我非常高興近日遇見了一位來(lái)自足球行業(yè)的中國(guó)朋友，他與我都無(wú)法理解一件事，那就是為什么所有中國(guó)人都認(rèn)為，在孩子8歲的時(shí)候就把他們送進(jìn)足球?qū)W校，是培養(yǎng)思想開放、富有創(chuàng)造力和激情的足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員的最佳途徑。我個(gè)人的觀點(diǎn)是中國(guó)不需要十多年來(lái)用一種方式訓(xùn)練的機(jī)器人，或者是將自己學(xué)到的一成不變教給學(xué)生的足球教練。中國(guó)需要一套完全不同的體系和方法。
第一個(gè)需要弄清楚的事實(shí)是孩子們?cè)谏眢w、情感和智力上的發(fā)育速度都是各異的。我們都有過這樣的體驗(yàn)，10歲時(shí)班里個(gè)頭最小的同學(xué)在14歲的時(shí)候成了最高大的那位，或者是那位在體育課上的籃球小白癡搖身一變成為足球小天才；每個(gè)孩子都是一個(gè)獨(dú)立的個(gè)體。
如果我們看看歐洲的青少年足球培訓(xùn)，每個(gè)男孩女孩都有屬于自己的成長(zhǎng)計(jì)劃。不管孩子的能力如何，父母都會(huì)支持和鼓勵(lì)自己的孩子，并且在歐洲每個(gè)年齡階段、能力階段都有大把的訓(xùn)練機(jī)會(huì)。總的來(lái)說中國(guó)沒有這樣的訓(xùn)練方法，而這樣的缺失帶來(lái)的結(jié)果也是顯而易見的。
所以我們到底如何發(fā)掘出一個(gè)有足球天賦的少年呢？首先，要為盡可能多的年輕人提供踢足球的機(jī)會(huì)，在街上、公園里、學(xué)校中、下課后、周末或是節(jié)假日。不論水平怎樣，不要忘記踢足球是很好的鍛煉，坐在書桌旁學(xué)習(xí)或是彈鋼琴會(huì)培養(yǎng)出來(lái)一名學(xué)術(shù)天才，但這位天才極有可能是身體不健康的。在這兩者之中尋求平衡才是最重要的。
如果為了興趣愛好而踢足球的年輕人群體足夠大，那么在他們之中找到天賦異稟的那位也就不是難事了，當(dāng)然必須要有專門的球探在放學(xué)后的訓(xùn)練或是周末的比賽中積極尋找這些天才，球探能發(fā)現(xiàn)年輕人的潛力并設(shè)法將其激發(fā)出來(lái)。
也許這兩點(diǎn)就是中國(guó)足球切實(shí)發(fā)展的關(guān)鍵。現(xiàn)今中國(guó)的足球俱樂部沒有一個(gè)正規(guī)的球探系統(tǒng)，無(wú)法發(fā)現(xiàn)俱樂部青年隊(duì)以外的有才華的年輕人。我們急需周末的時(shí)候足球場(chǎng)上年輕人人頭濟(jì)濟(jì)的景象，這樣球探就有機(jī)會(huì)從各個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)背景的人群中挑選出真正有天賦的球員。你家庭的社會(huì)地位不能決定你是否喜歡踢足球或者是否有足球才華，基因和毅力才能決定。
如果讀到這篇文章的讀者去過英國(guó)，親臨過英國(guó)城鎮(zhèn)和鄉(xiāng)村周圍的足球場(chǎng)，見識(shí)過在那里踢球的男孩女孩的人數(shù)，你們一定會(huì)明白我的觀點(diǎn)。足球文化伴隨著我們長(zhǎng)大，而草根足球哺育著職業(yè)足壇。現(xiàn)有的體制難以孕育出中國(guó)梅西或是中國(guó)C羅，加油中國(guó)，讓草根足球運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)起來(lái)！
英文原文
I was very pleased to meet a Chinese person from the sports industry recently who like me, doesn’t understand why anyone in China thinks that putting kids into a football school at the age of eight is the correct way to develop open minded, creative and passionate football players. My personal view is that China doesn’t need robots all trained the same way for ten or more years, or coaches who teach their students exactly as they were taught. It needs a completely different system and approach.
The first thing is that all kids develop physically, emotionally and educationally at different speeds. We all know the kid who was the smallest in the class at 10 and then became very tall at 14, or the one who struggled in PE lesson to play basketball but when allowed to play football found that they had a natural ability for it; every child is an individual.
If we look at the approach to youth coaching in Europe for example, every boy or girl has an individual development plan. Parents are involved in supporting and encouraging their children to play football, not matter what their ability, and opportunities to play football at almost any age and level are widely available. In general none of these approaches are used in China and we can see the results.
So how do you find a kid with some footballing ability? Firstly give as many young people as possible an opportunity to play football, in the street, in the park, at school, after school, at weekends and in the holidays. Don’t forget that playing football is good exercise no matter how good a child may be at it, so sitting at a table studying or playing the piano might deliver an academic genius but possibly an unhealthy one; getting the balance right between the two is important.
If the pool of young people playing football for pleasure is big enough then finding a few who have a high level of ability becomes much simpler, but of course there needs to be people looking for this talent at after school training or weekend matches; people who can see the potential of the young players and who know how to draw it out of them.
And perhaps these two points are the key to the real development of football in China. At present Chinese football clubs don’t have a proper scouting system to identify kids with ability outside of their own circle of club youth squads, and we need to see many, many football pitches swarming with young players at the weekends to give those scouting more choice and to draw those young people from every economic background out to play football. Your family status does not determine whether you like football and have ability, genetics and mental stamina do.
If anyone ever reading this article has been to England and seen the numbers of girls, boys, men and woman playing football and pitches around the countries towns and cities, they will know what I mean. Football is in the culture because we grow up on it and grass roots feeds the professional game. Come on China, lets get grass roots football going and then you will find your Messi’s and Ronaldo’s because they wont come out of the current system.
作者簡(jiǎn)介：Ken Grant 鴻俊，體育業(yè)內(nèi)人士、投資人和觀察家；國(guó)際主席俱樂部(IPC)及亞英體育俱樂部(AASC)董事；The English Football League中國(guó)區(qū)官方商務(wù)開發(fā)代表。在足球、高爾夫、馬球等體育領(lǐng)域擁有廣泛的國(guó)際關(guān)系。
聲明：文中觀點(diǎn)僅代表作者本人觀點(diǎn)，不代表懶熊體育。
延展閱讀：
老派教練的執(zhí)教能解決英格蘭足球的問題嗎？這事擱中國(guó)呢？
擁有足球俱樂部的所有權(quán)：是美夢(mèng)還是噩夢(mèng)
足球賽事贊助的真正價(jià)值，中國(guó)企業(yè)該如何激活贊助權(quán)益？
Simon Chadwick專欄：從英超和歐冠看一個(gè)賽事的頂層設(shè)計(jì)｜ The Pitch
