It’s time to follow Bayern and allow kids to have fun
THANKFULLY 2021 dawns today bringing with it the prospect of better things ahead, including the end of Bayern Munich’s Under- 9s.
Globally, this development might not rank alongside vaccine rollouts and presidential changes, but it is significant in football terms.
Bayern, like most other top clubs in Europe, have fielded elite sides from U9s upwards in the belief that doing so will help them keep up with the Joneses across the continent by harvesting and housing the best talent in their academies from the youngest age that the regulations allow.
If the European champions deem it a smart move to row back on that for the wellbeing of the children themselves, then their enlightened U- turn might be followed by clubs in England.
Heaven knows it should be. Football here gets far too serious far too early.
The Premier League dream is wonderful when it comes to fruition but too often it turns into a nightmare for kids discarded at a vulnerable age and tossed onto the scrapheap before they have even reached secondary school.
In psychology, the business of a child thinking of himself as a footballer before he has the chance to explore anything else is referred to as identity foreclosure.
Imagine the psychological impact ripping that identity up has and yet, despite 0.5 per cent of kids who go into academies at nine making it as a footballer even at semi- pro level, thousands of star- struck parents willingly sign their children up to chase the rainbow every season.
Bayern have recognised this and are taking action. The U9s programme ends this year; the U10s the year after.
Holger Seitz, the deputy sports director at the FC Bayern Campus, cited the club’s ‘ social responsibility, especially for the very young footballers’.
The children will instead be left to enjoy playing with their friends at their home clubs.
This should represent a giant directional arrow for rapacious Premier League clubs, who run development sides for players as young as five.
Instead of grabbing every half- decent, early developer in the hope one will turn into a diamond – and never mind the human cost to the others that don’t – they should be taking a step back.
It might actually be in their interests as well as the child’s.
Bayern’s stated aim in disbanding their youngest age groups is to create more ‘ creative freedom’ in the children’s leisure time, so they also have the opportunity to try other sports.
Instead of being locked into a schedule which sees them trailing to and from football training X times a week, they might try athletics or swimming or basketball.
This carries a risk to the club. A prospective Thomas Muller might find that the thrill of netting more often on court than on the pitch takes him away from football. But they are willing to go with that in the belief that children who eventually choose football after a more rounded sporting upbringing will end up better footballers.
“Long- term studies have shown that learning different sporting skills and abilities can have a positive impact on everyone’s football performance,” explained Peter Wenninger, sporting director for Bayern’s junior age groups. Not just football. A Penn State College of Medicine study on professional ice hockey players in the United States found that most top players had played a range of other sports until the age of 14.
Diversification before specialisation helps avoid injury and burnout and develop different skills. Basketball assists with space awareness, tennis with hand- eye coordination, long- distance running with stamina. Of course, as the best club in Germany – and Europe – Bayern have the cache to be able to play the long game.
English clubs, with the pressures of strong local competition, may not feel so secure in doing so. But if they want to make a positive new year’s resolution, letting children be children before they are professional footballers is one which would work for everybody.