Is winning important for youth sports? Former little athletics coach Stuart Evans recently stated on 3AW693 that it's better to focus on the enjoyment of playing and "FUNdamentals" rather than on competition for boys aged 6-9 and girls aged 6-8. The developmental phases they should go through are learn-to-train, train-to-train and finally train-to-compete when they are teenagers.

While an element of sport is about winning or losing, how it's introduced to kids by the coach is important. It's great to win but losing builds character. Good coaches will focus on the processes between games rather than the end result, emphasising the positives from a defeat and using it as a building block for future training.

Overzealous parents and coaches can negatively impact children's sporting experiences, and if the experience isn't fun, drop out rates will increase. Studies have shown that winning trophies is not correlated with 'fun'. In fact, a study commissioned by the Marylebone Cricket Club found that 64% of British children didn't care if they won or lost, preferring to play without pressure and expectations.

Being patient with kids is also important for their sporting development. If parents or coaches focus on winning, players may be punished for making mistakes. They need to be given the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. Without this, they will not develop the mindset necessary to find excitement in competition at senior levels. Effort should be rewarded over outcome at this stage.

Separating kids by weight rather than age can help with this, as early developers are often prioritised due to their physical size rather than their skill level, while the late developers are neglected and become more likely to drop out as a result. This also becomes counterproductive for the early developers when the other kids catch up in size and the advantage dissipates.

While competition is an integral part of sport, focusing on player development in junior sport is far more important. They need to have fun while playing and enjoy trying to win together as a team, no matter the outcome. By the time they reach senior levels and the stakes are higher, they will have already developed the fundamental individual skills required to find competition against their peers rewarding.