Reply to Team Sports, Stop paying your kids for individual goals

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP back. I'm fine with bribes/money for individual sport achievements (3k, etc...), grades, chores. The huge difference I see on the field of team sports are players unable to play a team sport because their focus is on getting three goals themselves vs. passing to win the team game.

It's a team sport. Incentivize by being a great team player maybe. Soooo many crappy plays I've seen by players playing a team sport as an individual goaded by horrible parenting.[/quote]

Depending on the kids age you assume that a kid playing the game so that the [i]team[/i] wins is developmentally important at all. [/quote]

OP here. Yes, I do. At any age in team sports. They need to learn how to win/play their best with teamwork. That's the point. Watching kids who hog the ball because parents are rewarding individual goals is disappointing. Practice individual skills at home and come on the field to play as a team. Often, these ball hogs contribute to losing the game even if they are rock stars.

My kids are elementary/middle school aged < 13.[/quote]

No, at U Little ages they do not need to learn how to win. If a kid is cherry picking talk to the kid but once the tone of winning is set that is the environment that is created. 4 v 4 U little soccer always has 'cherry pickers" whether they are being paid or not. The sad truth for those players is that the kids who lug the ball down the field are learning the technical skills that will pay off in the long run. If you don't like the cherry picking then educate both your players and their parents about what it is you are trying to accomplish, and the most important thing for them to learn at this age is touches, touches, touches, not "how to win" as a team.

My kids first travel coach told all the parents that "if you are here to win and get medals at U9 then leave now. If you want medals from U10-U12, leave now, this isn't the place for you." The things kids need to learn at these younger ages are skills and that is a individual journey. Developmentally, you must accept that at U Little ages you do in fact have 4 individuals on the field, they are not playing for each other anyways they are playing for themselves. Let them be ball hogs, let them learn to love and want the ball and let them find their own fun. Win or lose, by the time the kid gets into the car they have forgotten it anyways.[/quote]

Yes, it's not about winning or medals, it's about playing as a team. Learning how to play as a team. The ball hog who dances down the field only to be surrounded at every play by three defenders, shooting and missing goals with a singular purpose of me getting a goal due to pay for play, isn't learning team 
sports. OP. Sorry, my little kids know how to pass. [/quote]

Then your kids are likely not particularly technical on the ball and you are particularly unaware of what is age appropriate developmentally for kids.

From ages 5-9 it is not being a "ball hog", it is a kid playing at their proper developmental age especially for U8's. Why do you think they play 4v4 and no keeper? You should be encouraging them to keep the ball as long as they can before they lose it. You should be encouraging them to play without fear of mistakes and always wanting the ball at their feet.

It is far easier to teach passing later but footskills, flair and confidence is not something that can later be developed. In fact, when footskills are developed passing is actually far easier to teach. When kids learn how far they can go without losing the ball then they will learn the value of passing.[/quote]

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