我非常高兴近日遇见了一位来自足球行业的中国朋友，他与我都无法理解一件事，那就是为什么所有中国人都认为，在孩子8岁的时候就把他们送进足球学校，是培养思想开放、富有创造力和激情的足球运动员的最佳途径。我个人的观点是中国不需要十多年来用一种方式训练的机器人，或者是将自己学到的一成不变教给学生的足球教练。中国需要一套完全不同的体系和方法。
第一个需要弄清楚的事实是孩子们在身体、情感和智力上的发育速度都是各异的。我们都有过这样的体验，10岁时班里个头最小的同学在14岁的时候成了最高大的那位，或者是那位在体育课上的篮球小白痴摇身一变成为足球小天才；每个孩子都是一个独立的个体。
如果我们看看欧洲的青少年足球培训，每个男孩女孩都有属于自己的成长计划。不管孩子的能力如何，父母都会支持和鼓励自己的孩子，并且在欧洲每个年龄阶段、能力阶段都有大把的训练机会。总的来说中国没有这样的训练方法，而这样的缺失带来的结果也是显而易见的。
所以我们到底如何发掘出一个有足球天赋的少年呢？首先，要为尽可能多的年轻人提供踢足球的机会，在街上、公园里、学校中、下课后、周末或是节假日。不论水平怎样，不要忘记踢足球是很好的锻炼，坐在书桌旁学习或是弹钢琴会培养出来一名学术天才，但这位天才极有可能是身体不健康的。在这两者之中寻求平衡才是最重要的。
如果为了兴趣爱好而踢足球的年轻人群体足够大，那么在他们之中找到天赋异禀的那位也就不是难事了，当然必须要有专门的球探在放学后的训练或是周末的比赛中积极寻找这些天才，球探能发现年轻人的潜力并设法将其激发出来。
也许这两点就是中国足球切实发展的关键。现今中国的足球俱乐部没有一个正规的球探系统，无法发现俱乐部青年队以外的有才华的年轻人。我们急需周末的时候足球场上年轻人人头济济的景象，这样球探就有机会从各个经济背景的人群中挑选出真正有天赋的球员。你家庭的社会地位不能决定你是否喜欢踢足球或者是否有足球才华，基因和毅力才能决定。
如果读到这篇文章的读者去过英国，亲临过英国城镇和乡村周围的足球场，见识过在那里踢球的男孩女孩的人数，你们一定会明白我的观点。足球文化伴随着我们长大，而草根足球哺育着职业足坛。现有的体制难以孕育出中国梅西或是中国C罗，加油中国，让草根足球运转起来！
英文原文
I was very pleased to meet a Chinese person from the sports industry recently who like me, doesn’t understand why anyone in China thinks that putting kids into a football school at the age of eight is the correct way to develop open minded, creative and passionate football players. My personal view is that China doesn’t need robots all trained the same way for ten or more years, or coaches who teach their students exactly as they were taught. It needs a completely different system and approach.
The first thing is that all kids develop physically, emotionally and educationally at different speeds. We all know the kid who was the smallest in the class at 10 and then became very tall at 14, or the one who struggled in PE lesson to play basketball but when allowed to play football found that they had a natural ability for it; every child is an individual.
If we look at the approach to youth coaching in Europe for example, every boy or girl has an individual development plan. Parents are involved in supporting and encouraging their children to play football, not matter what their ability, and opportunities to play football at almost any age and level are widely available. In general none of these approaches are used in China and we can see the results.
So how do you find a kid with some footballing ability? Firstly give as many young people as possible an opportunity to play football, in the street, in the park, at school, after school, at weekends and in the holidays. Don’t forget that playing football is good exercise no matter how good a child may be at it, so sitting at a table studying or playing the piano might deliver an academic genius but possibly an unhealthy one; getting the balance right between the two is important.
If the pool of young people playing football for pleasure is big enough then finding a few who have a high level of ability becomes much simpler, but of course there needs to be people looking for this talent at after school training or weekend matches; people who can see the potential of the young players and who know how to draw it out of them.
And perhaps these two points are the key to the real development of football in China. At present Chinese football clubs don’t have a proper scouting system to identify kids with ability outside of their own circle of club youth squads, and we need to see many, many football pitches swarming with young players at the weekends to give those scouting more choice and to draw those young people from every economic background out to play football. Your family status does not determine whether you like football and have ability, genetics and mental stamina do.
If anyone ever reading this article has been to England and seen the numbers of girls, boys, men and woman playing football and pitches around the countries towns and cities, they will know what I mean. Football is in the culture because we grow up on it and grass roots feeds the professional game. Come on China, lets get grass roots football going and then you will find your Messi’s and Ronaldo’s because they wont come out of the current system.
作者简介：Ken Grant 鸿俊，体育业内人士、投资人和观察家；国际主席俱乐部(IPC)及亚英体育俱乐部(AASC)董事；The English Football League中国区官方商务开发代表。在足球、高尔夫、马球等体育领域拥有广泛的国际关系。
声明：文中观点仅代表作者本人观点，不代表懒熊体育。
延展阅读：
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