Little Free Play Hurts Children's Confidence in Sport

Coaches and teachers are often faced with children and young people in their sessions that have low confidence and are less motivated. This may be for a number of reasons such as shyness, dislike of the activity, boredom or inadequate free play just to mention a few. This blog post will focus on the latter as it is one that is frequently forgotten about  because of the short time usually available (something that the coach/teacher does not always have control over). If you are a parent and you have a child that really adores playing sport but you see a sudden withdrawal of interest from your child it may be that they are getting little free time to actually play the game. 

When it comes to children being given little free play time in sport it is often coaches of young elite athletes, talented athletes and competitive sports leaders who are prone it. This  understandably, due to pressures of competitive of youth and elite sport. Equally, lack free play time can also occur in grassroots sports. As noted earlier lack of time in sessions which the can be a huge factor.

Children no doubt often drop out of sports participation due to negative experiences. The majority of children who like sports do seem to do so  because it is simply fun. This fun factor is significantly correlated to their free play. And as we all know, when you take away anything fun from children the will to engage almost disappears immediately. Another scenario that may lead a child into receiving little or no free play is in team games where children are given the freedom to pick their own team and even tactics at times.  As a result children can become very competitive and therefore want to do as much as possible to succeed. 

Albeit, this motivation to succeed can come at the expense of another child's free play time . It is common that this particular child is not perceived as having the ability to make a significant contribution to the team by their peers. Inevitably, the ball might not be passed to them during free play or they may only be used a as a substitute. This attitude must be stamped out straight away otherwise it becomes a very unsporting habit. The feeling of rejection by peers can be even more detrimental to a child's confidence. Coaches and teachers must always try to stop this happening by incorporating conditions as it is them they are seeking to impress as part of growing up. For instance a condition like everyone needing to touch the ball before an attempt at goal will help. Additionally, limit the focus on outcome goals as this  for children as winning is not the most important thing at this stage. Encourage process goals 

Whilst some children are not affected by little free play time others are exposed to feeling they are not good enough and even feeling unsupported by their coach/teacher.  It is of vital importance that coaches and teachers address it if there is a problem of free play time to stop children developing fear of failure. If equal free play time is allocated as much as possible it decreases the possibility of low confidence.

Free play time also involves the period of practicing certain skills in drills. It is the coach's duty to make interventions and corrections during this time. Nevertheless, play should be allowed to go on as much as possible. Too many corrections can be perceived as interruption to play by the child and as a result they could become fed up. The most effective way is to strike a good balance between free play time and corrections; don't you think?

 

Amie Samba

Managing Director

Run Fun Starz Group ®

htttp://www.runfunstarz.co.uk