Why soccer is the best sport for kids - Page 5

MikeyPatriot · #41 10-05-2007, 01:52 PM

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Soccer is the best sport for kids who suck at sports since they can blend in and they pretty much never get put into a tough spot where they have to make an individual play. Unlike baseball where the whole game is a series of individual plays. So yeah, if your kid is awkward, stick him on the soccer field he might not find out his awkwardness until high school.

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As tarheels said, have you watched youth soccer? In addition to just get owned 1 v 1, imagine missing the net after you've beaten the keeper. Or passing the ball to the opposition in your own box. Or any sort of own goal.

There's plenty of moments for individual embarrassment in soccer.

Triumph36 · #42 10-05-2007, 02:04 PM

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Soccer is the best sport for kids who suck at sports since they can blend in and they pretty much never get put into a tough spot where they have to make an individual play. Unlike baseball where the whole game is a series of individual plays. So yeah, if your kid is awkward, stick him on the soccer field he might not find out his awkwardness until high school.

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As tarheels said, have you watched youth soccer? In addition to just get owned 1 v 1, imagine missing the net after you've beaten the keeper. Or passing the ball to the opposition in your own box. Or any sort of own goal.

There's plenty of moments for individual embarrassment in soccer.

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Huh? If your kid sucks enough he will never be in position to make any of these plays except perhaps passing the ball to an opposition player (and obv being owned 1 on 1, but at an early age, there aren't many 1 on 1's in soccer).

BreakfastBurrito · #43 10-05-2007, 03:02 PM

Taking away overbearing coaches and parents would have robbed me of some of my most precious childhood experiences. Sure it's often ridiculous, and I laugh out loud thinking about some of the spectacles I've witnessed over the years. Nonetheless, it was awesome. Victories were amazing, defeats were devastating. Learning to play under the pressure of the expectations of overly demanding coaches, teammates, and parents was a great lesson in and of itself. A few times when I was about 8 and I'd cry after a crushing loss for my baseball team, my parents told me that it was too much for me and next year I could play in the other, more "fun" oriented little league. I literally begged them not to make me do that.

You talk about teaching the kids about winning and losing but I don't see how that's possible in a zero pressure, everybody's-a-winner type environment. Your ideal youth sports league sounds like it would suck some serious ass to me.

kyleb · #44 10-05-2007, 03:05 PM

Yeah, I agree with this too. Playing in a competitive environment is fun. Playing in the "lol no one keeps score" league is total crap and perpetuates the myth that every kid is special and can do whatever they want when they grow up. Sure, that's what you tell them, but reality's a bitch, kid! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

MikeyPatriot · #45 10-05-2007, 03:11 PM

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Huh? If your kid sucks enough he will never be in position to make any of these plays except perhaps passing the ball to an opposition player (and obv being owned 1 on 1, but at an early age, there aren't many 1 on 1's in soccer).

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Even if it were true that a player who is terrible would NEVER EVER in his youth soccer career be put into a position to completely embarrass himself during a game, there are tons of opportunities to do so during practice.

kidcolin · #46 10-05-2007, 03:17 PM

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Yeah, I agree with this too. Playing in a competitive environment is fun. Playing in the "lol no one keeps score" league is total crap and perpetuates the myth that every kid is special and can do whatever they want when they grow up. Sure, that's what you tell them, but reality's a bitch, kid! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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The most retarded thing about all this crap about looking out for kids feelings (no score, no dodgeball in gym class, whatever) is that the kids themselves absolutely hate it. Boys will be boys. They're fiercely competitive. The ones who aren't.. probably shouldn't join little league?

re: soccer/players getting embarrassed and whatnot. That's true until maybe the age of 8. I grew up in a soccer rich area. The kids who suck at soccer get laughed at and picked on by the better players just like any other sport.

Bork · #47 10-05-2007, 03:26 PM

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.

Disturbance · #48 10-05-2007, 03:28 PM

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If the rest of the free world could afford helmets and shoulder pads there is no doubt they would be playing 'American' football imo.

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LOL, I don't think it's a question of affording the equipment for a lot of people (e.g most of Europe). Is there some innate insecurity in the majority of Americans that compels them to troll football(soccer) threads?

kidcolin · #49 10-05-2007, 03:33 PM

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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.

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could be right. I didn't start playing soccer until I was 11 or 12. I know in little league and basketball, though, that we definitely started ribbing kids from an early age, but probably not too harshly until about puberty.

pvn · #50 10-05-2007, 04:24 PM

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Yeah, I agree with this too. Playing in a competitive environment is fun. Playing in the "lol no one keeps score" league is total crap and perpetuates the myth that every kid is special and can do whatever they want when they grow up. Sure, that's what you tell them, but reality's a bitch, kid! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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When you're talking about three year olds, they can't even remember what the score is. it's still competitive, they know they need to get the ball away from the other team and get it in the goal.