw such practice at us and on conversations with parents of other teams, the situation outside our club the same.

Clubs that can afford to have two squads and compete in tournaments play both. We also practiced, but only on the commercial tournaments, then sometimes the command “equalize” each other, sometimes not. “Big” clubs may have different coaches, but almost always the same techniques and tactics.

All performances of teams in such tournaments are paid. This is a small competition, from 8 to 32 teams, held in the halls or on the street, it all starts with 1/8 of the field, but by the age of 11 all move to the full size of the field.

In almost any team there are certain algorithms of “children’s victories”, that is the trumps which the trainer use against rivals. This can be one strong top five players in the squad, very runner on the edge, confidently beating on target from any distance the player, as it put the passing game or the miracle of the goalkeeper. All this can allow you to win, and maybe being a favorite, make you go home. I saw with my own eyes all the situations and this is football.

The organization of such tournaments is designed on the principle of “bring your own or buy here”. You can buy water and snacks, inventory is always your own. On game the ball is selected on agreement. Owners often)

The organizers in addition to the competitive effect, still, there is a desire to earn. For participation pay. Even the owners, just less money. There are a lot of such tournaments in the region, fundraising for them, as well as the organization of children on arrival-the County lies with the parents, the buses “for all” are rather an exception to the rules and it looks like the initiative of dads and moms.

All matches are held on weekends. And occupy, typically all light time. Beginning in the 10-11 and 15-16 hours, one day, we went to the tournament it was getting dark. Regardless of what remains after the game: medals for 3rd place or a commemorative badge.

Remember, I wrote, that life will change? So, football will rank your time “with football” and all the remaining workdays. Now my son plays once a week a match for the Regional championship, 2 for 25 minutes, format 8 in the field and 1 goalkeeper.

We have a game day when the son has to be at the stadium at the agreed time. If the match is home, everything is easier. Came, played, left. And if it is necessary to go to Solnechnogorsk? The bus does not contain seats for parents, 3 different age structure of our club have to play in one day…

Oh, Yes, you must be studying. You’ll get a certificate, but how many lessons do you think your son will learn if he misses a whole day of school? And you remember that training also takes time..
NOW
Return.. My son started such tournaments after a year of training. First, it will be more mini-football format, 4 and goalkeeper, 5 and a goalie in the hall. Then everything will go on increasing.

In addition to the tournaments, there is also a workout. Where without them. Now, it’s 4 times a day for a couple of hours. But it all began much more modest. 3 training sessions per week for an hour.

But you have to bring your son and take him home. Or release into adulthood one. Look around and make your own choice… And go with him next, no one promised you an easy road..

As in any collective sports, there is always a certain ranking in football. The difference on certain grounds. In our section this, in first the speed running and especially running with ball. The boy is coming to play, needs to run fast without the ball and run faster with it).

This is the requirement of any coach I’ve had to talk to and the dream of any dad who watches the training from the stands or as I do from the edge of the field.

All the other qualities that you will talk about: technique, work with the ball, kick, various exercises — all this, of course, is important. But reigns his Majesty speed.

I am well aware that there are many schools, sections, groups, where the basis and basis is the work in the ball and staging the game in 7-8 years.