A game of football could look different to each one of us – nobody is really wrong but what exactly is it that makes a game, a game?
When someone joins a team, they are expecting to play games – Whether that’s winning, losing or even drawing, a game is played with at least two teams or two people with skills and with a common knowledge.
In football as a young player a game could be a 1v1 or a 2v2 or even a 3v4 setting – it still is something that is between teams. It is our place as coaches, to set rules or boundaries around this setting whilst keeping them safe and allowing them to have fun and hopefully win.
The aim of a football match/game is to score goals. The way to score a goal may vary to teach the team how to pass or how to share the ball in the time given. It may start as a ball throwing exercise and each player must pass the ball a set number of times to win a point or score a goal. As the children get the hang of it there may be a transition to having the ball at their feet and moving it to their team mates. The game here may also be an individual one to see if they can hold on to the ball without a tackle or losing the ball with a bad pass. It is still a game!
Game length may vary between teams and sports too – there may be a stop after a team scoring 5 goals regardless of the end of time – this can be altered for the age and the ability of the children taking part as you wouldn’t put a 5 year old in a full 90 minute game.
Individual games may also be regarding personal targets as mentioned so that the child could focus on their development or their ability to do some new skill.
Setting up a game of something takes skills too, as both teams must abide by set deadlines and to work out who is going to start at the beginning of the session they are playing.