Coaches Favorite players

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All coaches have their favorite player on the team. What type of player should get favoritism? Should a coach's relationship with parents play a role in play time? If a team is losing more games then winning, why does not a coach change players positions, because obviously something is not working. Thoughts??

This is always the main complaint with youth soccer and most likely will never be resolved.

Human nature is human nature...we all hate it but how can we change it?

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Coaches are under pressure to win. Their clubs want winning records to keep a constant inflow of new players. So of course they will give the most PT to the players they think will give them the W. Some are also just lazy. Making sure everyone gets good PT or moves positions requires a bit of effort that evidently is oh so challenging lol.

My personal take is up until U13 PT should be equal. Positions should be rotated all the time and parents need to not bitch that their little star is only a striker. Playing all positions and even in the net is great for their long term development. Then PT starts to be earned but there still needs to be meaningful time. Ten minutes a game isn't sufficient. Why are you even taking their money at that point?

Also during middle school parents need to step back and let their kids talk with coaches and self advocate, only stepping in if the player can't get it resolved or it's a very serious issue. Parents being "friendly" with coaches is tougher. Some do form genuine friendships with no motivation behind it. But as we know there's loads of helicopter/snowplow parents out there. A good coach keeps it friendly but doesn't let it influence their coaching. Coaches that cares about all their players are uncommon but not unicorns either. If you find one try to stick with them for awhile

[Unregistered]

"It's sad when a coach puts so much stock in a few players and they cant deliver. The coach has blinders on. Maybe put them on the bench and try someone new. A little healthy competition goes a long way!!! At the highest level whether ECNL or GA.... players should be able to use both feet and pass and receive the ball and of course make good decisions with a little pressure on them."

I have seen a coach ream certain players and pull them from games for errors and watch the SAME ERRORS being made by his favorites and he said nothing and did nothing. It's incomprehensible. And I'm not talking about my DD. Coach had his favorites, they could do no wrong and play 90% of a game. Other kids could do no right. Explain that to me.

[Unregistered]

"It's sad when a coach puts so much stock in a few players and they cant deliver. The coach has blinders on. Maybe put them on the bench and try someone new. A little healthy competition goes a long way!!! At the highest level whether ECNL or GA.... players should be able to use both feet and pass and receive the ball and of course make good decisions with a little pressure on them."

I have seen a coach ream certain players and pull them from games for errors and watch the SAME ERRORS being made by his favorites and he said nothing and did nothing. It's incomprehensible. And I'm not talking about my DD. Coach had his favorites, they could do no wrong and play 90% of a game. Other kids could do no right. Explain that to me.

I don’t understand, why does it always have to be classified as favoritism or coaches pet or what ever. It’s incredible how many kids can’t get the basics down pat when their parents aren’t hovering over them. Every coach should want kids who have a high work rate, self discipline, listen, focus and apply, are continuously looking to get better, motivated, leadership tendency’s, speak up/vocal, resilient, can handle direction and constructive criticism and competitive.

Somehow it becomes the coaches fault when certain kids are a disruption in training or have lazy tendencies or don’t apply what they are learning. There is a big difference from making a good decision but it doesn’t come to fruition vs making a terrible decision or no decision at all. I would give the benefit of the doubt to the kids who are self aware and recognize what they could have done better and self correct vs the kid who you have to repeat over and over again. Parents are so blind.

[Unregistered]

"It's sad when a coach puts so much stock in a few players and they cant deliver. The coach has blinders on. Maybe put them on the bench and try someone new. A little healthy competition goes a long way!!! At the highest level whether ECNL or GA.... players should be able to use both feet and pass and receive the ball and of course make good decisions with a little pressure on them."

I have seen a coach ream certain players and pull them from games for errors and watch the SAME ERRORS being made by his favorites and he said nothing and did nothing. It's incomprehensible. And I'm not talking about my DD. Coach had his favorites, they could do no wrong and play 90% of a game. Other kids could do no right. Explain that to me.

I also think the coaches are just lazy and punching the clock a lot.

