Reply to 9 years of travel socce for DC, I regret it

Forum Index » Soccer

Reply to "9 years of travel socce for DC, I regret it"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP- I get it.

We moved my oldest around to avoid so much of the 'bad' and poor coaching/training or just toxic sidelines/environment.  It was a constant reassessment from U9 to current U16/17. 3 Clubs (1 club against better instincts went back at one point and the same unbelievable crap again--live and learn). As a parent, it is so frustrating to watch and see.  The thing that kept me going was my kid's passion for the sport.  He truly loves soccer.  And, boy, did he get sh*t on and hoodwinked by a coach/club or two over the years.  My husband was always dramatic 'Why TF do we have him in this sport?!  He should wrestle or box, (like he did :)).  I never dwelled on it (well I seethed inside, drank wine and watched as some of those ppl flamed out or got fired down the road--but tried to hide this from him).  I always told my kid: things happen for a reason.  What may seem like a huge disappointment/bad break, ultimately can turn out to be a good thing.  That was soooo, sooo true for him.  A cut or demotion, caused him to seek training opportunities and new teams that he never would have made.  He took a really circuitous route compared to many of his friends, neighbors in his development, not chasing the 'name or league'.

The pay out now as a Sophomore/16 year old is truly amazing.  His development and growth as a player never would have happened if everything was 'given' or worked out from the time he was an 8 year old.  He went abroad, he found a true mentor, he had to work twice as hard, etc.  He now is on the radar at a few top D1 schools and doing amazing this season.  The kid that got benched, got demoted (after being a starter/play the whole game) over bench sitters or the next 'shiny' thing.  Seeing him now compared to some of those kids is so striking.

Was the travel and time so far worth it?  For him, yes, even if my spouse and I question the time.  It developed grit in all areas of his life. And things not being 'easy' really have benefited him.  Perseverance and hard work and believing in yourself (and at least one true mentor--his very first coach he only had for 7 months that has kept up with him all these years and checked in and trained and rooted for him, etc).

I always tried to make him see it's not all about soccer and he is a great student too with many other interests, but 'futbol is life :lol: '.  I remember talking to a friend who was a major star athlete, professional player in another sport and saying much along the lines of what OP said, 'is this worth it. soccer in the US is such crap, nothing will come of this, blah, blah'.  He took a sip of his beer and said "But he thinks he can do it'.  That has stuck with me for a long time.  His point being, if it comes from within and they believe in themselves- who am I to sh*t on that? I played the sport for a very long time myself and I knew when I was done.  The kids know too and will tell you if they aren't playing solely to appease you over time.  I see so many parents forcing things down the kids throat and obsessing after the game (during the game), the kid looks scared to make a mistake because dad will be pissed.  I never talk about what my kid did wrong or if he 'wasn't on'.  They always knew. I changed the subject, made light of it. Something along the lines of, everyone has a bad day once in awhile..and then moved on with the day.

p.s. my kid was never on those teams either.  Sometimes the best development is found elsewhere, particularly for late growers.[/quote][/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics