Today’s 4-5 soccer game got a little out of control. I recognize the seriousness of competition at all levels but I struggle with translating that idea to something that is constructive for kids level-to-level and then balancing that against the desire of parents to see their kids win. I’ll say this: Games go really well when my kids are winning. We win gracefully. We don’t run up the score or load the field with our best players at the end. Yet both of those things went down this week in the 4-5 game and it has me once again reevaluating whether I should coach.
I think now that I should be a part of the coaching staff (if not the HC in certain situations). I believe this now because of what I’ve seen. I took watching overly aggressive coaching from an opponent and two complete FAILs from my own 8-9 players to get it. See, coaching at this level is not about wins and losses but about creating the motivation and confidence that young players need in order to keep going in the face of failure and bad coaching. I’ve seen players want to quit at all levels. I’ve seen players want to sit out of the game and never go back in, and I’m learning how to deal with that. When a kid blows a game he needs a coach who is going to pick him up and show him how to do better next time and to make him appreciate the fact that he can. That is what I see missing in today’s youth game. Winning is about how good you’ve done. Losing is about shaking it off, laughing and saying it doesn’t matter. It does matter. Losing is opportunity to come face to face with your shortcomings and to learn from that experience to be better.
Some Thoughts:
- Followed a liveblog for the first time tonight. It made me think about the immediacy of news. I was watching the Mayweather fight blog and following round by round. This is something where immediacy makes sense. You are reporting on acts in progress that require little analysis. It doesn’t work for news that requires critical thinking, but it clearly is used in that fashion more often than not.