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 The Franchise:
I love the “just move him down so he’ll get more playing time” idea.
Are you not aware of how comp sports works? He’s just supposed to walk up to the coach and ask him to move his kid down? :-). That isn’t a fucking thing.
Uh. Well aware of how comp sports work. Owner of a fastpitch softball organization with multiple teams and my 5 kids currently have completed sports in college or have played only comp softball or soccer their entire lives. We're that family. My daughter is reporting to KSU next month on full scholarship for soccer.
Anyhoo! Soccer is a different beast. They have 200 kids at tryouts and accept everyone and place all who accept at where they think their current skill level is or project to be.
Pete knows what I' talking about when I say move him down. So if he's on a Div1,2, or 3 team. he can move down to a Div4 team, etc.
Tryouts is next month and he can do just that.
What you can't do is cry about his playing time when you admit he's not as advanced as the others on the team. Well you can but why not have a conversation with the coach to see where their heads are instead? [Reply]
All I see is complaint after complaint and you not doing anything about it. Am I wrong?
Maybe you should read slower then. Don’t make assumptions like I haven’t talked to the coach when I stated we have during his evaluations. The whole point of the thread is if and when you should talk about these other things. So yes, you’re wrong.
Originally Posted by The Franchise:
I see you have a “speed over everything” coach. I dealt with one of those with my oldest daughter. She wasn’t the fastest defender but had technical skills better than all the other defenders. She could dribble and pass with both feet but because she wasn’t as fast…she got less playing time at the comp level.
She’s in high school now and thriving because her coach found a spot at middle defense for her that doesn’t need as much speed but needs all of the stuff that she excels at.
Exactly. This guy would rather have fast kids who aren’t very good at soccer. He is a win above anything else type. That might be okay for a D1 team but not a D4.
Originally Posted by Steron:
I feel you. A couple of years ago my son was playing middle school baseball. He wasn't starting much. That's a whole other story. One of the last games, his team was murdering the other team. Instead of letting the non-starters play, he had his starters go hit opposite hand. I was pretty pissed about it.
This is what is wrong with coaches sometimes. You're coaching middle school baseball. Let the 3rd and 4th stringers have some playing time if you're killing the other team. Give them a little something. I mean, if they are at practices and giving their best effort then they should get a little reward now and then. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lzen:
This is what is wrong with coaches sometimes. You're coaching middle school baseball. Let the 3rd and 4th stringers have some playing time if you're killing the other team. Give them a little something. I mean, if they are at practices and giving their best effort then they should get a little reward now and then.
If you are slaughtering, being slaughtered or otherwise playing in an irrelevant game and you play your starters the whole time you’re just a dick.
Originally Posted by petegz28:
Maybe you should read slower then. Don’t make assumptions like I haven’t talked to the coach when I stated we have during his evaluations. The whole point of the thread is if and when you should talk about these other things. So yes, you’re wrong.
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I'm sorry I didn't read through the thread as I surely missed that you've had convos with the coach. It certainly wasn't in the thread topic.
If you've had conversations with the coach, I don't know what the point of this thread is at this point.
Are you attention whoring? Offseason is kind of slow.
Anyways... I suggest finishing the season (as it's too late to say anything at this point) and try finding a organization/coach/team that'll allow him to flourish in his own way. That's not necessarily a team with players that are better than him as he'll be setting himself up for failure. We tend to think that playing with better players will push our kids.
I say getting with a better coach that's technical and believes in development & growth (especially at that age) is more important. [Reply]
Originally Posted by petegz28:
If you are slaughtering, being slaughtered or otherwise playing in an irrelevant game and you play your starters the whole time you’re just a dick.
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I'm on the fence with this as well. Maybe the coach has given up on your kid and he has a chance to develop the players he's going to keep next year that much more instead of throwing your kid a bone.
Just looking at it from both sides. I totally see your point though.
Most people underestimate how cut-throat comp sports is nowadays. There's literally no pussification of the kids when it comes to comp sports. [Reply]
Originally Posted by wutamess:
I'm on the fence with this as well. Maybe the coach has given up on your kid and he has a chance to develop the players he's going to keep next year that much more instead of throwing your kid a bone.
Just looking at it from both sides. I totally see your point though.
Most people underestimate how cut-throat comp sports is nowadays. There's literally no pussification of the kids when it comes to comp sports.
Why do you have to re-direct that towards my kid, Roger? It was a statement in general and nothing specific to my kid.
There is no both sides. If a coach runs his starters into the ground in a game they should have no busines playing in then he is not a good coach but he is a tremendous dick. [Reply]
Originally Posted by petegz28:
Why do you have to re-direct that towards my kid, Roger? It was a statement in general and nothing specific to my kid.
There is no both sides. If a coach runs his starters into the ground in a game they should have no busines playing in then he is not a good coach but he is a tremendous dick.
I thought the thread was about your kid. This is like herding cats. Wish you guys luck for the upcoming season Pete. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lzen:
This is what is wrong with coaches sometimes. You're coaching middle school baseball. Let the 3rd and 4th stringers have some playing time if you're killing the other team. Give them a little something. I mean, if they are at practices and giving their best effort then they should get a little reward now and then.
Originally Posted by petegz28:
If you are slaughtering, being slaughtered or otherwise playing in an irrelevant game and you play your starters the whole time you’re just a dick.
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Originally Posted by wutamess:
I thought the thread was about your kid. This is like herding cats. Wish you guys luck for the upcoming season Pete.
Roger, I was replying to a post. You are jumping to all kinds of conclusions and not reading. [Reply]
You know those times when you think of something appallingly tasteless and as you’re trying to cast the thought into a sentence you realize that you’re going to offend even yourself if you say it?
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. [Reply]
