Football starts with dolls. Let's see how foreign friends play football.

It is an axiom all over the world that football should start with dolls. But in China, it is not easy for children who like football to enjoy playing football. Tam said: "Parents in China attach great importance to their children's academic performance. So in order to let parents support their children to play football, the way we came up with is also related to learning. "

In the early days, Tam invited foreign members of the club with the qualification certification of British football coach to participate in the training of youth football. "In China, playing football and learning English are our ways to attract parents." Tam said, "This is very effective. At present, more than 3,000 children have participated in the club's football training for children aged 5-1/kloc-0. 60% of them are China children. "

"In childhood, keeping children interested in playing football is the first priority, but I have seen how some domestic football coaches teach children, and that kind of strict discipline is not desirable. That will stifle children's interest and creativity in playing football. I also know some scouts from Premier League football clubs. They often say that many 8-year-old children in China look like the future Messi. They are in good health and smart, but after 12 years old, there is almost no shadow of Messi in these children. " The football talent of these children was killed by their first coach.

There is still an unsolvable problem in Tam's youth football training. "5 ~ 1 1 year-old, there are more China children in the club than foreign children, but 12 years old, there are almost no China children, and there are still many foreign children. 12 years old is the age to go to middle school, and the pressure on children in China to go to school has become prominent. In order to get their children into a good high school and a good university in the future, parents in China almost unanimously ask their children to stop taking part in football training, no matter how interested they are in football. I have asked many parents in China that the reason why they take their children away from the football field is to improve their academic performance, but this is also the reason why foreign parents continue to support their children to play football. This is a huge difference between Chinese and foreign parents' educational concepts. Domestic parents believe that sports will affect their children's academic performance, while foreign parents believe that sports can promote it. "

How to guide the change of social concept, create good software and hardware conditions, and keep teenagers on the football field is the hope of China football in the future and the most important thing for China Football Association. But in the 26 years since Tam came to China, he has seen China Football Association send youth teams to study abroad more than once, spending huge sums of money on a few people, trying to represent the football level of China with the results of one team. Actually, this is a misunderstanding. An Arsenal scout once told me that every 200,000 children can only pick out one who may play in the Premier League in the future? Miao Zi? . This shows that it is impossible for a country to have a high-level national team if the youth football population base does not reach a certain order of magnitude. I have told many people in China football circle that instead of spending so much money on dozens or hundreds of children, the China Football Association might as well spend this money on improving the overall level of youth football in China. A child studying abroad costs tens of thousands of euros a year. If you use this money to hire young football coaches, you can hire dozens of foreign coaches who know football and have methods. These coaches can teach thousands of children in China, and the coverage is obviously much larger. Isn't this account calculated by the decision makers of China football? "

Zhongqing Online-China Youth Daily

Beijing, June 23rd.