Resilience and sport

Resilience is something I believe in deeply, and I truly believe that sport plays a huge role in building resilience in children from a very young age.

When children play sport, and in our case football, they are constantly learning how to deal with both the highs and the challenges. You score a goal, amazing, but what comes next? You concede a goal, how do you respond and how quickly can you reset?

Watching our players in sessions is fascinating. In the space of just one session, they experience so many of these moments. You see a child lose a duel, burst into tears, then two minutes later they are flying again, smiling, competing and fully back in the game.

A big part of our work is with our coaches, helping them understand how to handle those moments properly. If you spend too long feeling sorry for a child when what they actually need is to bounce back, it can work against them in the long run. Getting that balance right is crucial. Sometimes they need to bounce straight back up after falling over. Other times, they need an arm around the shoulder to rebuild confidence before they can compete again.

It’s complex, it’s nuanced, and it’s never the same from child to child. But that’s exactly why we love what we do.