How can a simple boy get into the best football clubs in the country? Recruitment point. At what age is it not too late to sign up as a football player? How to sign up a child for a football club?

13.06.2014 15:10:00

Football is one of the most popular games in the world. According to the International Football Federation, about 250 million people play it, there are more than 1.5 million teams and approximately 300 thousand professional football clubs. Impressive, right? The secret of football's popularity - beauty, entertainment, emotionality, an exciting fight for victory.

Is your son one of the fans of this amazing sport? This is true if he is always ready to kick a ball in the yard instead of fighting with a computer opponent, knows the names of the main composition of the main football teams in the world, and the schedule of the Brazilian World Cup 2014 is already hanging on his wall.

And of course, he would like to play football professionally, because the rays of glory of the famous Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are so attractive to young talent. Let's try to figure out at what age you can send your child to football, and what difficulties he will have to face in professional sports.

When to start

Most coaches agree that It is better for a child to start playing football at 6-7 years old . This is the most optimal age when a young football player will be able to meaningfully carry out the coach’s tasks and will quickly master the technique of playing the game.

Although, for example, the Dynamo Kyiv youth sports school also takes children 4-5 years old . True, at this age, the dream of becoming a football player will most likely arise not from the child, but from his father or mother, but in any case, moderate and competent training will contribute to the development of coordination, reaction, dexterity and thinking in the child.

Conquering football fields from an early age is not only a Ukrainian trend, for example, football training in Brazil begins at the age of 6, and in Germany six-year-old football players already participate in children’s tournaments.

Even if in the future the child does not become a world-class star, the skills acquired during training will be useful in the future, young athletes often surpass their peers in development, get sick less and get better sooner .

What can you do parents to develop your child's football skills? Starting from 1.5-2 years old, regularly play ball with your child, let the baby run on the street, try to hit the ball as accurately as possible with his foot, score goals for mom, dad, grandparents, learn to play with a partner, give a pass and hit the ball. gates.

As you master such a simple action as kicking a ball, begin to complicate the tasks - you need learn to hit a standing ball with a running start or vice versa - hit the ball rolling towards a standing player. An older toddler of 4-5 years old can already be safely taught elements of goalkeeping - catch the ball with your hands, throw it into the game with one hand, kick it out of your hands. Start playing with small balls, gradually increasing their size, learn to practice conducting ball. At 6 years old, try to hone your child’s football skills by training with walls . Right there, at the wall, it is practiced hitting accuracy , for which you can use some kind of box or jar and practice hitting it. Another important aspect is that the child needs teach to fall , grouping and rolling. You can train at home, placing a mat or blanket on the floor. The main thing is the desire of the child !

Psychologist Natalya Karabuta says: “By default, the desire to engage in any sport should come from the child. There is no need to force him to play football, or to force him to take him to another sport. If the boy’s desire to kick the ball not just on a nearby broken sports ground, but within the framework of a football club, is really present, then the question is choosing a good coach, the state of the child’s health and the ability of parents to take their son to training the required number of times a week. It is also worth noting that football is a team sport; active extroverts, sanguine people and choleric people adapt well here, since this game from a sports point of view requires quick reactions and active decision-making. Closed melancholic people, calm and assiduous introverts will feel uncomfortable in a rowdy company of little football players, so such an activity is unlikely to bring positive emotions to the child.”

Medical aspect

From a medical point of view, doctors also not recommended send a child under 4 years old to sports clubs, since the upcoming physical activity may be an overwhelming task for him.

Before accepting a child for classes, any sports school will require submit a medical certificate certifying that the child has no contraindications for playing football due to health reasons. A medical examination before starting professional training should not be a profanity; you should take this issue seriously. Both parents and your coach should be sure that the child is healthy.

Before enrolling a child in a sports school, most often the coach will ask him to go through first orientation lesson , which will test his ball handling skills: agility, throwing range, impact power. The coach will also check whether the little football fan can jump high and run fast, and how much his reaction speed, coordination, and attention are developed.

Explore skills of a young football player necessary in order to organize further work with him, select the necessary exercises for the initial stage of training, and decide on the group in which it is best to enroll him.

