If I Could Do It All Over Again

I coached my son for 8 years, from U-6 thru U-13. I coached my daughter for 10 years from U-8 thru U-17. I enjoyed the time I spent coaching both my kids. However, I had the most fun watching them play high school soccer coached by someone else.

If I could do it all over again, I would only coach my kids for 2 years, just long enough to introduce them to the game, and then allow them to discover how much fun it is to play this game on their own. I guess my parents knew best.

My dad gave my brother and me two (2) rules while we were growing up playing soccer in our backyard, “

1. “No dents on the car “ ( this is how we learned to chip balls over defenders )

2. “ No broken windows in the house “ ( this is how we became accurate in ball distribution by playing and bouncing balls off walls and doors and avoiding hitting the glass-paned windows )

I was not smart enough to give the same advice to my kids. I tried too long to teach them a game that they could have enjoyed playing on their own.

Please: Ensure you don’t take the “FUN “out of the game. Make sure that your kids grow up playing “A GAME. “ When soccer stops being a game and becomes just another sports activity that your kids have to participate in, we have failed to teach them to love “SOCCER AS A GAME.  “ We don’t have to teach the kids to compete; they will do this on their own as part of growing up.