Let's try and keep things civil. Most of us here have been soccer parents at some point, let's try to help each other out.
A couple of things. I don't teach passing at all at U6/U7. At U7 I've seen it happen organically in games every once in a while. But is rare enough that individual passes are celebrated At U8 I start to teach some passing but the focus is still on individual skills. Also, the best players at U6 are not always the best players in the long run. I've seen kids that were clueless at U6 have a lightbulb moment at U7/U8 and become stellar players. My bottom line is with a 5 year old, I wouldn't make soccer the sole focus. Play soccer, play basketball, play videogames and just spend time hanging out
I study the path of pros. You know, like Messi and Ronaldo... and I take cues from there. I'm pretty sure they know more than you do on what it takes to go pro. I also have spent many hours studying the paths of professionals in all professions. So I have a pretty good idea of what it takes. You have to make sacrifices if you want to be the best. I'm not saying my kid will make it; likely not, but all one can do is try. I'm sprinting in terms of learning, understanding the path; not sprinting in terms of actual drills. We're aren't doing nearly as much "training" as some kids I'm sure.
You don't need to study the path of pros for your 5 year old. People are telling you this. Also, if your kid is special people will tell you. The old saying, "If you are good you tell everyone, if you're great everyone will tell you". So unless you already have coaches, other team parents, other teams coaches telling your kid and you how good he is are or how special he is then you needn't worry about Messi or Ronaldo's "path to the pros".
I'm pretty sure this guy is the Eyebrow, repackaged with a US persona this time. It continues to be harmless, occasionally comical, but tiresome.
Agree, but these threads are somewhat of a historical record. People will search on these types of topics and end up here at some point. Even though the OP is likely a troll we owe it to unsuspecting visitors and lurkers an honest rebuttal.
I've heard a decent amount of comments on him. "we have a jersey in his size" -opponent's coach "must be something in the water" -opponent's coach parents: "that's your kid? I call him 'turbo'" "did you teach him that?" "impressive" etc Note: I'm not saying he's "special"... he's competitive and quick and "pretty good" for his age. Is he the best in the city? no. Maybe top 10%. He's played 10 outdoor games and 7 indoor and has scored in every game. Had 59 goals in outdoor (no goalie), 17 goals in indoor (goalie). He's 5, it's not like he's hitting shots from 20 yards out in the upper corner. He dribbles quick and has some confidence. A lot of goal scoring at this age is confidence I've found. We've dominated faster teams; I analyzed how; it seems to be because we had more confidence in taking more shots. Frankly, I'd rather him player higher competition and lose more and be more challenged. Winning doesn't really matter at this age. But alas we will take a break from soccer, a couple months off now that indoor is over. He'll snowboard with him mom; and I think we'll test out wrestling - there's group at the nearby school - and a little tennis. And we'll still do some 1v1 and some simple drills at home.
The irony is that they have trolled me. I don't think they know what trolling is. Trust me, no one is seeking out the bigsoccer youth sports forum to troll.
Not 59 goals against 5 year olds and a empty net?!?!?! La Masia needs to be notified. Seriously, yes, it is great that folks are saying good things. That is telling, but, keep in mind these are dad's volunteering to coach 5 year olds. What I meant was more geared towards the travel years and those comments are coming rather consistently. Keep his footwork up and your expectations level. Again, it is a marathon and at 5 years old keeping stats is telling that you don't understand the nuance, developmental stages or the things that are actually important yet. We ALL have been sucked in as you are now so when we are telling you to relax it comes from experience and some hard earned wisdom.
59 goals - well it's all relative. He was the top goal scorer. The 2nd best had 39 (also very good player)... and then a big drop off, and 5 kids scored zero. As a team we had 40 goals scored against us all season. If it were super easy to score you'd have way more kids scoring and more goals scored on us. It's all just furn. This was our first season and my first time ever coaching; I had no idea what to expect. Was pleasantly surprised! Sure, for a moment I cared about winning, as winning became the norm; but now I'd rather him play tougher competition and lose some as it would be better learning. Thanks Stig for your comments; which seem rational, as opposed to some of the others. Maybe he'll play a few good years and then move on to something else; that's fine; but a parent shouldn't be crucified for enjoying watching his kid excel. It's like watching your kid take his first steps, you're going to be excited.
Being a sports parent is super tricky, especially when you are keeping track of your 5yo kid's plus/minus ratios while he is playing on a team with 3yo kids, in a league that supposedly keeps scores and standings. A few weeks ago he was so concerned about the mom coach on the opposing team who was carrying her newborn baby on her hip while reffing your DS's game that he reported her to the league "registrar". He has no worries if his son doesn't end up going pro, because plan B is for him to be the next Elon Musk. Did any of you see the post where he analyzed the 35-yard dash times of the players on his son's team and asked if there was a correlation to the players desire to practice? These are just a sampling of Dada's ramblings. Trolling comes in all shapes and sizes, it doesn't have to be nasty or mean spirited, but it is almost always exaggerated or untrue for the purpose of eliciting reactions. Dada is trolling or it is a cry for help, or both. Either way, I have to believe I'm not the only one who finds it is getting a bit old. BS is the best soccer forum there is, I'm just trying to keep it real as the kids say. Going forward, I'll try my best to refrain from making more comments... you guys can keep feeding him.
Bro there's no trolling. Sorry to bust your bubble. Just because you find my points fanciful or just something you don't agree with, it's wrong to automatically label them trolling as you have no proof. You are just making huge assumptions and then getting slanderous. I've seen you and mwulf et al (there's seems to be a contingent here obsessed with troll finding)... you have done this to other's who clearly were just making genuine posts. The world is a big place and experiences fall outside of your comfort zone, doesn't make it untrue. Your accusations have provided me with many laughs though so thanks for the entertainment.