If after the first viewing the coach refuses entry to the section , do not despair, from the age of 6 children who strive to achieve a professional level begin to study. Best way: ask a professional for advice , how best to develop my son from a sports point of view, what problems prevented him from starting his sports path now.

If the reason for refusal is low level of physical fitness or too young age, perhaps a trainer will recommend you come again , only in a year or two, and also preferably prepare for viewing . To do this, together with your child, do not forget to do daily morning exercises, take your child to the stadium, play with a ball, run in the park, go to the pool, buy a sports corner, learn to do pull-ups on parallel bars and rings, do push-ups and squats.

Parents should take into account that playing sports will require a good level of health, maximum dedication and discipline from a football enthusiast. If a child, due to his characteristics, cannot achieve success in football, he has difficulties on the field, problems with communication in the team, parents should think about alternative options sports sections.

Selecting a section

Before choosing a section and a coach, parents should think about this question: why does my child need football? If playing football is considered as, training agility, the ability to hit the ball and score into a goal, in this case it is worth considering sections near home, perhaps there are some at the school where the child is studying or at neighboring educational institutions.

If the task of parents raise a future football professional , a world-class athlete, then the choice of section should be approached more seriously. Here it is definitely worth contacting the Youth and Youth Sports School, which operate under famous sports clubs in the country. However, it is important to remember that no coach can guarantee a bright football career; many factors play a role here, which are simply impossible to immediately take into account and foresee.

Our mother- Vika tells : “My son has a pretty good level and the coach advised us to develop further. After we changed training at school to a football club with a playing team, I understood what our coach was talking about. The level cannot be compared, especially for those who are going to play football seriously. Of course, we have to take the child all over the city, both at 8 in the morning and at 7 in the evening, to different areas, but with our coach and super team, we are ready to go anywhere and do not regret an ounce. Of course, it is important to understand whether the child has prospects and development, in which case this pace is justified.”

Don't forget that football is enough dangerous sport , and professional sport is exhausting work and constant psychological stress.

Senior coach of the junior and middle age groups of the Dynamo Youth Sports School Kyiv Valery Vladimirovich Shabelnikov says: « The training system for our guys is structured in such a way that at certain intervals, every 2-3 years, they move from one coach to another. And this process is often quite difficult, “stressful”, I would say. Continuity in the coaching team, loyalty to common traditions, which, however, does not deny the diversity of methodological forms, is especially important here. A young football player must reach a certain physical and technical level by about 16-17 years of age. Before this, he must master a whole range of technical skills, master game tactics, and develop physically without forced loads. Sometimes children who shone for some time in their age group, were “stars” in children’s teams, quickly “fade out” at the age of 13-14. This is all due to ill-conceived loads, lack of system, and superficiality in mastering technical components. And vice versa, children who did not seem to shine at the age of 9-10, but had talent, developed it correctly, without strain, without prohibitive overload - such children at the age of 14-15 suddenly improve physically and “shoot” like we say. Moreover, at the right time and in the right place. Normal healthy competition is important in football, let as many talented children as possible join the team and try their hand.”

There are more than 40 football schools in Moscow, but most parents strive to send their children to the most reputable ones - Spartak, CSKA, Dynamo or Lokomotiv. Each enrollment in such a school is a mixture of hopes and first disappointments. The weekly “Football” talks about how children are selected for football academies and at what age is it not too late to sign up as professionals.

Guerrilla campaign

On a frosty March day, you can’t crowd among the foreign cars parked near the CSKA athletics arena. All these cars are here for one reason - parents brought their children to sign up as football players. Among all, a man with the appearance of a very gray Richard Gere and his son Dima, phenomenally reminiscent of Alan Dzagoev, stand out. The boy's father turns out to be Serb. He came to Russia a long time ago, found a Russian wife here, and started a family. But it seems he always has a piece of Serbia with him.

– I am a Partizan fan! – says Radomir, proudly unbuttoning his jacket and showing off his distinctive black and white T-shirt. “I also taught my son to root for army teams!” And what other club in Russia do you think I could take him to? ?!

