A better question might be, where does the love of sport-any sport- come from?

Does it begin at training or during a match? Does it come from the glitz and glam of television or attending packed stadiums?

I’d answer a definite NO to all of the above.

The love of soccer starts (wait for it) in the backyard or better known as the field of dreams with YOU, mum and dad. Where anything is possible and where the biggest dreams are dreamt.

The beauty of the backyard is this, with time, everybody joins in. Eventually friends join in, neighbours join and if you have a dog, the dog joins in.

Good Times.

A quick story if I may.

2 boys aged 4 and 6, if you asked them, 4-1/2 and 6-1/2. Interest in soccer on a scale of 1 to 10, 4

Interest in Wii, Star Wars leggo to be exact, 9.

Tough battle.

Enter the backyard.

Enter some fun, small sided games and soccer all of a sudden becomes fun and interesting.

When work allows and the boys aren’t in their pajamas already, the backyard comes alive.

David versus Goliath, okay, 2 little boys versus me.

We play on synthetic grass that remains a lush green colour all year around. Gives even Wembely a run for its money. The boys protect a small goal while I try and defend a goal the length of the backyard. Makes for some interesting score lines with the current edge going to the boys.

Fun, laughter and quality time spent together has evolved in the boys attending Soccer clinics and Football (AFL) clinics every Saturday morning, back to back. That’s right, 9.30am Football followed by an hour of Soccer 10.30am. This is coming from two young boys who spent their time playing Wii on the weekends and had very little interest in sports.

For those with little ones, start in the backyard and let the love for the game evolve. Make it fun, make it easy to begin with and let them develop with a smile.

Fast forward a year and now the boys look forward to the Saturday clinics. Not only that, on most nights, they eagerly wait by the door for my return from work pulling at my trousers.

“Let’s play soccer!”

“Let’s play football!”

What really excites me is when they trash talk and work together as a team. All of a sudden, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader can hear laughter and carry on from the backyard and wonder what happened to those little boys that were glued to the television.

Conclusion

The backyard is where your children will fall in love with soccer. Make it fun; make it progressively harder and the skies the limit.

After several failed attempts to get the boys to attend clinics, they are now snapping at my heels to play and proudly wear their Collingwood jumper followed by the mighty Liverpool jersey.

“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”

Children all over the world play the game for different reasons. Within these different reasons the common answer would be FUN, FITNESS and ENJOYMENT. So how do we categorise these common themes into answers?

Plenty of surveys have been conducted over the years and different definitions of fun and enjoyment have been established. Fun and enjoyment is

• Participating in the game. Not sitting on the bench for long periods of time or waiting for a go at training.
• Having a supportive, positive coach that never loses his temper and never yells at his players.
• Having a coach that recognises effort and improvements and always praises his kids for trying their best.
• Having a coach that smiles alot.
• Having an enthusiastic coach that is friendly with everyone.
• Having parents that do not get involved in the sport. Parents encouraging their kids is a big positive. Parents yelling from the sidelines is a big negative.
• Improving my skill level and personal performance.
• Trying out different positions within the team.
• Being recognised by team mates as being an important member of the team.
• Making new friends and belonging to a team environment.
• and finally competing and trying to win games.

The above statements are the result of the question, “what is fun and enjoyment?” The above statements are not defined by geographic location or by age. The answers are applicable for most children of all ages. The only thing that might differ is the order of these answers.

Looking at the above list, the answers are not surprising. However, as children grow older, their definition of fun and enjoyment also changes. To help investigate this a little deeper, lets take a 6-7 year old kid playing soccer. His definition of fun and enjoyment is

• running around all day chasing the ball. Children at this level don’t care about skills, development or winning. The score has no significance for these kids unless the parents or coach make it significant. Most kids in this age group struggle to kick the ball in the right direction and have no interest in team focus or team spirit.
• Children in this age group need a positive coach and encouraging parents.

As the kids grow older, lets say 8-9 years old, the kids definition of fun and enjoyment also includes

• skills and development.
• Also friendships start to form and peer recognition becomes an important aspect of the team dynamics.
• Although winning is important within this age group, its not the sole motivator.

Now lets talk about the 10-12 year olds. Before I continue, this age group still requires a supportive, positive coach and encouraging parents like the 6-9 year olds.

• This age group has players with the burning desire to improve on their game and their skill levels.
• These children will be open to instruction and constructive criticism.
• They start to develop team spirit and peer recognition becomes very important.
• Fun starts to include winning to some degree.

To summarise all this, playing the game is the most important aspect here.  Yes the definition might change a little as they get older, but in order to have fun playing soccer, You must be participating in the game of Soccer.