Youth Soccer

[Paul]

:lol: No lacrosse here, not even in high school. You'll have to come up this way and get it started.

Yeah, I figured it was just basically a play date. I hope there aren't a lot of people with bad tempers. Like I said--we have to sign a code of conduct on her first day (we as in "the parents"). She seems really excited about it. And yes, shin guards are required cleats weren't but I got them for her anyway. I figured the grass would probably be slippery in the morning at this time of year. Our first session is at 10:30 so I hope the rest of them are at that time.

Thanks for the tips!

You won't regret the cleats, not only do they help even at that level, if Mags really enjoys it, it'll get het used to wearing them in the future when they are required.

there won't be any bad tempered parents with that age group. Enjoy!

I wish that were true...

 

[Grassi21]

Do you teach the elephant walk too?

:lol: No elephant walk. I missed that by a year for the Ithaca College initiation.

No hazzling. My seniors can't even tell the younger guys to look for lacrosse balls or put away the goals.

 

[JimG.]

Alright, I could use some pointers. My daughter is starting in the Micro Soccer group this Fall and other than high school PE, I never played. What can we expect? From what I've been told, it's mostly just teaching technique as best you can to 3- and 4-year-olds :lol: but not really games at their age. There's a code of conduct we have to sign at the first practice, too. :lol:

Who else has kiddos playing soccer? Do you volunteer/help out the team? How do you like it? How do they?

Wow, I could go on forever about this.

My 13 and 15 year old play premier level travel soccer.

Yes, at 3-4 years old it's basically 2 field players and a goalie because having more kids just leads to a big ball of kids all trying to get the ball which teaches nothing. This is how my boys started out too.

Yes, there is volunteer work involved, 6 hours for each of my boys each season, not a big deal.

Youth soccer or any sport is a commitment and it can be insidious! It will take over your life if you let it. My 2 oldest are extremely athletic and are both excellent soccer players and track athletes. I have driven 10 hours or more one way to go to tournaments. I spend quite a bit of money to get this level of training for my kids. They are worth it and it is completely linked to performance in school...an overall average below 90 or any grade below 80 means the end of soccer immediately. And there is a contract signed by both.

This can be extremely rewarding as long as you make it worth it for everyone and the performance level is there.

I know you are not at that point at all, but beware that your main nemesis will be the parents who think they have the next Pele on their hands. Because many parents link college to youth sports or even professional dreams and it makes them insane.

PM me if you want to know more.

 

[Hawkshot99]

:
No hazzling. My seniors can't even tell the younger guys to look for lacrosse balls or put away the goals.

That is BS. Senior year was sweet when playing school sports.:lol:

 

[Grassi21]

That is BS. Senior year was sweet when playing school sports.:lol:

Its to the point that if the coach does not make a statement speaking out against hazzing he or she can be held liable for harm that is caused.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Its to the point that if the coach does not make a statement speaking out against hazzing he or she can be held liable for harm that is caused.

We never caused any harm, or embarrassing things. Just the "chores" type of things.

 

[hammer]

Wow, I could go on forever about this.

My 13 and 15 year old play premier level travel soccer.

Yes, at 3-4 years old it's basically 2 field players and a goalie because having more kids just leads to a big ball of kids all trying to get the ball which teaches nothing. This is how my boys started out too.

Yes, there is volunteer work involved, 6 hours for each of my boys each season, not a big deal.

Youth soccer or any sport is a commitment and it can be insidious! It will take over your life if you let it. My 2 oldest are extremely athletic and are both excellent soccer players and track athletes. I have driven 10 hours or more one way to go to tournaments. I spend quite a bit of money to get this level of training for my kids. They are worth it and it is completely linked to performance in school...an overall average below 90 or any grade below 80 means the end of soccer immediately. And there is a contract signed by both.

This can be extremely rewarding as long as you make it worth it for everyone and the performance level is there.

I know you are not at that point at all, but beware that your main nemesis will be the parents who think they have the next Pele on their hands. Because many parents link college to youth sports or even professional dreams and it makes them insane.

PM me if you want to know more.

