Junior Football - Advice

[Maximus Decimus]

Hi all,

Was wondering if anybody knows anything about junior football or even junior sport in general.

Basically, my lad starting playing football a couple of years ago because his mates all went the local football club. As he wasn't that into sport, he wasn't at the level of a lot of the other kids but he was enjoying going training etc.

He's got a lot better but he's still one of the lower-quality players. He's in a situation with his U9s team where he alternates with another boy for weekly matches. Someone involved in junior RL has told me in the past that this isn't really what they're supposed to do, but I didn't mind as they were the last two in and I get how developmentally my lad isn't at where some of the other lads are.

However, my lad is good friends with the coach's lad and he came home the other day saying he'd heard something unfair. The coach's son said that a new lad that had recently joined would be taking his place and that he and the other boy would be going back to only playing if somebody else couldn't make it. Whilst not a world-beater, the new lad is better than them both.

Obviously, I was annoyed by this even if isn't necessarily definitely true. I spoke with my lad, and said if it happened we would be better leaving than being treated like that. He goes training every week and has been doing parkrun and tennis in the off-season to try and boost his fitness. For someone new to come in and be given a place above him because he is better, doesn't seem to be in the spirit of junior sport IMO.

However, I was wondering if anybody knew whether this is just a bit shady or actually against any kind of FA code or something more general to do with junior sport. For instance, I know they never post results after the game, which I always took to be a gamewide policy to make it less about winning.

If and when the coach raises it, I'd like to be able to speak from a position of knowledge and even complain if there was an avenue for that.

 

[gingerjon]

56 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Hi all,

Was wondering if anybody knows anything about junior football or even junior sport in general.

Basically, my lad starting playing football a couple of years ago because his mates all went the local football club. As he wasn't that into sport, he wasn't at the level of a lot of the other kids but he was enjoying going training etc.

He's got a lot better but he's still one of the lower-quality players. He's in a situation with his U9s team where he alternates with another boy for weekly matches. Someone involved in junior RL has told me in the past that this isn't really what they're supposed to do, but I didn't mind as they were the last two in and I get how developmentally my lad isn't at where some of the other lads are.

However, my lad is good friends with the coach's lad and he came home the other day saying he'd heard something unfair. The coach's son said that a new lad that had recently joined would be taking his place and that he and the other boy would be going back to only playing if somebody else couldn't make it. Whilst not a world-beater, the new lad is better than them both.

Obviously, I was annoyed by this even if isn't necessarily definitely true. I spoke with my lad, and said if it happened we would be better leaving than being treated like that. He goes training every week and has been doing parkrun and tennis in the off-season to try and boost his fitness. For someone new to come in and be given a place above him because he is better, doesn't seem to be in the spirit of junior sport IMO.

However, I was wondering if anybody knew whether this is just a bit shady or actually against any kind of FA code or something more general to do with junior sport. For instance, I know they never post results after the game, which I always took to be a gamewide policy to make it less about winning.

If and when the coach raises it, I'd like to be able to speak from a position of knowledge and even complain if there was an avenue for that.

 

The only advice I would give is talk to other parents. Round here it is pretty well known which teams/clubs are serious about winning and so will do what you've described and which ones are more for a knockabout where everyone gets minutes and (there are a *lot* of football teams here) which ones are about skills etc etc. Kids move about a fair bit until they find the right club - or decide (in Tiny Ginger's case) that actually they prefer doing theatre club, which is a whole other kettle of fish.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

My oldest girls football team has had its fair share of dramas with parents complaining about time on pitch .....we are quite strict at sticking to things so have stuck to the same team despite lots of movements of other kids to and from other teams. Over 3 years he has taken my girl from being the worst on the team to being one of the best ....consistency key. 

Some dads in particular have been embarrassing in their touchline antics etc and WhatsApp over serious concerns etc....it's U11 girls football for God's sake!

Our girl's netball teams are completely different....very inclusive and Netball England have very specific sheets that coaches have to use so each player gets rotated into different positions equally ...some truly awful goal shooters get the same time at shooting as the best ones! 

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Here's a nice story for you. 9 year old girl who's only been playing football for a year has been signed by Hull City women. 

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/betsy-9-signed-hull-city-8584046

[Maximus Decimus]

16 hours ago, gingerjon said:

The only advice I would give is talk to other parents. Round here it is pretty well known which teams/clubs are serious about winning and so will do what you've described and which ones are more for a knockabout where everyone gets minutes and (there are a *lot* of football teams here) which ones are about skills etc etc. Kids move about a fair bit until they find the right club - or decide (in Tiny Ginger's case) that actually they prefer doing theatre club, which is a whole other kettle of fish.

