My son loses every match...

tdv123

Barcelona youth team loose every game they play as well. But they master there technique & passing ability in these games & by the time they grow up there on there way to being the best team in Europe.

Xavi didnt win a game until he was 25. Sounds like your son is on the right track to me.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

tdv123 wrote: »

Xavi didnt win a game until he was 25.

What?

seafood dunleavy

I remember my first season under 8s,we were terrible lost every game.Next season we got a new manager,same team and we won every game.Theres nothing wrong with experiencing a few defeats,makes it sweeter when you win.

Fittle

tdv123 wrote: »

Barcelona youth team loose every game they play as well. But they master there technique & passing ability in these games & by the time they grow up there on there way to being the best team in Europe.

Xavi didnt win a game until he was 25. Sounds like your son is on the right track to me.

Thanks but eh, link on youtube so he can see that for himself

Fittle

seafood dunleavy wrote: »

I remember my first season under 8s,we were terrible lost every game.Next season we got a new manager,same team and we won every game.Theres nothing wrong with experiencing a few defeats,makes it sweeter when you win.

See I think we need a new manager..but I dare not say coz what would I know about football....alot more than their current manager!!!!

Memnoch

Maybe you should do like the William's sister's dad or Rooney's dad.

Wake up your son an hour early every morning and make him run around the colony while you drive along him.

Then pick up a copy of the Ajax coaching manuals and make him do practice drills to control and pass and shoot for a couple of hours every evening.

Do that every day for the next 6 years (till he's 14) and he'll probably be good enough to get picked up by Premiere league scouts.

Okay, I'm not being serious... but I know a lot of legends in a lot of sports practiced their arses off in their youth, developing reflexes and technique.

Success at sport = Athleticism and technique. Both can be trained(to a point), regardless of talent.

Alternatively. Just let him have fun and encourage him as you have been doing.

Chucky the tree

Here's an interesting article that might be worth a read for you Fittle.

http://northmecksc.org/ClubInfo/Education/ParentEducation/tabid/12153/Default.aspx

CSF

tdv123 wrote: »

Barcelona youth team loose every game they play as well. But they master there technique & passing ability in these games & by the time they grow up there on there way to being the best team in Europe.

Xavi didnt win a game until he was 25. Sounds like your son is on the right track to me.

Pure and utter rubbish.

Fittle

Memnoch wrote: »

Maybe you should do like the William's sister's dad or Rooney's dad.

Wake up your son an hour early every morning and make him run around the colony while you drive along him.

Then pick up a copy of the Ajax coaching manuals and make him do practice drills to control and pass and shoot for a couple of hours every evening.

Do that every day for the next 6 years (till he's 14) and he'll probably be good enough to get picked up by Premiere league scouts.

Okay, I'm not being serious... but I know a lot of legends in a lot of sports practiced their arses off in their youth, developing reflexes and technique.

Success at sport = Athleticism and technique. Both can be trained(to a point), regardless of talent.

Alternatively. Just let him have fun and encourage him as you have been doing.

who woke their kid up an hour early every morning?
We already do the kick/pass sponge ball every evening...but only if he gets a star that day in school...

I am so far from a parent that is trying to encourage his professional career - he just loves football..I spend my evenings/weekends kicking the ball back & forward to him, that's about it (between housework)...and bringing him to his training or matches...

Helix

to be totally blunt here, does the kid show any signs of having the potential to be good enough to even have a chance to be looked at? I know hes young, but when i played ball at that age the lads who ended up getting trials at uk clubs were already streets ahead of the other kids their age, and even then none of them were good enough to go pro

Im all for you supporting him, and at 8 everyone wants to be a footballer, but dont dont go putting ideas in his head that he will. Only a fraction of a percenage of the very best kids even get a sniff, and at that age its usually apparent already which kids will make it

Fittle

Helix wrote: »

Im all for you supporting him, and at 8 everyone wants to be a footballer, but dont dont go putting ideas in his head that he will.

How very Irish of you.

I will continue to encourage his own notions in his own head, until someone else knocks it out of him.

That's my job.

Eirebear

To be honest, he's 8.

He's only just learning how to play the game, results dont matter a jot.

A lot of european countries dont give kids properly compettitive games untill the age of 12, instead concentrating on the fundamentals of the game.

You'd do well to take that kind of attitude into your young lads football, wether he's going to be a superstar or not.

