peasepud 59 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Interested in everyone elses views on this. The bairn is 21month old now and has been kicking & dribbling a football (penny floater) since he could walk. At 16 months he started to practise dragging the ball back with his foot, often doing a drag back and then tapping it to the left or right. Now hes able to dribble and hit not only a penny floater but proper "caser" as well as tennis balls, little plastic golf balls and balloons. He does this better than I remember the non-football kids doing at middle school. I know all dads probably think their son has got what it takes but how do you tell? is this just standard stuff for this age? Anyone know where I can go to take him further? I dont want to be some pushy dad who drags the kid to football training when hes too young but at the same time if its something that would be enhanced by early practice/ training then Id like to give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Manson 0 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 If he takes after you, he could be the next Peter Crouch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Just my opinion obviously but I wouldn't take him to be coached or anything like that for a good while yet. I don't even think kids should be playing 'competitive' football before they're about 10 anyway (if not later), i.e. under 11 sort of age. Not due to any 'pc' reasons but I think they take the fun out of it and, even worse, coach any creativity out of kids and turn them into two-touch pass and move robots. Be different if you down the road from the Ajax academy. Just let him take it slowly and learn from playing with and against his mates etc. Do you reckon Gazza would've thrived in an academy setting? The first thing they'd have done is told him to stop dribbling so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChezGiven 0 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I think 21 months is a bit early for calling the academy. My advice is to get him in front of a wall and encourage him to play by himself 'left foot, right foot' one touch against the wall. Its the advice Bobby Charlton gave my dad as a nipper and the advice he gave me. Having 2 feet is better than having 3 tricks. (i just made that last bit up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Was about to add actually stuff you could do (with no need for any formal coaching) is getting him to work on his weak foot and his first touch. If he's two-footed and has a good first touch most other things will fall into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 If he takes after you, he could be the next Peter Crouch. Having seen him play I can only assume he takes after his Mam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10972 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Having 2 feet is better than having 3 tricks. (i just made that last bit up). Definitely knicking that. To be honest Pud, it doesn't matter what you do, in 27 years time, some baldy twat on an internet forum will state that the lad's never kicked a ball in his life and will forever extinguish the dwindling hope of a late bloom in the big time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 31222 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Forget a pension plan, you're sorted for life now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmag 337 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 There is a scheme called Little Kickers which I think takes kids from the age of 18 months. Do a search on the 'sign up' tab to see where it is near you and you could at least go along and see what it's all about. http://www.littlekickers.co.uk/index.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasepud 59 Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 If he takes after you, he could be the next Peter Crouch. Having seen him play I can only assume he takes after his Mam twat But fair point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmag 337 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Btw, Joseph is completely right-footed, but seems to be pretty good. Maybe they'll be in competition for a first-team place in 16yrs time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasepud 59 Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Btw, Joseph is completely right-footed, but seems to be pretty good. Maybe they'll be in competition for a first-team place in 16yrs time Does J go to littlekickers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catmag 337 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Btw, Joseph is completely right-footed, but seems to be pretty good. Maybe they'll be in competition for a first-team place in 16yrs time Does J go to littlekickers? No, it's something my uncle told me about ages ago but I'd forgotten about it until you asked. No doubt once I mention it to his daddy he may well have a closer look though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney 0 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I thought this was going to be about the prodigy dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 7084 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Knock up a Michael Owen style brochure for him. As his agent you could be raking it in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monroe Transfer 0 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Call the club, sounds cheap and young enough for them to take him on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 7182 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 We had a 14year old in goal in the reserves last night btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniffer 0 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Bit of nepotism? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 (edited) If he's dribbling well by now then it's about time you started formally coaching him with a view to entering him into a competitive footballing enviroment. Work on his technique, Ian Wright made SWP and BWP do 100 kick ups before they were fed and they both turned out shite. With that in mind, best make it 500 kickups a day, but you can split that into easily manageable sections (100 before breakfast, another 200 before lunch and so on). Remember to keep pushing him, once he is comfortable with 500 it would be best to employ some kind of handicap like chaining him to a fence to restrict him from using too big a radius and thereby improving his control. As for competitive football, the best players (Pele is a good example of this) have always played against older and physically stronger opponents from an early age and have therefore developed into stronger footballers as a result. You have to remember that football is a contact sport as well as being a game involving skill. I don't know if you play in a sunday league or for a pub team, but if you do you might want to consider entering your son into the team. This will harden him to the physical side of the sport. If he gets injured then use the downtime to make him play Football Manager and watch football videos to familiarise himself with the tactical aspect of the game. You have to bear in mind that playing sports competitively often brings out the worst in people. George Orwell said that football was essentially war without guns. Watch any PL game and you will see the constant cheating, the obnoxious behaviour, the undercurrent of violence throughout--this is without mentioning the animosity between fans, which is constant. You need to make sure your son grows up to be a balanced and thoughtful person so it would be best to expose him to the arts as well as football: music, literature and ballet would all be a good counter-balance to the football. Finally, the best advice I could give you is to not get carried away as there is always the chance that your son won't grow up to be a professional footballer. It is a very competitive enviroment and few English players are getting through the ranks: they are often beaten out by African players who, despite not being able to shoot as accurately as their English counterparts, are very cheap to employ and physically strong. If worst comes to the worst you can always put him in the SPL. Let us know how he gets on anyway. Edited October 13, 2011 by Kevin S. Assilleekunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 7182 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Slow day for you then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayatollah Hermione 14068 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 All sound advice iyam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toonotl 3116 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 If he gets good you can sell him.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin 1 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Well done, next he'll learn to count. *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasepud 59 Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 Well done, next he'll learn to count. *sigh* Im guessing that will come before you manage it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Castell 0 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Bloody hell, you might have the next Sonny Pike! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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