A good youth programme is vital to a club’s success in any team sport. As we look at football in Bermuda, the development of our youth at the club level will dictate the quality of players that we produce for the national level.However, clubs often find themselves confused when it comes to developing and winning. Some clubs put winning first, at all costs, a trait which has its pros and cons, while other clubs focus solely on youth development, allowing winning to take its own course.Currently in Bermuda our competitive age groups are Under-8’s, Under-10’s, Under-12’s, Under-14’s and Under-16’s. The question causing a debate amongst many is: At what age does winning take precedence over developing?While we all love to win, the reality is winning isn’t really important unless you are getting paid as a professional or in Bermuda’s case when there is promotion and relegation involved. There is no secret that at the senior level, coaches’ jobs are often on the line depending on the results of their team.The developmental model of sports has a far more different focus. As its name suggests, the goal is to develop the individual. The most important end result is not wins or dollars, but rather the quality of the experience for the child.Humanly, coaches and parents want to see their team win. In most cases at local clubs there are your elite players, your average players and your weaker players. Some philosophies believe in putting all the good players on one team and all the weaker players on another, citing that the better players would be held back if mixed with the weaker.Mixing the teams certainly would help the weaker kids to improve as they can’t help but learn from playing with those that have mastered certain skills. The best of both worlds would be to balance the teams focusing on development with perks of winning more often than losing.A study was done on kids in the USA involved in football (soccer). The question was asked: would you rather sit on the bench of a winning team or play all game on a losing team? Believe it or not, ninety percent of the kids said they would rather play on a losing team, thus emphasising that the enjoyment of playing is far more important to children than winning (Smith, R, E. & Smoll F).What are some of the benefits of having a balanced team? Experienced players help out the inexperienced players, either directly or indirectly. Balanced teams allow kids with age and experience to play more pivotal roles on a team. It also teaches “life lessons”, showing that you may be put into situations that are new to you, where you have to find new ways to succeed and new ways to help others succeed. Reality as good players, they will make good passes and good decisions no matter what type of team they are a part of.On the flip side of this, what are some of the drawbacks from balanced teams? Some good players will get frustrated helping and playing with inexperienced players. Players and sometimes parents can feel that their child is not getting the best opportunity to improve.Again this brings us to the question of when does winning really become important? As many of us know, North Village have been the most dominant football team in Bermuda for years with one of the best youth programmes around.I was able to catch up with Maceo Dill, former Youth Technical Director of North Village currently with the new ABC Valencia. Maceo played a significant part in the set-up of the North Village youth programme so I wanted him to share their views on youth development.In the development years (six to 12) the focus is solely on development . . . learning to dribble, socialise in football, pass, shoot, control, head, positional play, movement patterns and thinking the game . . . all the game situations will be geared towards implementing these techniques and skills . . . the kids will always play to win but winning the game should never be discussed by the coaches or parents (although everyone has not fully brought into to this method/thinking as of yet) . . . at this age kids should be allowed to develop their own style/way of expressing themselves as a player and the team concept is not priority . . . priority should be given to each player’s own individualism and kids should be allowed to play in different positions on the field so they get a full concept of the whole game and movement patterns in each position . . . t is the hope that at 12 all the players have the tools to play the game in their desired position.From 13 to 16, kids are now being asked to make sacrifices for the team concept and although development is still first and foremost, winning now becomes a part of development . . . although development is not sacrificed for winning games . . . kids are now asked to play a team concept/style and the team now becomes most important . . . your individualism is shared with the team in the role you play for the team . . . players are now playing in different formations 4-4-2, 4-3-3 etc and learning the roles of each position . . . at this age coaches start to specialise in terms of what is considered the players best position (goalkeeper, striker etc).Winning games take full priority at the senior level as at this stage it is the hope that we have created players that are fully capable and have all the tools (skill, speed, mentality, discipline, technique, fitness etc) to win games and now you receive playing time based on your performances in each game and the situation that each game presents.Having just joined the youth coaching staff at St. George’s, I can say that we too take this same philosophy. Head coach Richard Todd’s focus is solely on development at an early age. It is even harder to accept at St. George’s because I can recall way back when I was small, St. George’s has always had a winning mentality.I have to admit when you are used to something in life it is always hard to break the cycle but as the times change so too must one’s thinking process. I will share with you an article about the great Johan Cruyff concerning Barcelona’s current head coach Pep Guardiola.Cruyff remembers the first time he set eyes on Pep Guardiola. The scrawny teenager was playing in Barcelona’s youth team and Cruyff had just been appointed first-team manager at the club. ‘He was a boy and the people said to me, ‘Oh, he’s one of the best’.“So (over the next year) I looked for him in the reserves, but he didn’t play in the reserves. So then I looked at the first youth team, and he didn’t play in that team. And eventually I found him in the third youth team.‘So I said to the coaches, ‘You said he was the best one!’ And they said, “Yeah, but physically . . . “ I said, “Put him there (in the reserves). He will grow. Don’t worry, everybody grows’. And they said, ‘Yeah, but we will lose’.“I said, ‘If we lose, we lose. We need to create players’. And he did very well. In actual fact he went on to become one of the best players in his era.”Bermuda I know this is a controversial issue, but the reality is worldwide coaches are focusing on youth development at the younger ages. It is vital that we as a country grasp these concepts so that we can produce better football players.We are not far from this concept Island-wide. The Bermuda Football Association’s Academy has played an integral part in this new acceptance of player development. Several clubs have made changes supporting this concept. As always, remember for kids the most important thing while learning is that they have fun, fun and more fun.