Before you do anything, you need answers to the following: 1) Did he already tell your son why he didnt play much? 2) Was he at all practices? 3) Was he late to any practice? 4) Did he listen/participate throughout practice? 5) Is he being a "team" player or an "individual"? Those answers could all explain why he was shorted minutes. Or it could be that he lost track of time. BTW, rhis is competitive. It doesn't matter if you think playing time should be equal. It matters what the coach thinks. I agree with PP, wait another game or two and see what happens. If he's still getting shorted minutes, then ideally your son, but if he's not comfortable, both of you, TALK to the coach after a practice.
1) no. My son is probably not aware of the minutes. I am the one who is keeping track of the minutes. 2) Yes 3) No 4) Yes as far as I know. The parents aren't allowed to get too close. The fields are in a fenced off area and the parents wait outside of that area. 5) Idk, from what I could tell he plays pretty well and listens to the coach as much as the next kid. The coach usually puts him up front and tells him to stay forward to receive a ball. My kid is pretty good about getting open when his teammate has the ball. He will move away from his teammate and call for the ball instead of crowd him. But if it is an issue I would like to know about it. The club is expensive, and these are 7 year olds. I think they should be all getting about equal minutes on the basis of the cost and for the sake of getting kids to enjoy the game and develop skills. Fun matters at this age too. I just coached our indoor team and my kid was the best on the team (and in the league) and we also had the slowest kid in the league. I played that kid just about equal minutes, and luckily we still went undefeated. I learned how to spread out our weaknesses (and strengths) so we didn't have too many in one place. Thanks for the tips. I will wait as suggested and see how things go.
I would disagree. A coach has a huge advantage in power and in verbal communication and a 7 yr old can easily get confused, mentally flustered, and not fully comprehend what a coach is saying. There's no way you should leave a 7 yr old to fend for themselves in this context. How would a 7 yr old even know what a good/acceptable answer is from a coach? I'm the parent and will discuss with coach
Did it happen once? Sorta. He played once for the B team and played a lot of minutes. Then in his first game for the A team he played half the game, but in a 7v7 with 3 subs he still got shafted out of minutes (ie he got less than teammates). Then in the subsequent game (my original complaint) he played about 1/3 of the game and that left me frustrated and puzzled. I highly doubt US Soccer or any nat'l federation would put out guidance to sit 7 yr olds for long stretches, but I could be wrong. If in the next game my kid doesn't play equal minutes to his teammates I'll email the coach. I really want to know his approach and philosophy on this matter. If it continues then I'll pull my kid from the club. I just don't agree philosophically to sit kids for long stretches (15, 20+ mins), it certainly doesn't help kids build a "passion for the game". It's a total buzz kill because otherwise I liked the coach. He's good with kids and knows the game. It's just his approach to minutes is not ok, not for this age group anyways. And it's not like his approach is even working, if his goal is to "win"... they've been losing. But I don't want to make a rash decision. Overall it's a good club. Part of what's happening is he's leaving in a couple kids, namely defenders and GK for long periods. I get it, it's hard to find good defenders. So those kids end up with disproportionately more minutes. But those kids would love to try playing offense (I know from talking to their parents). Not just defend the entire game. So he needs to rotate the kids around more. Remember, these are 7 yr olds
I don't disagree with you that kids at that age should be playing all positions and playing equally. That being said, I do think you're on your way to becoming the parent that you worried you would become in your original post on this subject. It's been one game and you're already considering pulling your kid from a club. As others have suggested, it's very possible that his allocation of minutes is nothing more than the coach losing track of the time of the game or getting caught up in the moment and forgetting to substitute.
Yeah I get it, I am susceptible to over-reacting. Yet at the same time, this is an experienced coach, so I doubt he lost track of minutes.