If he is trolling he is so good at it. He stays just within 3 standard deviatiations of reality to question it, but leaves it just believable enough that it makes you think it just might be real. He taps into an emotion that almost every parent experiences when their child is 5, that he is destined for greatness. Some people are better at suppressing it than others. So, if he is trolling, he's doing a great job at it.
@upper left - And so what if I timed kids at the 35 yard dash? Is it that unusual? Either I'm super eccentric or else you folks live under a rock. Just do a little google searching and you will see other parents who have timed their kids starting at say 5 yrs old in track. 40 yr dash or 100m. I'm not the first one. An how the reason I did that was because some of the kids weren't good runners and it was holding them back so I wanted to create an incentive - the most improved runner would get a prize at end of season - what's so unusual about that?! The parent's partook and did not think it was crazy so why do you? Anything outside of your view you label as troll. Like when I said that Leo Messi juggled tennis balls as a kid. Just do a google search and you'll see that he did. You cannot call facts trolling just because it seems odd. Now you are motivating me to make my kid even better to prove you all wrong. So thanks for that! Yes I have some unorthodox viewpoints, it is a moneyball approach; cut out the fat - the drills that are just noise - and focus on the few that will be utilized at each level. Learning soccer is like a video game where you move up a level each time you have mastered the prior one. You learn a new thing or two each level. You don't learn a little bit of everything all at once, which is what some coaches do (let's teach passing and off ball movement to 5 year olds). And what's wrong with being the next Elon Musk?! It's ok - I'm kinda used to this. Albert Einstein was lambasted when he came up with the theory of relativity. People who think different are easy to label troll
Actually at that age, it is relatively easy to score. Probably 90% of the kids are going to play "bunch ball" (all the kids are within 1-2 yards of the ball, all the way up and down the field, sort of like a rugby scrum). All it takes is one child to be outside the scrum, and when the ball inevitably squirts free, take it and dribble it into the goal. Yes, skill plays a little bit of knowledge, but not a lot. No one is crucifying you for enjoying watching your kid not only play but excel. Everyone here has done that. I truly LOVE watching my kids play. What people are castigating you for is the over the top (in our opinion) steps, theories, and statements regarding planning for your five year old to get a D1 scholarship/professional contract. There's probably not many here who have not hoped our kids would make pro. But worrying about missing an indoor session every year for the next ten years? Studying the way the foot meets the ball? Upset because a coach was carrying a baby during a game? Enough to report her to the league? Wanting your son to work at soccer three hours a day, every day, for the next 10 years? Yes, IMO, these are all extreme. Just because another parent has timed their five year old's 40 yard dash doesn't mean it's "normal" or necessary. And apparently you see these other parents who are pushing their child harder than you're pushing yours and accept that that's what you need to do. But when multiple people tell you you're being too extreme, and settle back and enjoy being a dad, we're the ones who are off base? PP who said youth soccer (probably most youth sports) is a marathon and not a sprint is correct.
Because kids are 5 it is generally pointless to keep track of the actual 35 yard dash time. There is lots of time to grow and so therefore the only notable thing to monitor is whether or not your kid is fast in a relative sense. Just a heads up, if in the early years of travel soccer if you happen to see a coach with a clipboard and a stop watch during tryouts do your best 35 yard dash time out of there. Pure speed has little predictability or correlation overall with soccer talent. And any club or team that is selecting kids based on such attributes likely doesn't know what they are doing. In HS years specific distance times might be tracked in a way of monitoring a particular players overall fitness but it is not used for selection in a combine sort of way. Certain run times are tracked as a baseline and really only compared to the individual player in a relative sense as well as the standard deviation of hte overall team or age group. But again, it is intended to track FITNESS not talent or attributes. A good coach can tell if a player is "fast enough" through scrimmaging.
I don’t necessarily think you’re a troll, per say…I think you really are an overzealous, obsessive, overcompensating parent who has the best of intentions. I also think you’re a narcissist who enjoy the attention you get for being so over the top; I think you enjoy the character/persona you have created…and yes, I do believe it’s mostly a creation; despite claims of trying to be better or chill out; you continue you up the ante on your “over the top-ness” with almost every post…you can’t possibly really think you’re the Albert Einstein of soccer parents nor fail to see the utter ridiculousness of such an analogy…
Kids in general like to race (especially boys) so not a bad idea to use a stopwatch to get their focus. I'd like to think that is 90% what OP is trying to accomplish.
Easy is relative. Many kids did not score; therefore you cannot tell them that its easy to score. For the fast, assertive kids, sure it's easy. Over the top is also relative. Many things are over the top to you but not to others.
Yes, "easy" is relative. But at 5, it does not take knowing how to do a step over, three scissors, and a Maradona in order to get through the defense. It's going to much easier to score in U6 than at U10 or U16. And yes, you can tell kids it's easy to score... "If you do x, y, z, you'll be in front of the net and it's an easy score." And from what I remember of that age (and watching DS ref that age), many kids often don't even know which direction to kick the ball, much less how to get it in the goal. Heck, there are some kids who don't even WANT to kick the ball. Also correct. But you've got 6-8 adults here saying you're over the top. These are parents who have put MANY years on the sidelines, some with multiple kids. If you want to think we have nothing to teach you, that's fine. If you're comparing our suggestions & comments to the one parent you've read about or seen at a game, that's fine too.