There are nine out of ten fathers like Radomir here. Today they came to send their children to CSKA. And for some, this is generally a chance to take revenge for themselves and their unfulfilled career.

“At one time, I graduated from the CSKA school, but I couldn’t play further,” says the extremely determined and concentrated dad, as if he were the one going out on the field now, and not his 6-year-old child. “Now let’s try to make a football player out of our son.” We are not afraid of a harsh schedule. We managed somehow, so they should be able to cope with it too.

The more you talk with your parents, the more it becomes clear that for most, playing for CSKA is a fixed idea. Literally every dad supports the army club, and probably their children even had diapers exclusively in red and blue colors. And little things like an hour and a half journey from home to school are not an obstacle.

“It’s a long way for us to go from Aviamotornaya to the Airport,” the pretty blonde shakes her head. – But we want to play specifically for CSKA, my son and dad support the same team together. That's why we didn't go to Lokomotiv in Perovo, although we live nearby.

There are about a hundred of those who didn’t go to Perovo, or to Sokolniki to see Spartak, or to Petrovsky Park to see Dynamo. But after a long search in the arena, it is still possible to discover a stain of unpatriotism. For the parents of 5-year-old Nikita, CSKA is, by and large, violet. The child is here because from the age of three he has been kicking a ball around the apartment and does not give anyone peace. If football doesn’t work out, Nikita’s mom and dad won’t be upset: the boy is already studying English and music with all his might.

Dmitry Kuznetsov and Roman Khristich and 13-year-olds

No time to play and learn

Children start playing football in three cases: when they want it themselves, when their parents want it and, less often, when this desire is mutual. There is no better or worse option. In the future, everything depends on the boy’s abilities and a great many nuances. What’s more important is to decide as early as possible what parents and children want to get from playing football. And here you have to either bet on professional sports, sacrificing a lot, if not everything, to it, or choose a more gentle regime. Which will allow you to combine training and normal studies - with an eye to the future, which is not closely related to hitting the “nines”.

In Moscow children's football there are four divisions that differ from each other only in their approach to business: from more professional to more amateur. The cooler the league, the better the conditions and higher the requirements. But in a club of any division, a child will participate in the championship of his year of birth, solve tournament problems and train consistently. The only difference is in what conditions and at what level all this will happen.

In top metropolitan schools this level is prohibitive. Clubs invest money in students and, naturally, want to get a return on it. Parents do not need to spend money on fees, training, or uniforms - absolutely all costs will be covered by the club. However, the child will have to devote himself entirely to football. And no matter how talented your son is, he will not be able to adequately study in the academies of the leading Premier League clubs - he will have neither the strength nor the time for this.

Nevertheless, the screenings for children, which are organized by Moscow monster schools every six months, consistently attract full houses.

Red-blue continuity

Fighting through a roaring snowstorm, the boys, armed with parents and backpacks, rush through the red and blue doors. 15 minutes before the appointed time, the stands of the arena are one-third full, and everyone who wants to try on army T-shirts is arriving. The boys change their clothes on the spot, and their worried parents try to give them wise advice.

The viewing has already been delayed for twenty minutes - different age categories of the army school continue to train on the artificial field. Suddenly they remember the crowd that has arrived. One of the trainers picks up a Soviet megaphone and offers a “master class” from the school’s young students. As if hinting: look at how skilled the guys are gathered here, and quickly take your children away so as not to embarrass yourself. Doesn't work.

Finally the children are invited onto the field. Parents flow to its edge, the boys, in line, with passports and medical certificates, carefully step onto the artificial turf. While all this paperwork is going through, Mikhail Vasilyevich Khristich, the school’s senior coach, comes closer to the crowd.

- What, did you bring Mishka Clubfoot? - Khristich loudly addresses one of the mothers and immediately switches to her son: - Admit it, have you grown up like that or are you standing on a bench?

While young Mikhail is embarrassed, his mother comes to the rescue. Her eldest son is already studying at CSKA, and they also decided to send the little one to football. Largely, she says, because of the excellent coach. For a long time now, Mikhail Vasilyevich has been entrusted with the most difficult task - working with children. The mentor accepts the youngest - 5-6 year olds - indiscriminately and invites everyone, without exception, to the first training session.

