Successful youth work in sports clubs can be interpreted in different ways. For some clubs, it is primarily about participating in top-class competitions in order to compete with the best week after week - other clubs, on the other hand, do not get teams registered in all age groups and want to attract more members. Success in youth work can vary for clubs. In this article, we look at both the recruitment of members and the sporting development of youth teams in sports clubs and explain various success factors.

Recruiting members: creating the basis for sporting success

If you want to reach the top with the youth section of a sports club, you need a basis that starts with the youngest and ideally grows from the bottom up. In football in particular, there are many organisations that place a lot of emphasis on the senior team and try to create a successful U19 and U17 junior team. Ideas like this can certainly celebrate selective success - especially in youth sport, such concepts are usually short-lived. If nothing more comes from the lower ranks, older youth teams are forced to reinvent themselves every year. And without a sustainable idea, the concept described will fail sooner or later.

Typical association problems with member recruitment

If continuous success is the aim, it is essential that all age groups are represented across the board. Winning members and therefore having many teams, especially among the youngest, is therefore worthwhile for all sports clubs. That sounds easier said than done. After all, sport is no longer the most popular leisure activity for children. Sports clubs compete with various electronic giants, with which a lot of leisure time can be organised from a child's perspective. The infrastructure is often lacking, especially in rural areas. In addition, in many places there are not enough children to form teams in all age groups. And then you also need enough coaches to train and supervise the children several times a week.

Rethinking membership recruitment and creating creative offers

Membership recruitment in sports clubs is most sustainable when it starts with the youngest members. Nowadays, childhood is no longer characterised by one-dimensional patterns of thinking and decision-making. Every child should try out leisure activities and find out for themselves what is the most fun. As a result, a club should offer flexible entry models such as taster courses and allow familiarisation phases before a fixed commitment is made. Children in the 21st century no longer have the same coordination and body control skills of past decades. The somersault is therefore a difficult exercise for today's children to perform. The logical consequence? The introduction or "training" for the youngest children should be adapted to the circumstances. If the training is too difficult at the beginning, the child will not feel a sense of achievement and will probably not enjoy the sport. Ideally, training for the youngest children should be a kind of play session that gently introduces them to the actual sport. In order to find enough coaches, it makes sense to approach club players in older age groups. It is also helpful to seek contact with schools, kindergartens or universities in the vicinity and enter into co-operations.

Being strong together: Founding youth sports communities

In rural areas in particular, it is often difficult to get enough children interested in recreational sports. There is a sports club and associated sports facilities in almost every village. The infrastructure in the region is often poor, meaning that not enough children from the region are able to join. Such circumstances are ideal for setting up a youth sports community (JSG). Several parent clubs come together to outsource the youth section and run it jointly. All registered children play under the name of the newly founded JSG and are automatically members of the nearest parent club. In this way, clubs pool their strengths, have more members and usually also a higher performance level. Although such models are promising, they have also failed in many cases due to various disagreements on the boards. Ultimately, there is a danger that each board member of the JSG actually only represents the interests of their parent club. On the other hand, the chance of successful youth work in rural regions is much higher and therefore worth striving for. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Summary: Tips to get the little ones interested in sport

Implement taster courses to allow the youngest children to try out the sport.
Create flexible entry models and offer familiarisation phases.
Organise simple ‘training’ for beginners with lots of success experiences and small groups.
Turn training into a play session that gently introduces the sport.
Fill the coaching positions with club players and enter into co-operations with local schools, kindergartens and universities.
If necessary, join forces and set up youth sports clubs.

From Bambini to A-Juniors: Establishing every age group in the club

Ideally, the sports club is represented in every available age group. In football, the game starts with the Bambini - i.e. the U7 age group - and ends with the A-Juniors in the U19. This is how the age groups in football are divided:

Ball school, play lessons: U4 to U7 (varies from club to club)
Bambini / G-juniors: U7, born in 2018
F-juniors: U8 and U9, born in 2017 and 2016
E-juniors U10 and U11, born in 2015 and 2014
D-juniors U12 and U13, born in 2013 and 2012, game in 9 vs. 9
C-juniors U14 and U15, born in 2011 and 2010, game in 11 vs. 11
B-juniors to U17, born in 2009 and 2008
A-juniors to U19, born in 2007 and 2006

Status 2024/2025 season As a first step, it is important for good youth work in the club to have at least one team in each age group. The next step, at least in children's football, is to establish a second team in each age group.

Youth work in the club: How junior teams achieve sporting success

All beginnings are difficult: anyone who already has a proper junior section will have to exercise patience before success can be achieved across the board. In addition, the promotion and relegation regulations in the respective associations are usually complicated and opaque. Sometimes it is the case that the team can "carry over" its own league position into the next year. Sometimes, however, the year group has to take over a ranking from the older team. It is important that the club is patient and gradually builds up a successful junior section. In the following sections, we explain the most important criteria for good youth work in a club.

Qualified trainers are the be-all and end-all for successful youth work

The sporting training of the junior teams is the decisive criterion for the success of the teams. It is important to offer the best possible training from an early age and to train the children in sport-specific aspects in an age-appropriate and contemporary manner. First and foremost, this requires qualified coaches with sporting expertise and social skills. It is logical that not every sports club can employ the best trainers. Most clubs are short of money and rely on coaches putting their heart and soul into their work without earning any money. It is therefore important to train the often voluntary coaches through the sports associations. In most sports, there are coaching courses at different levels so that coaches can acquire expertise from various experts.

