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All children should be allowed to play not just those that fulfil some mythological adult constructed criteria!!! This fits in with recent narratives in Ireland played out in the public arena-a sense of entitlement and elitism https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/1307026435085864960?s=20
There are many social norms and organisational pressures present within the facets of professional football that impinge on child youth football, which I believe the FAI help perpetuate with this statement.
The use of words such as ‘elite’ in reference to children and youth has added to the development of an artificial mythology in and around the culture of child youth sports programs
Significant concerns about the quality and appropriateness of the contemporary youth sport experience the International Olympic Committee (Bergeron et al., 2015) presented a critical evaluation of the state of science and practice of youth athlete development.
The statement suggested that the ‘culture’ of specific sports and youth sports in general, has become disproportionately both adult and media centered .....
.....There is a need to address interactions between athletes, coaching styles and practices, the effects on youth athletes from parental expectations and the view of youth athletes as commodities, which is often intrusive with a fine line between objectivity and sensationalism.
Semantics are important in this regard, especially in reference to the quasi-mythopoetic terms such as ‘elite’
We have ethical and moral responsibilities. Applied practice is developed through a process of social osmosis, in which experience, organisational pressures and power dynamics all influence decision-making of practitioners.
Conforming to the status-quo is all too easy.
Language plays an important role as does acknowledging that development cannot be fully understood without the consideration of the wider sociological perspective.
So what message does the above statement send to young children and youth in Ireland that just want to play.
This has been adopted from an article on a similar topic written by @andykirkland71 and I https://www.jssm.org/abstresearchajssm-17-686.xml.xml
Other concerns have rightfully been raised by @stevehendo07 https://twitter.com/stevehendo07/status/1307006358974337025?s=20
