Mason SAY Soccer

A Kid’s Perspective

A mother was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her teenage son. Suddenly the boy bursts into the kitchen. "Careful! Careful! Put in some more butter! Oh my goodness! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful!...CAREFUL! I said CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!" The mother stared at him. "What's wrong with you? You think I don't now how to fry a couple of eggs?" The son calmly replied, "I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm trying to play soccer."

To Do Today: Please forgive your parents--we know not what we do!

Ten Tips to be a Better Soccer Parent

Soccer is a team sport
Our children are on a team, not us
If you think your child is better than the other children on the team, congratulations - you probably fall into the majority of soccer parents. However, this is largely irrelevant (see tip #1)
If you want your child to improve his/her skills and performance, then leave it to the coaches. The parents' jobs are to: pay, drive and offer positive support
If you think you can offer advice to one of the coaches, then see the team manager and arrange to take the coaching certification exam. If you want to coach from the touchlines without coming to team practices, team meetings, team camps, coaches clinics or coaches meetings, keep the thought to yourself until you can watch soccer on tv
Although coaching advice from parents is generally not appreciated, communication is very important. If anything at all is bothering your child, let the coach know as soon as possible so that he/she has an opportunity to adjust if possible to make your child experience more rewarding and enjoyable. If you really want to destroy a team, tell everyone... but the coach about your child's problem. Talk about it and complain about it with the other parents all season and never the one person who can fix it know there is a concern.
If you think you can offer good advice to a game official... (see tip #5)
A soccer match is not won or lost by any child ( see tip #1)
To play well during the season, our children must come together as a team and support, communicate with and trust each other. The coaches and children will accomplish this if we don't undermine their efforts. However, if you disagree with the foregoing statements, undermining can be accomplished by using any of the following tactics: criticizing the efforts of your child, telling your child he/she is the most/least important and best/worst player on the team, telling your child that another child on the team is lousy or has deficiencies, yelling negative comments during practices or games, criticizing the decisions or strategies of the coaches, claming that victory or defeat was the responsibility of any child.
Follow the rules and use good judgment and everyone will have a great season.

While enthusiasm and cheering can be inspiring, and it is natural to get caught up in the emotion of the game, soccer parents should take care to follow proper sideline etiquette.

Cheer, don’t coach. Avoid yelling specific instructions and issuing commands. This can be extremely confusing for a child and possibly contrary to the coach’s instruction.
Avoid running up and down the sidelines shouting. If you want to follow the action, make sure that you don’t distract the players or block the view of other spectators.
Keep some comments to yourself. Do not speak out to the referee or linesman. Unless they are complimentary, do not direct comments to the members of the opposition. Remember parents can be red carded too!!
Stay away from the goals. In many youth leagues, standing behind the goal is prohibited.
Stand, or sit, at least 3 to 5 yards back from the sidelines (touchlines). Again this is a rule in many youth leagues.
Demonstrate good sportsmanship by applauding exceptional moves by the opposition.
Practice silence. Sometimes it is more relaxing for both parents and players, and you will likely view the game differently as well.
Ask your children if they like you to cheer. The answer may surprise you.
Be positive, never negative. If a child loses the ball, for example, “Way to hustle.” Is much better than “You can get that ball.”