Are you interested in football coaching licences? Find out more about licences and coaching certificates in this blog post.

Not only professional associations contribute to further development, but also work shadowing in more performance-orientated or professional clubs. An amateur club is well advised to establish co-operations with professional clubs in the region. In this way, coaches can also gain additional knowledge elsewhere and improve their performance. Furthermore, there is often more knowledge available in a sports club than is assumed. There is always someone who has a lot of experience and has been successful and can therefore share their knowledge with other coaches. Create internal workshops and help each other to improve the children's training.

Register second teams and establish them in the club

Many clubs that want to work successfully with young players only aim to enter performance-orientated teams. In sporting terms, however, this harbours the risk of losing a lot of potential. It is not immediately recognisable for every child how well they will develop athletically and in which league they will be able to play at some point. Many children have a physical advantage over a certain period of time, which is also noticeable in sport. Other children are only able to deal with performance-orientated aspects of sport much later. In addition, social components in the children's environment are also decisive for the development curve in sport. From puberty onwards, there are also different susceptibilities to injury, which are also decisive for athletic development. And even more important for the sports club: it is possible that some competitive players will leave the club to play at a higher level, for example. If the age group is only represented once in the club, it very quickly becomes difficult to keep the team in the relevant league. Such gaps can be filled much more quickly with a second team.

Establish a sports director to relieve the youth leadership team

Many sports enthusiasts are very familiar with the image of the iron-fisted youth manager, who seems to work day and night for the club and takes on every task. Nothing works without him and almost no decisions are made without him. This is a management model that no longer fits in with modern times. One youth manager alone cannot look after so many teams and do everything right, both on and off the pitch. It therefore makes sense to establish sports managers who are experts in the respective age group and take care of all the sporting matters of the teams. This way, all coaches have sporting support at their side. In addition, there is then also someone who takes responsibility in matters relating to coaching appointments, match strength assessments and further development. The most important thing from the club's point of view is that the knowledge and workload is spread across several shoulders. If someone drops out, the gap left behind is smaller.

Creating a "sense of unity": Clubhouse, jerseys & co.

Non-sporting events also create positive emotions in the sports club, which bind members and develop a sense of community. The following section provides some examples that strengthen the sense of togetherness and therefore also youth work in the club.

Clubhouse

The clubhouse is a kind of anchor point for every sports club. This is where team dinners, meetings, events and other team functions take place. Parents can also spend time there during matches and training sessions and socialise with other club members. A good clubhouse binds the members and brings them together.

Jerseys from small to large

Jerseys are the most important thing in sport when it comes to team spirit, belonging, pride and commitment. Every child automatically identifies with their own club jersey and wears it with great passion. Give your athletes in the club a uniform jersey from young to old. This creates identification and strengthens team spirit across teams.

By the way: At spized you can design your own club jersey. Let your members design different jerseys and use our tools to let the players vote on which jerseys look best. Click here for more information.

Own club tournaments

Numerous tournaments are played at a young age in particular. Coaching teams usually like to travel long distances with their teams to play against international opponents. Tournaments are always a great experience for children. Ideally, you should also organise your own club tournament and present yourself as a good host. This makes the members happy, fills the club's coffers and gives the tournament guests a positive image of the club.

Small events and highlights

If you want to improve youth work in the club, you also need to express your appreciation from time to time. This can take the form of small tokens of appreciation. Give the teams a small voucher for Christmas dinner or a round of pizza for the players. For the older children, the gifts can be a little bigger with partial support for a team trip. This also creates an incentive to stay in the club and to be able to go on a great team trip later on. It is important that the club is fair and transparent.

Use social networks

Some parents now even belong to a generation that grew up with social networks in adolescence. Children and young people also consume social media content and many are already busy with their smartphones at a young age. Use social networks for your club and present yourself there with the latest club highlights. Events, tournaments, success stories, training camps, team trips and other club highlights can be posted. Boring match reports and dull club news uploaded to the homepage are of no interest to anyone these days.

Advancing digitalisation in the association

Use the digital possibilities of the 21st century and digitalise your club as much as possible. Digital solutions can be implemented very quickly, especially in standard processes such as registering and deregistering players. There are also plenty of digital tools that make everyday training easier when it comes to pitch and hall allocation plans. Digitalisation is particularly popular with the younger generation.

Training equipment and materials - using smart camera systems for analysis

Try to provide the teams with the best possible training equipment and make sure that they want for nothing. If space permits, you can set up an equipment shed and store all training materials there. For the older junior teams in particular, it is a good idea to consider using cameras to record training sessions and matches. The coaches can use them to analyse the style of play and make more targeted improvements. There are now numerous camera systems that are equipped with AI and enable automatic ball tracking and data analyses. Admittedly: The camera systems are expensive and not affordable for every club. But this is another area where a sports club can be creative and get help from a sponsor. Such a camera tool not only helps the coaches, but also the children and young people. Overall, the camera systems are very well received by the players and parents.

Good youth work in your club: How to make your club successful

Successfully organising youth work in the club