Junior Soccer League 2005
The 2005 Junior soccer league season has just started. Sean always enjoys it and this is his 4th season. This year he has been assigned to team Belgium and two of his good pals Michael (aka M1) and Adam are also in the same team. All the coaches are volunteer parents and luckily for Sean and his team-mates, Belgium has a good guy who, though by his own admission, has limited knowledge and experience of soccer, is clearly well organised, a very decent guy and keen to coach the kids in the basics of the game and in working together as a team.
Sadly, the kid's sports rage incident (see posting 25 may 2005) has left its messy fingerprints on the rules for this league. To be fair, most of the rules are very sensible but there are some that grate a little :
"No keeping score, Discourage kids from keeping score, Coaches need to try to manage the score, Do not run up the score, Put your goal scorers in the back or in goal when necessary, Both teams are winners .."
I sympathise to some extent with the philosophy of avoiding humiliating defeats... but not to keep score seems to eliminate the whole point of playing a game of football. Sport is not just a physical outlet for the kids, it also teaches them about teamwork, about different roles within a team, about striving to achieve results as a team, about being gracious in victory and to learn to deal with defeat. At age 5 or 6 maybe we need to shelter them a little bit from some of the more painful aspects of sport but at age going on 9 ? I believe modifying the rules of the game is like lying to the kids about life. How long do we want them to think they are living in a fairy-tale world and when are they ready to learn about repsonsibilities, accountabilities; the consequences of good and bad preparation, good and bad play, good and bad behaviour, the interdependency of individuals in a collective effort; the relationship between the rewards and the effort they put in; the joy of winning, the disappointment of losing, the pride in performance and, even if on the losing side, knowing one did one's best ?
The result is Mickey Mouse football for over-protected kids that teaches them very little about the real game or about real life. When we were their age, the games at the local park were already passionate affairs between well bonded teams determined to fight for the common cause - and, despite the absence of an adult referee, only very rarely did we end up literally fighting for the cause ! Sometimes 'boys will be boys' and at times need supervision and guidance - but I don't believe we should be creating a make-believe world for them.
However, despite my reservations I will not interfere as Sean and his buddies enjoy the 'tournament' so much. Thank goodness for this 'blog medium' that enables me to get it off my chest here rather than get in an argument with people who clearly will not agree with me ! They are all good people anyway and doing what they think is best.
It's only for 2 months then the boys can get back to the academy run by professional football coaches and playing real, competitive football again.
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