Just read this article about minutes for youth. Some excerpts: “The most important thing is to remember it’s not about you,” explains former Ajax and Netherlands coach John Van’t Schip. “You have to give the players the right education to become the good player they want to be in the future. You shouldn’t be a coach who is only out there to get results.” As coaches, we should also understand the potential costs of not giving all members of our team enough playing time. Children develop at different rates, and by only picking our strongest team in order to win matches, we may deprive some kids of valuable learning experiences when they need them the most. “Even in a high-performance setting, clubs tend to ensure equal playing time — or equal starts, at least,” explains Dan Wright. “Otherwise, you are narrowing the options; if you’re only picking the same 11 or 12 players every week and some are only getting 20 minutes, that kid who’s getting 20 minutes might have been your best player — maybe not today, but if given the opportunity to shine. The main point for me is: what is the opportunity cost if we pick this ‘best 11’ every week? Who are the players who are going to miss out?” “Working in academy football, different clubs do different things,” says Dan Wright. “Some clubs have a ‘win week’, where once a month they will pick a team to win games; some clubs have one policy for week-to-week games and a different policy for tours and tournaments. In the environment I work in, we tend to do a minimum of 50% game time.” By ensuring that every player plays at least 50% of available minutes instead of guaranteeing equal playing time, coaches are afforded more flexibility when it comes to team selection. This enables them to give some players more game time when they feel it will be beneficial — for instance, if a player is enjoying good moments in a game and they don’t want to disrupt them, or if they have trained particularly well, or have recently missed playing opportunities and need extra time on the pitch. “We also do 50% starts throughout the season,” adds Wright. “Because constantly being a sub, even if you are getting equal playing time but coming off the bench, is a psychological challenge, especially with kids.” When it comes to playing time, informing parents about our team’s policy and helping them to understand why we’re allocating game time a certain way can help to avoid conflict around how often, and for how many minutes, their child is playing. [Something our club hasn't done] https://playerdevelopmentproject.com/qa-should-i-give-my-players-equal-playing-time/ [note: this makes it sound like my kid is the underperformer and I'm trying to find reason he should be playing more, whilst in reality he's a solid player relative to his peers. Again, that shouldn't even matter at this age, just play them all equal minutes, shouldn't take too much thought]
Do NOT email him about your concerns. You are correct, a seven year old will probably be intimidated/not know what to say/not know what to accept if left to talk to the coach on his own. SO, if you feel you need to, both your son AND you talk to the coach after practice. Your son should be able to see how you handle things. This is of course assuming the trend continues. My other suggestion is don't go in with "Why is my kid not getting equal playing time?" or "I think everyone at this age should be playing equally." The best way, IMO, to start the conversation is "Coach, I noticed Billy isn't getting a lot of playing time. Is there something he needs to work on that will get him on the field more?" Then LISTEN to the answer, ask follow up questions if you don't understand, and work with your son on those items. And while I get that goals are important in this game, looking at them as the only metric isn't good. That's why I asked above if he's a "good teammate". That doesn't mean he needs to learn to pass when he's 1v1. But if it's 2v1 or 3v1, yes, the smart play is to lay it off, drop it, cross it, whatever. Do NOT harp on the "equal playing time". It doesn't matter if you find 20 articles backing it up. This coach has his way of doing things. No matter how many articles you find, it's not going to change his methods, and will probably make him defensive.
7 years old. I'm with NewDadaCoach on this one. But yeah, talking to in person or on the phone is probably better than emails.
What I like about email is that it allows me to edit my thoughts and not be rash and also allows the coach to not be put on the spot. He can also sleep on it and respond in time rather than respond defensively if approached in person. But in-person is fine, I can do that. I'm sorry but you can't convince me that 7 yr old age groups should be doing less than 50%. If the kid is not good enough for that then he should not be on the squad. There's a lower squad too; if my kid isn't good enough then put him on the lower squad. Put him on defense, goalie, wherever. Game minutes are important for youth development. If you think 7 yr olds in any sport should be warming the bench then you should rethink your approach. Only exception would be if the kid simply doesn't want to play or is injured or has a bad attitude. But mine doesn't, I ask the coach regularly how my kid is doing and he has not mentioned any problems. You seem to think coaches are gods. They are human. And some have some serious flaws, let's not be naive about that. Anyways, getting off track. I don't think our coach has "serious flaws" other than having too much variance in game minutes or otherwise not communicating said policy to parents.
I'm just guessing that this might be the reason, but it's easy to lose track. I coached several years of U-littles soccer plus a decent amount of winter-indoor soccer. I borrowed a friend's spreadsheet-based chart (which I initially thought was overkill) to make sure everyone was going into and out of games with roughly equal playing time, everyone got to start some, everyone moved around the field, ... And I still got it wrong here and there. I usually coached with another person and we'd look down at the chart and notice that we were six or seven minutes late on Kid X getting into the second half or whatever. I'm sure parents noticed, and probably kids, too, but we never heard much about it (that said, I always felt bad and usually tried to give whoever missed out some bonus time somewhere if there were more games on the schedule).
@sam_gordon The author of the article: Dan Wright holds the UEFA A license and FA Advanced Youth Award. He is Technical Advisor at PDP and an Academy Coach currently working in England. And you dismiss his opinion? He seems to have some credibility You don't seem very empathetic to the development needs of kids. You seem to think whatever the coach says goes. Game minutes/starts affects their pscychology.
I must not be explaining myself well. I'm not dismissing ANYONE'S opinion. The bottom line is your son's coach controls how much playing time he gets. According to you, he's a long term coach. Giving him articles on how to manage game time, and I don't care if it's from Pep Guardiola, will not sit well. I don't know this coach at all. There is SOME reason your son got the playing time he did. It could be the coach lost track of time, your son did (or didn't do) SOMETHING, or the coach is just a terrible coach. You look at things as "black and white". While I understand to some extent, these games and practices happen in the real world. Might going up to the coach and saying "I think everyone should get equal playing time" or "My son deserves more playing time" work? Yes. But there's an equal chance it could backfire. "What does he need to do to get more field time" shows a willingness to adapt. And adaptability is ALSO a good skill to learn.