Helix

Fittle wrote: »

How very Irish of you.

I will continue to encourage his own notions in his own head, until someone else knocks it out of him.

That's my job.

theres a huge difference between supporting your kid, and bringing them up in cloud cuckoo land

UpTheSlashers

Sounds like the kid is very moral and loyal for his age, good to see.

Fittle

Helix wrote: »

theres a huge difference between supporting your kid, and bringing them up in cloud cuckoo land

You've a young boy playing u8s football, do you?

Memnoch

There's something endearing about your attitude Fittle. Though slightly on the other side of that ever so thin line between passion and eccentricity.

You'd be happier if you tried to get less worked up over it. But I don't think anyone can not admire your commitment to the happiness of your child.

But you gotta remember, just because you WANT them to be happy, doesn't mean you can force them into it or always make it so. There's a fine line somewhere there also.

Iago

Fittle wrote: »

You've a young boy playing u8s football, do you?

Stop asking these type of questions of people every time they go down a route you disagree on. The answer is irrelevant and it only smacks of you not being able to debate your side of an argument without resorting to it.

There have been a lot of very valid points made in this thread, but they're not points you want to hear. If that's the case then you're better off not starting these threads in the first place.

mikemac

Fittle wrote: »

can see an improvement in them week after week, I really can. They are now almost working as a team. They still don't listen to their coach very well, but have improved 100 per cent since August.

Fittle wrote: »

See I think we need a new manager..but I dare not say coz what would I know about football....alot more than their current manager!!!!

If you think you can do a better job then put yourself forward

But sounds like the coach is doing a fine job with this improvement. It's a new team, they are gettting better together and next season they'll probably be more competitive

As already said, results don't matter at that age

Helix

Fittle wrote: »

You've a young boy playing u8s football, do you?

i can go one better, i used to be a young boy playing u8s football

Fittle

Iago wrote: »

Stop asking these type of questions of people every time they go down a route you disagree on. The answer is irrelevant and it only smacks of you not being able to debate your side of an argument without resorting to it.

There have been a lot of very valid points made in this thread, but they're not points you want to hear. If that's the case then you're better off not starting these threads in the first place.

Every time...

What every time?

I agree that there are very, very valid points made in this thread, but the ones that attack my parenting don't sit well with me...no more than they would sit well with any parent. I ask if that poster has an 8yr old in order to figure if they can appreciate the emotion that is involved when ones 8yr old loses 19 matches out of 19 games.

I thought I was welcome in soccer, but as you are a mod and your comment isn't the most welcoming, perhaps I got that wrong.

Fittle

feelingstressed wrote: »

If you think you can do a better job then put yourself forward

But sounds like the coach is doing a fine job with this improvement. It's a new team, they are gettting better together and next season they'll probably be more competitive

As already said, results don't matter at that age

Cheers, I have already offered my services, more on the admin side of things (collecting subs/keeping in touch with parents etc) but they already have stuff like that at the club - so I've offered, but due to the fact that I can't commit to the training times midweek, they haven't taken me up on it.

stumpypeeps

Fittle wrote: »

Cheers, I have already offered my services, more on the admin side of things (collecting subs/keeping in touch with parents etc) but they already have stuff like that at the club - so I've offered, but due to the fact that I can't commit to the training times midweek, they haven't taken me up on it.

If I was you I'd read a bit of background information on what Spanish clubs, Barcelona in particular, do with kids at that age. They are the blueprint because we are not producing quality footballers here right now.

The likelihood of your son being a professional footballer is remote, moving him to a team that is intent on winning might actually hinder his development as much as help. Let him play football without fear and let him express himself regardless of results.

Iago

Fittle wrote: »

Every time...

What every time?

I agree that there are very, very valid points made in this thread, but the ones that attack my parenting don't sit well with me...no more than they would sit well with any parent. I ask if that poster has an 8yr old in order to figure if they can appreciate the emotion that is involved when ones 8yr old loses 19 matches out of 19 games.

I thought I was welcome in soccer, but as you are a mod and your comment isn't the most welcoming, perhaps I got that wrong.

When I post in bold, I'm posting as a mod. When I post like this, I'm the same as every other user here or in any other forum.

My point is that when you post a thread like this and are asking for advice then you'll get advice you agree with and advice you don't. Whether or not someone is a parent is largely irrelevant when it comes to this subject.

