Question re: team parents

[Anonymous]

Just curious: Do the majority of players on your kids’ teams have a parent who played?

Personally, I feel like there are few families coming into this cold—almost all the kids I’ve encountered have a parent (usually dad) who played in HS or college.

[Anonymous]

No.
There are always a few...and don't worry, they'll certainly tell you at some point...but not close to a majority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No.
There are always a few...and don't worry, they'll certainly tell you at some point...but not close to a majority.

This. Some did, some didn't. I think more didn't on our kid's teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No.
There are always a few...and don't worry, they'll certainly tell you at some point...but not close to a majority.

Ha, yeah.
Just like vegans and people with rescue dogs...they'll make sure you know at some point!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No.
There are always a few...and don't worry, they'll certainly tell you at some point...but not close to a majority.

Ha, yeah.
Just like vegans and people with rescue dogs...they'll make sure you know at some point!

That's just outstanding. The only thing I'll say is that you are at the right club when nobody has to say it because pretty much everybody did. My son was on a team like that for a few years, and moved, reoriented, and is back with a team where pretty much all parents played at a variety of levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: Do the majority of players on your kids’ teams have a parent who played?

Personally, I feel like there are few families coming into this cold—almost all the kids I’ve encountered have a parent (usually dad) who played in HS or college.

Do kids perform differently than the ones whose parents didn’t play the sport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do kids perform differently than the ones whose parents didn’t play the sport?

No, but having those parents on your team can be very enlightening (or annoying, depending on your perspective :wink. "Are you kidding me?!? That was not a foul!! I played soccer for XX years!!! Are you even certified to ref?!?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: Do the majority of players on your kids’ teams have a parent who played?

Personally, I feel like there are few families coming into this cold—almost all the kids I’ve encountered have a parent (usually dad) who played in HS or college.

Do kids perform differently than the ones whose parents didn’t play the sport?

Parents who played competitive sports can give their kids an advantage in terms of knowing what's best. Example is having a routine, knowing when to eat, drink, etc. Proper warm up and knowing how to practice/train to be more effective.

On my kid's team a few kids do their own 5-6 minute warm up prior to practice. They're typically the better players. The rest just stand around or talk. And all the kids who warm up on their own, their parents all played sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No.
There are always a few...and don't worry, they'll certainly tell you at some point...but not close to a majority.

Ha, yeah.
Just like vegans and people with rescue dogs...they'll make sure you know at some point!

They won't tell you. They'll just juggle a few times while at practice. Or when a ball rolls out, the dad will kick it up off the ground, catch it and toss it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No.
There are always a few...and don't worry, they'll certainly tell you at some point...but not close to a majority.

Ha, yeah.
Just like vegans and people with rescue dogs...they'll make sure you know at some point!

They won't tell you. They'll just juggle a few times while at practice. Or when a ball rolls out, the dad will kick it up off the ground, catch it and toss it back.

HS player move, college player will flick it up and touch it with a backheel or outside of the foot before catching it

[Anonymous]

Or they will pretend like they are chill and don't have expectations/project onto their child to be as good as they were and they want their child to enjoy the sport, yet can clearly be heard saying to their player in a voice that has an undercurrent of expectation things like on "Compete!" or actual coaching instructions when their child is in earshot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No.
There are always a few...and don't worry, they'll certainly tell you at some point...but not close to a majority.

Ha, yeah.
Just like vegans and people with rescue dogs...they'll make sure you know at some point!

They won't tell you. They'll just juggle a few times while at practice. Or when a ball rolls out, the dad will kick it up off the ground, catch it and toss it back.

I never played past high school and I learned juggling with my kid when she started travel as a fun thing to do together. That's how I pick up soccer balls now.

[Anonymous]

Some of the parents on our team certainly sound like they played in terms of how they understand the game. I think a few played at least in HS. Not sure any played higher level/college. A parent on last year's team was a former national team player for their home country, but they never spoke about it. I appreciated how humble they were and how quiet they were during our games. Of course there could have been a lot of coaching/advice going on at home.

A few parents on the current team did play other sports at the D1 level. It must be hard on kids who do a sport that their parents excelled in. Especially if both parents did it. I imagine the kid feels some pressure to live up to what their parents did, even if the parents aren't outwardly putting pressure on them.

[Anonymous]

Experience isn't knowledge. It's just what you've been exposed to personally.
Most weren't exposed to real soccer culture, high quality level development, coaching and competition.

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" rings true quite a bit in youth sports with parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: Do the majority of players on your kids’ teams have a parent who played?

Personally, I feel like there are few families coming into this cold—almost all the kids I’ve encountered have a parent (usually dad) who played in HS or college.

Do kids perform differently than the ones whose parents didn’t play the sport?

Parents who played competitive sports can give their kids an advantage in terms of knowing what's best. Example is having a routine, knowing when to eat, drink, etc. Proper warm up and knowing how to practice/train to be more effective.

On my kid's team a few kids do their own 5-6 minute warm up prior to practice. They're typically the better players. The rest just stand around or talk. And all the kids who warm up on their own, their parents all played sports.

My own experience- kids on our team that have parents played soccer at least HS or Colleges, parents “claim” to know better but that’s not always true. But they do have maybe better knowledge of understanding the game.

My kid U13 is one of the top player on the team with parents who did not play sports at all. There are tons of information online for u to learn from and discuss with your kids and their coaches. I do tell my kids to juggle when they arrive at their practice and not just stand there and chitchatting. Or ask a teammate to do some drills together. The other half of the teammates usually stand there for chitchatting or doing TikTok - some of the good players are doing this as well.

It really depends on the kids and family.