jerk offs

[Unregistered]

You are missing the whole point here. Both sides learned very little. In fact, it was a negative experience for both sides when it could have been a very positive one.

So are you saying that it would have been better to stop the game, mix the two teams together so they were more equal, and start over?

Seems to me that would only have homogenized to a point where we're back to the "everthing needs to be equal" argument.

[Unregistered]

DC is the same coach that was amid the discussion on how to let kids know that you were cut from the team you played with during the prior year.
He was formerly, a respected coach with the Bolts before moving to the Blazers with FO. Both coach at Boston University.
Beating a team that badly....more so at such a young age....has no place in competitive youth sports. Kids learn nothing from this.

DC has really gone downhill since joining FO and the Blazers

He seems to want to make a "statement". Still doesn't get it.

[Unregistered]

You can't leave the coaches out of it, at the end of the day, it is THEIR responsibility to make sure they do the right thing. Their players aren't getting much out of dribbling past the same player 20 times in a half or scoring 7 goals. Yes, MAPLE should deal with this, but the coaches are the ones with the control and this guy obviously isn't worried about the kids on his team or the other team and blew a good life teaching moment. If he thinks winning 16-0 is what "is best for his team" then he is a shallow mane spirited soccer obsessed person.

Lets not let the losing coach off the hook either.. he gets paid and should to some extent know what his team is getting into.. some responsibility on weather he has a sense that his team will be out matched in a particualr league or division has to fall on him as well. He should have to explain why his team was so unable to compete in the league and hold the league responsible for placement if he cared to do research initially. Im sure he took the checks gladly. Maybe this is the true reason why the parents are so enraged.

[Unregistered]

That's right. . . letting children be exposed so they can learn how to deal with it. That includes being beat handily in a sporting event.

This is part of what's wrong with the country today. Everyone needs to be overly sensitive and no one should feel uncomfortable.

Do you think when these kids (losing team) get older and get it handed to them in other areas of their lives (work, relationships, etc.) that they should expect everyone around them to start playing with one arm tied behind their back so it "evens the playing field"? What kind of a lesson is that to teach our kids.

Or if you are on the "winning team", would it be appropriate for your boss to say, "Well, Johnny, I like your spunk, but you know it's really not fair that you are our top salesman when Sarah is having so much trouble selling anything. I think you need to give up some of your sales, or slow down your pace, so she can fell good about herself."

Not everything in life is ice cream and puppies. . . some lessons are hard to learn, but valuable nonetheless.

That being said, discretely requiring off-foot touches, long shots or mixing offense and defense players are all acceptable in my book. At least the dominant teams players will have an opportunity to learn by seeing the game from a new/different perspective.

While I agree there is too much PC think and molly-coddling going on in the world, equating the experiences a child should be exposed to age 11 and what adults are exposed to really doesn't serve anybody interests. Children are still developing the emotional tools to compartmentalize these kinds of experiences. Unfortunately alot of adults are as well.

The kids actually get over losses pretty fast. I know in Little league the first bite of a post-game chocolate chip ice cream cone pushed the memory of a loss out of my mind.

Cujo

[Unregistered]

No decent coach allows his team to run up the score to 16. In fact, I've seen some games where a ref will end it early when there is obviously no competition going on on the field. When my kid was in U11 or U12 and the score got up to 6 or 7, the coach told them to pass it around, no shots on goal. To do otherwise shows a real lack of class and decency - the Stars organization should reprimand him.

When I coached in the Catholic Central League we have several small schools that were very weak. When it got to 4-0 or whatever in the second half I would put in my 2nd string. I would also always bring JV players to get them some experience. Frequently at about the 75th minute the ref would discreetly ask if I was ok with ending the match early. I always was ok with that.

[Unregistered]

I guess that means you are a Bolt parent. MAPLE is a pressure cooker. If you can't stand the fire.........

You enjoy roasting your children????

[Unregistered]

OK, but these kids are in 4th and 5th grade. I've been on both sides of this as a coach and honestly there is no reason for a 16-0 match, it does no good for either team. There should be a 10 goal mercy rule, perhaps 8 even and that is MAPLEs fault for not implementing something like that below U12. Running up the score to 16-0 is uncalled for, ludicrous and embarrassing for all.

Agreed and I am a Stars parent.

[Unregistered]

Lets not let the losing coach off the hook either.. he gets paid and should to some extent know what his team is getting into.. some responsibility on weather he has a sense that his team will be out matched in a particualr league or division has to fall on him as well. He should have to explain why his team was so unable to compete in the league and hold the league responsible for placement if he cared to do research initially. Im sure he took the checks gladly. Maybe this is the true reason why the parents are so enraged.

