The Grassroots Sports Thread

[Sweeting]

@Limiescouse

Funny comments about the girls being a more enjoyable experience than coaching the boys. Back when I was in uni the coach of the women’s team used to put on showcases for girls being recruited. They were structured like full games, but with players subbed in and out and even going back and forth between teams over the course of the 2-3 hours games so the result or score didnt matter at all. The only concern for everyone should be how well are you presenting yourself to the watching coaches, and that is best served by allowing as much football to be played as possible - if there is an advantage to be played we’ll play it, if the offside is tight we’ll let it go. I was roped into reffing several of them and I have never been so badly abused in my life

When I took the job I was warned that it was a mostly low-income group with disinterested parents who don’t like authority, with that info one of the first things I did when I came in as coach is implement pretty strict rules about swearing and referee conduct. Anyone who swears at practice or during a game earns 10 burpees for the entire team. Arguing with a referee is three laps of the field. After two practices this behaviour was pretty much eliminated. I’ve never had a single kid so much as throw a nasty look at the ref.

But as it happens the characterization of the group proved to be incorrect anyway, I have 20 of the nicest girls you could wish to meet. It was more likely that the former coach was incompetant (and trying to sleep with one of the players).

[koptician]

@Sweeting

(and trying to sleep with one of the players).

[Sweeting]

@koptician

@Sweeting

(and trying to sleep with one of the players).

Yeah unfortunately true. He was a teacher at the school too. Literally a week after I joined the team as a volunteer coach we had a pre-season tournament where some parents heard him make some remarks to a player that were not appropriate. The players mother asked her daughter about it and she came forward to show the text messages she had been exchanging with him. Luckily it hadn’t gone too far at that point but it was way past acceptable. He was fired as the soccer coach, and I was promoted in his place, but he kept his job as a teacher (although he has now left the school and is not working with kids anymore).

[Quicksand]

Glad he isn’t working with kids.

Fair play for instilling that bit of discipline. It makes a huge difference to the group dynamic

[CanuckoLFC]

@koptician

Don’t they have draws/ties in the NHL?

I have not followed NHL since the strike(s)/lockedout(s). I understand that the “new system” is that:
The NHL point system awards 2 points for a win, 1 point for a loss in overtime or a shootout, and 0 points for a regulation loss. This system helps determine team standings throughout the season.

[wyld.at.hrt]

@wyld.at.hrt

Anyways, if our Academy teams are beasts, our representative teams are monsters because they combine the best of both Academies and at KZN Trials, are unbeaten for two years (touch wood, the u-13’s which now includes my son are away at trials in two weeks ). From the South Coast, over the past few years there are two South Coast lads who have come through this proving ground and are Dolphins u-16 and u-15 now and attending a powerhouse Durban school via scholarships while a few more have won acceptance into other powerhouse Durban boarding schools thanks to their prowess.

So, this happened this weekend. Was supposed to be three days of cricket but two days got washed out with only a 25 over game today. Absolutely fuming; one of the coaches of our team might very well, and probably has, cost my son a shot into the next round of trials by sticking him lbw when he was on 19 and looking the business. Hit him on the upper inner thigh on the pull, has a mark to show for it as well which he showed the coaching team.

Guy comes up to me as we going home to tell me to tell my kid not to walk across to which I ignored and walked away as parents of other kids from my Academy were present plus with my position, I have a bit of a standard to maintain but jeepers, what a fucking pompous, ignorant twat. Anyways, dominant team as usual, though but we not getting anyone through to the next round, selectors are looking for individuals and while we blew away the team we played, our sure fire prospects didn’t get anything substantial; my son, who got a clanger and another brilliant kid got run out for 0 by his partner.

We await the release of the next phase but entirely deflated this evening. Writing seems to be in the wall when looking at stats from other games and seeing kids get 70’s and 80’s and 5vers in shortened games.

[Sweeting]

6-2 win for the girls last night in what is definitely our best result since I became coach - we beat a very decent team.

Last season we started to improve but if we got a win or a draw it felt like a monumental effort to get it - this result was different as it just felt routine.

14 goals scored in the first 5 games. Last season we scored 15 goals in 15 games. Star striker has 9, last season she finished with 8.

[Sweeting]

Massive win for us today going away from home to a rival school on their homecoming day and winning 3-1. First time we’ve even scored at their field in something like 10 years nevermind won the game.

My star player now has 16 goals and 2 assists in 9 games. After losing 3 of our first 4 games we have now lost just once in our last 5 and have a record of 4 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw. Averaging more than 2 goals a game (23 scored in 9 games).

The win also moves us up into a playoff spot that would give us a home tie in the first round. The school hasn’t hosted a home playoff game in over 20 years.

[Sweeting]

Two updates for me…

1. My son won the state championship for “soccer shoot” today (its a skills game based on shooting and earning points for placement). He had to win two previous rounds and today won the statewide competition. He’s now going to New York for the Northeast regionals to represent Maine.

2. Girls team are on a 6 game unbeaten run, 5 of those were wins. Its our longest unbeaten run since 2010. Over the last 8 games we have 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss (the loss was a 3-2 away loss away at the #1 team). We now sit in 7th place out of 18 and with two games left are guaranteed to make the playoffs.

[Quicksand]

Best of all.
Its all honest.

[mackie]

Somewhere in China, somebody is betting 100k USD on the outcome of the next game.

[GratefulRed]

Update on the U10 grassroots boys team I coach.

Just a fun story from this weekend. While the kids definitely keep score, nothing is tracked officially at this age. We were heavily beaten in our first two games, drew the next one, and have now won our last three, including a rematch against one of the teams that comfortably beat us earlier in the season.

After the game, one of the dads came over to chat. He’s genuinely one of the nicest people you’ll meet, but every now and then we have a funny communication mix-up because English isn’t his first language.

He came up and asked, “Are we good?”

I thought he was talking about field dues, uniforms, paperwork, something along those lines, so I said, “Yep, you’re all good.”

He looked at me and asked again, “So, we are good?”

At this point I was a little confused. We’re halfway through the season and everything had been sorted for weeks, but I reassured him again that everything was fine.

Finally laughed, pointed toward the field, and said, “No, we are good now. We play good!”

Turns out he wasn’t asking a question at all. He’d come over to tell me how much the boys had improved since the start of the season.

We both had a good laugh once I realized what he meant, and honestly it was a really nice moment. The kids have worked incredibly hard, and hearing a parent recognize how far they’ve come meant a lot.