Thanks. Funnily enough, despite being a sports mad kid I ended up spending my youth as a performer. It certainly isn't without it's pitfalls but at least it isn't as obviously competitive.

I suppose I'll just have to wait to see what the coach says when it comes up. It would be a shame because his team are generally the nicer ones, whereas the other team is much less pleasant.

[Maximus Decimus]

14 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

My oldest girls football team has had its fair share of dramas with parents complaining about time on pitch .....we are quite strict at sticking to things so have stuck to the same team despite lots of movements of other kids to and from other teams. Over 3 years he has taken my girl from being the worst on the team to being one of the best ....consistency key. 

Some dads in particular have been embarrassing in their touchline antics etc and WhatsApp over serious concerns etc....it's U11 girls football for God's sake!

Our girl's netball teams are completely different....very inclusive and Netball England have very specific sheets that coaches have to use so each player gets rotated into different positions equally ...some truly awful goal shooters get the same time at shooting as the best ones! 

 

It probably hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be parents wise but his team are the second team, formed after they got enough numbers to expand. Traditionally, they've lost a lot of matches and have only recently improved.

I can see it in the other team though who they train with.

I wonder whether other sports are more accommodating because of the struggle for numbers, whereas football never has to worry about that.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

2 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

It probably hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be parents wise but his team are the second team, formed after they got enough numbers to expand. Traditionally, they've lost a lot of matches and have only recently improved.

I can see it in the other team though who they train with.

I wonder whether other sports are more accommodating because of the struggle for numbers, whereas football never has to worry about that.

Girls football has exploded...at U8 there were 6 teams across here...lots of travelling between Bedford, Luton, Aylesbury, MK ....there are now nearly 30 teams and league fixtures going to be mostly in one town 

I think girls football is generally more inclusive....as I sat their netball is a LOT more inclusive with strict rules about all participating evenly (for now at least)

[Northern Eel]

On 07/07/2023 at 21:06, Maximus Decimus said:

Hi all,

Was wondering if anybody knows anything about junior football or even junior sport in general.

Basically, my lad starting playing football a couple of years ago because his mates all went the local football club. As he wasn't that into sport, he wasn't at the level of a lot of the other kids but he was enjoying going training etc.

He's got a lot better but he's still one of the lower-quality players. He's in a situation with his U9s team where he alternates with another boy for weekly matches. Someone involved in junior RL has told me in the past that this isn't really what they're supposed to do, but I didn't mind as they were the last two in and I get how developmentally my lad isn't at where some of the other lads are.

However, my lad is good friends with the coach's lad and he came home the other day saying he'd heard something unfair. The coach's son said that a new lad that had recently joined would be taking his place and that he and the other boy would be going back to only playing if somebody else couldn't make it. Whilst not a world-beater, the new lad is better than them both.

Obviously, I was annoyed by this even if isn't necessarily definitely true. I spoke with my lad, and said if it happened we would be better leaving than being treated like that. He goes training every week and has been doing parkrun and tennis in the off-season to try and boost his fitness. For someone new to come in and be given a place above him because he is better, doesn't seem to be in the spirit of junior sport IMO.

However, I was wondering if anybody knew whether this is just a bit shady or actually against any kind of FA code or something more general to do with junior sport. For instance, I know they never post results after the game, which I always took to be a gamewide policy to make it less about winning.

If and when the coach raises it, I'd like to be able to speak from a position of knowledge and even complain if there was an avenue for that.

 

I've seen all of this with my own lad, in almost exact circumstances. One of the restrictions clubs have is that they are only allowed to sign a certain number of players for a squad, by the FA. This seems to create this sort of competition for places that you describe.  It doesn't sit right with me, but sadly, it seems quite common in soccer.

My lad spends much longer travelling to games that he actually gets on the pitch, but he seems to want to stick at it to be with his mates. I am fine with that, but really dislike the atmosphere around junior football, so rarely attend. Happily, his mother understands my reluctance and takes him instead.

[Copa]

My kids did a huge amount of junior sport across a wide range of sports across winter and summer sports.

The best I’ve seen at keeping kids engaged, entertained, socially developed, physically active etc all gave similar levels of match time regardless of skill level.

This made the kids happy as they could grow up playing sport with their mates and the parents were happy with that too. It kept it feeling like a community event with the focus being on the development of the kids as people. Player retention over the years was strong when this was the case.

The worst was a junior soccer coach (UK migrant) who thought he was coaching in the EPL with 12 year olds. So many kids never returned after that and my son quit soccer forever after that.

I sometimes think some clubs should openly promote “equal playing time” and hoover up all the kids and parents who just want to play sport for fun.

Find a team that fits what you and your child thinks is a good fit and you can’t go wrong.