Anonymous wrote:so my 9-yo in 4th grade suddenly became a scoring machine due to lower level of competition as well as travel players leaving the team. he'd scored just one goal per season in the last two years when the strong players dominated the games. now he scores three a game on avg. from watching the travel players in the past i believe he picked up this 'airplane' celebration and started doing it this year. it never bothered me when the other kids were doing it in the past, or when he first started doing it. i guess it just didn't register with me. but after the last game i wasn't so sure anymore. i'm very happy for him that he's finally become a star, and enjoys every minute of the games and works hard at practices, so i think a little bit of showboating is expected, but where would you draw the line? tks!
With two sons who played travel and h.s. soccer I'd draw the line now. Those first airplanes are an understandable rush of joy from someone who's hitting their stride. But once you become a scoring machine, it's better to take the pats from your teammates and act like you've been there before. I know that by U10 sons on my kids team were getting called out by the coach for this. It's difficult for the kids because they are genuinely thrilled and they see so many over-the-top displays from the pros, but most of the teams I'm familiar with in this area frown on it. Shaking a fist or jumping in the air and saying "yeah" seems to be okay. Airplanes and sliding forward on your knees past a fairly young age not really viewed as good sportsmanship not so much.