Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else.

This. It is about learning to make good decisions, good plays - frankly as in any sport. I have seen bad stuff both ways - the shouts to "pass, pass, pass" irrespective of the situation and the kids who dribble, dribble, dribble till they turn it over and apparently some people encourage that.

You hear the weirdest things in soccer. I have never heard anyone in basketball or lacrosse saying that it is good for kids to dribble, dribble, dribble (or cradle, cradle, cradle) till they shoot or loose the ball. Guess every kid who wants to "develop" would have to find their own team since it would be difficult for more than one or two players to develop on each team implementing this development approach.

Maybe everybody on the sidelines should just shut the hell up and let them play. Nothing more annoying than parents shouting directions to the players on the field. Keep your traps shut. Feel free to offer 'great job', 'way to go'...after the play is completed. But- that's it.

The NSCAA Convention had some great comparisons to other activities. Imagine a piano recital: "C MAJOR! C MAJOR! Use your pinky to complete that arpeggio!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else.

This. It is about learning to make good decisions, good plays - frankly as in any sport. I have seen bad stuff both ways - the shouts to "pass, pass, pass" irrespective of the situation and the kids who dribble, dribble, dribble till they turn it over and apparently some people encourage that.

You hear the weirdest things in soccer. I have never heard anyone in basketball or lacrosse saying that it is good for kids to dribble, dribble, dribble (or cradle, cradle, cradle) till they shoot or loose the ball. Guess every kid who wants to "develop" would have to find their own team since it would be difficult for more than one or two players to develop on each team implementing this development approach.

Maybe everybody on the sidelines should just shut the hell up and let them play. Nothing more annoying than parents shouting directions to the players on the field. Keep your traps shut. Feel free to offer 'great job', 'way to go'...after the play is completed. But- that's it.

The NSCAA Convention had some great comparisons to other activities. Imagine a piano recital: "C MAJOR! C MAJOR! Use your pinky to complete that arpeggio!"

Ha! Watch the documentary 'State of Play' on HBO. Mind boggling, bad sport-parent behavior. The golfer dad was the worst...well--they were all very bad. I felt for those poor kids.

[Anonymous]

But if I can't shout during games, how am I going to displace my feelings of professional failure onto innocent children? How will I be able to make a public display of the rage I still feel about my disastrous high-school sports experiences? And my lost dreams? The bullies? My disapproving macho father? And how will the referee ever know when it's time to call offsides -- OR WHISTLE A HANDBALL IN THE BOX?!? So many questions . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But if I can't shout during games, how am I going to displace my feelings of professional failure onto innocent children? How will I be able to make a public display of the rage I still feel about my disastrous high-school sports experiences? And my lost dreams? The bullies? My disapproving macho father? And how will the referee ever know when it's time to call offsides -- OR WHISTLE A HANDBALL IN THE BOX?!? So many questions . . .

Ha! My husband and I both achieved very high level success in both of sports---accolades, titles, Div 1, one professional career, etc. We are the quietest on the sideline. We are not there living vicariously through our kids. We already had our turn.

But--what you recite is so common of the parents in this area that were never athletes themselves. They are usually the one that thinks there kid is the second-coming and the most 'know-it-all' in the sport they never played.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if I can't shout during games, how am I going to displace my feelings of professional failure onto innocent children? How will I be able to make a public display of the rage I still feel about my disastrous high-school sports experiences? And my lost dreams? The bullies? My disapproving macho father? And how will the referee ever know when it's time to call offsides -- OR WHISTLE A HANDBALL IN THE BOX?!? So many questions . . .

Ha! My husband and I both achieved very high level success in both of sports---accolades, titles, Div 1, one professional career, etc. We are the quietest on the sideline. We are not there living vicariously through our kids. We already had our turn.

But--what you recite is so common of the parents in this area that were never athletes themselves. They are usually the one that thinks there kid is the second-coming and the most 'know-it-all' in the sport they never played.

I've heard that from coaches, too. They say when they get children of high-level athletes, the parents say little beyond "Thanks, coach."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else.

This. It is about learning to make good decisions, good plays - frankly as in any sport. I have seen bad stuff both ways - the shouts to "pass, pass, pass" irrespective of the situation and the kids who dribble, dribble, dribble till they turn it over and apparently some people encourage that.

