What Is the Purpose of Working With Young Players?

“Like in everything we do, the first thing we need to understand is the purpose.”

So let’s start with a simple question:

What is the purpose of working with young players?

It’s not winning games. It’s not ranking players. And it’s definitely not predicting who will be good in the future.

The real purpose is much simpler and much harder:

To keep players in the system. In the club. In the sport. For as long as possible.

Why is this so important? Because at young ages, development is completely unpredictable.

Before around the age of 16, we actually know almost nothing. We think we know, but we don’t. Players who look average, or even weak, can later become excellent players. And players who dominate their age group? Many of them quit. Lose motivation. Burn out. Or simply disappear. This happens all the time.

So if we’re honest with ourselves, we have to admit something important: Our ability to predict future success at young ages is extremely limited. That changes the whole job description. If we can’t reliably predict who will succeed, then our responsibility is not to select winners early, it’s to keep doors open.

Our main goal becomes:     •    Helping players love the sport     •    Helping them enjoy the process     •    Helping them feel competent and safe     •    Helping them want to come back tomorrow

Because only players who stay…can develop. If a player quits at 11, 12, or 13, development is over. No system, no drill, no talent identification can fix that. So when working with young players, success is not measured by today’s results.

Success is measured by retention. By engagement. By curiosity. By players still showing up years later.

That is the foundation for everything else we’ll talk about. If players stay, development has a chance. If they leave, it doesn’t. And that’s the core objective.