U8 boy hates being yelled at.

[Snorlax]

My son had pre-travel last year and travel soccer this year with the same club. At some point he said the coach kept being mean to him, and he didn't want to go to practice anymore. I was on the sideline and I didn't observe any excessive yelling, the coach might tell someone to hustle or correct something. He told me other kids in school tells him coaches are mean to them in other teams too. This is the kid who said I was mean to him when I hurried him along in the morning. So I don't think it's coach's fault.

I guess my question is, how did you get your kid to overcome similar phase? When he started soccer he was shocked that other kids foul him intentionally and got upset, I showed him youtube videos such as "most painful fouls in soccer" etc, and that seems made him understand fouls are normal in soccer and he got over it. But looking up coach yelling videos mostly bad things came up.

[SocAnon]

That's poor coaching at that age group. Good coaches can be firm without yelling at kids. Things will likely not improve when the season progresses next fall. You can e-mail the higher coaching staff, team manager or director. Or look for another team. U8 kids should love the playing experience.

[soccer_dc]

This is pretty common at this age. Kids will sometimes say a teacher is "mean". When I ask questions about what the teacher does that is "mean", it's usually that the teacher doesn't let them get away with goofing around, expects them to pay attention, do assignments. In other words, what I would call a good teacher. The "fun" teachers who give them candy and play games and don't give homework are not "mean".

He'll eventually get through the phase. Help him understand that the coach is like a teacher giving him feedback and instructions to help make him a better player. The coach wants him to get better. It's also possible contact team sports aren't a good fit for your child. Maybe individual sports like swimming, track, golf where you are mostly competing against yourself and doing things on your own pace and style can come through.