Introduction
One thing that ensures continuation and development of a sport is having the junior levels of it. It is these juniors that eventually carry the talent into the future. And when one talks of junior football, there are two versions that spring to mind, and that is the junior version of American football and English football. For the records, this post is more concerned with the latter. Call it football or soccer, one fact is clear about it, that children and youths around the world love football.
Variations and Organization of Youth Football
Junior football comes under various jurisdictions and levels. The most common type of junior football falls under the school level. Schools normally organize various football competitions under different ages. Other than that, the school league is an imitation of the club league that is usually witnessed in various countries. The school league cuts across the different levels of learning, from elementary to high school and then college. This way, talent is natured alongside education. Other than the school league, there are also the club junior teams that constitute another organization structure of youth football. In the UK for instance, almost all the football clubs have a junior side, or the so called football academies. These teams participate in various competitions and tournaments, including league and cup tournaments. The top youth football competition in England is known as the Premier Academy League and it was started in the year 1997. The league has 40 clubs participating. These teams are further divided into four equal groups whereby at the end of the season, the group winners square off to determine the ultimate winner. This is just but an example of the organization of youth football that might be put in place by a football association in a country.
Why Youth Football?
Other than just nurturing talent, youth football also plays an important role in the upbringing and education of youngsters. This is the reason why football, amongst other sports, is normally incorporated in the learning curriculums in schools. Through the sport, the youngsters get to learn other virtues like team spirit, resilience and sense of humility. Parents, guardians and the team coach are at the center of this development and all have to work together for the benefit of the child. In reality, not every player in the school team ends up being a football star, but every player who was once in the school football team prides in the achievement. The relationships formed many a time transcend into the youths’ lines of career.
Tips and comments
Junior football is a part of the game that receives little media coverage as opposed to the top flight senior level of the game. However, the truth of the matter is that youth football plays a very important role to achieving the entertainment seen on the screens. And it can sometimes be very entertaining to watch some of these youngsters display their talent in the field. BBC Sports has tried giving the youth football some attention it deserves by broadcasting some matches, and it remains to be seen if this will be replicated across other channels in the world.
