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all74gators

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  1. I just re-read your post and wanted to touch on one more thing that you said. You said that the side-effect is that the moral of the kids is low, they aren't having any fun, and they want to quit. This question is NOT in any way directed at you, I just want you to think about it... Are you sure that the kids are truly feeling that way, or are they following their parents lead to feel that way? The reason that I ask this is because my wife originally felt the same way when our son was the younger, less experienced player. We found that our son was "feeding" off of her emotions, and going along with it. When we sat down and talked to him about it, we found out that he really was having fun, and was learning a lot in practice, and was ok with his few token plays a game. He knew that he was going to be the older one the next year. Too often, I think kids follow their parent's lead, and they are much smarter and hear much more than we think. Maybe, if the parents focused on the positive and gave them something to look forward to as a 9/10 year old, things might be a little different. Just something to think about!
  2. Wow, did you open a HUGE can of worms! I think the biggest problem with your scenario is that you have a HUGE age range for youth football. There is a big difference in an 8 year old and a 10 year old. The size alone can make a big difference. I wouldn't want my 8 year old in his first year of football playing against 10 year olds who have 2 years of experience. I think that is asking for injuries. I, personally, would be looking for a league that evened out the playing age a little more. Our league has each age group separately, 6 and 7 year olds are the only ones that used to be combined but they were separated this year. Now, on to the controversial topic. I truly believe that at any age in football you have to put your best players on the field for game time. It's not always for the simple fact of winning. Football is not a sport that you can let everyone get equal playing time. Everyone that plays at game time has to be capable of doing their job, both mentally and physically because chances are, the other team that you are playing are also putting their biggest, strongest and more experienced players on the field. When you start putting kids on the field that aren't ready to play that position, whether it be mentally or physically, they can get themselves, and others injured. Football is a sport that you really rely on everyone to do their job for things to happen right. It's all about the big picture. In baseball, someone can strike out or miss a fly ball and it doesn't physically hurt anyone. In football, you miss a block and your quarterback can be taken out, and possibly injured. On the other hand, I think that every child on the team should get equal opportunity to learn. No one should be left out during practices. There should be plenty of coaches to work with all of the players. Then, especially in your situation, when your son is the 9 or 10 years old, he will be the one playing, while the parents of the 8 year olds will be asking the same question. The boys that are 9/10 now, probably didn't play when they were 8 either. Just something to think about, our son was once the 6 year old who didn't see much playing time, (yes, it was frustrating). The next year he was a starter on offense and defense, he just had to wait his turn and use that first year to soak up all of the knowledge that he could, so that he could have his time. I hope that this helps to shed some light on your situation and see it from a different point of view. I do know that there are some instructional football leagues out there, you just have to find them. Just make sure that it is the entire league that is instructional, not just the coach, otherwise, you would be back into the whole injury issue again.
  3. When I started coaching our son, my wife and I had discussed this problem because we knew that it would come up. We decided that no matter what, our son had to earn whatever position he got on the team. It would not be fair to the team or to him to have special treatment. We made sure that he was well aware of that too. This has worked out well for us, and no one has complained that our son gets special treatment. He works hard and has earned his positions. If you show special treatment to your son in any way, I promise you that there will be parents that will pick your son apart. It is very sad, but other parents can be very harsh when it comes to the politics of football. As for how he takes my instruction as a coach, well, I don't treat him any different than any other player on the team. If anything, I try to let the other coaches instruct him as much as possible and I have spoke with the other coaches about this and they have been very supportive. I can always work with him later at home and I don't want anyone to have any reason to think that he is getting special treatment. The biggest problem that we have when I am coaching my son, is that I don't always see how my son is doing. As a coach, I have to see the big picture, I do not have the luxury of watching to see exactly what my son is doing on every play. That is very frustrating to my wife because she will ask me if I saw what he did during the game, being the proud mom, and I have to admit that I don't always see it. I think it hurts my son a little sometimes too. I was a parent on the sideline for his 1st year of football, and I watched his every move. He takes the good with the bad, he loves to have me coach, and he is understanding that I cannot watch only him. Good luck, I hope this helps! Doug
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