Kids Soccer: Don't Be Seduced To The Dark Side Of Soccer

The question that gets thrown around all over the net is

“When will my child be old enough to compete?”

The question is so generic that if you offered a solution, your level of expertise or knowledge should be questioned. But to help answer this question, I’ve devised another one.

“When will you be comfortable with allowing your child to compete?”

Without a shadow of a doubt, the age of your child is important. If you were to watch your child compete in high school, most parents, yourself included could remain calm and relaxed. But on the other hand, watching your young child play in juniors will inevitably bring out all the protective urges you have as a parent. Why?

Most parents can remain calm watching high school soccer or senior soccer because they know that their child can handle and protect themselves. But what happens and how do you feel when your young child is threatened? Most parents react by intervening. They try and fix the problem or threat by yelling out to the referee, by yelling at the opposing child or in extreme cases walk onto the field and stop proceedings.

When supporters, parents and people in the stands witness this they tend to label the parent “crazy”. Is it crazy? A parent wanting to protect his child is perfectly normal don’t you think?

The problem in kids soccer is not the “crazy” parents. Kids soccer is plagued by the levels of competition and the unrealistic goals of some coaches. This indirectly becomes your fault because you’ve placed your child in these very competitive situations. With that said, the question remains,

“When will you be comfortable with allowing your child to compete?”

How would you react to your child being tackled, tripped, hurt, yelled at and even left out of the team? All these things will happen in competitive soccer, they are a part of the game. Can you handle it?

Before parents introduce their child to soccer they should consider a few things.

• Don’t enrol your child in soccer clinics that encourage competition. How easy is it to pick 2 teams and have them play competitive games against each other. The answer is very easy and anyone could host these clinics. Big deal.
• Look for clinics that teach your children to play soccer. How hard is it to get a group of 6 year olds to play soccer? Not only to play soccer but to actually learn the basic skills required for soccer.
• Look for levels of enjoyment. Do the other children enjoy themselves? Chances are that if the other children are not having fun, neither will yours.
• Last but not least, what do you hope they get out of playing?

Parents should not be seduced by competition. Parents should not accept any soccer clinics without examining the effects these clinics will have on their children. Competition should be introduced after a steady and progressive period of learning. This way you, as the parent, will also be ready for competitive soccer.