Holjan on working with children: We live in a time where the measures of value have been disrupted

(Patria) - Ilidža Youth Football Club was founded in 2017 with a clear goal to gather young people of various ages and develop sports habits in them, to learn football and to understand it as both a sport and a noble skill where friendships, respect are gained through play and finally developing moral and human values as the primary goal in the development of young people.

This is the motto under which coach Miralem Holjan works with children, he wants to bring out the best in them. In an interview with Patria, he reveals all the beauty, but also the obstacles he encounters in working with children.

"The club currently has 70 girls and boys, and we are growing more and more every day. Parents recognize, above all, dedicated work and a pedagogical approach towards children, which in my opinion is the most important part of working with young age groups," says Holjan.

Patria: Football is the most important secondary thing in the world, every boy who trains dreams of being Messi, Ronaldo or Džeko, what is the most important thing to show children in football at an early age?

In my opinion, it is primarily important to instill a love for a particular sport in a child. Parents often make mistakes in choosing a sport for their child. Football is indeed the most challenging sport and many opt for it, however, the problem is that through certain phases, both the coach and parents realize that the boy or girl does not show enough interest in football, and that's where the problem arises, leading to phases where we say the child is not progressing, when in fact it is not so.

So, the right sport for the child should be chosen, and only with love for what the child enjoys training can you expect certain results in later development.

Patria: What are the challenges of working with children today, parents are increasingly ambitious and often do not see the mistakes they make with their own children?

The fundamental problem that parents make with their children is a lack of trust in the coaches to whom they have entrusted their child. If a coach has had a successful career and certainly knows the path for a young player to succeed and that through development and later through playing maturity, his coach, in cooperation with the parents, makes a quality decision, that decision is often taken over by the parents, and that, in my opinion, is the fundamental problem.

I will give you an example, let's say if a coach, through a boy's development, feels that the child is progressing and has talent, and in cooperation with the parents, they decide that the child should progress, and the coach himself suggests it, it is different than when a parent, from their own perspective, takes the child without the consent of their coach. That's where the problem arises, the coach is hurt by the parents' decision, and the parents think they have made the right decision.

That's where the most important link breaks, which is that the coach, who knows his player, along with all recommendations and, of course, in cooperation with the parents, makes the best decision, that, in my opinion, is the recipe for a boy's success in his early football development.

Patria: On the green fields, unfortunately, we also see many bad scenes, even from coaches we hear bad messages, is there a way to avoid that?

It all depends on the environment where children and coaches live. We live in a time where the measures of value have been significantly disrupted. I grew up in a society where the cult of elders was respected, the best student in the class was the measure of value, there were certain rules of the neighborhood, the hallway, the street; before, if you weren't the best at marbles, hide-and-seek, if you didn't have a Sušić, Škoro, Berjan, Pašić sticker, if you couldn't climb to the top of a cherry tree, if you weren't neatly groomed, you were second-class, and finally, if you weren't the best footballer among your peers, there was no need to go further, you'd immediately look for another sport, and that's what I think children are missing.

Also, we live in the age of modern technology, mobile phones, and everything else, so children have everything available, they see everything, they hear everything. Of course, parents don't want their children to fall behind, and so children drift apart, dividing themselves into Samsung, Huawei, tablets, laptops, which, in my opinion, is the evil of modern society, especially for younger age groups.

Patria: Given the amount of talent that children in Bosnia and Herzegovina possess, why don't we have a higher quality professional league, what does BiH need in its system to at least catch up with neighboring Croatia?

As for the quality and quantity of talent itself, the discussion can go in several directions. I will say a few things, and older football connoisseurs will know what I am talking about, and it is applicable and feasible even now. Amateur involvement in football is lacking, and in a huge amount. What do I mean? In the old system, you had lower levels of competition that were of exceptionally high quality, where top players emerged. I will tell you that Berjan, Ilić, Vidović played for Igman from Ilidža, that Fićo Bahtić played for GP Bosna, that Čala Janjoš played for Vratnik, that Smječanin and Muharemović played for UNIS, etc.

So, there are not enough clubs at lower levels where amateur football is on the verge of extinction, and then a vacuum is created where children, after their junior careers, have nowhere to play or show their skills, and the problem is further compounded by the fact that these boys experience disappointment because they cannot play for Sarajevo or Željo, and then disappointment and giving up sets in.

Of course, as we know, everything revolves around infrastructure and money, and it will take a long, long time for us to ensure the development of children from toddlers to seniors in a well-organized system. Currently, Sarajevo, Željo, Olimpik, and a few other clubs have this, but not all children can be concentrated in these clubs. There are also quality football schools where, through projects and cooperation, with the mediation of the Football Association of Sarajevo Canton, good things can certainly be done for the recovery of football in our country.