Celebrations in youth soccer, what is acceptable

[Anonymous]

So where is the line or tolerance for celebrations after goals? We have played 2 really good teams 2 weeks in a row and noticed both did a lot of celebration that appeared to be scripted, meaning not your normal fist pump high fives, but actual NFL level celebrations. Is this a new trend? Refs didn't seem to mind or care.

[Anonymous]

Were the teams majority Hispanic? If so, it's just cultural.

I personally find it a bit tacky in kids sports, but it is very normal coming from those cultures and hey, they generally produce much better teams, so they must be doing something right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So where is the line or tolerance for celebrations after goals? We have played 2 really good teams 2 weeks in a row and noticed both did a lot of celebration that appeared to be scripted, meaning not your normal fist pump high fives, but actual NFL level celebrations. Is this a new trend? Refs didn't seem to mind or care.

If the celebration was created/originated by the players would make for good team camaraderie and team chemistry. Kudos to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So where is the line or tolerance for celebrations after goals? We have played 2 really good teams 2 weeks in a row and noticed both did a lot of celebration that appeared to be scripted, meaning not your normal fist pump high fives, but actual NFL level celebrations. Is this a new trend? Refs didn't seem to mind or care.

Stop them from scoring. Why would the ref care. No rule against it as long as it doesn't delay the restart or directly taunting the opponent.

[Anonymous]

FIFA has rules about celebrations. It's good for kids to learn what they are.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal_celebration

I personally love the shoe shine.

Kids should be able to celebrate and the losing team needs to learn to check their egos when they are losing.

[Anonymous]

NFL level? Come on.

[Anonymous]

This thread is a fine example of why there are so many jerky kids...because so many jerky parents with responses like the above.

It's tacky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So where is the line or tolerance for celebrations after goals? We have played 2 really good teams 2 weeks in a row and noticed both did a lot of celebration that appeared to be scripted, meaning not your normal fist pump high fives, but actual NFL level celebrations. Is this a new trend? Refs didn't seem to mind or care.

Stop them from scoring. Why would the ref care. No rule against it as long as it doesn't delay the restart or directly taunting the opponent.

Our kids felt it was rubbing it in since we lost both games pretty badly. At least they both stopped celebrating after they were up by 3-5 points, I'd had not seen that level of celebration in the past which is why i asked for thoughts here. Our kids just normally do the simple jump and high five. The first team did a synchronized back flip with 3 of the players (not sure we have 1 player that could do that) and the other did some type of in the air shoulder bump with the the entire team at once.

No it didn't delay the game, but since we were irritated with loosing it was salt on the wound.

[Anonymous]

I don't mind celebrations as long as it isn't taunting. Celebrate with your teammates, but once you target the other team as a part of your celebration, that is crossing the line. Years ago during a game, a kid scored and pointed at the goalie and did the whole extreme laughing head cocked back move. That was uncool.

[Anonymous]

What age group?

[Anonymous]

Again, most of us think this is tacky. However, it is acceptable and encouraged by Hispanics and I honestly think the rest of us need to learn to suck it up. It's a good lesson for our kids because it accurately reflects the world they live in. Yeh, no one likes 'sore winners,' but they exist and you have to deal. For chrissake, we have a classic 'sore winner' in the white house.

[Anonymous]

Hi fives or piling on the scorer is fine. Anything choreographed has no place on the field in youth sports (or anywhere else in my opinion). Play the game; let your talent and accomplishments speak for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again, most of us think this is tacky. However, it is acceptable and encouraged by Hispanics and I honestly think the rest of us need to learn to suck it up. It's a good lesson for our kids because it accurately reflects the world they live in. Yeh, no one likes 'sore winners,' but they exist and you have to deal. For chrissake, we have a classic 'sore winner' in the white house.

OP here, just to clarify.....they weren't hispanic clubs. Both clubs came from affluent ares in the DMV. I'd also a like to mention they both played cleaned games, nothing dirty about their play. Just hadn't seen that behavior in youth sports. These were U13 games.

[Anonymous]

I love my son's current coach because the first time someone on the team did an over the top celebration- he yelled at him to knock it off and act like he had scored a goal before. Then he yelled great assist to the kid who dribbled past three defenders and crossed the ball to the kid who just tapped it in. The kid making the assist did all the work, and so did another kid on the team who got possession of the ball and passed up the field to the kid who made the assist.

[Anonymous]

I don't know. Our team loses a lot, but what you described wouldn't bother me. We had one occasion last year when the opposing team made disparaging remarks about our team, and I was upset about that. But I wouldn't care about back flips, shoulder bumps, whatever.