Right where do I start?
For over a decade I have been involved in the local football league. During this period I have spent time as a coach, mentor, referee, physio, kit man, refreshments stall worker etc. For the past two years I’ve been spending my Sundays as a League Rep at local youth games.
Recently I came across a team I briefly coached a couple of years ago. Lads of 9 years age now but I noticed a couple of the lads I remembered were missing. I asked some of the parents where these lads were. I assumed they had been lured away by the modern life of computer games and had lost interest in football. A parent rather sheepishly told me that they had been ‘released’ as they weren’t of the standard of the others. I asked them if they thought that was fair to them. The parent agreed it was slightly underhand but understood the coach’s views.
My response was “the team has a coach”? The parent was taken aback and I carried on by telling him that if he was any kind of coach then dropping kids and replacing them with better ability kids isn’t coaching. A coach can bring out ability. I’m not saying a Pele can be created from nothing but given good coaching a kid can be taught to play the game well. These kids who were cast aside were good kids with equally good parents and it makes me genuinely sad to think these kids have been removed from a team with their mates due to the fact that their coach lacks the skills to develop them. I left the parents with a warning that a coach with such a big ego will always be looking for better players and to watch their backs because if their kids fail to perform their coach won’t have any hesitation in replacing them too.
This sadly happens all too often and these coaches should hang their heads in shame. They bandy words like ‘development’ and ‘respect’ around……………..rubbish, talk is cheap and their actions speak far louder than their hypocritical rhetoric. Hats off to the genuine coaches out there developing kids with skills and attributes that will enhance their lives rather than the ‘poach not coach’ types so desperate to win games to massage their egos. I’m afraid the youth football at grassroots level is in a dire situation in this country.
Yours in Sport
Phil
This exact thing has just happened to my son. I came across this post whilst I was looking to see if this thing happened regularly and even if it was allowed! It rally stick a cord, my son has been with his team for over a year, training with them for months the year before as he joined mid season so was not able to be signed. I was informed this week by the “coach” that my son was not going to be resigned simply due to his ability, now whilst I agree he is not a world beater he is a good kid that tries his heart out, he has made great friend and loves the team and I feel this has now been taken from him without any thought for his well being. I also whole heartedly believe the same “ability standards” have not been applied to other children when it comes to making a decision on resigning them ! I am now looking for a new team for him but fear his confidence is now totally shot.
This has just happened to my 8 year old daughter! Played with a team for over a year, most are good friends and all great kids. She is a useful and good player, yet there are quite a few stand out players in the team. They have been doing very well and i fear the coaches have just got an appetitite to win as much as they can that it is at the expense of some very committed, motivated kids. I am determined not to let this put her off- especially when it was been something she enjoyed and loved. The statistics are against her with 70% of girls dropping out of sport by age 13 – why why why are we not encouraging and coaching these girls to just go for it, have fun and play the best they can whilst they are 8!!!!
I would be interested of any other relevant resources, comments or support links. I am not sure how to raise the profile of this kind of thing happening and feel i want to call them up on it!
This happened to my son. I got a text via Whasap last night from my son’s coach stating that my son who is 8 in Aug will not be re-signed as they feel they can’t develop him further and how he would benefit from a different coaching style and environment. Please bear in mind my son attended training yesterday and to get this text a few hours later was very surprising to me. My son has been training with this team for over a year and is one of the top scorer’s. I am so upset for my son and just in disbelief on the unprofessionalism and poor pathetic excuse.
We are going through this with my son now. He’s 10 and has been in this team for 6 years! He adores the team and the coaches and attends all training, matches and tournaments with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. He’s now only on the bench for games Along with 3 others and we’ve been advised they are searching for stronger players to ‘bulk up the team’ for next season and the weaker players will likely be allowed to the training only or dropped completely. Coach wants the ‘strongest team’ for all games as he want to be in the top division until they are 16!
Im gutted for my son and the others who have given everything to this team.
No thought for mental health and well-being. What a way to destroy the confidence of these lads.
Report them to the FA. This goes against all coaching guidelines!
I do get why this shouldn’t be happening and I see it a lot with players who aren’t as strong as others in the team but are trying and still developing at their own pace. In my kids team we have players of different standards and yes sometimes my husband, the coach, would love to just play the stronger ones but he doesn’t. Fair game time is key. However a couple of years ago he had a player who really couldn’t play. At all. He couldn’t tackle, pass, shoot, anything really in a game. He didn’t get involved and looked scared of the ball. It was really frustrating for the other players as they were always ‘a man down’ when he was on. They went through phases of trying to get him involved, including passing to him every time and giving it to him when he was straight infront of goal (they were already 4-0 up) but it would just bounce off his leg or he would kick it badly. Some games he would be on for half the game but would only touch the ball a few times. In the end my husband did point out that as the games got more competitive he was going to really struggle. My husband said to me ‘if he played tennis and put the ball in the net every single shot , every single game he played he probably wouldn’t carry on but because it is a team sport the other players can carry him.’
Eventually he did say to the parents that he didn’t think the child would cope the next season playing matches and offered him training only so that he could try and develop – after a big moan and some actually quite offensive behaviour to my volunteer husband they decided to take him away completely.
This has just happened to my 8 year old (yes 8 years old!) son, the coach needed to ‘trim the squad down’ to be competitive and my boy was part of that trimming.
He loved playing football every Saturday morning and being part of a team he has been a part of for 3 years.
Oh, did I also mention this is a school team with the school not involved or know what is going on…