Running, managing and maintaining a successful youth section at any voluntary sports club is a challenge. The first challenge is to define what makes the set-up successful. Is winning junior leagues success? Is having huge numbers of players success? Is helping players gain representative honours success? Is providing a pathway into senior participation success? Is it possible to achieve all of the above? In an ideal world it probably is. The reality for many clubs […]

I have as part of an ongoing project been working in a school which a member of staff described as “non competitive” for the past 2 or 3 years.  Until recently, I had not been a massive thinker about competition, it just happened.  I would suggest I probably fell on the cautious side with the players I worked with and over protected them from competition.  Perhaps this was a sub-conscious awareness that the opportunities were inappropriate […]