BB loves soccer-he trains/plays with the ball every day-BB likes coach-
team is not working as one unified team on the field. Play is sometimes slow and there are still players only working for themselves. Do we wait and see if it turns around or look for another team/ club?

"BB loves soccer-he trains/plays with the ball every day-BB likes coach-
team is not working as one unified team on the field. Play is sometimes slow and there are still players only working for themselves. Do we wait and see if it turns around or look for another team/ club?"

frankly your team is irrelevant at this age, chances are it won't even exist in its current form for select. the important things are: son likes playing, son likes coach, son is getting better. you won't remember or care if your 03 won these games, ONLY if your son is getting better.

At U9 the only questions are is he developing as a player and is he enjoying himself. If either is no then leave. If both are yes then you have to ask what are YOU looking for? Wins?

I do not care about the wins and neither does BB. His team does win but the wins are not necessarily from playing good soccer. He is improving but most of this is probably from all he does on his own. I just want to do what is best for him now, so when he goes to play select he will have the best opportunity. Thanks for the feeback

If you go, there will be trouble. If you stay, there will be double.

soccersister wrote:I do not care about the wins and neither does BB. His team does win but the wins are not necessarily from playing good soccer. He is improving but most of this is probably from all he does on his own. I just want to do what is best for him now, so when he goes to play select he will have the best opportunity. Thanks for the feeback

no kid is solely going to improve from practices. if he is not touching the ball at home, then you will never have sustained development.

Oops, not only does someone hit below the belt, they don't read the original post before replying, do they!

Soccerinsanity wrote:Oops, not only does someone hit below the belt, they don't read the original post before replying, do they!

ahh but I do. the original post and the reply of the original poster makes it seem like the coach is not actually doing much since the kid practices on his own at the house. it seemed to me that the poster was giving fault to the coach since the kid is actually practicing at home.

I wil give you a anyways.

soccersister wrote:BB loves soccer-he trains/plays with the ball every day-BB likes coach-
team is not working as one unified team on the field. Play is sometimes slow and there are still players only working for themselves. Do we wait and see if it turns around or look for another team/ club?

Some posters here have it right. There is a good chance that the majority of your current team, and your coach, could be gone in the next week, month, year. Don't hope for stability in club soccer, it often doesn't work that way. Often at U11 they get handed off to a new coach. But, more important than anything, is to involve junior with the decision making. Player happiness is more important than any coach, club, team, or competitive environment. I made every mistake possible through academy and first year of select, chasing what I think my son needed and not asking him what he wanted.

I know that the competitors and purists out there will disagree. Having gone full circle over the last few years with my son, I will respectfully disagree. I was seeking the best team, and most competitive environment for my son. He never once asked me to do that. I made assumptions about him that weren't accurate. He played solid for 2 years leading up to U11 Select. He quit twice during his first season. He played tentatively. There was a lot of expectation, and he wasn't ready to deal with that at the time. I mean, he was 10 for goodness sakes. He would tell his coach he could not play because he was too nervous. We would walk for 10 minutes while the game had begun behind us, my son with tears streaming down his face, petrified of not playing well. It was very tough, for both of us. I put him in a situation he wasn't ready for, and certainly didn't ask for. I was killing his love for soccer.

I share this in the hopes that something good can come of it--that someone reading will take our experience, and do what they can to avoid it. I wish someone had shared such a story with me.

We did however, find our way to the right place. Right under our noses, we found a coach that my son and I both love. We went from D-1 to D-3. He has friends from school on his team. We don't drive 100 miles round trip for soccer. He his blessed to have the God-given ability to play his favorite position, and has earned the right to stay there. His team is having some success. He found his love for the game again, and plays like it, for the most part. Still an 11 yr old kid.

I don't want to suggest anyone would behave the way I have, but if a parent is putting this much thought into U9 soccer, I would say it is too much thought at that age.

