Dragon...I once started to write a TONGUE-IN-CHEEK list called "What every U-11 select soccer coach wishes parents knew." I've kept it under wraps until now, but since most of it fits in the 'delusional' category, I'll unveil it. And I welcome your fearless readers to add to the list!
Anyways, here's what every U-11 select soccer coach wishes parents knew and understood:
-- Just because your DS or DD scored 65 goals in U-10 rec soccer doesn't mean they are going to be a forward in select soccer, because every other kid that makes the team also scored 65 goals in U-10 rec soccer.
-- Most U-11 select teams don't play a 0-0-8 system, prefering instead to play systems such as 3-3-2, 3-2-3, 4-3-1, 3-4-1, or 2-4-2, which means that most likely there will at most only be two or three forwards in the lineup. That means that the remaining five or six or seven field players (all of whom are viewed by their parents as the second coming of Manchester United savior Wayne Rooney) will have the distasteful and unglamorous duty of playing in the midfield and defensive lines, and dare I suggest it -- in goal.
-- Unlike rec soccer, select soccer teams don't usually put their slowest players in the back three or the back four. In fact, really good select soccer teams usually don't have really slow players.
-- Select soccer teams like to put very fast, aggressive players in defensive positions, because the forwards they will be facing are very fast, aggressive players. This, of course, runs contrary to the thinking of the average rec parent/coach, who figures they will put their slowest players in the back because they can't do anything else.
-- Unlike U-10 rec soccer, forwards in select soccer aren't usually able to dribble from one end of the field to the other and score every time they touch the ball. And if they CAN do that in select soccer, they need to playing up a year, or two, or maybe trying out for the National team.
-- If your DD or DS is on a C team at U-11, you probably will not be beating a rival club's A and B teams. There is a reason DD and DS are on the C team -- it's because DD or DS is not good enough to make the A or B team.
-- If you are on a C team at U-11, you will be spending most ALL of your time on technique and skill. Mainly because that's what all U-11 players should be doing, and secondly, because that's also another reason DD or DS is on the C team -- they need to get a lot better!
-- Just because your trainer has an English accent doesn't mean your DD or DS is going to get a better soccer education, mainly because English as the English speak it in some parts of England is a foreign language. Even those of us who have been around our English coaching colleagues for years can't understand someone from Bolton and other parts of Northern England. Heck, even natives of England can't understand people from Bolton (I personally am convinced that Boltonites are descendants of a lost Celtic tribe; why else would the professional club there be called Wanderers?). And an interpreter is an absolute must when my colleagues from Liverpool and Manchester try to communicate with each other. That being said, there are certain benefits to having English trainers and coaches. Otherwise, how would the average Beatles' fan in the U.S. -- like me -- know that Abbey Road is NOT in Liverpool, but is actually in London. (Speaking of the Beatles, I once overheard one of my English coaching colleagues say "You do realize that the original Strawberry Fields are not in Marysville!!!!!!")
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Topic: "Delusion" ~ the Designer Drug of choice for all CP's? (Read 1451 times)