Why soccer is the best sport for kids

[youtalkfunny]

I hate when my son plays organized football. Every game includes taunting, threats, stomping, throwing things, yelling at the coach--and that's just the parents! The parents are complete retards. They completely lose their minds. I watch the games from the end zone, alone, because I can't stand to be near the other "adults".

Baseball is almost as bad. The kids don't get knocked down, so the parents don't completely lose it. But they still get WAY too emotional.

I hear that hockey is worst of all, but I have no first-hand knowledge of it. None of my kids have played basketball yet, so I'll abstain from that subject.

This year, for the first time, two of my kids are playing soccer. The experience is so radically different than the other sports, I was moved to type about it.

The parents are able to remain calm. Like baseball, nobody is getting knocked down, so they're nowhere near their emotional breaking point.

Unlike baseball, the parents aren't frantically shouting instructions to their kids, because the parents don't know anything about soccer! The parents just sit there, relaxed, and let the kids run around without parental interference.

My God, this is great! This is how youth sports SHOULD be! The kids are having fun, getting exercise, learning about teamwork, learning about winning and losing--and the parents aren't ruining everything!

I should note that I've only attended practices. I've yet to attend a game (I work weekends), so I don't know if that scene is any different. But I'm told that they don't keep score, which I imagine placates the emotions of the adults even more (the kids still know what the score is, though, and how many games they've won and lost).

I've always been as anti-soccer as any other red-blooded American, but after disastrous experiences with football, and unpleasant experiences with baseball, I was actually happy when the kids wanted to play soccer.

So far, so great.

[MacGuyV]

If that's your personal experience in your local area (Texas?) then good for soccer. In general I haven't heard about that much of a difference between sports though - or at least every news magazine show has done a piece on parents being crazy across the board (including women's sports). I don't have kids but I didn't notice much of a difference in 'crazy parents' between sports in my youth.

[punkass]

I used to play soccer in high school in a Philly suburb. And I played little league baseball.

I would say there are slightly more maniac parents at the baseball games, but there was definitely no shortage of idiotic parents at the soccer games.

Volleyball is best. No parent knows the rules to that. At least mine didn't.

[AJW]

The relaxed atmosphere is just a result of the parents not caring who wins or loses they don’t care about soccer and their ego isn’t affected if their kid is on the losing side. Here in the UK there is frequent media hand wringing about the behavior of parents and coaches at youth soccer leagues, Complaints from clubs that undue pressure at an early age is hampering youth development and shrinking the talent pool. Kids are not encouraged to try to play their way out of trouble or round opponents and are instead told to play safe square balls which may lead to them keeping possession but doesn’t help their development.

[stormstarter28]

That's all well and good, until these kids all grow vaginas.

[Oski]

Any league that doesn't keep score is by nature a non-competitive league. Its obvious the point is for the kids to have fun while learning the game, etc. with no pressure from the parents. That is probably why you find it so low key.

I played club soccer when I was younger (when club soccer was somewhat of a novelty in Southern Cal). The difference from that and AYSO was night and day. I was miserable because all of a sudden a lot of parents thought their kid was going to be a pro player (we were 11 and 12) and they always lobbied the coach for playing time, etc. The fun was just leached from the game.

In other words, it was no different from Baseball, Football, etc.; if a parent cares too much and is a jerk to begin with, there is a chance the parent will poison the atmosphere for the kids.

My team travelled to Europe to play, and I noticed that the game was pretty serious to them as well. When the games were "friendlies" we had fun and everything was low key. However, we had touneyments in Sweden and Denmark and the atmosphere was too intense for my tastes.

I believe that soccer is a good sport for a lot of reasons; I don't believe that it is immume from bringing the jerk out of jerky parents, however.

[ledders07]

until 'soccer' becomes a major sport in the US, there won't be as much of a problem ass you state with baseball etc.

in england it is the opposite : go to a football game and all teh parents are yelling/screamin etc.

so for teh time being, you are right i guess

[MikeyPatriot]

I played soccer through high school.

I assume your kids are pretty young, so just wait until they're old enough to be playing with offsides and the parents start to think they have some knowledge of the game.

Still a better environment than football. I wouldn't say my soccer experiences was any better/worse than Little League either.

[daryn]

so do all of these kids soccer leages not keep score anymore? i'm not THAT old am i? but when i played we kept score, kept records, had playoffs, championships, trophies to the winners... what the hell happened?

[chim17]

[ QUOTE ]
until 'soccer' becomes a major sport in the US, there won't be as much of a problem ass you state with baseball etc.

in england it is the opposite : go to a football game and all teh parents are yelling/screamin etc.

so for teh time being, you are right i guess

[/ QUOTE ]

So what you're saying is it will never be an issue in the US?