Put the Fun Back into Youth Soccer

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Abstract: Youth Soccer has recently evolved into a fiercely competitive arena. More and more children are leaving recreational leagues to play in highly competitive select leagues. While select sports are a valuable resource where children can learn how to socialize and become self motivated, children who start at young ages, ten and eleven, can suffer psychological and physical damages. A child's youth sporting experience is directly influenced by the attitudes, sportsmanship and behavior of their parents and coaches. Parents and coaches who pressure their children to be the best and not play their best are responsible for the high teenage drop out rate. By eliminating the "winning is everything" attitude, looking at the effort put forth by individual players and holding parents responsible for their actions we can return the game to the children. Youth Soccer has evolved into a fiercely competitive arena. More and more children are leaving recreational leagues to play in highly competitive select leagues. Select leagues are made up of teams, which players must tryout or be selected to play for. I had the unfortunate task of being an evaluator at such a tryout. Fifty ten-year-old boys had come out for a three day tryout in which forty five of them were placed on three teams. Cuts were made on the field and for those boys who had made a team it was a very exciting, but for the five boys who were cut it was absolutely heartbreaking. Had the children been older they might have been able to deal with the disappointment better, but for most of them it was their first real experience with public "failure". Select leagues have the potential to teach and promote important life skills such as hard work,... ... middle of paper ... ...rk, Michael A. "Winning. How Important Is It in Youth Sports?" Youth Sports Institute: Michigan State University. Http://ed-web.educ.msu.edu/ysi/SpotlightF94/winning.html. "Club moves to curb unruly Sidelines." Play On November. 1999: 11. Engh, Fred. Why Johnny Hates Sports. New York: Avery Publishing Group, 1999. Ferguson, Andrew. "Inside the Crazy Culture of Kids." Time 12 July. 1999: 52-60. Kidman, Lynn, McKenzie, Alex and Brigid. "The nature of target parents' comments during youth sport Competitions." Journal of Sport Behavior 98:1 (March 1999): 54-68. Leo, John. "We're all number 1." U.S News and World Report 22 June. 1998, 23-24. Woog, Dan. "Why Kids Quit... and what some youth soccer organizations are doing about It." Soccer for Parents Spring. 1999: 5-6.

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