I have older kids and have been watching this behavior for years, but it’s still disappointing to see 10 year olds taught to beat up on younger teams at the expense of teaching sportsmanship and developing soccer players

It sounds like it isn't so much an issue of age, because there are U9 teams that could beat our U10 team for sure. It sounds like they did not match lower-skilled kids of an older age group against higher skilled younger kids.

I would speak to the organizer about that.

I think it's difficult situation. We always tell our kids - do your best. It takes time and experience to understand when it's better not to do your best.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw a team with a few travel girls I knew play. For some reason they were in the rec division. They crushed everyone but they were playing at most like 65-75%. The coach told them to pass 6-10 times before shooting and it made things worst. They scored more. The field is just so small. The parents just stood off to the side and watched. They did not want to be in that bracket.

Also worth noting -- it's not easy to rate teams at U10, even if you have no coaches sandbagging to win a trophy (they do) or coaches playing a level too high because they think their kids are ready to be challenged (they do). Even without all that, how are you going to know if Big Club White is better than Medium Club Blue?

I have been on both side. In a 3v3 tournament if you put rec vs travel there will be blowouts and there is nothing the coach can do. The “coaches” are parents. I do not think they have that much control. 3v3 is a fast pace game and if you have one team that is more technical with a higher speed on play, you will get a blowout. Just make sure your player respect the other team and do not showboat or belittle the other players.

I saw a team with a few travel girls I knew play. For some reason they were in the rec division. They crushed everyone but they were playing at most like 65-75%. The coach told them to pass 6-10 times before shooting and it made things worst. They scored more. The field is just so small. The parents just stood off to the side and watched. They did not want to be in that bracket.

Ranting dad is correct, when you are up by a lot it's a good opportunity to move players around to test out new positions and it's a great opportunity to force touches (i.e. 10 passes before you can shoot). Outside of that, you can't tell the winning team not to play.