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Kids Football, Sick of it now

warehouse
Posts: 3,362 Forumite

Kids football, I'm sick of it
Bit of a rant, just bear with me, I've finally had enough. I have 3 kids who all play football for local clubs, (both sexes). The main reason I encouraged them to do this was for fitness and team bonding. All my kids started at an early age, and my Saturday and Sundays have now all but disappeared which is fine with me, but that's not the issue. Maybe it's just a northern thing, is it as cut throat down south?
Child 1. Plays in goal for the 2nd team of 3. She's the only goalkeeper in the 3 teams in her age group and is fearless and mad about being in goal. She gets player of the match every other game. The first team coach spoke to me a few weeks ago about the possibility of her joining the first team next season as they really need a goalkeeper, our coach is fine with this as he likes to see the girls progress. My Daughter is happy to have the chance to move up, but unsure whether to leave her friends behind.
What happens next? Another girl suddenly turns up with a shiny new pair of goalkeeping gloves and a parent pushing the coach into letting her go in goal. You've guessed it, said parent thinks this is the quick route into the first team. How do I know this? Other parents have told me this is what he's said. Unbelievably the coach has started to give in to pressure and she played this weekends tournament in goal, every game. We lost 4 of 5 matches. My Daughter is asking what did she do wrong?
Child 2. He started playing when he was 6, and was there when the team formed and hardly had any players. Five years later they have a very good team where all the players have stayed loyal and are beginning next season in the top league. We recently heard that another local team have folded as the coach quit, and last week our coach announced that he would be having the entire folded team over to join our teams training session, with ALL boys on trial. Any of them who were good enough would be straight into the first team, whilst those not good enough would make up part of a B team in the league we came out of, including many of the original boys.
So many of the boys who started this team and have been loyal over the last 5 years are going to be replaced overnight by new players, some of who are already on their 3rd team in 5 years and who's parents complaining caused their coach to quit.
Child 3. He plays for a B team who know they're not the best, but love football and are happy to play for the sake of playing. When the odd win comes their way they celebrate like a cup final win. All the parents know they are not the best, and strangely it's the one team where the parents really get on well together, all of us.
A couple of months back they lost a cup game to a team who are 2nd in the top league, but they actually put up a good fight and at one point were ahead. A new coach who started this season to help out, but who has many years of experience behind him decided it would be a good idea to shout at the team afterwards about lack of effort. My Son, along with 2 others, stood up for the team and said the new coach was wrong, whereupon the new coach personally attacked the 3, yes personally attacked each of the 3's performances. A massive wedge now exists as ALL players now detest this guy, but he's carried on as if nothing has happened. The boys want to play for the team, but not for the coach, and the situation is not nice. Remember this team really does play for fun only.
After this weekend's events I thought to myself "why are we doing this"? Seriously, what's the point? All kids football seems to bring is pushy complaining parents, total disloyalty, coaches without a shred of decency or common sense and a constant pain in the rear. When did it become a win at all costs and to h*ll with the morals type sport? After the summer tournaments are over I'm going to sit all of them down and tell them they're welcome to take up any sport, but football is as good as dead now. I know I'll change my mind as I know they all love the sport, but right now I'm pig sick of it.
Rant over. Carry on.
Bit of a rant, just bear with me, I've finally had enough. I have 3 kids who all play football for local clubs, (both sexes). The main reason I encouraged them to do this was for fitness and team bonding. All my kids started at an early age, and my Saturday and Sundays have now all but disappeared which is fine with me, but that's not the issue. Maybe it's just a northern thing, is it as cut throat down south?
Child 1. Plays in goal for the 2nd team of 3. She's the only goalkeeper in the 3 teams in her age group and is fearless and mad about being in goal. She gets player of the match every other game. The first team coach spoke to me a few weeks ago about the possibility of her joining the first team next season as they really need a goalkeeper, our coach is fine with this as he likes to see the girls progress. My Daughter is happy to have the chance to move up, but unsure whether to leave her friends behind.
What happens next? Another girl suddenly turns up with a shiny new pair of goalkeeping gloves and a parent pushing the coach into letting her go in goal. You've guessed it, said parent thinks this is the quick route into the first team. How do I know this? Other parents have told me this is what he's said. Unbelievably the coach has started to give in to pressure and she played this weekends tournament in goal, every game. We lost 4 of 5 matches. My Daughter is asking what did she do wrong?
Child 2. He started playing when he was 6, and was there when the team formed and hardly had any players. Five years later they have a very good team where all the players have stayed loyal and are beginning next season in the top league. We recently heard that another local team have folded as the coach quit, and last week our coach announced that he would be having the entire folded team over to join our teams training session, with ALL boys on trial. Any of them who were good enough would be straight into the first team, whilst those not good enough would make up part of a B team in the league we came out of, including many of the original boys.
So many of the boys who started this team and have been loyal over the last 5 years are going to be replaced overnight by new players, some of who are already on their 3rd team in 5 years and who's parents complaining caused their coach to quit.
Child 3. He plays for a B team who know they're not the best, but love football and are happy to play for the sake of playing. When the odd win comes their way they celebrate like a cup final win. All the parents know they are not the best, and strangely it's the one team where the parents really get on well together, all of us.
A couple of months back they lost a cup game to a team who are 2nd in the top league, but they actually put up a good fight and at one point were ahead. A new coach who started this season to help out, but who has many years of experience behind him decided it would be a good idea to shout at the team afterwards about lack of effort. My Son, along with 2 others, stood up for the team and said the new coach was wrong, whereupon the new coach personally attacked the 3, yes personally attacked each of the 3's performances. A massive wedge now exists as ALL players now detest this guy, but he's carried on as if nothing has happened. The boys want to play for the team, but not for the coach, and the situation is not nice. Remember this team really does play for fun only.
After this weekend's events I thought to myself "why are we doing this"? Seriously, what's the point? All kids football seems to bring is pushy complaining parents, total disloyalty, coaches without a shred of decency or common sense and a constant pain in the rear. When did it become a win at all costs and to h*ll with the morals type sport? After the summer tournaments are over I'm going to sit all of them down and tell them they're welcome to take up any sport, but football is as good as dead now. I know I'll change my mind as I know they all love the sport, but right now I'm pig sick of it.
Rant over. Carry on.
Pants
0
Comments
-
I have the same with some of the teams in the sport I partake in, I hate it when coaches just yell and rip everything to shreds
I coach - but I do as much as I can by encouragement rather than fear.
HBS x"I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another."
"It's easy to know what you're against, quite another to know what you're for."
#Bremainer0 -
heartbreak_star wrote: »I have the same with some of the teams in the sport I partake in, I hate it when coaches just yell and rip everything to shreds
I coach - but I do as much as I can by encouragement rather than fear.
HBS x
Hi HS, I realise there are many hundreds and thousands of fantastic coaches out there who are doing things the right way and giving up tons of their own time to do so, and for that I am grateful. So thanks.Pants0 -
Make a complaint to the general sec of the team (I take it there is a committee for a 1st team of men?)
I'm a youth sec for the juniors and this is classified as bullying. Definitely report it - and to the youth sec too.0
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