Is your kid smiling at practice? Does he look forward to going? Is his/her coach a decent role model--for life, not just soccer? if you can answer yes to those questions, I'd say you are in the right place. Development will come if those things are present, IMO.

I think something many parents, including myself, forget sometimes is that 7 or 8 years from now 99% of all the kids playing youth soccer today will have moved on from it by then. It really isn't that important.

My relationship with my son is important. After a couple years of bad decisions by me, it's just how I see things now. Just hope I haven't screwed him up too bad already!

So painfully true! Thanks for the timely post.

I totally agree with Jimulon6. I am still trying to learn all this. Having spent 3 years with a top '03 club. I felt it was time to find a place where my son was happy. Being coach who is considered one of the top coaches was fine and dandy but he didn't have faith in my BB as a player. I was pushing my BB far and beyond to hate the game. I took a step back and asked him
What he wanted. Now we are playing with a new club a very good coach and my BB looks forward to go to practice. He is only 8 and I had forgot that. Now he is confident and is loving the game again. His team may not be considered the top teams but who cares now at this age. He is gaining experience and building his skills from what he has already learned. Now playing against his old team and only allowing 2 goals my son was happy and proud to prove to his old coach he did have what it took.

If you're thinking about leaving my BB's team, it's a bad idea. However, if you're considering leaving another team and working out with my BB's team, I highly reccommend it... hahahaha.. Just kidding. Lots of great feedback on this one.

Thanks everyone for the responses. He is 100% focused on soccer. Everything with soccer has been his idea and we support his efforts and do what we can to give him opportunities.
This is our oldest and he has been playing with a club alittle over a year. We are still trying to find our way. He has mentioned he does not want to fall behind other people and he said he wants to be able to make the team he wants when the time comes. It seems like the best thing is to have him stay and keep doing his developing with the team and on his own.
Thanks for the wisdom

[/quote]

Some posters here have it right. There is a good chance that the majority of your current team, and your coach, could be gone in the next week, month, year. Don't hope for stability in club soccer, it often doesn't work that way. Often at U11 they get handed off to a new coach. But, more important than anything, is to involve junior with the decision making. Player happiness is more important than any coach, club, team, or competitive environment. I made every mistake possible through academy and first year of select, chasing what I think my son needed and not asking him what he wanted.

[/quote]

It's not all about being on the top team in the top league. Though if you find the right coach that can happen too. It makes me sad to think a kid would cry because they feel so much pressure on them to perform. Definitely a time to step back a evaluate what you are doing. Most of these kids are not going to go pro. I think that most people change clubs or teams at some point. Find the coach and club that work best for your son. Nothing worse than paying to play and not enjoying it.

soccersister wrote:Thanks everyone for the responses. He is 100% focused on soccer. Everything with soccer has been his idea and we support his efforts and do what we can to give him opportunities.This is our oldest and he has been playing with a club alittle over a year. We are still trying to find our way. He has mentioned he does not want to fall behind other people and he said he wants to be able to make the team he wants when the time comes. It seems like the best thing is to have him stay and keep doing his developing with the team and on his own.
Thanks for the wisdom

Wow, this is an 03? I'm lucky if I can get mine to practice with his ball at home. If your son is 100% focused, then you have nothing to worry about. You still have a long way to go, so relax. We've already been through the whole select process, twice already, and I just want to reassure parents that it's NOT that big a deal! Enjoy yourself now, and worry about all that when you get to it. Don't make the mistake that the team you're with now will be the one that goes into select. Things keep changing until you sign, and then they change some more.

hold on smurfie. If you BB is good then no need to worry. Everybody can use a great player every season. He will always be able to find a spot. If he isn't that good then he needs to find a group to get in close with the parents so they can band together as a group. So to summerize, HE can play soccer or YOU can play politics

go99 wrote:hold on smurfie. If you BB is good then no need to worry. Everybody can use a great player every season. He will always be able to find a spot. If he isn't that good then he needs to find a group to get in close with the parents so they can band together as a group. So to summerize, HE can play soccer or YOU can play politics

go99 wrote:hold on smurfie. If you BB is good then no need to worry. Everybody can use a great player every season. He will always be able to find a spot. If he isn't that good then he needs to find a group to get in close with the parents so they can band together as a group. So to summerize, HE can play soccer or YOU can play politics