– Some are still five years old! – Mikhail Vasilyevich explains his position. – And there are so many people here, such pressure... They would all get excited and confused. It is better to work with them in a calmer environment, where they will relax and show everything they are capable of.

Mikhail Vasilievich Khristich and the little ones

Selection criteria

Fighters a year older find themselves in a separate section of the field, where, accompanied by Khristich’s perky remarks, a whole comedy unfolds.

– Why are you so slow?! You are not Danya, but Melon! – Khristich kindly scolds the boy in a CSKA T-shirt, who has his own name written above the fifth number. - So, no need to fight, the fight is here in another room. Should I take you? Are you men or what? Come on, don’t give up if something doesn’t work out!

- I won’t do this, I can’t do that! - says the boy, who cannot manage to carry the ball pressed between his knees at least a meter forward.

“So you don’t know how to do anything yet, that’s why you came here to learn!” Okay, let’s play football, since you’re all such professionals,” the coach gives up.

Mikhail Vasilyevich divides the guys into teams of three and invites them to start a small tournament. Pushing the balls with their boots, then with their knees, pushing and stumbling, each child sincerely strives for victory. The coach faces the most difficult task - to discern the makings of potential in children.

“There are few selection criteria at this age,” says Khristich. – We pay attention to three components: coordination, agility and speed. Speed ​​is a natural gift. It’s difficult to demand anything more from them; they walk like Charlie Chaplin – on their heels. During training, I crawl on all fours more often than walk—I tie my shoelaces!

Mikhail Vasilyevich is pleased with today’s selection of kids. Despite the March frosts, 30 boys born in 2007 and 18 born in 2006 made it to the arena. Two of them were immediately offered to join the main group, which has been studying for a year. Others will still be watched, while some had to say “no” right away. Khristic explains to their parents that sports life does not end with football and there are many other sports where children can find themselves.

Age limit

But today it’s not just kids who are recruited. Each age group is allocated a separate area on the field. The largest was given to the oldest - 13 years old. For them, this is the last chance to get into CSKA from the general selection. According to tradition, as many boys as possible come after the pie in the sky. Today there are more than fifty of them, but the likelihood that any of them will be accepted into the school is minimal. The older the child, the more difficult it is for him to prove his worth.

The numbers also show this. If almost all the kids were taken, then the older children were taken selectively. Among the 13-year-old coaches, only two were interested at all. One of them, who came from Omsk, was asked to come to the next training session, the second - a guest from Cherepovets - was promised to call if anything happened.

“We didn’t even hope for much in the senior age category,” says former CSKA defender Dmitry Kuznetsov, who is now responsible for selection at the club. – Our guys of this age have been training for many years, so there is practically no chance that someone better than them will come. Two stood out today, but even they hardly reach the level of the army guys. But we are not viewing it for show. There are times when boys arrive who, for some reason, no one had noticed before. Once a guy from Ivanovo was at a tryout, they immediately pushed him aside and said: “Tonight you are going against Spartak.” He came out and scored.

Stories like this make those who are almost too late come.

In addition to Kuznetsov and other people from the selection department of the army team, another Khristich is responsible for the selection of 13-year-olds - Roman, the son of Mikhail Vasilyevich. He is the head coach of the team born in this year, and he will decide the fate of those two lucky ones who were not sent home on the first day.

“In my opinion, it’s too late to come to CSKA and other leading schools in Moscow at this age,” Roman says tragically. - We need to do this earlier. It’s better from a very young age, but even at 10–11 years old it’s not too late. These are the years when you can teach. Initially, we look only at the potential, then comes the work of the coach.

- Hey, coach! - a man dressed in a sheepskin coat from the 70s creeps up from behind. - Well, why isn’t mine at all suitable for football?

“I already told you that he doesn’t suit us, and not football in principle,” Khristich Jr. calmly answers. – There are many other schools, try it!

