Reply to Son plays much better at the park than in travel

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My 14 year old son is on the second to bottom level travel team in his club.  He's just mediocre, his better sport is baseball, but he doesn't enjoy it as much.  We can afford to pay for travel anyway, so since he loves it, that's fine.

DH and I have started jogging in the local park where DS plays pickup soccer games, and we have noticed that he plays much, much better in these games than travel.  He is more relaxed and looser, and his shot seems better.  Not only that, he runs faster in these pickup games, and is more aggressive.  DH mentioned the kids he is playing against at the park are not as good as his travel opponents, and that is likely a factor, but my son is also noticeably different.  What gives?  He's had a series of different travel coaches, most of whom have been fine.  Why does he play better at the free soccer in the park than the soccer with a professional coach that we pay $2K a year for?  I don't deeply care, but I do find it weird.[/quote]

Coach here,

First the fact that he plays pick up soccer and enjoys it says a lot. The fact that he appears faster and more aggressive when playing pickup soccer says a lot to. My guess is your husband is mostly right. The players he's up against aren't on his level and his confidence is very high when playing against them.

Defense in pick up games is also usually pretty poor.[b] No one is trying to get hurt (or hurt anyone) out there, so offense can really shine and appear better then what it would look like in a truly competitive match. [/b]

If you're truly concerned, you can talk to your coach about what you've observed. If I were you I would just give your son some compliments and try not to add a "I wish you'd play like that during the game..." type comments.[/quote]

ha!  So not true where my sons play pick up.  It's brutal.  There are no parents or refs interfering.  I had to run over to tell one of them to come home and it was like a bloodbath, stuff that would have gotten called in a real game.

But, where my kids play it's a lot of top team travel kids and kids nearby without the means to pay for travel, but certainly the talent.  Sometimes their much older siblings are there too.[/quote]

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