So my Son is 8 years old and playing in competitive soccer. I will be the first to admit that on his team of 9 he probably ranks 6th or 7th. Maybe 5th on a good day. He is disciplined, works hard, knows his game but is just one of the slower kids and not the strongest shooter. Usually plays Left or Right Back.
The Coach has had a tendency to play him less than the others and generally I am okay with that because at times he plays quite a bit. Then some things happened and I am not real sure how to approach it.
In a tournament we won our first 2 games and were an automatic lock for the finals. The 3rd game literally meant absolutely nothing. My Son's Coach decided to play the "best players" into the ground and my Son got to play all of 10 minutes of a 50 minute game in a game that meant literally nothing. I was pissed but said nothing.
Then tonight at practice the Coach handed out MVP Pins to 5 of of the 8 kids that were there and one to a kid who was practicing with us but not on our team. He said they "tried hard" the last game. The irony is my Son played most of the last game and more than just about anyone else, and one of the kids that didn't get a pin had 2 goals. So the "they tried hard" crap doesn't seem to make sense.
I thought that was a pretty shitty way to handle that situation as we had 2 subs that game, it was very hot and all the kids played their ass off and we won 7-1.
Our Coach is 22, and it's his first year coaching a team. I try to keep that in mind. I also have to keep in mind that if I piss him off he could plant my Son on the bench the rest of the season. Also with tryouts for next season coming up in a couple of weeks, I'd hate to do something to jeopardize my Son.
On the other hand, I see it as I am paying good $'s to play in this league and a dick move is a dick move.
Have dealt with a few frustrating situations. I never approached a coach about an issue, but I did encourage my son to communicate with his coach. And when you have a coach that sucks, you just move on next season. [Reply]
Originally Posted by cosmo20002:
1. The MVP thing was a dick move
2. Get ready for 10 more years of BS from idiot coaches
3. Ask yourself if this team will sniff the playoffs
Going to agree with this, you are going to run across more shit coaches than good. Handing out MVP to over half the team is something a shit coach does. Put the bad juju of sniffing the playoffs on him and maybe it turns around.
I honestly wouldn’t worry about it, but if it bugs your boy find him a different team. [Reply]
Originally Posted by wazu:
Have dealt with a few frustrating situations. I never approached a coach about an issue, but I did encourage my son to communicate with his coach. And when you have a coach that sucks, you just move on next season.
I've told my Son to be vocal when he is on the bench and wants to go in. Last time I guess him and another kid were asking if they could go in when the othe team was subbing and I guess he told them to stop asking hime questions. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mac459:
Going to agree with this, you are going to run across more shit coaches than good. Handing out MVP to over half the team is something a shit coach does. Put the bad juju of sniffing the playoffs on him and maybe it turns around.
I honestly wouldn’t worry about it, but if it bugs your boy find him a different team.
We have 2 practices and 3-4 tournament games left and it's onto tryouts for next season. As much as I want my Son to move up a division, I kinda hope he doesn't assuming the coaches all stay as they are. If he moves up he gets the same coach again. [Reply]
I coached little league competitive baseball for 10 years. Every kid knew why they weren’t playing or what I expected for them to keep improving to stay as a starter.
But, I coached a year of rec ball before competitive and I wasn’t 22 but 30. Give him some slack or help coach. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mlyonsd:
Youth soccer sounds like a shit show to me if it is so competitive an 8 year old kid has to tryout for a team.
All sports have try outs for teams younger than that. Parents have to cover $2000-$10K a season to play with the best teams. I’m glad my kid aged out before it got like that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
All sports have try outs for teams younger than that. Parents have to cover $2000-$10K to play with the best teams. I’m glad my kid ages out before it got like that.
I wouldn’t put us in a out of town tournaments unless we could drive back to KC at night. I rarely got the best players because they and the parents felt they had to be on one of the traveling teams to give their son a chance at a scholarship or MLB.
We did get ranked top 5 one year and got to play in a WS. That was pretty cool. But I’m really happy with my choice to not be a traveling team. Enable families lives to revolve around a son playing a kids game in the dirt and grass. [Reply]
Originally Posted by petegz28:
Well, I complain but fortunately my Son understands he is the Coach and you live by his rules. My Son had the right attitude about it tonight. He said, "that just means I am going to show him how good I am and he will be sad that he didn't think I was good". Can't ask much more from an 8 year old.
That's a great attitude. And no one should criticize you for being a dad who is willing to be vulnerable (on freaking CP no less) and ask for advice on matters like this. There's no clear cut answer but it seems like if your son has ended up in the right place, that's really the best you can ask for.
Grit is everything and sounds like he's got some element of it. [Reply]