[Bork]

I remember being about 5-7ish in a soccer game. The ball coming to me with tons of space in front of me, take one dribble and then I step completely on the ball and am down. Also one time I removed a large frog off the field during the run of play. I think the parents laughed at both, and nobody really cared. They weren't obnoxious at all until we started hitting puberty and started getting faster and more aggressive. About the age 8 being when the shift starts happening I disagree. There are kids that are way better and more athletic than others but they don't tend to ridicule the bad players until maybe 11-12 ish.

I've done some refereeing too and this has been my experience. Once the kids can actually run around a full field and play reasonably well the parents and coaches think it's the superbowl except many have no idea of the rules/ way the game ought to be played.

I think one reason it's a good sport for kids is because it is harder to single kids out. For example in little league when somebody sucks they can pretty much get humiliated every AB or time a ball is hit to them. In soccer when you get beat or missplay a ball it just doesn't seem as personal to a kid, because there is a lot happening on the field around them. Also the bad kids pretty much never get passed the ball or left on an island.