At 7/8 years of age kids should be playing football because they like it and they like being involved in something that involves working with their mates. They don't get wound up about losing every match, even losing every match by multiple goals. Until that is, their parents or people around them impress upon them that this is a bad thing. There may well be tears and recriminations immediately after the game, but they're soon forgotten about.

At your son's age the important things about any sport, in order, are;

1) Enjoying himself
2) Developing as an individual
3) Developing as a team player
4) Building friendships

after all of those by a distance are winning, scoring goals, being man of the match/player of the year.

When it comes to parents encouraging their children through the "of course you can be a professional" then you can do that while tempering it with reality. FIFA did global research in 2001 which stated that over 240 Million people played football in the world. To put that in context there are less than 5,000 professional players in England. Of those, the vast bulk won't make enough money during their career so that they never have to work again.

So you can easily say "of course you can son", but the harsh reality is that it almost takes more luck than ability to make it in the first place and then it takes a whole new level of both luck and ability to make a career and then a whole new level of luck and ability in order to make enough money whereby the career can be the be all and the end all.



tl;dr:

Kids don't care about losing all their games, friendship and development is most important, "of course you can son" but you have to keep practicing.

keane2097

@Fittle: listen to Iago - he's smart and knows exactly what he's talking about in this situation.

bohsman

keane2097 wrote: »

@Fittle: listen to Iago - he's smart and knows exactly what he's talking about in this situation.

I dunno, Id be fairly disappointed in his shoes. :pac:

Godge

I have an U-8 who is mad about sport and outdoor activity. He plays tennis and is in the beavers.

When I looked at team sports I looked at GAA v Soccer. He is not interested in rugby but casually follows the other two. I chose GAA for a number of reasons. At U-8 they don't keep score officially (even though the kids and some mentors do), they don't stream teams, they concentrate on certain skills, if a team is short/has too many they even it up by swapping over players etc.

A recent weekend confirm this for me. We play in a two-team league i.e. against other clubs that also have two teams. My son's team won one game by a large margin and lost the other by a similar margin. Checking with other parents, our other team did the same. I realised that the other club had broken the rules by streaming the teams. The effect was interesting - there was one team from their club that was enjoying it and one who wasn't. By contrast, both of our teams enjoyed the matches.

We all still know the good kids - as always at this age, the bigger ones - and they have the chance to get better but every child gets the chance to experience a win because without the streaming every team will have at least one lucky day.

m@cc@

Fittle wrote: »

He eats, sleeps and drinks football these days, and I do anything and everything I can to help him on his dream of living in Manchester when he's 19

Good God, as does a vast proportion of boys in the same age group but in all likelihood it may not happen. Your boy is happy, surely that's all that matters. If you're stressing about failure at 8 years old, wait until the big trials in life arrive.

Theresalwaysone

What month was he born in? If its in the first 3 months of the year he has a much higher than average chance of actually becoming a professional footballer.

Seriously though, listen to Iago/all those saying "if he's happy, isnt that what matters"

Theresalwaysone

Godge wrote: »

I have an U-8 who is mad about sport and outdoor activity. He plays tennis and is in the beavers.

When I looked at team sports I looked at GAA v Soccer. He is not interested in rugby but casually follows the other two. I chose GAA for a number of reasons.

Just on this, from a developmental point of view. Rugby is leagues ahead of anyother team sport at underage level. GAA and Soccer are improving but will be behind for some bit to come yet.

AstonMartin

Some of the best brazilian players learned barefoot on the mean streets of rio so if taking away his shoes doesnt help then taking away the computer might. If he still is not good enough to pay for the life you deserve then its time to punish him with a lack of food until he can do 100 keepy ups. Train him like a dog and work him like a horse.

Seaneh

the entire youth coaching system in Ireland is archaic.

Most of the better nations in europe have abandoned traditional football before the age of 12 and the kids play Futsol instead as it's much better for developing ball control, passing and movement.

Also, kids don't play on full sized 11-a-side pitches until U15 so they don't develop a tendency to lump it long and having a big Centre Forward isn't much of an advantage. Meaning players have to rely on footballing ability.

In Ireland and the UK we start them on full sized pitches way too early and even before that managers concentrate on winning games (usually playing stoke-like football) rather than actually developing the players.
The manager of the local U11's team cares more that he's won the league for the last 9 years than he does for developing talent in his players, so he just makes them play a system that will win games rather than teach them the game.