So a bunch of mistakes are made during the game. We are winning the game so the coach is happy. The coach does not correct 90% of the mistakes eg:
- not falling into a position
- making the same turn over and over
- switching to the dominant foot for a pass
- using dominant foot to shoot after dribbling on the wing
- midfielder not making any effort to drop back

All of a sudden the coach wakes up and starts correcting mistakes for a couple of minutes, but because only the “subs” are playing it seems the coach is picking them.

The truth is that coach is actually doing the “subs” a favor, but is too lazy to correct the starters. Perception is that he/she is favoring some to do whatever they want.

Ultimately the team will suffer when there is a challenging or a championship game on the line and the “favorites” will keep making the same mistakes over and over. That’s also lazy ass coaching.

[Unregistered]

I also think the coaches are just lazy and punching the clock a lot.

So a bunch of mistakes are made during the game. We are winning the game so the coach is happy. The coach does not correct 90% of the mistakes eg:
- not falling into a position
- making the same turn over and over
- switching to the dominant foot for a pass
- using dominant foot to shoot after dribbling on the wing
- midfielder not making any effort to drop back

All of a sudden the coach wakes up and starts correcting mistakes for a couple of minutes, but because only the “subs” are playing it seems the coach is picking them.

The truth is that coach is actually doing the “subs” a favor, but is too lazy to correct the starters. Perception is that he/she is favoring some to do whatever they want.

Ultimately the team will suffer when there is a challenging or a championship game on the line and the “favorites” will keep making the same mistakes over and over. That’s also lazy ass coaching.

What you’ve described is pretty much standard coaching procedure out there. A good coach continues to coach (with both corrective feedback and praise) if they are up 6-0 or down 6-0.

[Unregistered]

Parents are blinded.... yes!!! But coaches are blinded too..
Yes coaches want someone who has a high work rate... good skills etc. but it’s favoritism when a player plays 80% of the game and doesn’t work hard... can not pass and receive the ball with little pressure on them and constantly turning the ball over. It’s favoritism because the coach plays these players because of the friendship the coach has with the parents.. what else could it be!!

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Parents are blinded.... yes!!! But coaches are blinded too..
Yes coaches want someone who has a high work rate... good skills etc. but it’s favoritism when a player plays 80% of the game and doesn’t work hard... can not pass and receive the ball with little pressure on them and constantly turning the ball over. It’s favoritism because the coach plays these players because of the friendship the coach has with the parents.. what else could it be!!

Give me a specific example of what team this happens on please. I would like to know.

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Give me a specific example of what team this happens on please. I would like to know.

Whatever team RT is coaching, it’s happening.

[Unregistered]

Give me a specific example of what team this happens on please. I would like to know.

Every team, you don't need to look hard.

[Unregistered]

Funny, my kid has been a coach's favorite, and surely a coach's non-favorite, in her past. Basically the same player, but different coaches like different traits. She dedicated, hard-working, somewhat skillful, but has a lot of energy and personality. Most coaches viewed those last tow traits as a benefit; a couple viewed it as a paint in the azz....

[Unregistered]

Funny, my kid has been a coach's favorite, and surely a coach's non-favorite, in her past. Basically the same player, but different coaches like different traits. She dedicated, hard-working, somewhat skillful, but has a lot of energy and personality. Most coaches viewed those last tow traits as a benefit; a couple viewed it as a paint in the azz....

Chryst....check my spelling...

*two
*pain

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Tell me a company or a manager who doesn't show favoritism.

Then let's talk about youth soccer.

[Unregistered]

With roster sizes now being over 20 at every age, a coach is going to have favorites and have players that don’t even play

[Unregistered]

Funny, my kid has been a coach's favorite, and surely a coach's non-favorite, in her past. Basically the same player, but different coaches like different traits. She dedicated, hard-working, somewhat skillful, but has a lot of energy and personality. Most coaches viewed those last tow traits as a benefit; a couple viewed it as a paint in the azz....

So true, same situation here. I think it's actually confusing for the player. So while it's nice to be given more opportunities with 1 coach, she ends up feeling slighted by others. But, part of life. So I suppose it's for resilience building.