Youth Soccer Debacle
Yes I am soccer mom for the fall season. There hasn't even been a game yet and I am ready to vent. Where do I even start?
First, I am sick of parents pushing their kids up to the next age level believing their kids are super stars. My son's 4 to 5 year old team has a 3 year old on it. Why? Somebody at the YMCA didn't have the heart to say "No". This supposedly super athlete (made known by his mom) of a three year old is no asset to the team. He is the worst 'flower picker' the team has. I am thinking his mom is eating her words now that we have had a couple of practices. I doubt she'll move him though. She doesn't have to coach the team and deal with him. I imagine she didn't put him in the three year old level, because that would require her involvement. She would have to get out of her lawn chair and play with him.
Tonight I was coaching my daughter's 6 to 7 year old team. A set of parents with a YMCA teenage worker approached me and asked if their supposedly super athletic 5 year old son (kid has never played soccer before) could play on the team. I said, "No. I've got a super athletic 5 year old son too that plays on the 4 to 5 year old level. I have to come up here two nights a week and juggle soccer games on Saturday mornings for two kids on different teams. If all the good 5 year olds leave a team, then that team is likely to be slaughtered by a team that retained its 5 year olds. Besides, your son will enjoy being the best player." These same people were complaining about a 3 year old on their 4 to 5 year team, and I guess they wanted to solve this by prematurely moving their son up too. If I sound too severe, don't worry. I actually did see him play in our practice for about 20 minutes and he clearly wouldn't be the best player on a 4 to 5 year old team either.
The YMCA is completely disorganized this season. My son's team had 18 children on it and the teams only play 7 on a side at game time. Do the math. Is it even worth waking up for on Saturday morning? Managing soccer practice with that many 4 to 5 year olds is a real treat too. I know. I did it yesterday with 17 kids. The Y had said that they shaved the team down to 13, but still 17 showed up yesterday. So I had only 13 uniforms and an incomplete roster. I have moved my son to a different team, so that he can play soccer on Saturday mornings. Hopefully the new team really is as small as the Y says it is and hopefully there are no 3 year olds.
Tonight the Y workers brought out uniforms for my daughters team. Not all of them were the same. The reversible uniforms all had red on one side, but then some had blue and some had white on the other. That is a bit of a problem when we are supposed to play against a red team. What else? When I signed my daughter up for soccer, ALL of the games were suppose to be at the YMCA. Tonight I find out that the Y is changing that. They passed out directions to an offsite location for at least 2 of the games to be played. This means I will likely have to cut myself in half to get both of my kids to their soccer games on these particular Saturday mornings. I've decided to leave my a$$ half at the Y. I didn't have the wherewithal to confront the Y workers out on the field about that. I know they were not the brains of this operation. This reeks of the new management. I'll be contacting the Youth Sports Director soon, and I will be nice. :)
First, I am sick of parents pushing their kids up to the next age level believing their kids are super stars. My son's 4 to 5 year old team has a 3 year old on it. Why? Somebody at the YMCA didn't have the heart to say "No". This supposedly super athlete (made known by his mom) of a three year old is no asset to the team. He is the worst 'flower picker' the team has. I am thinking his mom is eating her words now that we have had a couple of practices. I doubt she'll move him though. She doesn't have to coach the team and deal with him. I imagine she didn't put him in the three year old level, because that would require her involvement. She would have to get out of her lawn chair and play with him.
Tonight I was coaching my daughter's 6 to 7 year old team. A set of parents with a YMCA teenage worker approached me and asked if their supposedly super athletic 5 year old son (kid has never played soccer before) could play on the team. I said, "No. I've got a super athletic 5 year old son too that plays on the 4 to 5 year old level. I have to come up here two nights a week and juggle soccer games on Saturday mornings for two kids on different teams. If all the good 5 year olds leave a team, then that team is likely to be slaughtered by a team that retained its 5 year olds. Besides, your son will enjoy being the best player." These same people were complaining about a 3 year old on their 4 to 5 year team, and I guess they wanted to solve this by prematurely moving their son up too. If I sound too severe, don't worry. I actually did see him play in our practice for about 20 minutes and he clearly wouldn't be the best player on a 4 to 5 year old team either.
The YMCA is completely disorganized this season. My son's team had 18 children on it and the teams only play 7 on a side at game time. Do the math. Is it even worth waking up for on Saturday morning? Managing soccer practice with that many 4 to 5 year olds is a real treat too. I know. I did it yesterday with 17 kids. The Y had said that they shaved the team down to 13, but still 17 showed up yesterday. So I had only 13 uniforms and an incomplete roster. I have moved my son to a different team, so that he can play soccer on Saturday mornings. Hopefully the new team really is as small as the Y says it is and hopefully there are no 3 year olds.
Tonight the Y workers brought out uniforms for my daughters team. Not all of them were the same. The reversible uniforms all had red on one side, but then some had blue and some had white on the other. That is a bit of a problem when we are supposed to play against a red team. What else? When I signed my daughter up for soccer, ALL of the games were suppose to be at the YMCA. Tonight I find out that the Y is changing that. They passed out directions to an offsite location for at least 2 of the games to be played. This means I will likely have to cut myself in half to get both of my kids to their soccer games on these particular Saturday mornings. I've decided to leave my a$$ half at the Y. I didn't have the wherewithal to confront the Y workers out on the field about that. I know they were not the brains of this operation. This reeks of the new management. I'll be contacting the Youth Sports Director soon, and I will be nice. :)
posted by Tiffane | 8:22 PM
1 Comments:
And you have just described why I won't go near the YMCA for any more sports. Brandon's first basketball season was similar, although not nearly as bad. You mentioned that there are 7 kids on a side at a time. With fourteen kids and one ball on the field at one time, how on earth are any of those kids going to get play time - any opportunities to even think about playing? That only encourages the flower-pickers!!!
Although I have issues with how FFPS treats their coaches, I do recognize that they have a good system in place, even for "play ups" and "play downs", and oh, am I ever thankful for it.
I will say, though, that a problem almost as bad pushing the little star athlete up is to deliberately hold one back so that they're the biggest, most dominant player on the team. That chaps my backside as well.
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