All players have to start somewhere. A player as young as 3 will not always want to talk and answer questions when they are at a football session, and neither might a disabled player because they’re shy or find interaction difficult. Their confidence in sport as a child could be very low. Here are some reasons why this may be the case.
Autism as a disability possibly could be an issue for group leaders and coaches – not enough research was around for everyone not so long ago. Having someone that has an autistic spectrum type disability in the team requires patience from both the coach and the other players/ participants. Autism used to be one of the reasons why a player was excluded from team sports as the education for coaches wasn’t written to help the learning disabled. Thanks to the vast amount of children now being diagnosed, more research has been available to the general public.
A physical disability makes it difficult to run or have the coordination to get the ball faster than another player. The FA now work closely with clubs to provide a range of non running and wheelchair/powerchair formats of football so those that want to experience the game, can.
There’s more adaptable ways of teaching disabled children that have not always felt able to communicate or join in with things as they feel it is out of their depth and ability. They feel a sense of belonging and feel more ‘normal’ if they can join in.
Some children that have older siblings in football are more confident and they may develop faster. Catching a ball is a core skill to master at a young age – This is a very important skill because it helps coordination. For young or disabled players that don’t have siblings this could take a bit longer to train. If this sort of work is done in early years of play, the chances of the childs improvement could be quite amazing a lot sooner.
Interaction with players within the team session can only be good for the young and/or disabled. During the pandemic there was nothing to do with others in this setting and young children had no skills on forming friendships and it felt a bit odd going to places and meeting new people. The pandemic also stopped whole households from being together. Disabled players had nobody to meet and train with and as a result some activities may have ceased to run again for them.
Don’t push a young or disabled player to play the game or answer questions. Remember their age and their ability. A good idea might be to have a whiteboard where the player can put anything they can’t vocalise into a picture or simple words. A three year old will probably like this method if it makes them feel heard, even if they do just scribble. Consider the time you spend on the activities in the group and if someone needs re-assuring they are doing well then praise them. Don’t spend too long on one topic as some young players will have forgotten it all the next week!
Each player will develop at their own pace, and it is your job to help them to do that within the time that you have with them.