You hear the weirdest things in soccer. I have never heard anyone in basketball or lacrosse saying that it is good for kids to dribble, dribble, dribble (or cradle, cradle, cradle) till they shoot or loose the ball. Guess every kid who wants to "develop" would have to find their own team since it would be difficult for more than one or two players to develop on each team implementing this development approach.

Maybe everybody on the sidelines should just shut the hell up and let them play. Nothing more annoying than parents shouting directions to the players on the field. Keep your traps shut. Feel free to offer 'great job', 'way to go'...after the play is completed. But- that's it.

The NSCAA Convention had some great comparisons to other activities. Imagine a piano recital: "C MAJOR! C MAJOR! Use your pinky to complete that arpeggio!"

I've heard the music analogy many times, though more often it seems to be cast as kid turning the tables and yelling at/micromanaging his parents while they try to cook a meal. I'm probably in the minority on this (at least in this forum), but I think people spend too much time worrying about parent sideline behavior. If parents are actually screaming abuse at players or the ref or otherwise behaving in a threatening manner, that's a serious problem that needs to be addressed and dealt with. But yelling: "Pass it!" "Boot it!" "Shoot!" or slightly less dumb sounding things like "Man on!" "Watch the offsides trap!"? It's annoying when parents do that, for sure, but in my experience, the kids almost always tune it out, especially if their coach tells them just to ignore the sidelines.

I think it's fine for a coach, club, or league to have a parent code of conduct, mind you. It just seems like there are thousands of articles by youth sports experts naming this problem as the number one thing causing kids to burn out on sports, and I really don't think it's true. Team politics, incompetent coaching, and pay to play issues are much more serious problems to worry about in my view. I also don't think that non-sporty parents are signficantly more likely to yell on the sidelines than former athlete parents. It seems more to be a function of personality and the age of the kids playing. Most parents calm down with experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else.

This. It is about learning to make good decisions, good plays - frankly as in any sport. I have seen bad stuff both ways - the shouts to "pass, pass, pass" irrespective of the situation and the kids who dribble, dribble, dribble till they turn it over and apparently some people encourage that.

You hear the weirdest things in soccer. I have never heard anyone in basketball or lacrosse saying that it is good for kids to dribble, dribble, dribble (or cradle, cradle, cradle) till they shoot or loose the ball. Guess every kid who wants to "develop" would have to find their own team since it would be difficult for more than one or two players to develop on each team implementing this development approach.

Just because you haven't heard it doesn't mean it isn't true, just means you are in the wrong environment. Basketball is very similar to soccer. The "team first, pass first" suburban attitude toward both kills the creativity in kids and turns them into replaceable role players. Who are the best basketball players you can think of? Are any of them guards that can't dribble? Being able to dribble, get an opponent off balance, and penetrate are incredibly important in soccer and basketball, they just aren't prized by parents who want to see their kids play like adults.

Passing is great, but if it is introduced and rewards before a real ability to dribble is gained the passing becomes a crutch under pressure.

[Anonymous]

Guards who dribble too much in basketball get benched. Mastering a technical skill means knowing when and how to use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guards who dribble too much in basketball get benched. Mastering a technical skill means knowing when and how to use it.

I am not the pp with the basketball analogy---though he/she's a person after my own heart! In all honesty, you cannot pick up a technical skill without constant practice. This practice needs to be done in the pressure of a game in order to learn when and how to use it. You should not be benching 8-9 year olds for testing out skill in a game (soccer or basketball).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else.

This. It is about learning to make good decisions, good plays - frankly as in any sport. I have seen bad stuff both ways - the shouts to "pass, pass, pass" irrespective of the situation and the kids who dribble, dribble, dribble till they turn it over and apparently some people encourage that.

You hear the weirdest things in soccer. I have never heard anyone in basketball or lacrosse saying that it is good for kids to dribble, dribble, dribble (or cradle, cradle, cradle) till they shoot or loose the ball. Guess every kid who wants to "develop" would have to find their own team since it would be difficult for more than one or two players to develop on each team implementing this development approach.