Good post from someone who's kids are really into the sport. In my town, we tend to have more perspective issues from the HS football parents...

 

[Trekchick]

I can't wait for the TR's from the soccer field.

 

[JimG.]

Good post from someone who's kids are really into the sport. In my town, we tend to have more perspective issues from the HS football parents...

The actual sport is almost irrelevant...the insanity is part of any sports program your kid is in.

But I have noticed that both football and ice hockey have the highest percentage of excitable parents.

 

[severine]

So we're back from the first day. Our daughter is a bit shy and so she was clingy for quite a while at first; very careful about the situation. None of her preschool friends were placed on her team (though the daughter of 2 people I went to high school with is) so that probably didn't help. Eventually she did start to thaw out and enjoy herself a bit. Thanks to my FIL she actually handles the ball pretty well. They played a few games and did dribble to the goal at the end. She says she loves it! Took some pics with FIL's camera so I don't have them yet... will mess around with that later.

Thanks, again, for the tips! Definitely a lot of parent involvement at this age but that's cool. As long as they have fun, that's all that matters. Her team is the Wildcats, BTW. The other micro team? The Munchkins! :lol:

ETA for a couple pics:

 

[Trekchick]

So glad you got pics! Looks like a great day with the family, and Carrie, you look GREAT!

 

[Trekchick]

So we're back from the first day. Our daughter is a bit shy and so she was clingy for quite a while at first; very careful about the situation. None of her preschool friends were placed on her team (though the daughter of 2 people I went to high school with is) so that probably didn't help. Eventually she did start to thaw out and enjoy herself a bit. Thanks to my FIL she actually handles the ball pretty well. They played a few games and did dribble to the goal at the end. She says she loves it! Took some pics with FIL's camera so I don't have them yet... will mess around with that later.

Thanks, again, for the tips! Definitely a lot of parent involvement at this age but that's cool. As long as they have fun, that's all that matters. Her team is the Wildcats, BTW. The other micro team? The Munchkins! :lol:

ETA for a couple pics:

Bump to put the pics at the top of the next page.

 

[tcharron]

Alright, I could use some pointers. My daughter is starting in the Micro Soccer group this Fall and other than high school PE, I never played. What can we expect? From what I've been told, it's mostly just teaching technique as best you can to 3- and 4-year-olds :lol: but not really games at their age. There's a code of conduct we have to sign at the first practice, too. :lol:

Who else has kiddos playing soccer? Do you volunteer/help out the team? How do you like it? How do they?

Mostly at a young age, it's about getting them the basics, while they're having fun. Little exercises like dribbling the ball between some cones, that sort of stuff. My two oldest have been doing it for about 5 years now after we figured out neither of them liked baseball much. :-D

I personally help the coach every once and a while, but with 3 kids and work, not enough time in the spring and fall to coach.

When they're younger, they'll typically have like one practice a week, and one game. The games are fairly laid back, there's no calling offsides or anything like that. But there IS always the few parents who are just WAY more into it then they should be with little kids.

 

[deadheadskier]

How old is your daughter?


I have nothing to add. I got kicked out of little league and youth soccer as a kid. I didn't play nice :lol:

 

[severine]

She's 4 and towers over the other kids her age. :lol: No games for this group; just practice games every week for 2 months. That's cool though. Next year she'll be old enough for the "real" soccer teams.

TC - Thanks!

 

[Trekchick]

Since I don't have kids and I have a new puppy, you may have to suffer with pics of Jester on mt bike rides and going to obedience school..

 

[tcharron]

Since I don't have kids and I have a new puppy, you may have to suffer with pics of Jester on mt bike rides and going to obedience school..

OOOoohhhh, if only kids obedience school was as effective....

 

[billski]

OOOoohhhh, if only kids obedience school was as effective....

I hear choke chains work :blink:

Odd isn't it? You can do that to a dog and nobody minds. You do that to a kid and you're looking at 10 years in the slammer.

 

[Trekchick]

You do it to an adult and its called kinky sex

 

[bvibert]

You do it to an adult and its called kinky sex

Another side of TC that we didn't know about??