Soccer 7s

[Jayjay]

26 ma erse stevie boy

[BossBitch]

4) I understand entirely why people think competition might be bad for kids but i disagree completely. One, in all walks of life people win and people lose - kids need to learn to win graciouslly and lose with dignity (interviews, relationships, sport etc...). Two, kids must realise that things won't come easy for you - you need to work your balls off to be successful!!! Three, protecting kids from competition does not breed winners - how tough do you think that my current generation are (im 26) compared to older generations.

 

 

Let me know what you think?

 

 

When you say 'kids' what age group are you referring to? There is a huge difference between a 9 year old and a 16 year old. Of course you will get 9 year olds ready to take the challenge and harsh reality of competing, but I'd imagine they are rare. Children don't progress uniformally and sport is just one aspect of many development areas.

 

The point raised by ya cant is a valid one. In the youth development leagues there are a lot of coaches who seem to lose sight of the development aspect. To want to win at all costs isn't a healthy attitude and makes me wonder whose ambitions are being played out. I've seen it first hand and it is a disgrace to see grown men behave in such a manner.

[Scuba]

I'm talking about High school pupils. The schools have gone through the 'lets just participate and forget about winners or losers' phase and it doesn't work!

 

I fully agree with you and ya cant in saying that men who coach youngsters to boost their own ego are a complete joke! I've witnessed this first hand in a schools cup final last year where one school had a parent in charge and he acted throughout like he was guiding a team to the world cup trophy. Coached with only the skin tight under tops you get these days and ran onto the pitch twice when his team scored during the game before turning and running to his wife in the warout stand as the final whistle went and he had realised his dream - PATHETIC!

[Guest cp company]

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[Guest carletonsj]

[quote name='rhino' post='154316' date='Oct 3 2008, 19:50']i also think pro teams shouldnt be allowed to visit games until player are a u14 level[/quote]

I am new to this forum, so go easy

However, I would like to touch on this point and confirm that under no circumstances should a pro team be turning up to any game within the 7's or development league, without 7 days notice to the team concerned. This is a strict rule setout by the SFA and they would actually encourage any team to notify them of any breech to it.

Also, as a coach who has just come from 7's to 11's, I have found the transition a little easier than I had expected. The coaching staff all expected a difficult move up as we were always a 'fair play' team where we would never expect a win from our boys aslong as we got a performance and as such, did lose a few players through the years due to heavy losses. However, we underwent a recruitment drive not long after christmas 2007 and now have a healthy squad and find ourselves refusing players. We are still a fair play team but we try to counteract that by treating our players with the respect and development they deserve - something that is sadly lacking in some clubs who play to win.

As far as the point about ignoring 11's goes, there has to be a point where the transition happens and the U13 bracket is a good one in my mind. However, it would very confusing to the players if coaches were encouraged to train players towards eleven-a-side, then ask them to play a seven-a-side game on a Saturday. We found ourselves during the last half of the season there, discussing the move up and what certain drills we were introducing could do for that transition but nothing more. It got the kids excited about the move up to 'real football' but kept them focused on developing as a squad.