Improve Youth Soccer Players through Praise. 
14th June 2011

The Danish physicist Niels Bohr said, “An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field”.  

What he meant is that expertise is the wisdom that is gained from making mistakes. Errors must not be discouraged, but should be cultivated and turned into positive learning experiences.  

A crucial ingredient to education and the learning process is the ability to learn from making mistakes. Children are often taught the opposite, and where they are praised for attainment and getting things correct, they should be praised for their effort instead.  

Being praised for being correct often has a completely opposite effect and makes young footballers believe that getting things wrong and making mistakes is a sign of stupidity, which eventually reduces a junior footballer's success with learning.  

Continual praise of attainment develops a fear of failure in a child, which stops them from taking risks which they think may lead to a mistake, and ultimately a goal for the opposition.  

Children who are praised for their effort are far more likely to achieve more because they are more inclined to push themselves and are less fearful of making a mistake.  

This difference in overall rate of success is further highlighted with the children who are praised for attainment, who often compare themselves with those they perceive to have lower ability, whereas children who are praised for their effort compare themselves with others who have a higher achievement level, and strive to improve by understanding their mistakes.  

Over a short period of time children who are praised for their effort make on average a 30% gain, though children who are praised for attainment often experience  a 20% drop in achievement.

This does not just apply to children but to everyone, young and old.

What all this means is that as football coach it is far more effective to praise the effort made by the child when scoring the goal than the goal itself. Praise the team for their effort rather than for the win. On the other side, instead of being negative because the child missed the tackle, praise their effort for attempting the tackle in the first place.

Science tells us that one of the best methods of learning, is learning through our mistakes and we are far more likely to attempt techniques which may end in a mistake if we are praised for our effort than our achievement.

Further Reading:

• Coaching Young Children

• Never Criticize team mates

• Why do children play football?

• The Youth Football Coach