The Importance of Free Play: Nurturing Creativity and Development

Insights from Gambetta, Frisch and The Athletic Skills Model

We all know it - today’s youth grow up in a world filled with structured activities and scheduled routines. Most kids do not or very rarely engage in unstructured free play or pick-up games in the backyard, driveway or playground where they can engage their imagination, explore their interests, and navigate social environments without rigid guidelines.

The benefits of free play have been well-documented and range from fostering creativity and imagination to developing social skills to encouraging independence to supporting physical and emotional well-being.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

In this post, I am just sharing some resources on free play - and providing all of us a gentle reminder of its vital importance in human development - physically, psychologically, and socially.

1 Thoughts from the legendary athletic development coach Vern Gambetta

2 The methodology of one of the best youth athletic development specialists Jeremy Frisch. Jeremy routinely implements semi-structured free play and highly encourages creativity in his training sessions. Follow him on X [JeremyFrisch] and visit his website.

3 The Athletic Skills Model (ASM) and their Skills Garden offers several opportunities for free play. Learn more about the ASM here. [P.S. Excited to be headed to Netherlands to present and participate in ASM workshop in April 2025. I’ll definitely share my experience and learnings.]

4 A challenge to coaches: Incorporate 5-10 min (or more) of unstructured free play into practice. You will learn a lot about your athletes … and they will learn a lot about themselves.

Here is an example: One summer, I facilitated a once per week on-ice session for a youth hockey organization. During the 50-minute session, we started with a 5-minute unstructured period and then youth played 3 v 3 cross-ice games for 10 minutes interspersed by 5 minutes of unstructured free play where they could skate, pass, shoot, etc. and do whatever they wished. In total, they engaged in 3x 10 min games and 4x 5 min unstructured periods to work on individual skills. Several youngsters came up to me and said “Coach, did you see that?” (referring to some creative skill that they had never been able to try in an organized practice session)….. as they oozed with excitement and confidence!