5 Tips for parents when choosing a Football Academy

When your child asks to join a Football Academy, many aspects must be considered. What is the best football academy to consider? Parents want the best for their kids, and they want them to be happy as well. They want to find a convenient club that is well set in the right way to be safe and enjoyable and to take their child’s skills to the following level. Here are five tips when parents are choosing a football academy for your child

Coaches Qualification at a football academy

The most important aspect of a Football Academy in Dubai or anywhere in the world is the qualifications of the coaches and staff. Being a professional player in an earlier career does not necessarily mean they would be a professional coach. For example, Diego Maradona is one of the greatest players in history but was unsuccessful in his coaching career. Like a teacher, a coach needs qualifications to support the development of youth football training up to adult coaching of an A team. A 3-year-old player’s needs differ vastly from the coaching needs of 16-year-olds. Basic qualifications to look for should include the following:

• First Aid Course
• Child Protection Certificate
• A level 1,2, or 3 certificate from the European Football Association is an intensive coaching course with practical assessment and tests to coach deep knowledge and understanding.
• A coach needs considerable professional development to continue their coaching license with the FA. These qualifications should be on display or should be available to view.

In youth coaching, it is necessary for the coach to be a good teacher with good knowledge and passion to learn and try new and different ways of teaching.

Training program for football academy

A quality training program comes from a coach’s qualifications, experience, knowledge, and understanding of children’s development needs. The program must accommodate the player’s needs at their developmental stage, age, abilities, and pace skills to challenge the player to reach the next step of mastery. Often academics have youth training programs set in a specific structure for the whole year, for example, two weeks of dribbling, two weeks of passing or shooting, etc. This does not allow for any flexibility for the student, and a set program is not a very good environment for a child to learn. A knowledgeable and good coach would know you don’t need to teach passing until the player is confident with the ball, so the training program should be very flexible. Friendly games are also an important part of the program as coaches can reflect and see the strengths and weakness to work on for the team and then reviews the training program to adapt to improve the team’s performance consistently. A great coach understands the different ways young children learn and should understand how to incorporate these aspects into their youth football training program:

• Technical Skills – Ball Mastery, Practice, and Group Play
• Psychological – Understanding player development, Decision Making, Building Confidence
• Social – Communication, Self-esteem, Teamwork
• Physical – Coordination, agility, Conditioning, Challenging skills

Sessions Structure at a Football academy

The pace and environment of coaching kids are about having fun and enjoying the session, with activities planned appropriately for the age and ability group. The coach needs to have a good relationship with the students and set clear session rules, expectations, and guidelines for the players to follow, and of course, all good coaches use positive reinforcement. This helps the session flow smoothly and gives the team a good balance. A skilled coach should use many different teaching strategies:

• Visual cues – using demonstration, using color cones, and hand signals to name a few.
• Practical activities where students get as much practice on the skills as possible.
• Correcting mistakes is vital as it gives students feedback and helps them understand how to achieve a skill.
• Questioning – During the session, see if the coach stops the play and asks the players open-ended questions. This type of questioning supports problem-solving skills that help them understand the skills and game. Unfortunately, some coaches form bad coaching habits that only direct kids to pass, shoot or follow the drill. This does not help students learn and can lower the child’s confidence. Too many closed questions are also not recommended, as they only allow players to have a right or wrong answer, which can also lower confidence. Coaches must have good communication skills with players and ask questions that help students learn and think through their answers. For example, a coach should communicate with all players, asking them where to move if his friend received the ball or where a better position may be for a player to go. A good coach should help the players understand why they should move to this position or part of the field, when they should pass, etc.
• Decision-making – The coach must let the students learn how to make decisions. The most important part of football is to let the player know to make the right decision and let the player understand why it’s the best option. Let the player think about different situations and solutions.
• Session Pace – The pace throughout the lesson; the coach must change the drills to teach new skills. For example, if starting with dribbling, then the routine moves onto shooting, the skills are practiced in an end-of-session football game. The session should be built up in three stages technical, tactical, and match-related or small-sided games.

Facilities of Football academy

Living in the heat of the UAE, the facilities are critical as there are normally 6 to 8 months of hot weather and the many sandstorms we have. A football academy in Dubai and Sharjah needs indoor and outdoor facilities where sessions can be run depending on the weather. We are lucky at the Star Football Academy as we have a big indoor Gym and three outdoor football fields. Equipment is also important such as different types of balls, coordination and agility equipment, and bathroom facilities close by.

Equity in friendly games at a football academy

Friendly games allow players to use their problem-solving and football skills with their team. Every player should be allowed to participate, not just the best players on the team. Every child that enrolls in the Star Football Academy is given a chance to play in every friendly game as it supports the development of the student. Many youth academies advertise their successes and their achievements; however, this can be very unethical as when they participate in games, they choose the best players to represent their academies in tournaments and have even been known to bring other great players to play with their academies in the big game so they can win. This does not give the child self-worth and equality in the team or a chance to develop their skills and confidence. Winning should never be the scale of a good academy or coach. When I was working four years ago with Mr. Albert, the legendary coach that developed the Barcelona generation, he told players and coaches at the Al Wasel club in Dubai that he wasn’t interested in results and that he was more interested in the players that learned progressively and that after five years from the youth, the academy is playing in the first team.

Interestingly in most European countries, there are no league tables. The only way to know the score of a game of a team that an academy will play against the following week is to call the unit yourself, as there are no league tables. The pressure of performance and winning has shown players to drop football. At the Star Football Academy, it is simple for us. We encourage all players to participate in every game. If we win, then it’s great. If the other team wins, we congratulate them. We focused more on team performance and how we played a good system and worked together as a team rather than focusing on an individual player to shine in the group.

C0nclusion when choosing a football academy for your child.

After all these things have been considered, you will have more confidence in choosing a football academy in Dubai and Sharjah or wherever you may live that best suits your child. Finally, the best Football Academy cares about the whole child outside the football game. At the Star Football Academy, we want your children to look back many years later, have fond memories of their experiences in our academy, and learn lifelong skills that they take with them to their future lives and throughout their achievements.