Don't let youth sports hijack your life

[Unregistered]

Right??? Ridiculous. So many of us parents are ignoring the activities of our other children for the benefit of the soccer kid. We need to get a grip and ultimately know that we will NOT damage our players by not buying in to these schedules laid out by clubs to justify their fees.

Nobody is forcing anything on you. Sign your child up for a Rec team and move on. It is a pretty simple solution if you aren't interested in the requirements of playing for a more competitive team.

[Unregistered]

Agree

There is such a thing as commitment and kids need to learn how to take responsibility and be accountable to their club team. It should be taken seriously. I get sick and tired of seeing players miss practice for other sports and vacation and yet they still start the game. There should be repercussions for not having followed through.

Our coaches talk that talk. Very start of the new year, usually in May, right after tryouts. Your playing time is dictated by your practice time and training time. Those that show up will play. Those that don't, will sit....blah, blah, blah. So you have this 'core' group of girls that come to everything. Practices, extra trainings and anything else that is 'club related'----all summer long. Then, when season starts, guess where that core group is? Usually sitting on the bench. Coaches spew one thing but totally act a different way. Just typical 'coach speak' BS so that the new families/players feel like this is a democracy and if you put in the hard work, you will play. Not always the case. We called the coach out on this and she basically said "You all want to win, right? If you do, then I have to play the better players". The parents all said "What about the if you come to all the practices and trainings, you will play speech?" She just looked at us like we had three heads......

Total coach speak BS.

[Unregistered]

Nobody is forcing anything on you. Sign your child up for a Rec team and move on. It is a pretty simple solution if you aren't interested in the requirements of playing for a more competitive team.

This is a typical response. I have one kid playing at a PAC 12 college and the guy that wrote this is one of her old coaches. Go on and convince yourself that your kid is somehow better because you are willing to forego every life event in order to push your child in the name of being competitive. Being the parent of a very talented athlete I choose to disagree, have lived by that and it didn't hurt even one of my kids.

[Unregistered]

you are a rare breed - 90% of parents are crazy - soccer is parent driven not player driven. The ones that really succeed have parents who shut their pie holes and drop their kids off

At best it's 50/50. Us "crazies" get better on the outside with age but are still crazy inside. Right OR Soccer Mom!

To be truly successful at any sport an athlete has to be competitive and typically that competitive spirit comes from one or both parents. In my experience half of those parents are what you might consider crazy as they care about their child's activity which includes properly officiated games and competent coaching.

In the early years they might be sitting with the team parents at games but after a few years of "send it" comments and the resulting pass to nobody or "good shot Susie" when the ball didn't even make the 6 these parents separate themselves from the "in crowd' least they offend one or more parents with their disapproval of the performance.

Yes there some players who have the fire in the belly whose parents sit quietly on the sidelines but rest assured they are thinking the same things that those with less restraint are verbalizing and or this is their 2nd or 3rd Rodeo!

[Unregistered]

At best it's 50/50. Us "crazies" get better on the outside with age but are still crazy inside. Right OR Soccer Mom!

To be truly successful at any sport an athlete has to be competitive and typically that competitive spirit comes from one or both parents. In my experience half of those parents are what you might consider crazy as they care about their child's activity which includes properly officiated games and competent coaching.

In the early years they might be sitting with the team parents at games but after a few years of "send it" comments and the resulting pass to nobody or "good shot Susie" when the ball didn't even make the 6 these parents separate themselves from the "in crowd' least they offend one or more parents with their disapproval of the performance.

Yes there some players who have the fire in the belly whose parents sit quietly on the sidelines but rest assured they are thinking the same things that those with less restraint are verbalizing and or this is their 2nd or 3rd Rodeo!

So true