A study from Stockholm University shows that young people stop playing sports at an increasingly younger age. From being around 15 years old at the beginning of the 2000s to being down to 11-12 years old today.
An ominous development which, according to former football professional and elite coach Torbjörn Nilsson, is largely about leadership and its complexity.
– Always be at training or at a match for the sake of the children, is Nilsson’s advice.
Hear Torbjörn Nilsson’s three leadership tips in the player above.
“Svennis” is born to be a leader”
Torbjörn Nilsson has for many years studied and lectured on leadership in sports in general and in football in particular. During his own active professional career in the 1970s and 80s, he experienced all types of leadership. Not least in IFK Göteborg, which in the early 80s dominated Swedish football under the leadership of Sven-Göran “Svennis” Eriksson.
– Svennis was born to be a leader. Always listening, encouraging, but with clarity and a firm hand, you enjoyed his company, explains Nilsson.
During his professional career, Torbjörn Nilsson experienced despotic and authoritarian leadership based on hierarchies. Something that, among other things, made him break away from professional life in Holland and Germany and seek safety in Sweden and his “home club” IFK Gothenburg.
“As a leader, I was not good”
In his new book, which Nilsson wrote together with journalist and youth coach Joel Tivemo, they both give a series of tips for youth leaders in football. For example, how to deal with demanding sports parents and how to manage a team with different groupings.