I took my son to ODP training today (please, let's not get into the quality of ODP, that's not what this is about). 3 hour training. The interregional they were supposed to go to a couple weeks ago got rained out, so it was decided most of the training would be scrimmages to see the kids in 11v11 situations. For about 2 1/2 hours (take out warm up/cool down and they ended a little early), they scrimmaged. First was each age group against itself (his pool had 29 kids, so they had plenty for subs), then they scrimmaged the age group lower. For about 2 1/2 hours... there was no screaming from parents. There was no screaming from coaches. There were no whistles from referees. There were no flags flapping from ARs. There were boys talking to each other (turn, yes, you got me, feed him, keep, nice move, etc). There was no arguing about balls in/out, there were no arguments about fouls. The rec league in my hometown has a "Silent Saturday" and many times there are complaints about it. But if the complainers watched these kids (mine is an 03) simply play the game to the best of their ability without all the noise and distractions, it was just something to witness. It was playing because they enjoy the game. And I say all this as a "noisy parent". I have tried to tone myself down as the seasons go on, but I'll be honest, I'm not always successful. This was just something to see.
Cool. Yea my kid went to an ODP tryout a few months ago. What I was amazed at was just how little the ball went out of bounds. It was really nice getting to see him play with kids who were all good and dedicated to the game. Parents were everywhere but they were quiet. I think most teams, including our club team, would play better if parents were quieter. It is a lot of pressure at this age having parents yelling all kinds of critiques about every little thing. Even worse is that a lot of parents don't even know a good decision from a bad decision. So many times I'll see a kid make a smart play (at least in my mind) only to hear a parent complain about the decision to play a pass backwards, etc... I heard it Ohio they are experimenting with silent sidelines. I think it might be a good idea. It would probably be good for the ref's also (XD).
Had a similar experience on a smaller scale at a recent Super Y practice -- parents were there but mostly silent and an hour of the practice was just scrimmaging. And it was a joy to watch. My son's league does a Silent Sunday -- some parents complain and, honestly, it feels a little odd. But there is zero barking, complaining, ...
I think I heard that in Ohio they were planning on having the parents still cheer. But they had to cheer for the other team... lol, I wonder how that is going. The worst part is the coaching from the sidelines. Too many voices often conflicting.
My argument is the higher you go, the more intlligent the parents become - simply because they have to. That equates to less yelling. It's why so many parents at the rec level scream and yell shit they have no idea about But that is EASILY resolved with a coach who takes the time to meet with the parents as a group - describe that winning is NOT what it's about and that yelling adverse comments will result in your player riding the pine.
Hell if an opponents player did something good against us I would cheer him. Then use it as a teaching moment for the players on our bench. My adult team played the Metrostars in a friendly in their first year. We lost 1-2 on a fanatastic goal by Roberto Donadoni he did the Cryuff then shot off it to score the winning goal against us. After that game we worked on it so most of the guys could do it themselves. We won plenty of games using it.
Interesting contrast drawn at the beginning of this Q&A between the "generally calmer atmosphere of U.S. youth soccer" and what this coach/writer finds in Germany: https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...vs-us-soccer-comparisons-from-ian-plende.html
That's because it is Germany's #1 sport. I played soccer, baseball, and football growing up. There are far worse parents in the latter two. Especially baseball though. Standing in the batter's box you can hear everything. Parents saying, "this guy can't hit" or "was that your fastball? hahahaa.." It's really bad. In soccer I more hear parents critique their own kids. While I don't agree with parents coaching from the sideline, to me it is actually quite tame compared to the stuff I heard. The good part about soccer is that it is constantly moving. You might complain about something that happened, but 20 seconds later everything has changed and now your team has the ball trying to score. Other sports have a lot of downtime and that's where the chatter really gets turned up a notch.
My grandson plays his soccer in Germany he is 8 yrs old. They can still head the ball in Germany no rules against heading there. He is coming here around Easter time. I will be a Grand father again around that time. I will get him a game with my old club team here at that time. I just saw a movie about a nutty parent an abusive parent name of it was I Tanya I saw the previews I thought it would be okay before I seen it. The movie made me sick to my stomach that mother did a number on her daughter. Then later she gets married guess who she marries another abusive person. Made me even more sick.