Arlington rec is huge, so it's not like you can really pick out the team from a fairly generic post.

Props to OP for calling the club out hahaha

I know a family with a travel kid who plays on a Rec team but doesn't practice with them. It's because they needed her to have a full roster but she is already practicing twice a week; a third practice would be kind of excessive.

We do first grade Rec and most parents are ok, though we have encountered a few who were kind of intense. Our parents cheer for everyone on both teams, and we keep it positive.

Anonymous wrote:Each season more travel soccer players are also playing Arlington rec soccer. It is probably a great chance to interact with school friends and have an opportunity to shine in a less-skilled environment. That is fine except the parents are bringing their travel soccer intensity to the field on what traditionally is a very fun environment where parents know girls from all the rec teams so cheer for all the girls/both teams (as in "nice shot!", "nice save"). Last weekend the HS girls dominated both games yet there was this incessant "come on girls- we NEED this goal" and ongoing coaching from the sidelines which was outright annoying. Vent over.

My club is opposite. Rec games are out of control with parents and coaches yelling every second. On travel side I have seen club staff tell a parent that kept yelling to pass and kick, if they don't shut up their kid is off the team. You could hear a pin drop after that.

At a PW rec club I'm currently at Travel players aren't allowed to play in the rec league, yet some still do. I'm all for it. The kids that had been playing rec all their lives in U12 vastly improved their approach to attacking after copying what the travel kid was doing, think through balls, wall passes, playing back to goalkeeper.

I can definitely see travel players taking over games, but that would be an issue the travel parents could fix before registering their kid. I should mention in my situation the travel was kid was 9, so he was playing up which prevented him from totally dominating other players who were 11 or close to 12.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can compare Arlington travel and Arlington rec as i have girls in both programs and the travel parents are barely under control. They yell at their own girls to the coaches annoyance and often provide sideline advice to other players. At rec games, parents are mostly socializing and enjoying the day. At least for high school girls, the rec players just enjoy playing the game that day. They laugh on the field a lot. And, that's OK because it is recreational.

on our boys Arkington travel team, we have a couple dads shouting direction to players that are NOT their son. I was very close to popping one dad in the mouth for his loud 'pass' at kids that weren't his own child before anyone knew what the player would do.

Shut the f@ck up on the sidelines. I cringe for another player whose father screams at him 90% of the game. The kid is visibly tense.

I've seen that happen, too, but usually b/c the kid is a ball hog that thinks he's the next Messi and loses the ball every time b/c he keeps it until 3 people are on him. I think once it happens, say 40 times in a season, the parents get frustrated and tell him to PASS. THE. BALL.

But I totally get your point I can't imagine shouting direction to someone else's kid. I cringe at the thought. (I just mutter silently to myself, instead... )

Coach's job, not parents. Never yell at somebody else's kid. Never. Not cool. Total asshole behavior.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can compare Arlington travel and Arlington rec as i have girls in both programs and the travel parents are barely under control. They yell at their own girls to the coaches annoyance and often provide sideline advice to other players. At rec games, parents are mostly socializing and enjoying the day. At least for high school girls, the rec players just enjoy playing the game that day. They laugh on the field a lot. And, that's OK because it is recreational.

on our boys Arkington travel team, we have a couple dads shouting direction to players that are NOT their son. I was very close to popping one dad in the mouth for his loud 'pass' at kids that weren't his own child before anyone knew what the player would do.

Shut the f@ck up on the sidelines. I cringe for another player whose father screams at him 90% of the game. The kid is visibly tense.

I've seen that happen, too, but usually b/c the kid is a ball hog that thinks he's the next Messi and loses the ball every time b/c he keeps it until 3 people are on him. I think once it happens, say 40 times in a season, the parents get frustrated and tell him to PASS. THE. BALL.

But I totally get your point I can't imagine shouting direction to someone else's kid. I cringe at the thought. (I just mutter silently to myself, instead... )

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rec parents are waaaay more insane than travel parents.

A lot of the time, yes.

I'm still laughing at a parent whose team was up 6-1 late in a game and yelled out on a corner kick, "OK, now this is your chance!" To do what?

I like having travel players in rec soccer. "Travel" should be a part-time thing through U12 or so, anyway, like Little League baseball players who also dabble on a travel team but still get to play in their community league.

We just do winter rec indoor (no practices).

I find it excessive to do so many practices per week and additional games. Burn out.

I also don't want to have my kid be like some of the prima donnas that can't make it to Rec practices but just come to the Rec games. I think that sends a bad message. It's also not fair to the kids that only play Rec.

Anonymous wrote:Rec parents are waaaay more insane than travel parents.

A lot of the time, yes.

I'm still laughing at a parent whose team was up 6-1 late in a game and yelled out on a corner kick, "OK, now this is your chance!" To do what?

I like having travel players in rec soccer. "Travel" should be a part-time thing through U12 or so, anyway, like Little League baseball players who also dabble on a travel team but still get to play in their community league.

Anonymous wrote:I can compare Arlington travel and Arlington rec as i have girls in both programs and the travel parents are barely under control. They yell at their own girls to the coaches annoyance and often provide sideline advice to other players. At rec games, parents are mostly socializing and enjoying the day. At least for high school girls, the rec players just enjoy playing the game that day. They laugh on the field a lot. And, that's OK because it is recreational.

on our boys Arkington travel team, we have a couple dads shouting direction to players that are NOT their son. I was very close to popping one dad in the mouth for his loud 'pass' at kids that weren't his own child before anyone knew what the player would do.

Shut the f@ck up on the sidelines. I cringe for another player whose father screams at him 90% of the game. The kid is visibly tense.

That's where the coach needs to step in to set and enforce expectations about parent behavior. This would include clarifying what the goals of the program are (i.e., develop skills, get some exercise, and have fun in a positive and supportive team environment) and how that translates into parent sideline behavior (no sideline coaching, no chest-bumping when your kid scores, no harassing the ref, no disparaging of any players, etc.). S/he should give parents the opportunity to leave the team if those goals and expectations aren't in alignment with theirs.

In travel, I've seen coaches call parents out from across the field (as in "Enough, Bob!") and a coach even once came over to the parents' side at half time and told certain parents they would be asked to leave if they didn't stop the sideline coaching/harassment of the ref.

It would also be helpful if some direction around this matter came from the club - our club has parents sign a code of conduct at the start of each season.

I can compare Arlington travel and Arlington rec as i have girls in both programs and the travel parents are barely under control. They yell at their own girls to the coaches annoyance and often provide sideline advice to other players. At rec games, parents are mostly socializing and enjoying the day. At least for high school girls, the rec players just enjoy playing the game that day. They laugh on the field a lot. And, that's OK because it is recreational.

Rec parents are waaaay more insane than travel parents.

DH recently went to a rec game and thought the parents were coaching way more than they do on travel. Travel parents get the team in trouble for yelling too much on the sidelines. He was really surprised at how vocal the parents were at the rec game.

Each season more travel soccer players are also playing Arlington rec soccer. It is probably a great chance to interact with school friends and have an opportunity to shine in a less-skilled environment. That is fine except the parents are bringing their travel soccer intensity to the field on what traditionally is a very fun environment where parents know girls from all the rec teams so cheer for all the girls/both teams (as in "nice shot!", "nice save"). Last weekend the HS girls dominated both games yet there was this incessant "come on girls- we NEED this goal" and ongoing coaching from the sidelines which was outright annoying. Vent over.