This is why soccer is sometimes so bad in North Texas. Apparently it is parents like yourself whose bb is no good at soccer and needs daddy to play politics so bb can have a spot on the team. If your bb is not a good player then put him in football if soccer is not his sport but leave the politics out. Parents with this sort of attitude have probably never played any competive soccer or played at a high level and they are ruining the game.

Also you are making me have a bad experience when reading the forum by your picture display. Why don't you show some decency and change that picture, so Christian people can read the forum without having to look at soft porn.

Soft porn? Please get over yourself .

OB1 wrote:

go99 wrote:hold on smurfie. If you BB is good then no need to worry. Everybody can use a great player every season. He will always be able to find a spot. If he isn't that good then he needs to find a group to get in close with the parents so they can band together as a group. So to summerize, HE can play soccer or YOU can play politics

This is why soccer is sometimes so bad in North Texas. Apparently it is parents like yourself whose bb is no good at soccer and needs daddy to play politics so bb can have a spot on the team. If your bb is not a good player then put him in football if soccer is not his sport but leave the politics out. Parents with this sort of attitude have probably never played any competive soccer or played at a high level and they are ruining the game.

Also you are making me have a bad experience when reading the forum by your picture display. Why don't you show some decency and change that picture, so Christian people can read the forum without having to look at soft porn.

Christians? You are such an idiot!

OB1 wrote:

go99 wrote:hold on smurfie. If you BB is good then no need to worry. Everybody can use a great player every season. He will always be able to find a spot. If he isn't that good then he needs to find a group to get in close with the parents so they can band together as a group. So to summerize, HE can play soccer or YOU can play politics

This is why soccer is sometimes so bad in North Texas. Apparently it is parents like yourself whose bb is no good at soccer and needs daddy to play politics so bb can have a spot on the team. If your bb is not a good player then put him in football if soccer is not his sport but leave the politics out. Parents with this sort of attitude have probably never played any competive soccer or played at a high level and they are ruining the game.

Also you are making me have a bad experience when reading the forum by your picture display. Why don't you show some decency and change that picture, so Christian people can read the forum without having to look at soft porn.

"Christian people" ... Don't you mean thin skinned, judgmental idiots that have no tolerance for anything but their narrow view of the world?

go99 wrote:hold on smurfie. If you BB is good then no need to worry. Everybody can use a great player every season. He will always be able to find a spot. If he isn't that good then he needs to find a group to get in close with the parents so they can band together as a group. So to summerize, HE can play soccer or YOU can play politics

You don't think I've been hangin' out with trouble makers for no reason, do you?

"Christian people" ... Don't you mean thin skinned, judgmental idiots that have no tolerance for anything but their narrow view of the world?

No obnoxious judgmental intolerant people like YOU. Get over yourself too

anselansel wrote:"Christian people" ... Don't you mean thin skinned, judgmental idiots that have no tolerance for anything but their narrow view of the world?

No obnoxious judgmental intolerant people like YOU. Get over yourself too

We interrupt this program for a brief announcement from our emergency broadcast system. In the event of a hijacking, please stay calm and hide.

Just because GO99 has a rump shaker as an avatar doesn't make it porn, objecting to it doesn't make the poster a thin skinned judgmental idiot either. Now back to soccer and all it's glory

I certianly didn't bring politics into soccer and I refuse to play it. BB is good enough to find his own way. But surprised you had time enough to stop thumping your bible long enough to read my post. You should read back a little further and you will find that I am an A#*hole too so now that you've mad a big fuss about it I cant change it.

Shake it like a Polaroid picture.