Now we are getting somewhere. This guy has been around the club scene for a while with multiple clubs and has left a wake of problems along the way at each. I cant imagine that was not a small factor in this, he has given his share of beatdowns in his day but I dont know if JD cares about who he facing, they will whup anyone they can when they can.

[Unregistered]

NEP keeps you safe from this for now. What happens if NEFC and Bolts start putting their best teams in there? More of the same!

We aren't safe from competition in NEP. We don't want to be. In some ways, thanks to the lack of relegation, NEP it is always like fall Maple U11. Sometimes you loose badly, sometimes it's even, some times you come out way ahead.

The difference is there is no gun to anyone's head to make the cut for Maple Blue. No crazed parents having a fit if the poor kid's team looses because they won't make the top Div. the next season, or, heaven forbid, get relegated out of the Maple Blue. The horror, the horror!!

Instead, the kids play, the coach coaches, and everyone gets to learn without the drama and nonsense. The kids can loose and still have a beaming coach on the sidelines becasue they are getting much better at something they are working on. The tough games are actually way more instructive and therefore more valuable than the easy ones, and the kids and parents can actually accept this.

I personally have had tons of Maple Blue/Div. 1 experience as a parent. Been there, done that, and I'm really, really not missing it.

[Unregistered]

Tell us what you really think?????

USA will never get any better at this sport if they can't be beaten!! You have to learn how to win and lose.

In the premier league the biggest defeat in its history was Man United 9 - 0 Ipswich Town

Now you tell me did Alex Ferguson tell his players to stop scoring?!?!?!?!

Sorry my post offended you. Sort of. I DO hope you realize the difference between professional players and 9-10 year olds. Thanks for making my point crystal clear. I will assure you NEITHER team got much out of that match. It didn't help the winners develop and the losers were gutted. It's not about winning and losing, its about doing so with a little grace and sportsmanship.

BTW ask Sir Alex why he really sat Wayne Rooney this weekend, he knows a bit about character and sportsmanship.

[Unregistered]

Maple does not make parents crazy.. they are that way from the start. No pressure from the coaching staffs..all the checks cleared. No drama? good luck in the utopia of NEP.

[Unregistered]

Maple does not make parents crazy.. they are that way from the start. No pressure from the coaching staffs..all the checks cleared. No drama? good luck in the utopia of NEP.

The atmosphere enables those parents to get away with it. I watched several NEP games yesterday. There were some very competitive matches and anyone yelling and screaming like I have experienced at NEFC and Pioneer MAPLE matches would have stood out like a sore thumb. It simply wasn't going on. It was not Blue level competition, but the atmosphere was 100 x better than your average MAPLE game. Its clearly not for everybody or every team and may not be the creme de la creme, but it was a very positive experience with some nice soccer being played.

[Unregistered]

I attended several U-13 boys NEP games yesterday in NH. There was indeed one parent from a Seacoast team that was running up and down the sidelines yelling at all of the kids as well as the referees. At one point the referee had had enough and told him to sit down and be quiet. He did indeed stand out like a sore thumb. He did not help the team and only embarrassed himself, his team and his son. Unfortunately guys like this never learn.

[Unregistered]

The atmosphere enables those parents to get away with it. I watched several NEP games yesterday. There were some very competitive matches and anyone yelling and screaming like I have experienced at NEFC and Pioneer MAPLE matches would have stood out like a sore thumb. It simply wasn't going on. It was not Blue level competition, but the atmosphere was 100 x better than your average MAPLE game. Its clearly not for everybody or every team and may not be the creme de la creme, but it was a very positive experience with some nice soccer being played.

I watched a couple of the ex-Maple blue teams play, and it was very competitive. The only thing missing was the parental sideline hysteria. Which was not missed.

[Unregistered]

Now we are getting somewhere. This guy has been around the club scene for a while with multiple clubs and has left a wake of problems along the way at each. I cant imagine that was not a small factor in this, he has given his share of beatdowns in his day but I dont know if JD cares about who he facing, they will whup anyone they can when they can.

This is as reprehensible as it gets...blame the losing coach? I was under the impression that maple did not place teams into colors until spring season. The coach is subject to maple's schedule and is no way to blame for the drubbing. That is an inexcusable argument. There are other teams in that divison that will not be able to compete with the stars juggernaut; are you going to blame the 10 yr old girls for wanting to play? Maybe the stars can play themselves every Sunday and wait 'till spring for the rest of the world to catch up.