Academy Sport

Sam Woods - Sports psychology consultant, talks about academies

Hello readers, I hope you’re all well and looking forward to the small bits of normality that are starting to come back into our lives. 

This month I have been asked to speak about my experience in academy sport and my opinion on the news of Bayern Munich. I’m sure you’ve all heard, it is the news that they are going to no longer have academies for u8’s, u9’s and in a year’s time u10’s.

This got me thinking about my time in football academies and then the other academies I’ve worked in. I’ve been lucky enough to work in five academies across four sports. So, I thought I would share with you the best of what I have learnt and the things I think are important to look out for. 

• Firstly, I do not think what Bayern Munich are doing is bad. We know from research, specialising early can lead to some young people like yourselves having burnout. This just means you stop loving the sport and then stop playing when you’re older. This is not always the case but something to watch out for! I do believe playing as much and as many sports as you can for as long as you can is best and I will explain why!

• The differences amongst academies in the same sport is hugely different but between sports are lightyears apart…

• The common things I have seen, all academies are incredibly tough to graduate from. The academies who accept this, message it early and plan to develop you as people as well as the sport are the academies I believe give a far richer sporting experience for later life. 

• That being said to make it in professional sport, you will need to specialise. However, there’s a right time to do that! For me, kids who play a variety of sports up until fifteen or sixteen and then start to think about specialising as the pathway gets harder have a far happier experience and journey. Those who have played four or five sports until this age, have really high sporting IQ’s. This is something all academy managers want but do not know it themselves. 

• Sporting IQ is your ability to understand the sport, adapt to what is happening around you and find a way to succeed. Sometimes this is called your natural instinct. The more sports you play, the more variations you have of ways to beat opponents but also you can adapt to whatever is thrown at you in the sport you are lucky enough to be in an academy for. 

• Another reason I think it’s important to play lots of different sports for as long as you can is one of the most important. Through sport, many of you will meet your best friends. They won’t all play the same sport, one might be a hockey player, two might be swimmers and one might be a footballer. As long as you can play and keep connected to those friends is another reason why I think kids who specialise late enjoy the pathway more. They have lots of friends to support them through the journey. 

• My favourite academies are the ones who give lots of opportunities, lots of kids, lots of time until they have no choice but to cut the numbers. Too many academies have a squad for match days, a bench and a few reserves to rotate. For me, this means there’s less competition but also a feeling of less safety and that you could get dropped at any time with numbers being so tight. At eight, nine or ten this isn’t a feeling or experience that will benefit you at all!

• When you’re fifteen or sixteen this is a motivator and will help select the best for the academy. But when you’re young in my experience it doesn’t help, it only seems to hinder. You will all develop at different rates, some of you will be a superstar at eight, some of you won’t be any good at anything until you’re 10 and then find that sport you love and become an Olympian at 20. Some of you will love every sport, play it well and never be a professional. There are many more of you out there, some who just like a run around with friends and that is the beauty of sport, there is a place for all of us, academy or not!

• In my experiences, the child who is ok at eight, loves the sport and plays lots of different ones when they are thirteen/ fourteen has lots of extra skills to showcase and does really well. If you are a superstar and you’re young, playing lots of different sports is still the best thing to do you as you are then much more likely to achieve higher levels. 

So, I hope you all take away;

• Playing lots of sports is really important for developing sporting IQ

• Sporting IQ will be your secret weapon 

• Not specialising and being in an academy from eight in my opinion is a good thing, you should be loving and enjoying all sport at this age

• When you do specialise and are in an academy, remember all the other sports you’ve played. They will help.

Stay safe and take care

Sam