You think you know haw many kids I have? Wrong. I have 16. Two that I love and 14 that I have volunteered (silly, silly, Peter) to coach several times a week. I actually enjoy coaching my son's soccer team, but I do NOT enjoy having other parents failing thrust upon me for 3 hours at a time 2-3 days a week.
I'd like to propose a whacky idea. Make sure your child is at least house broken before sending him off to the care of his coach. I pride myself on the fact that both my boys are very well behaved young men. More than that, they are socially conscious of whatever situation they find themselves. Before a game, I will not find them tossing dirt at another player. I will not find them sitting on their mothers lap having a drink of water. I will not find them rolling down the grassy hill behind the goal. I will find them, along with several other players with even the slightest iota of motivation, maturity and (let's face it) brains, warming up by dribbling and juggling a ball and trying to get their teammates to join in.
It's a harder task than it should be to get a group of eleven year old's to grasp some of the concepts of playing a game like soccer. Striker, halfback, defense, left, right, center. Seems pretty simple, but to learn it as part of a big squad takes some teaching. Doing it while simultaneously having to expend energy making up for the failings of many parents just makes me want to start clunking heads together...both kids and parents.
Taking a look a little Johnny and seeing that he isn't ready to be part of a team game takes a bit of soul searching, but it's a necessary evil. I realize that part of the reason we have our kids play sports is to develop the very part of them that I'm railing against, but only to a certain degree. I can equate it to having a player on my team that is just physically dreadful at whatever sport. As long as he is at least putting in the effort, listening to my coaching and doing his best to implement my Lombardi-esque teachings, I'm OK. But when a kid is more interested in the size of the bug that just flew past WHILE I'M TALKING TO HIM BETWEEN QUARTERS, then I have not time for that person.
I once published an article (link below) about being a a good volunteer, about time not being enough, that there needs to be at least a little effort for the good of the team and the kids. This is the other half of that. Please make sure your little cherub knows what is to be expected as part of a team, and how that he may need to focus just a bit more than expected at home. Because just as it's not fair to be a slacker coach just putting in your time, it's just as unfair to expect to be part of a group but then not hold up your small slice of the pie. Not fair to the team, the game, and most of all, me
RALSTON HAS SPOKEN
http://ralstonhasspoken.blogspot.com/2011/08/dont-suck-its-not-fair-to-kids.html
