Playing time expectations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask the coach why he’s throwing players in who have just arrived rather than using the players who were there on time. It’s pretty irresponsible as the players who just arrived haven’t been able to warm up properly. This exposes them to a drop in performance as well as injuries. Your coach should be able to shuffle players around and still put a competitive starting 11 out there. Even if players aren’t in their “ideal” position, they still have skill sets which lend themselves to be able to play other positions in a pinch. Having a base tactical system helps. Making sure the players are exposed to all 10 base tactical systems helps even more.

U10s play 7 v 7.

There’s systems for 7v7...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do. And sometimes it's a game changer. A couple of salient points: if things are going poorly routinely, then that's a problem anyways. And then you also are creating a catch 22. You can't rotate because it's going poorly and you don't want to make things worse. And you can't when it's going well because now you have to protect the win.

I have seen wingers and midfielders get moved to defense and it turn the game around. And I'm talking much older, like U15.

But let's remember here. We are talking U10. Are they never allowed to make mistakes, learn, try a new position? That's a little much.


Exactly.

Again development versus winning a game. Everyone would like to have both on parallel upward trajectories.
A choice usually has to be made. And sometimes, more often than people want to admit, the other team is simply better.

EVERY coach worth salt should be rotating players.

Within reason, I agree. My son has played left back all season (he's U12) and does it very well. He'd like a chance to play some of the midfield positions, and he never gets one. The time he has been moved forward, he's been placed at striker or wing. He's pretty ineffective at both of these positions. That rotation was probably pointless, but I don't understand why he can never try midfield, no matter how many times he asks.

Our team had a new player who had always been pigeonholed as a striker because he was really fast, ambidextrous and skillful. He wasn’t bad, but not the best forward. We turned him into a very attack minded rightback and he became the best player on the team by far.

[Anonymous]

So I see that your son is on a team where your son isn't strong enough to get the playing time he wants. Whether that is right or wrong doesn't really help the fact that he isn't getting on the field as much as he'd like. The positive is that he must be training with a group that is considerably more skilled and, therefore, will help him improve quicker...I hope. So you need to weigh the factors. Drop to a lower team where he's more valued and will get more playing time but will train with weaker kids or stay where he is. I'm not sure if you are in a league that offers "club pass". If so, maybe he can get a game or two or three with the lower team but continue to train and be on the stronger team. I agree with all those that say that the kids at U10 should have equal playing time and kids should play all positions. It pisses me off that "professional" coaches don't understand this, but they will come on here and lecture parents about talking to the players on the field or other stuff. "Professional" coaches need to get their s--t together. These professional coaches get a few licenses that basically teach you how to set up cones for a practice (I know I have D license) and maybe play college soccer like that prepared them how to develop a 9 year old and they think they know everything. Anyway...parents need to do their research on the team they are agreeing to have their kid play on or suffer the consequences. There is that too.

[Anonymous]

Find a level where you’re child will be the star if you are concerned about playing time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Find a level where you’re child will be the star if you are concerned about playing time

Or if at least the coach is reasonable.

[Anonymous]

As parents you have to understand where you’re kid is and what level they will grow and keep their love for the game. People blame coaches for kids dropping out, it is the parents who have to put them in an environment they will play and love the game. No one and I mean no one loves being on the bench

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As parents you have to understand where you’re kid is and what level they will grow and keep their love for the game. People blame coaches for kids dropping out, it is the parents who have to put them in an environment they will play and love the game. No one and I mean no one loves being on the bench

Sure, but at U10, a coach should only pick up players he plans on playing. Don't fill a roster because you can. At U15, it's a different conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As parents you have to understand where you’re kid is and what level they will grow and keep their love for the game. People blame coaches for kids dropping out, it is the parents who have to put them in an environment they will play and love the game. No one and I mean no one loves being on the bench

Sure, but at U10, a coach should only pick up players he plans on playing. Don't fill a roster because you can. At U15, it's a different conversation.

Talk to the coach. Work on things to get better to earn more playing time. Understand that improving is a process and takes time. Playing time is not an entitlement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As parents you have to understand where you’re kid is and what level they will grow and keep their love for the game. People blame coaches for kids dropping out, it is the parents who have to put them in an environment they will play and love the game. No one and I mean no one loves being on the bench

Sure, but at U10, a coach should only pick up players he plans on playing. Don't fill a roster because you can. At U15, it's a different conversation.

Talk to the coach. Work on things to get better to earn more playing time. Understand that improving is a process and takes time. Playing time is not an entitlement.

No coach at U10 should pick up a player they don't intend to play. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As parents you have to understand where you’re kid is and what level they will grow and keep their love for the game. People blame coaches for kids dropping out, it is the parents who have to put them in an environment they will play and love the game. No one and I mean no one loves being on the bench

Sure, but at U10, a coach should only pick up players he plans on playing. Don't fill a roster because you can. At U15, it's a different conversation.

Talk to the coach. Work on things to get better to earn more playing time. Understand that improving is a process and takes time. Playing time is not an entitlement.

No coach at U10 should pick up a player they don't intend to play. Period.

Correct. U9-U13 . Why do they pick players they don’t intend to play?

[Anonymous]

At every age. At every level. A kid should get at least half a game playing time. The only exceptions would be: (1) injury or health concern (kid is sick but at the game) (2) discipline issue (broke team rule or had a red card etc). That’s it. No other exceptions. Don’t want to play a kid at least a half? Then don’t take their money. I do know a couple of times where a DA team took a couple of extra subs who might not play much over a weekend but they went for free. And the coaches got them in.

So - if money is being paid and no injury or discipline issues exist - then a coach must play every player, every time, at least half a game at every level. If you have a coach who cant figure out how to do that he/she should not coach.

[Anonymous]

how many teams does your club have in his age group, OP? just one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At every age. At every level. A kid should get at least half a game playing time. The only exceptions would be: (1) injury or health concern (kid is sick but at the game) (2) discipline issue (broke team rule or had a red card etc). That’s it. No other exceptions. Don’t want to play a kid at least a half? Then don’t take their money. I do know a couple of times where a DA team took a couple of extra subs who might not play much over a weekend but they went for free. And the coaches got them in.

So - if money is being paid and no injury or discipline issues exist - then a coach must play every player, every time, at least half a game at every level. If you have a coach who cant figure out how to do that he/she should not coach.

This how maybe it should be, but it isn't...so there is that. AND I wouldn't even want my kid on a team where he ONLY gets 50% playing time. That means that he's sitting half the game. Find a team/coach that will value your kid. You need to do some legwork though. Attend practices. Talk to parents and coaches. Watch a game.

[Anonymous]

My 11-year old is a starter he plays 90-95% of the game. They think of him as a clutch player. There are 3 subs and they rotate fairly well.

Our Coach had a conflict and another coach that doesn’t coach them filled in for a tournament game. My kid sat on the bench until the final 1 min of first half and then right when he went in the ref blew the whistle for 1/2 time. Why the f@ck sub with 1 min left? Nobody was hurt. They were down and playing like crap with kids that usually play the majority of the game on the bench -as if she forgot about them. I figured it was a mistake and he’d play a good portion of the 2nd half. Nope. It’s cold and raining and they traveled and got a hotel for this shit.

Some coaches legitimately can’t keep track and don’t know wtf is going on or who went in, etc.

[Anonymous]

Coaches can keep track