Army mode

If your child does fit into an army school, then you should expect something like the following. Up to the age of 8, boys at CSKA train according to a fairly flexible schedule - only two or three training sessions per week. Every year, the workload increases: by the age of 12, children have only two days off per week, and then the number of training sessions and games only increases. From the age of 14, boys begin to be prepared for adult football life, so by this time it is better for parents and the child to decide what they ultimately want. This is where children's football gradually ends and smoothly moves into professional football - with comparison to the youth team.

For those who do not have the opportunity to live in Moscow or the region, there is a boarding school. If you have special talents, you can get there at the age of 10, but mostly children are accepted from the age of 12. True, until the senior year, a child can study at his own school, the main thing is academic performance. This is closely monitored at the club; coaches may not even allow you to attend training with C marks in your diary. However, 15-year-olds have no time to study – training, games, training camps...

Children leave for their first training camp at about the age of 9–10 years. CSKA does not provide for this abroad; children are taken to the club’s base in Vatutinki. All conditions are created there for training, plus the guys have the opportunity to train next to the main squad and communicate with army stars at any time. The little ones are taken to Vatutinki once, in August, the older ones go to training camps twice a year - in summer and winter.

Army students leave the borders of their homeland for European tournaments, where they measure their strength against their peers from Bayern, Ajax and Juventus. The school admits that even young Russian players are of interest in the West, and many names are recorded in the database of European breeders.

An hour and a half later, the arena is empty, the clatter of balls and voices fade away, and only two familiar figures remain in the stands.

“I think we’ll come again in the fall,” Radomir sighs, hugging his son. - Now they said that we are not suitable. Or where else will we try to go, although we wanted to go to CSKA.

Who knows, maybe in ten years his son will move to CSKA from Partizan.

Gleb Chernyavsky

Photos: Sergey Dronyaev

Who will survive in RFPL? What are the reasons for the decline "Anji"? Which players would the Volga head coach like to see on the team? Yuri Kalitvintsev? What arrangements and tactical schemes used by leading Russian clubs? Which players can be signed in the summer? for free? How did it go Ukrainian "clasico"? About this and much more - in the latest issue of the weekly "Football".

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Many parents dream of self-realization for their child. They strive to send him to one section or another as early as possible, but how can they avoid being late or in a hurry?

At what age can I enroll my child in the football section?
Steps.
1 Almost all parents are interested in at what age a child can be sent to one or another section. According to the recommendations of doctors, children under four years old should not be sent to activities that require strength loads. There is no need to rush here, no matter how well your child is developed. So, what age is most suitable to start playing football and what needs to be taken into account?

Does your child like football? Does he like to run? Play on a team?
2 If the child’s physical development allows, he can start playing football from the age of 4. The sooner you start, your child will develop the necessary skills.
3 At this age, it is better to play with a child for fun, chasing a child’s ball, but not to force him to run around the field, practicing professional exercises.

Today there are teams for girls
4 Today there are also teams of girls in this game, but it’s not worth giving a girl over 4 years old. It would be better if the baby grows up and makes an informed choice.
5 Traditionally, football schools admit children aged 6-7 years in the September or October intake.

An experienced master always recognizes talent.
6 If your child is already 11-12 years old, and he has begun to dream of football, do not be upset, bring your child to a coach. An experienced master always recognizes talent.
7 Most often, a child may be denied access to football due to health reasons, the level of which is determined by a specialist at the district clinic. Registration in the football section without a certificate from a pediatrician is impossible.
8 If in the process of training a young football player progresses, tries hard, develops his skills, the coach will definitely include him in the team competing in the city championship. Children as young as 10 years old usually play in international tournaments held abroad.
9 If your child cannot control the ball or feels uncomfortable on the field, the coach decides whether it is advisable for the student to continue attending classes. In this case, your baby will have to try to prove himself in another activity.
10 Lazy people who often miss training without good reason are excluded from the section.
11 The main disadvantage of this sport is injuries. Here, knocked knees, frequent abrasions, and sometimes more serious injuries cannot be avoided. If your baby is ready for constant stress, he has perseverance and perseverance, and you are ready for his injuries, then welcome to the world of football!