Fun: The Focus of Recreation Soccer
Recreation soccer years are some of the most important years of a kid’s life in sports. In two weeks the beehive state will have five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten year olds outside playing soccer and what we will see is a swarm of kids fighting over the ball… hopefully having fun! Some will kick it the wrong way, some will fall down, some will chase butterflies and some will be more interested in what mom and dad are doing on the sideline. It is inspiring to view soccer through the mind of a youngster as they view it so much differently than we do. Kids love to play! Hopefully, we as adults can let them enjoy their “play time.” The true success at the younger ages is determined by how much they enjoy their time on the park. Below is an excerpt from the U.S. Youth Soccer Association’s “Vision Document” that should help remind us that we need to let kids be kids.
There are already a multitude of articles saying that winning and losing are not the correct measures of success in youth soccer, instead we should measure the development of the players. OK, perfect. The next obvious follow-up question then is, “How do we measure the development of a single player?” If US Youth Soccer can answer this question in a way that is helpful to committed coaches and understandable to parents with limited playing experience (and paying the money to have their kids involved), they may be able to turn this overly organized youth soccer system of ours into a much more effective development program.
-Cary McCormick
Arlington, VA
“TRUTHS” about children and sports
-Fun is pivotal - if it’s not “fun,” young people won’t play a sport
-Skill development is a crucial aspect of fun - it is more important than winning even among the best athletes
-The most rewarding challenges of sports are those that lead to self knowledge
-Intrinsic rewards (self-knowledge that grows out of self-competition) are more important in creating lifetime athletes than are extrinsic rewards (victory or attention from others).
During childhood allow the kids to have a good time playing the game while instilling the passion to love playing soccer on their own. Only a passion for the game can lead to success. “Success is something players take ownership of and in time it becomes personally meaningful. Success is a process, not a product. The process of doing one’s best is the key to success. The determining criterion of success is whether a player gave his or her best that day. Doing one’s best is the most important statement a player can make about the importance of an activity and the meaning it has. With years of experience comes self-knowledge and self-awareness. So players learn over time what it means to do your best, to give 100%.”
Winning isn’t everything, but trying to is!
–Rainer Martens, sports psychologist
Motives for Participation in Youth Sport
Reasons for Participating in Non-school Sports
(study of 3,900 7th to 12th graders)
Boys
1. To have fun
2. To do something I’m good at
3. To improve my skills
4. For the excitement of competition
5. To stay in shape
6. For the challenge of competition
7. To get exercise
8. To learn new skills
9. To play as part of a team
10. To go to a higher level of competition
Girls
1. To have fun
2. To stay in shape
3. To get exercise
4. To improve my skills
5. To do something I am good at
6. To learn new skills
7. For the excitement of competition
8. To play as part of a team
9. To make new friends
10. For the challenge of competition
Truths & Motives for Participation
1. The motive to have fun and to enjoy participating in sport.
2. The motive to learn new skills and to improve on existing sports skills.
3. The motive to become physically fit and to enjoy good health
4. The motive to enjoy the challenge and excitement of sports participation and competition.
5. The motive to enjoy a team atmosphere and to be with friends.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PARENTS
-Remember the “truths” and talk to your children with them in mind. After a game, ask questions about “fun,” “skill improvement,” “learning experiences” and “having a good time with friends.”
-See yourself as part of the team and supportive of the coach; avoid setting up a conflict in your child’s mind between his or her parents and coaches. If you want to affect the coaching, volunteer to help.
-Develop perspective: remember what you could do at your children’s ages; don’t judge them by what you can do now. Kids will not become great players overnight. Develop an understanding of what your children want from sports—not all children want the same things. Determine if they want to be involved at all.
Basic Urges of Children
-Movement
-Success and Approval
-Peer Acceptance & Social Competence
-Cooperation & Competition
-Physical Fitness & Attractiveness
-Adventure
-Creative Satisfaction
-Rhythmic Expression
-To Know
Note: winning alone is not a motive for participation by boys and girls.
We are asking our players to compete before they have learned how to play.
-Jay Miller, U17 Men’s National Team coach 2001
In general the benefits of youth sports for children include character building, dealing with obstacles, dealing with losing, humility in winning, dealing with competition, leadership growth opportunities, cooperative skills, social skills and so on. We employ soccer to develop well adjusted, good citizens.
Coaches, thank you so much for helping our young kids develop in to great citizens. The sport is beautiful because it teaches us so much about life. I hope that we can take advantage of this time and allow the kids in our district learn great life principles as they improve their skills and develop a passion for the “beautiful game” that is soccer.
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