Reply to rec league coaches -- what is your approach for players who aren't interested in soccer?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's hard to balance. Just don't always pair the not interested kid with the interested kid (eg in a practice). It gets frustrating for the kids who have talent/care about being there. Our coach was great and always found a "job" for that kid to do, like put on offense and their job was to kick the ball out (more advanced players get annoyed at that play, but it gave the less confident kids a specific thing to do and they gained confidence). [/quote]

OP here. You mention the frustration of the kids who have talent. This is a real issue on our team. The 4 or 5 players who want to be on the field, and who want to learn, are being disrupted and held back by those that don't. A 45-minute practice is effectively reduced to 30 minutes. The 15 minutes of lost time arises from the kids who just really don't give a hoot and would rather shift over to the playground.

I realize they are just kids, but there is little point in a child showing up for practice unless that child intends to invest some effort and energy. I'm not trying to turn these kids into pros, but I want them to improve. Much progress could be made if every kid actually wanted to be on the field.

I do try to make the practices fun, and we have a goof-off period at the end of the practice where we just have a good time. So I think there is some levity to the practices. But even so, there are 3 or 4 kids that I just can't seem get pointed in the right direction. Their skills haven't progressed one bit, despite the fact that they have some athletic ability.[/quote]

This is 8 & 9-year-old rec. If their skills do not progress so what. They are outside having fun. That is all rec soccer should be at that age. Kids who are interested and self-motivated and or parent motivated will move off to travel etc...  The rest will either quit or play rec just for fun nothing wrong with that.

You should coach something higher because your view of rec is off.

Signed parent of three kids who played soccer or lax in college, division one.  Two of which did not start their sport til 9th grade. [/quote]

Yeah, this. All we expected from rec soccer was fun and some movement, not skill improvement.[/quote]

OP here. Tell this to the half of my players that are there to improve. Many kids simply can't fit ADP or travel into their schedule. They are on the soccer field, in the rec league, so that they can learn and improve.

I'm not sure if the existence of ADP is helpful. Perhaps we would be better off with just rec and travel, so that the rec league could have a greater % of players who are motivated. I realize there are pros and cons to having ADP, but the league definitely has an adverse impact on many kids who have talent but who, for one reason or another, must play in rec. [/quote]

Totally agree with everything you are saying. I have a kid who is very athletic and plays multiple sports, therefore we don't put them in travel.  In this area travel starts so early, and makes it impossible to play multiple sports at a high level. I have heard that once kids age out of ADP (around 6th grade depending on their birthday) the rec teams get more competitive because the kids actually want to be there. [/quote]

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