Just because you haven't heard it doesn't mean it isn't true, just means you are in the wrong environment. Basketball is very similar to soccer. The "team first, pass first" suburban attitude toward both kills the creativity in kids and turns them into replaceable role players. Who are the best basketball players you can think of? Are any of them guards that can't dribble? Being able to dribble, get an opponent off balance, and penetrate are incredibly important in soccer and basketball, they just aren't prized by parents who want to see their kids play like adults.

Passing is great, but if it is introduced and rewards before a real ability to dribble is gained the passing becomes a crutch under pressure.

which is why the truly great/creative players developed in the ghettoes of the US and the slums of Argentina. They played lots and lots and lots of pick-up without people micromanaging them at 8-years old.

[Anonymous]

When Claudio Reyna unveiled the U.S. Soccer curriculum, he warned against "overdribbling." A bunch of coaches muttered that it seemed like a strange thing to discourage. He pointed out that if you watch Barcelona, you don't see a bunch of people taking 10 touches on the ball. It's one- or two-touch, then pass.

All things in moderation, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:e]
I think people spend too much time worrying about parent sideline behavior. If parents are actually screaming abuse at players or the ref or otherwise behaving in a threatening manner, that's a serious problem that needs to be addressed and dealt with. But yelling: "Pass it!" "Boot it!" "Shoot!" or slightly less dumb sounding things like "Man on!" "Watch the offsides trap!"? It's annoying when parents do that, for sure, but in my experience, the kids almost always tune it out, especially if their coach tells them just to ignore the sidelines.

I disagree about it being only annoying when parents yell this. It may be fine for their own kid as they are used to it, but my kid hates hearing the constant yelling from some of the other teams. Actually even worse are the parental groups who do a collective shocked gasp when our players tackle theirs and someone falls over but yell that there was nothing there when it's the other way round... I think the referees are generally fair thank goodness. In fact I also have kids who referee and parents even go up after the game, or once during, to complain about decisions! I have kids in several age groups and haven't noticed these parents calm down with experience-or certainly not by U15... Maybe next year!

[Anonymous]

I've noticed that the parents who hate the dribbling emphasis the most are people you would think are probably the most sophisticated about soccer. We have a dad from Bolivia who screams "One touch! One touch!" all the time. I don't know what to think -- I can see both sides.

[Anonymous]

Just let 'em play. Just let them be kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:e]
I think people spend too much time worrying about parent sideline behavior. If parents are actually screaming abuse at players or the ref or otherwise behaving in a threatening manner, that's a serious problem that needs to be addressed and dealt with. But yelling: "Pass it!" "Boot it!" "Shoot!" or slightly less dumb sounding things like "Man on!" "Watch the offsides trap!"? It's annoying when parents do that, for sure, but in my experience, the kids almost always tune it out, especially if their coach tells them just to ignore the sidelines.

I disagree about it being only annoying when parents yell this. It may be fine for their own kid as they are used to it, but my kid hates hearing the constant yelling from some of the other teams. Actually even worse are the parental groups who do a collective shocked gasp when our players tackle theirs and someone falls over but yell that there was nothing there when it's the other way round... I think the referees are generally fair thank goodness. In fact I also have kids who referee and parents even go up after the game, or once during, to complain about decisions! I have kids in several age groups and haven't noticed these parents calm down with experience-or certainly not by U15... Maybe next year!

I'm sorry your player is distracted by the annoying parents, but I'd treat it as a good learning experience. He needs to work on some techniques to keep his focus on the game. Sounds like he probably understands how ridiculous the comments being yelled are, but if not, then you or the coach should be sure to reinforce that and let him know he has no responsibility for dealing with comments from anyone but his coach, the ref, or teammates. It's good practice for drowning out noise in life.

I don't mean to say that it's easy for parents to ignore other parents' ridiculous comments though--your example of the collective shocked gasp over perfectly legitimate fouls made my pulse speed up in sympathetic irritation. I find things like that much harder to take than comments from parents who are basically treating it like they are watching a game on tv and are frustrated that the wingers aren't getting wide enough for a clear pass, etc.

A parent approaching a kid referee to argue about decisions? That should be a misdemeanor offense--no excuse for that kind of behavior whatsoever.