My Son's Team Is Getting Hammered!!!

This one should resonate with many. The elements of this story present every week in junior football. I like the options the author provides to the parent - The easy option, or, the noble option.

This is sourced from http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/ (Steve Watson)


My son's team is getting hammered


"Hi. The problem I have is that myself and a friend started one team of U8s, but over time we ended up with a squad of 18 players as more and more kids joined from school.
"We decided that we would split the players into two teams and manage one each. As my friend had started the original team, it was agreed that I would take newcomers, along with my son (who ultimately is the reason why I do it), to the new team.
"I feel terrible saying this, but we have ended up with one very weak team and one very strong team (mine is the weak team). While I still enjoy training the players and being involved with my son's soccer life, we are getting hammered every week.

Getting frustrated

"I can see him losing his enthusiasm because he is more advanced than the others and wants to play at a higher level. He is getting frustrated with losing, particularly when the other team is doing so well.
"If I move him, I will be unable to commit myself to managing my team and feel I would be deserting the players. To some extent, I will also feel like a failure. But I don't want to hold my son back.
"Help!
"On a soccer note, my team can score goals, but defensively we are terrible. Any help you can give with regard to getting the defense sorted would be great. I was a striker as a boy, and I suspect my lack of knowledge on how to defend may be an issue."

My answer:

As you already know, there's no easy answer to your dilemma.
I can understand your son wanting to play at a higher level (even though the term is a bit silly when applied to eight-year-olds) and if you do move him you won't be able to coach your current team any more. This is presumably because you'll be watching your son play at the same time as your current team play their matches.
As I see it, you've got two options. One is noble, the second may be easier.


The noble option

Keep your son in your team. Then work hard on getting all your players up to scratch. Focus on their ball skills and defending (more about this later). You can also try to attract a couple of new players to strengthen your squad.
One way of doing this is to go into your local school and offer to run a taster coaching session for the relevant year group. If they agree (and if you play the school/community links card, they should) play some easy, fun games for 40 minutes or so and then hand the kids an invitation to join the team.
And don't forget the girls! At your team's age there will probably be several girls who would love to play soccer for a team. Some of them will be as good, or better, than the boys. I know this for a fact - more girls than boys turned up for a session I did at my local school a couple of years ago and, before I knew it, I had a pretty good girls team!

The easy option

Move your son to the other team. If you do this you'll have to try to find a parent to take over the coaching duties of your team. That won't be easy and the likelihood is the team will fold.
If you can live with that possibility, then you may well choose this option. But I would urge you to give the noble option a go first. You'll feel better if you try extra hard to get your current team up to speed before abandoning them, I promise!
Regarding defending, you should focus on getting the basics absolutely right. Follow these simple tips to teach your players the core defensive skills. I call it 1-2-3 defending. You can also use the attack v defense game in this newsletter to improve your defenders' positional awareness and communication.