By Tim Bradbury, Director of Coaching, Eastern New York Youth Soccer
Association
Daunting task trying to find the words that you hope will cause a tipping point. I along with hundreds of others have tried to write about this before, “The race to the bottom,” “The Road to Nowhere,” “How the Screaming Hurts” and I could go on and on. Social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook are all full of messages about the same thing- what has sports become, how did it lose its meaning and value?
I listened to a wonderful podcast this week – The Talent equation – “Becoming a True Athlete – A Practical Philosophy for Flourishing Through Sport” that really was a great listen. One sentence from it sums it up quite well – sport can be an amazing tool for personal development and good."
Why then have we allowed it to become such a shallow version of what it is capable of?
I am back on the fields coaching competitive soccer again- well let me rephrase that I have two girls who are Under-9 ( yes so, they are 7 and 8) that the local league and club have decided should play in a competitive travel environment. The girls are keen to learn and display a great energy and enthusiasm to do so. They are seven and eight so may become great players one day, but it will be a journey. This last weekend they played in a local tournament. It is considered a rite of passage and something you must do to keep up.
The tournament seemed to be well planned and such, but it should really be renamed. “The Players Forbidden to Think Event” would perhaps be the most appropriate title. I saw game after game, coach after coach, parent after parent all determined to achieve the same mission- these children will not think for themselves!
I saw and heard some astonishing things – a few examples below