The end result is that every level of our game is totally reliant on physique over technique and we produce athletes and not footballers.

This is the reason England tend to do **** in international, they can't play the game at a basic level the same way the other top nations can. They don't know how to hold the ball and create space, they have to resort to kick and rush football 90% of the time.








TL;DR
Find a Futsol club and get your son in there.
He'll end up being a much better player for it...

And if you ever see a coach making them run laps before the age of 17, remove him from the team.

Fittle

The playing for Utd at 19 remark was tongue in cheek of course;)

All advice taken thanks, although I wouldn't have a clue where to find 'Futsol' if I tried. But thanks.

Liam O

buy your kid a ball, send him out to a wall. Get him to kick it against said wall five times with his right foot, control it, then kick five times with his left foot. Easy way of getting a leg up technique wise imo and it's improves touch, control and his weaker foot.

Seaneh

just google Futsol in dublin or something similar.

Its basically football but the ball is smaller and doesn't bounce so it sticks to the ground and encouraged better ball control. It's on a smaller pitch with fewer players and the focus is on technique rather than physique so kids who play it tend to become much better footballers.

Seaneh

also, you basically want him touching the ball all the time. The more he's messing with the ball with his feet, the more used to controlling the ball and knowing how is moves and how to move it, its weight etc...
So just try encourage him to always be messing around with a ball when he's out in the garden or playing with friends etc...

The more often he uses his feet to move the ball the better his ball control will be...

Theresalwaysone

Google Futsal. If you google Futsol it'll only ask you did you mean Futsal so just to save you the clicks.

Fittle

Liam O wrote: »

buy your kid a ball, send him out to a wall. Get him to kick it against said wall five times with his right foot, control it, then kick five times with his left foot. Easy way of getting a leg up technique wise imo and it's improves touch, control and his weaker foot.

He has 5 balls;), 3 of which need to be pumped up:), but none of which he'll throw away....

He also has a sponge ball and he spends his evenings kicking that against the wall in the living room (when I'm in good form and don't tell him to stop ) - he also has a ball of socks (his own invention) that he kicks about up in his bedroom for that extra bit of control....

K-9

Fittle wrote: »

He has 5 balls;), 3 of which need to be pumped up:), but none of which he'll throw away....

He also has a sponge ball and he spends his evenings kicking that against the wall in the living room (when I'm in good form and don't tell him to stop ) - he also has a ball of socks (his own invention) that he kicks about up in his bedroom for that extra bit of control....

That was my invention! Never took on though.

I'd second what the lads are saying, he is enjoying it and is improving and he seems to understand that.

The first win will be all the sweeter, I'll tell you that. My first win at U-10 level in GAA was brilliant, still remember it, we'd took a fair few hammerings at that stage.

Fittle

K-9 wrote: »

That was my invention! Never took on though.

I'd second what the lads are saying, he is enjoying it and is improving and he seems to understand that.

The first win will be all the sweeter, I'll tell you that. My first win at U-10 level in GAA was brilliant, still remember it, we'd took a fair few hammerings at that stage.

When I posted this yesterday, I was so fed up that they'd lost again as i was so sure we'd win:(:( But of course, you're all right, it's not about me, it's about him..yep he enjoys it and is improving every day and long may that last. Thanks again:)

amiable

Fittle wrote: »

When I posted this yesterday, I was so fed up that they'd lost again as i was so sure we'd win:(:( But of course, you're all right, it's not about me, it's about him..yep he enjoys it and is improving every day and long may that last. Thanks again:)

Don't worry Fittle. At 8 it genuinely is about getting kids to take part and play.
It will change as he gets older

dreamers75

Seaneh wrote: »

the entire youth coaching system in Ireland is archaic.

Most of the better nations in europe have abandoned traditional football before the age of 12 and the kids play Futsol instead as it's much better for developing ball control, passing and movement.

SDFL and DDSL and NDSL run Futsal tournaments during the winter in Dublin, fair few places have them.

Dunno about not dublin.

Leiva

So let me get this striaght ...

You have a kid that :

• Loves Football ("eats , sleeps, drinks,football ")
  

• Refuses to miss a game .

• Refuses to loose heart after 10+ straight defeats.

• Refuses to leave/move team.

• Refuses to let the side down.

I tell you something ...You have a very special kid there .

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING !