Comments on: Competition in Youth Soccer: Part 2 http://soccercoachingcentral.com/5/competition-in-youth-soccer-part-2/ Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:49:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Coach Lee http://soccercoachingcentral.com/5/competition-in-youth-soccer-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Coach Lee Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:24:22 +0000 http://soccercoachingcentral.com/?p=5#comment-7 Hi David, unfortunately (and I don't want to say that this is happening in your instance) many coaches aren't looking at the long term development and fostering the love of the game in the kids. They take the winning and losing of games as a personal achievement. When I took over my boys team they were U9 and fresh out of Rec soccer. There was quite a gulf in talent amongst the group, and I certainly could have picked an A and a B team right off the bat. However, I chose to play parity. Parity is where you split the kids up into two teams so each team is fairly balanced in terms of talent. I have to say, we took some really bad hammerings, sometimes in double digits. However, through hard work by both the boys and myself, they have come a long way in a little less than two years. We still play our classic games (and our own tournament) in parity, and we sometimes take an A and a B team to other tournaments. My reason for doing so is that I want some of my stronger players to be challenged that little bit extra then they would playing parity games, but the rest of the boys (some of whom could make the 'A' team) receive plenty of time on the field, which is where they need to be the most. Certainly it would seem in your later example that two teams of 9 (with all 18 children involved), instead of one large roster would have been a more suitable setup. We need to give the game of soccer back to the kids, otherwise, the future of the game could quickly degenerate and we could lose the progress that this country has made over the past several years. Hi David, unfortunately (and I don’t want to say that this is happening in your instance) many coaches aren’t looking at the long term development and fostering the love of the game in the kids. They take the winning and losing of games as a personal achievement.

When I took over my boys team they were U9 and fresh out of Rec soccer. There was quite a gulf in talent amongst the group, and I certainly could have picked an A and a B team right off the bat. However, I chose to play parity. Parity is where you split the kids up into two teams so each team is fairly balanced in terms of talent.

I have to say, we took some really bad hammerings, sometimes in double digits. However, through hard work by both the boys and myself, they have come a long way in a little less than two years. We still play our classic games (and our own tournament) in parity, and we sometimes take an A and a B team to other tournaments. My reason for doing so is that I want some of my stronger players to be challenged that little bit extra then they would playing parity games, but the rest of the boys (some of whom could make the ‘A’ team) receive plenty of time on the field, which is where they need to be the most.

Certainly it would seem in your later example that two teams of 9 (with all 18 children involved), instead of one large roster would have been a more suitable setup.

We need to give the game of soccer back to the kids, otherwise, the future of the game could quickly degenerate and we could lose the progress that this country has made over the past several years.

]]> By: David http://soccercoachingcentral.com/5/competition-in-youth-soccer-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-6 David Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:58:27 +0000 http://soccercoachingcentral.com/?p=5#comment-6 Hi Coach Lee, I would like to hear you comments on this. I'm new to soccer as a parent of a 7 yr old girl who just started her first comp season after one season of recreational. I was hoping at this age level the goal would be to have fun while getting a taste for competition. What I have learned is that the coach picks the best kids for the "A" team and leaves the rest of the kids for the "B" team. The problem here is that the girls on the B team lose badly week after week and the girls on the A team go nearly undefeated. There was another case where a coach picked the max for her team, 15 out of a total of 18 girls who tried out. I felt bad for the girls who didn't get picked, my daughter being one of them. Why couldn't the coach form another team and get another coach so all the girls who tried out could play? They could put a mix of skill levels on both teams. Sure, neither team would be undefeated but both teams would experience winning and losing. In this league, you see some big miss matches. Not all towns had enough to have a B team, some towns have B teams and some towns have one team with 15 kids. You see teams with 15 players, all hand picked, all fresh as daisies due to the frequent subbing, playing B teams with 9 kids who are exhausted and frustrated. You see A teams shutting out B teams where the keeping track of points ends after 6-0. Any thoughts? Hi Coach Lee,
I would like to hear you comments on this. I’m new to soccer as a parent of a 7 yr old girl who just started her first comp season after one season of recreational. I was hoping at this age level the goal would be to have fun while getting a taste for competition. What I have learned is that the coach picks the best kids for the “A” team and leaves the rest of the kids for the “B” team. The problem here is that the girls on the B team lose badly week after week and the girls on the A team go nearly undefeated. There was another case where a coach picked the max for her team, 15 out of a total of 18 girls who tried out. I felt bad for the girls who didn’t get picked, my daughter being one of them. Why couldn’t the coach form another team and get another coach so all the girls who tried out could play? They could put a mix of skill levels on both teams. Sure, neither team would be undefeated but both teams would experience winning and losing. In this league, you see some big miss matches. Not all towns had enough to have a B team, some towns have B teams and some towns have one team with 15 kids. You see teams with 15 players, all hand picked, all fresh as daisies due to the frequent subbing, playing B teams with 9 kids who are exhausted and frustrated. You see A teams shutting out B teams where the keeping track of points ends after 6-0. Any thoughts?

]]> By: Competition in Youth Soccer: Part 1 http://soccercoachingcentral.com/5/competition-in-youth-soccer-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Competition in Youth Soccer: Part 1 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:55:25 +0000 http://soccercoachingcentral.com/?p=5#comment-2 [...] Part 2 of  Competition in Youth Soccer has been posted. As always, opinions and experiences are appreciated in the comments. [...] [...] Part 2 of  Competition in Youth Soccer has been posted. As always, opinions and experiences are appreciated in the comments. [...]

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