Practice make perfect in the round leather game

The time we used to play anywhere we wanted to or kick a ball till chickens come to roost are long gone.

I remember with nostalgia how our parents would look for us to go back home for lunch after hours, all in the name of playing football.


It is difficult to formulate a step-by-step approach on how to learn to play football because the learning process depends largely on practice. You learn football by playing football.The kids devised all sorts of football games, from small sided games to games that depended on the presence of walls, car parking spaces and basketball courts for those who were lucky to have them. To quench the football thirst, they knitted their balls from polythene or plastic bags and rope. This was how children mastered the skills of the game and the constantly changing circumstances stimulated their creativity. They had to adjust their play to the features in their immediate neighborhood, such as the ball kicked inside an unfriendly neighbour's compound where it would never be returned.

Progress always went hand in hand with growing awareness fondly referred to as "football intelligence". Nowadays, however, football activities have to be squeezed into one or two hours of coaching weekly at various academies or at schools where drills and games are devised by a coach. To enable youngsters learn how to play football in a shorter time, the 11 versus 11 game must be simplified, while retaining as many characteristic aspects of football as possible.

The time children spend playing the game is important for their football development. Lack of time is probably the enemy number one and, most importantly, lack of space. Playing grounds in the neighborhood have been grabbed and converted into other money making ventures. Increased competition from other pastimes (computer games, music, television, other sports, etc,) has also had an adverse effect on football. Children are used to spending many hours playing football in the streets. Maybe it is one of the reasons why Mathare were the first world champions of street football in 2006.