Why do we play/coach soccer? Why do we spend several hours a week in activities focused on the sport of soccer. Our actions should have a purpose. We spend a lot of time on soccer. What is the purpose of this activity?
Fun? I like to have fun. However, doing something just for the fun of it is often a formula for trouble. True joy can be a result of achievement with a purpose. Fun is something a vandal may say justifies his vandalism. Fun is not a “purpose” for playing soccer.
Achievement? I think this might be it. Improving your soccer skills, growing a team’s chemistry, and putting together a good season are definitely accomplishments which you can be proud of (unlike my grammar).
Our world of soccer is like a simulation of our real world, but in the soccer-world consequences to actions are more immediate and obvious. It has as lot of the same appeal as many video games, but with the very important difference that it is not completely imaginary. It gives us an opportunity to achieve. The lessons learned can translate out of the micro-world of soccer and into the macro-world of everyday life.
As a recreational youth soccer coach, what am I trying to achieve? I think the key phrase here is coach. A youth coach, like a teacher, has to have the child’s achievements as his primary goal. I think where things get conflicting is that as a coach, we tend to adopt a professional coach’s metric and judge our achievement by wins. This causes us to put our achievements as a coach (wins) above the achievements of the players. There is no doubt, prioritizing winning will cause a coach to sacrifice player-learning in order to achieve the desired results. As a recreational coach, I have to have the discipline to prioritize the child’s achievements. If I actually think about it, those are the achievements that give me the greatest joy.
There are teams where everyone knows going in that the primary goal is winning. That’s fine, but on these teams, the parents and players are also conceding that player development will be secondary; I guess to them its worth it. On my teams, parents should know that the priority will be on player development. It will cost us some wins, but it’s worth it.
Fun? I like to have fun. However, doing something just for the fun of it is often a formula for trouble. True joy can be a result of achievement with a purpose. Fun is something a vandal may say justifies his vandalism. Fun is not a “purpose” for playing soccer.
Achievement? I think this might be it. Improving your soccer skills, growing a team’s chemistry, and putting together a good season are definitely accomplishments which you can be proud of (unlike my grammar).
Our world of soccer is like a simulation of our real world, but in the soccer-world consequences to actions are more immediate and obvious. It has as lot of the same appeal as many video games, but with the very important difference that it is not completely imaginary. It gives us an opportunity to achieve. The lessons learned can translate out of the micro-world of soccer and into the macro-world of everyday life.
As a recreational youth soccer coach, what am I trying to achieve? I think the key phrase here is coach. A youth coach, like a teacher, has to have the child’s achievements as his primary goal. I think where things get conflicting is that as a coach, we tend to adopt a professional coach’s metric and judge our achievement by wins. This causes us to put our achievements as a coach (wins) above the achievements of the players. There is no doubt, prioritizing winning will cause a coach to sacrifice player-learning in order to achieve the desired results. As a recreational coach, I have to have the discipline to prioritize the child’s achievements. If I actually think about it, those are the achievements that give me the greatest joy.
There are teams where everyone knows going in that the primary goal is winning. That’s fine, but on these teams, the parents and players are also conceding that player development will be secondary; I guess to them its worth it. On my teams, parents should know that the priority will be on player development. It will cost us some wins, but it’s worth it.
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