Soccer America's Mike Woitalla turned in a solid think-piece addressing the question of whether they way we coach our kids stifles their development. Woitalla gets it right for the most part, though he neglects to acknowledge the "dark side" of ditching the "win-at-all-costs" mentality: namely, games played in which they don't keep track of the score and the weird crap one reads from time-to-time about giving everyone "winners" ribbons, even when they don't win. Keep the goddamn score and tell the kids it's OK to screw up and lose so long as you try and that should take care of most the ego damage one can pick up from organized sports. Maybe it isn't that simple, but it sure seems like it ought to be. As they get older, raise the stakes and the kids will decide if those higher stakes are for them.
In any case, that's a quibble that grows out my own biases. Woitalla wrote a good column.
For what it's worth, they weren't for me. I gravitate toward co-ed leagues because I don't see the point in breaking my legs for a loose ball or getting in fights with amped-up jocks while playing rec soccer. It's not like there are scouts in the friggin' crowd. But that's my niche. I also know that any player who hopes to be good, never mind great, can't approach the game like I do. Hence, we need places where, yes, amped-up jocks can strive to be the best they can be. But, as Woitalla points out, let that be after they learn to figure it out on their own....and after they reach the age when their egos won't be warped into self-abusive mania.
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