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.
Originally Posted by LoneWolf:
This thread made me very happy that my son wrestles and plays football. It seems soccer is inundated with crazy soccer moms, Karens, and Kevins.
Lol, definitely not much opportunity for people to Karen in wrestling… two wrestlers walk out there. One leaves with his hand in the air, the other loses.
The OP seems conflicted. He wants his kid to play on a competitive team, but expects Rec league treatment with equal playing time. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I've spoken w/ a coach once.
My 8 yr old plays on a girls basketball team. These girls are mostly in their 2nd year (3rd session) and are still struggling to dribble in traffic, find an open teammate and/or get a shot off without having to slow down so much they get stuffed.
So what's he spend 45 minutes doing? Teaching them to embellish a charge. Mind you, he doesn't teach them how to TAKE a charge (my daughter thought mere contact got the charging foul). He doesn't teach them what a charge is. He just has them get in a line and then come out to 'play defense' and when he'd bump them with a forearm they'd throw themselves to the ground.
I left the stands when my daughter was on the baseline and said "we'll talk about this at home, I'll teach you what a charge is and how to earn one, but if I see you flopping when someone brushes you out there, I'll come on the court and take you off it..."
So her coach comes over to me to discuss interrupting practice or whatever - pft. I didn't walk in the middle of the huddle and I didn't shout so the other girls could hear. I wasn't even on the court; she was at the baseline. I repeated exactly what I told her and said that he's here to teach these girls the fundamentals of the game at this age. He's here to teach them how to play the game the right way. He's NOT here to teach a bunch of girls who can't dribble with their off-hand how to work the refs.
Had he not come up to me, I wouldn't have said anything to him about it. But that's piss-poor coaching, IMO. I've coached youth baseball/t-ball and soccer and I'm pretty much impossible to rattle so it's not like I haven't spoken w/ parents in the past. I get that nobody wants to be undermined. But I wasn't going to have my daughter walking out of there thinking that being a european soccer pussy was the way to play a game that she certainly won't be playing past 12 yrs old.
I'm still confused about the level of competition is. If the kid is playing in a U10 division, it's a 7x7 game, correct? Usually those have just 9-10 players so by Pete's own admission, his son is, on a good day, square in the middle. Moving him up to D-3 level isn't going to help, he needs to stay at the level he is now or move down to work on his skills. You can't teach speed, but you can teach skills. This coach sounds like a speed above everything guy, so he's just not the right coach for your kid. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
Tell the coach you bought him a bath bomb as a token of your appreciation for him and then give him a toaster
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
Have you considered fucking the coach’s mom and sending him the video?
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
Pete when and where is the next game I’ll go jerk off on the coaches windshield
Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi:
Text the coach a picture of your cock then immediately send a text that says “Oops :-)” so he isn’t sure if it was actually an oops or not.
Is this a rec team or a premier team? If premier and you don't like it try out for a new club this summer. Coaches for 98% of premier teams are paid coaches and they have to win or get canned.
If it is rec you have the right to go bitch at the coach. [Reply]
Years ago when I was younger on a competitive team, my dad went to a coaches & parent meeting. That year I went through a "Growth spurt" they called it. The parent's were all complaining about lack of playing time and actually brought me up to the coaches using my name as an example at which point my father stepped in and said hold on everyone. "Now look, my son is getting cut at the end of the year, that's just what's going to happen. Now you all need to consider if spending your money to have your child play X amount of minutes is worth it or not because this is a competitive team in a competitive league and the best players are going to play. My son will probably be going back to regular play and that's just how it is."
Funny thing is I was eventually cut, and then the team begged to have me back for years afterwards because I finished my awkward growth and went on to make the Olympic development team for the state. Was quite interesting how things turned out.
Ultimately on a competitive team, your son is having the opportunity to play against tough competition to essentially get better at a sport I assume he enjoys playing. I'd ask your son what he prefers because if you want to put him in a lower league aka the more basic ones, sure he will get more playing time but so will everyone else and you can't bitch if he gets taken out after he scores 2 goals because that's how those leagues operate. [Reply]
Originally Posted by penguinz:
Is this a rec team or a premier team? If premier and you don't like it try out for a new club this summer. Coaches for 98% of premier teams are paid coaches and they have to win or get canned.
If it is rec you have the right to go bitch at the coach.
It's Premiere. And again the playing time, I get that playing time is not always going to be equal nor should it be for the most part. But I think kids also should get to play in every game too. Especially when the "starters" are getting their ass handed to them.
Our Coach is weird with the lineup. For example, my son might start one game and play a total of 15 minutes and the next he might not start but then play 40 minutes. Seems to be no rhyme or reason to any of it.
Another thing I noticed is when other teams sub, if they have 3 on the bench then they sub 3 players. Our coach can have 2 or 3 on the bench and he will send them in one at a time and stuff. Like he is micro-managing the game. [Reply]
Another thing I noticed is when other teams sub, if they have 3 on the bench then they sub 3 players. Our coach can have 2 or 3 on the bench and he will send them in one at a time and stuff. Like he is micro-managing the game.
At that age group, if the kids don't have a high sports IQ there can be a lot of confusion as to who is subbing in for who, and the kids on the field aren't certain who just came in and what position they are. 1 for 1 subs can help simplify things.
In the big picture, 99% of the kids don't give a crap about the game 10 minutes after it's over. They want ice cream, who is going to the pool, etc.
If you want to put things in perspective go to a game where you don't know anyone. Watch and listen to the insane parents and tell yourself, "don't be them". [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chiefnj2:
At that age group, if the kids don't have a high sports IQ there can be a lot of confusion as to who is subbing in for who, and the kids on the field aren't certain who just came in and what position they are. 1 for 1 subs can help simplify things.
In the big picture, 99% of the kids don't give a crap about the game 10 minutes after it's over. They want ice cream, who is going to the pool, etc.
If you want to put things in perspective go to a game where you don't know anyone. Watch and listen to the insane parents and tell yourself, "don't be them".
He isn't doing the one at a time because they don't know who to go in for or where to play. That much I can tell you for sure.
Oh trust me on the parents gig. We played up 2 Academy kids in a few games and the parents of those 2 almost forced us to forfeit because they wouldn't shut up with yelling at the Ref. They were so bad we nicely tried to let our coach know we would rather get our ass stomped with our own kids than have those 2 kids up. Not because of the kids but because of their parents. [Reply]