What I'm saying is that all kids, not just mine, should play at least 50% of the game. 7v7 and 3 or 4 subs and that should be no problem at all. Even if you had 7 subs then you can get everyone 50% play time with easy math. (Just sub out all 7 at every "quarter"). But 3 or 4 subs and it's even easier and there's no excuse. All the teams we lost to were subbing kids in and out more frequently than ours. Hmmm You like US Soccer, so you should follow their youth guidelines then: "Every player should play a minimum of 50% of the time in each game" From page 25 https://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/1/6/pdi_february_2017.pdf
@sam_gordon 7v7 with 3 or 4 subs and you can get everyone 50% AND still leave in some kids for 75% or whatever. "What does he need to do to get more field time" I don't think you understand. I believe every kid gets 50%. I will simply leave the club if this persists. Plenty of clubs around Note: that does not mean that no kid can get 100%. Its fine if some kids get more than 50%. But no kid should get less than that, not at U8. I guess it's just the principle of the matter.
" I know that I'm letting it get to me more than it should. But when I think that my kid played 18 mins and sat for 32 mins. Man that irks the hell out of me. Put me in a bad head space. I guess I had too high expectations for the club and their "development philosophy"
What if I just kept it general and just asked him what his philosophy is on playtime / game minutes so that it's not directed at anyone and is non-confrontational?
Sigh. Last time. I get that you think every kid should get 50% of playing time. I'm not arguing they shouldn't. My point is the COACH decides how much playing time each player gets. It doesn't really matter what you or I think about it. My advice is to wait and see what happens in the next game (or games if you have two in a weekend). Then TALK (not email) to the coach after practice. Your son should be there. "What does he need to do to get more playing time?" IS non confrontational. Asking his philosophy on playing time doesn't get you anything IMO. He might average out the 50% over multiple games. And just know, at least around here, if you leave a club in the middle of a season, they can elect to not give up the player card (so not allowing you to play for another club) AND keep any money you've paid. Will the club you're dealing with do that? I don't know.
Yeah i get it, coach can do what he wants, and I can chose to stay or leave. If you think I have to accept and feel tied down to poor policy then you don't know me. I'm simply not going to go to games and watch my kid sit for 30 mins in a 50 min game. And that's that. Player card/fees will land where they may, my focus is on my kid's development. After some more self reflection I realized that part of the reason I'm so hot and bothered is that I just finished coaching in a different league and I tried hard to make sure kids were not sitting for long stretches. Even the several slow/weak kids, I made sure they felt included and not like bench warmers. So, if you can open your mind up and see from my perspective you can see why I come off as being overly sensitive to this. Again you have to remember these are 7 yr olds and winning/losing matters zilch at this age. We can't even watch them practice, so we get all hyped up for a game b/c that's the only time you see them play and then you watch a kid sit -- no, just no. This club is costly and robust minutes for EVERY KID is a fair expectation.
Here's what you're not getting Sam. Asking that question implies there is some scenario in which it is acceptable for a kid to get less than 50%. And what I'm telling you is that that's not an acceptible scenario in any case. So I'm not going to ask "What does he need to do to get more playing time?"
I dont think Sam is really disagreeing with you. He thinks kids at that age should get similar playing time. I get the impression that he is saying be somewhat diplomatic about it. Give it at least another game to see if it's a trend or an accident. When you do talk to the coach he's saying to bring it up without bringing it up. When you ask what your kid needs to work to see the field more he will understand why you are asking without challenging him directly. Asking his opinions on pt seem like an "asking for a friend" thing, or trying to play gotcha.
Thanks, that actually makes more sense. But I think asking for his policy or approach to pt is a good way to go because I actually want to know. Surely he has put thought into the subject and should not feel awkward if asked. Perhaps he might say "i try to get every kid 50% pt over the course of a season" and that actually would sound reasonable. If his policy is more about playing to win, even if that means some kids might sit a lot, I want to know that too. I think it's a fundamental question as it pertains to youth development and I wish I had thought to ask it prior to joining. Perhaps he'll make me see things differently. I respect his knowledge on other stuff. PT just never crossed my mind until the games started up.
And if your son can't play because the club won't give up the card, that helps his development how? Again, don't know that that's what will happen, but it is possible. Heck, I don't even know if you guys do cards, or even do them at that age. It might be a moot point.
But you even admit there IS a scenario where it is acceptable... I think there are others... misbehaving at practice and not listening to direction immediately come to mind. You need to find out first if this was a one time thing or a trend. If one time, then let it go. If a trend, then find out why. Confrontational is not the way to go.
He.Is.7.Years.Old. Relax - it was one game. One game does not make a "policy" or "approach". It's simply one moment in a vacuum. Give it more than a game.