Nurturing Creativity in Young Players - Part 2

The distrust for over creativity in the English game has already been discussed, and this instalment aims to show how we as coaches can try to nurture creativity in our players in this context. Horst Wein wrote a piece entitled ‘Requirements Needed for the Development of More Creative Football Players’ - he is a leading figure in youth football development, with his methods advocated by top international managers. Much of the analysis in this post is drawn from his own insights into creative freedom among developing players.

Creativity in our everyday lives

Creativity is innate to youth. We are born with incredible amounts of creativity, but this flair and imagination tend to tail off as we mature to adulthood. The question thus centres around how we can have children maintain their youthful creativity while maturing into developed players. 

School diminishes our creativity. The left centre of our brain is the side associated with logical thinking, and this is the main focus upon entering school. The school system aims to develop this side of the brain as that is effectively what they are under instruction to do, so as an infant progresses through the early stages of school, their creativity diminishes. Development of creativity requires focus on the right side of the brain, and this centres around open tasks, where there is no given one solution but pupils are encouraged to find their own, creative solution to a task.

Creativity on the football pitch

This same logic is easily applicable to the football field. The left hemisphere of the brain tends to dominate in a football training session, so we see less creative players blossoming as they are not drilled so as to develop their creative potential. Drills do of course have their place, but playing games should be integral to practising football. Enjoyment of the game encourages creative flourishment, which is also aided by the constantly fluctuating nature of a competitive game. Countries with a street football culture create more creative geniuses than those without - look at the frequent stars who emerge from Brazil, where playing street football free from prying eyes and judgment allows players to develop creativity and flourish. An element of this creative atmosphere must be present in training to nurture our young players’ creativity.

Young players can also be dominated by their coaches and instructors. As the main agent in the teaching and learning process for players, coaches obviously need to instruct in order to teach. While this is the case, the coach should occasionally defer responsibility to the players and ask them to solve the problems they might face. These open-ended problems can be invaluable in developing the creative potential of a developing player. The dependence that players can have on their coaches can also be somewhat mitigated by encouraging players to play outside of the realm of this coach - players should be encouraged to play for fun with their friends as, without fear of criticism, comfortability allows natural creativity to be expressed.

Other factors

There are, of course, other barriers to nurturing creativity. If a player sees the perfect pass yet does not have the technical skill to play the ball, what is the point? The same applies to the player who wants to make a run but is too tired to do so, the player who has made the right decision in their head yet does not enact it quickly enough. We at Bloomsbury ensure that our players are technically at the peak of what someone their age should be expected to do. We aim to create intelligent decision-makers who have a tactical awareness of the game around them at all times. Physicality is also of great importance, and we aim to condition players to be fitter and stronger than their opponents. These are the elements of the game that we nurture to allow innate creativity to flourish.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere in which we grow up is hostile to creativity. School limits personal initiative, independence and originality and children are taught with an intentional direction of learning (i.e. there is only one solution to a given problem) rather than diffuse. Children should be confronted with open-ended, creative problems to solve in order to allow the right side of the brain to flourish. This logic all applies to the football field. We aim to give players the right tools to creatively develop, giving them a degree of independence from coaches so they can express themselves and encouraging a culture of learning from mistakes rather than that of ‘win at all costs’.

What do you think the right approach to teaching young children is? How can we ensure that young people and footballers are being given enough independence to learn and be creative in their everyday lives?