I was wondering if anyone else was a disgusted with the "mini game" played at halftime? I think it all started for me one Saturday morning about 5 years ago. I was at the YMCA for a workout. I noticed a basketball game going on. Kids about 8-10 years old. They weren't keeping score. There was no out of bounds. There were no referees. The kids were fouling, double dribbling and walking. But, it didn't matter. Then, I went to my cousins (6 years old) soccer game. Again, no score board. The other night, when I saw some of the one handed throw ins and the "cherry picking" that was going on, I was just disgusted. At this age, the kids should at least learn the rules and basic fundamentals. I know that it is about "having fun." But, they should be building a foundation with the basics. I just found it disgusting.
Do you have children? Granted, I didn't pay close attention to it, but I watched a few minutes. It looked like a typical U-7 game with a lot of players in it. Having coached that level, it was nothing out of the ordinary for half time at a pro soccer game. For their entire lives they'll say "they played in the Cotton Bowl." What's wrong with that? I can't say that. If you want to see serious youth soccer, go to a select league game. You'll be impressed. And besides, offside rule is not used until U-9, when kids develop enough cerebral capacity to understand it and play by it in a game. Competitive soccer doesn't start until U-11 or U-12, plenty early for my taste.
I agree Viking. If anything is hurting the development of soccer in our country, it's trying to be so dang official and serious about it from early on. I say let them play and have fun. They're six years old for pete's sake.
I agree whole heartedly, Sanz and Viking. Kids that age should be having nothing but fun. They will be put under pressure soon enough in life. Let them enjoy it .
When I was 10 years old I played a basketball game at the Omni. It was before a Hawks vs. Celtics game. John Havelicek was warming up during breaks in the game. So, I get your point, wholeheartedly. But, you can still have fun and learn/play by the rules. How hard is it to teach a kid that when he throws the ball in, he/she has to use both hands?
Where I live, I referee, and when we do like the U-5 or U-6 games, we have to correct them when they are wrong. It's good we do, but I think the more important part at this age is to just let them get the idea of putting the ball in the other teams goal (you know what I mean!) and take it away from the opponent. Then when they get to be around 7 or 8 you start with more serious rules, thats when goalies get thrown in the mix, and positions are put into place. I was at the game, but I was in line the whole time that "mini game" was going on, so I can't tell you how it went, but it just sounds like they wanted those kids to kick the ball around the Cotton Bowl, where pro's play.
Not hard at all. Do not confuse what you saw, with the way they actually play on their field with their association. For one thing, most U-5 and 6 play 4 or 5 a side. They threw them all out there and said have fun. They also wanted to keep the game going, so "details" were omitted. Every kid I ever coached knew how to take throw in when he left my team. And so on...
Viking is correct on the 4 v 4 for youth. The USYSA is considering expanding small sided soccer even higher up so that U6 is 3v3, U8 is 4v4 and 11 on 11 dose not happen until U14. It would have looked different had they played by their usual rules. Consider also that they were a little nervous.
Again, this whole thread is a perfect example why we are so far behind other countries in developing soccer talent. Do you think 5 or 6 year olds playing in the streets of London worry about how they are throwing the ball back in play or 5 or 6 year old kids playing in dirt fields in poor Brazilian neighborhoods are concerned about scoreboards? We place much to emphasis on winning, rules, uniforms, referees, perfect fields, etc when they are young and we don't worry enough about just letting them play. That's why half the kids are burned out of soccer by the time they are 12. These kids the other night were getting a lifetime opportunity to play on the carpet called the Cotton Bowl field, yet ChuckA found it disgusting because they threw the ball in wrong. Unbelievable. I think we are missing the forest for the trees.
YES! I think that is why we are so far behind. Because we place too much emphasis on having fun. Whatever sport we played in the street, in the vacant field, in the pool we were very concerned about who won and who lost. A lot of times fights would break out. They don't change the rules (at least they didn't when I played) for football, basketball and baseball at that age. Sometimes the field/court is shorter. But the basketball goal is still 10 ft. You still dribble pass and shoot. You pitch the ball you hit the ball you run until they get you out. And, the last I checked, the whole world was trying to catch up to us in these sports. Check out the 11 and 12 year olds that will be playing in the Little League World Series. They will have good fundamentals. They will not be hitting off a tee or playing with a short fielder or batting all 12 players on the team. They still have 3 outs. The field is a little shorter and the game is a few innings shorter. But, it is still baseball. Someone mentioned that there was talk of 11 vs. 11 not happening until U14? Wow. I hope that doesn't happen. Most 14 year olds are in HS. That would be a huge disadvantage to those kids to be trying out for HS team and have never played a game of 11 vs. 11. I understand about them "just wanting the kids to have fun on the Cotton bowl field." I just think that what I saw is problematic of the whole youth scene.
We'll just have to agree to disagree. I think kids around the world, at the ages of 5-9, are more concerned with having fun playing soccer, than with soccer rules, and refs, and proper fields and everything that goes with it, like an organized emphasis on wins and losses. Sure they get competitive on the streets during pickup games, but at the same time, they are not losing sleep over palying with the right sized ball or not having the proper lines showing exactly where out is. Do street, pickup football games of kids 6-10 here have the exact rules that the pro's play with? Heck no. That comes later. And sandlot baseball was the same, until parents started getting too involved in getting everything so organized. Now, the Dominican Republic and Japans of the world are on the verge of kicking our butts in baseball as well. I have always thought that we don't have enough "pickup" style soccer going on to develop truly talented creative players. Everything is too organized from too early on, and it thwarts any kind of soccer creativity some young kids have. That's why the national team has always struggled to find decent #10's. And what do Landon and Mathis (two of the more creative American-born players) say their creativity comes from? Landon says it was playing in the streets with the barrio kids and Clint says it was playing hours on end in the backyard with his two older brothers when he was a little boy. Sure, later on having organized select club soccer is important and all, but I'm talking about the period when the kids are 6-10. Let them play, let them find their creativity as soccer players!
Remember that if the 6-year olds you saw switched to baseball they would be playing T-Ball. Let's just focus on having them develop skills. This conversation reminds me of when I went to see my friend's 6 year old play in Frisco last year. One kid on the other team showed great skill and tactical awareness while the others kind of clustered. This kid had obviously had some training. The kid's name was C.J. (or was it A.J.) Jeffries, and I think you might guess who his dad is... So let's focus on developing the skills at age 6. From everything I hear, it is at the teenage level when our select youth start to fall behind those from the best countries. At that time they'll surely have most of the official rules in place.
I hadn't realized that MLB is now using 'ghost-runners'. ;-) That's what we did when I was a kid and we ran out of batters. So maybe the organized little league baseball rules weren't different, but I think most people here, especially when making comparisons with Brazil, are talking about kids pick-up games. Those definately have different rules than the pro games in any sport, in any country, on any street in the world.