would you be ok with 9-yo doing an airplane for goal celebration?

[Anonymous]

so my 9-yo in 4th grade suddenly became a scoring machine due to lower level of competition as well as travel players leaving the team. he'd scored just one goal per season in the last two years when the strong players dominated the games. now he scores three a game on avg. from watching the travel players in the past i believe he picked up this 'airplane' celebration and started doing it this year. it never bothered me when the other kids were doing it in the past, or when he first started doing it. i guess it just didn't register with me. but after the last game i wasn't so sure anymore. i'm very happy for him that he's finally become a star, and enjoys every minute of the games and works hard at practices, so i think a little bit of showboating is expected, but where would you draw the line? tks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so my 9-yo in 4th grade suddenly became a scoring machine due to lower level of competition as well as travel players leaving the team. he'd scored just one goal per season in the last two years when the strong players dominated the games. now he scores three a game on avg. from watching the travel players in the past i believe he picked up this 'airplane' celebration and started doing it this year. it never bothered me when the other kids were doing it in the past, or when he first started doing it. i guess it just didn't register with me. but after the last game i wasn't so sure anymore. i'm very happy for him that he's finally become a star, and enjoys every minute of the games and works hard at practices, so i think a little bit of showboating is expected, but where would you draw the line? tks!

With two sons who played travel and h.s. soccer I'd draw the line now. Those first airplanes are an understandable rush of joy from someone who's hitting their stride. But once you become a scoring machine, it's better to take the pats from your teammates and act like you've been there before. I know that by U10 sons on my kids team were getting called out by the coach for this. It's difficult for the kids because they are genuinely thrilled and they see so many over-the-top displays from the pros, but most of the teams I'm familiar with in this area frown on it. Shaking a fist or jumping in the air and saying "yeah" seems to be okay. Airplanes and sliding forward on your knees past a fairly young age not really viewed as good sportsmanship not so much.

[Anonymous]

Now is the time. Talk to your son and explain that big celebrations are good for the occasional goal or special ones (the game winning goal, the come-from-behind-to-tie-the-game, etc). But they should not be a regular show and certainly not more than once per game or once every couple of games or it becomes gloating rather than celebrating. Good time for a life lesson.

[Anonymous]

My 8 year old did a complete hands free front flip after scoring. I was so embarrassed. After the game I told him no more of that, then he asked if he could airplane and I said no. I told him what was mentioned above, shaking a fist and high fiving your teammates is OK.

[Anonymous]

He needs to act like he has scored a goal before. A nice subdued celebration. What will happen is that the other teams will start to feel "shown up," that he is taunting them. If he does that against a jerk coach, he may see a lot of hard slide tackles directed his way.

[Anonymous]

yep, he needs to tone it down now. I quick fist pump, high-fiving team mates - all fine.

[Anonymous]

What's an airplane ?

[Anonymous]

That is a nice problem to have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now is the time. Talk to your son and explain that big celebrations are good for the occasional goal or special ones (the game winning goal, the come-from-behind-to-tie-the-game, etc). But they should not be a regular show and certainly not more than once per game or once every couple of games or it becomes gloating rather than celebrating. Good time for a life lesson.

Yup. And you never do it when your team is clearly dominating.

[Anonymous]

Ugh! You people know how to take the joy out of things!

[Anonymous]

I would allow it if the coach hasn't said anything to him AND it was a beautiful goal (he dribbled past three defenders, shot with the left foot, a free kick where he kicked it over a wall into the corner of a goal). I would tell him no way on a medicre goal if the ball dribbles between the goalie's leg or if a teammate made a great pass/assist then he needs to learn to point to the kid who passed him the ball.

[Anonymous]

I'd tell him to save it for the walk to the car. It's cute once or twice, but not every time. He should acknowledge his teammates immediately after a goal. Celebratory dance move for the whole team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's an airplane ?

Start watching at 0:50 in this video

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now is the time. Talk to your son and explain that big celebrations are good for the occasional goal or special ones (the game winning goal, the come-from-behind-to-tie-the-game, etc). But they should not be a regular show and certainly not more than once per game or once every couple of games or it becomes gloating rather than celebrating. Good time for a life lesson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh! You people know how to take the joy out of things!

You can have good sportsmanship and joy!