Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would hate to be a coach or teacher these days. Parents, it is okay for your kid to be uncomfortable and have to work for something.

There are different clubs that cater to different kids, but everyone wants their kids on the best team at the most competitive club - and then they want that coach to cater to their kid and wonder why things don’t work out

Anonymous wrote:Would hate to be a coach or teacher these days. Parents, it is okay for your kid to be uncomfortable and have to work for something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is really the context not the requirement of fitness.

Most kids are not in shape having missed a spring season and that should not be a surprise to any rational adult or coach.

Normally lack of fitness with players could be more punitive but with a protracted quarantine during the entirety of the spring season a lack of fitness across an entire team should be expected and dealt with more pragmatically.

Getting back into shape always sucks but piling on kids who may have had varying degrees of opportunity to stay in soccer shape is the wrong message at this particular time.

Just encourage the kids and lay out a proper plan to get them back to where they need to be. Using scare tactics are unnecessary at this point when most kids are in the same boat.

Every kid in the DMV playing travel soccer has a pair of sneakers, they can run and have a good level of aerobic fitness.

Anonymous wrote:Would hate to be a coach or teacher these days. Parents, it is okay for your kid to be uncomfortable and have to work for something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury."

Both myself (46) and my wife (48) run 4-5 miles 6 days a week and i feel fresh and healthy, To play soccer you need a high level of fitness.

If non elite travel programs are holding players accountable for not being in shape this is good. If the Elite clubs are not testing and holding players accountable that is concerning. If you do not want to run dont play soccer.

I assume you are saying coaches are saying players wont play on the field or make it to the next level if they are not in shape?

This is simply stating the obvious is it not?

This is the second post where an adult unnecessarily touts their own physical accomplishments. Kudos to you, folks, for congratulating yourself on an anonymous message board!

The OP is talking about 12 year-olds. The #1 goal at this age is keeping it fun so the kids stay in the game. Skill development, fitness and other goals should of course be addressed, so long as it is not at the expense of having fun.

I think coaches should set expectations at u12, if you are not in shape you wont get minutes

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury."

Both myself (46) and my wife (48) run 4-5 miles 6 days a week and i feel fresh and healthy, To play soccer you need a high level of fitness.

If non elite travel programs are holding players accountable for not being in shape this is good. If the Elite clubs are not testing and holding players accountable that is concerning. If you do not want to run dont play soccer.

I assume you are saying coaches are saying players wont play on the field or make it to the next level if they are not in shape?

This is simply stating the obvious is it not?

This is the second post where an adult unnecessarily touts their own physical accomplishments. Kudos to you, folks, for congratulating yourself on an anonymous message board!

The OP is talking about 12 year-olds. The #1 goal at this age is keeping it fun so the kids stay in the game. Skill development, fitness and other goals should of course be addressed, so long as it is not at the expense of having fun.

Anonymous wrote:"Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury."

Both myself (46) and my wife (48) run 4-5 miles 6 days a week and i feel fresh and healthy, To play soccer you need a high level of fitness.

If non elite travel programs are holding players accountable for not being in shape this is good. If the Elite clubs are not testing and holding players accountable that is concerning. If you do not want to run dont play soccer.

I assume you are saying coaches are saying players wont play on the field or make it to the next level if they are not in shape?

This is simply stating the obvious is it not?

Anonymous wrote:but the world cup and the scholarships, we must have the most highly trained young lads oh wait that is what the parents want.

Anonymous wrote:To all club coaches and technical directors:

We've noticed a lot of excessive fitness "training" requirements in youth soccer. Enough is enough. Beep tests, repetitive long distance running, unrealistic timed runs, penalizing players for being "unfit", mind games and ridicule, sending kids for additional "fitness" training in addition to club training, scaring players into compliance for fear of not making it to the next level, and on and on. It must be addressed, since it is either abusive or borderline abusive. I'm no snowflake, nor are my players, but it is time for some honesty.

Rest and recovery are essential components of training young athletes. Running kids 6 days a week increases potential for injury. This year alone, I've seen stress fractures, muscle cramps, muscle pulls, excess fatigue due to heat/heat exhaustion, vomiting, nausea, and emotional breakdowns, among other things. This is unhealthy. It is not building strong, young athletes, it is tearing them down.

Kids need more than the obvious: frequent and necessary water breaks, adequate rest and recovery, positive encouragement. Kids have additional stressors and uncertainties of COVID, returning to school/online school, interrupted social interactions, sleep deprivation/abnormal sleep patterns, political strife and division, race relations, financial uncertainty of families, lost jobs, parents working from home, uncertainties of college recruiting, uncertainty of game schedules for the season, eating disorders/body image issues, social media pressures, and all kinds of other things.

Coaches, you're not a BUDS instructor for the Navy SEALS, weeding out the unfit and mentally weak for combat operations. Your job is not to get kids to tap out and ring the bell, as though you're the gatekeeper to a D1 soccer career for a 12 year old girl. Your job is to build great soccer players who are not only strong mentally and physically, but who love and appreciate the game for life.

Please take the time to acquaint yourselves with the Positive Coaching Alliance. https://positivecoach.org/

Please, be better coaches. Recognize what it means to be a good coach versus an abusive one. Educate yourselves, parents and coaches, so we can all objectively spot and eliminate bad behaviors at our clubs. And when you see bad behaviors, stand up.

I liked "Coaching ABUSE: The dirty, not-so-little secret in sports":
https://www.competitivedge.com/coaching-abuse-the-dirty-not-so-little-secret-in-sports/

Let's gather good resources to help educate our coaches and clubs. Let's all do better.

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is really the context not the requirement of fitness.

Most kids are not in shape having missed a spring season and that should not be a surprise to any rational adult or coach.

Normally lack of fitness with players could be more punitive but with a protracted quarantine during the entirety of the spring season a lack of fitness across an entire team should be expected and dealt with more pragmatically.

Getting back into shape always sucks but piling on kids who may have had varying degrees of opportunity to stay in soccer shape is the wrong message at this particular time.

Just encourage the kids and lay out a proper plan to get them back to where they need to be. Using scare tactics are unnecessary at this point when most kids are in the same boat.

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is really the context not the requirement of fitness.

Most kids are not in shape having missed a spring season and that should not be a surprise to any rational adult or coach.

Normally lack of fitness with players could be more punitive but with a protracted quarantine during the entirety of the spring season a lack of fitness across an entire team should be expected and dealt with more pragmatically.

Getting back into shape always sucks but piling on kids who may have had varying degrees of opportunity to stay in soccer shape is the wrong message at this particular time.

Just encourage the kids and lay out a proper plan to get them back to where they need to be. Using scare tactics are unnecessary at this point when most kids are in the same boat.