Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
The current wisdom is that the kids who do better in the long run are those who get to play in a unstructured way -- pick-up soccer, where they can be creative and try things out -- rather than those who spend lots of time being drilled by adults. Not sure that all that coaching is really helping the kids that much, relative to just finding a way to play. Obviously, it's better than nothing, but the middle-class need to take childhood activities and structure them under adult supervision is not the most positive thing. But in our area, all the fields have been taken over by organized activities, so I'm not sure where the kids would be able to go to play pick-up if they wanted to.
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2. Looking back, the main thing for basketball and soccer is that kids play well into adulthood, either pick up or loosely organized adult leagues, or college IM. Too much supervision threatens this goal. I was an ass't soccer coach (early age rec)- the head coach told me our game plan "we will not be the coaches that cause any kid to quit the game." Seems a good plan to me.
And to play pick up you do not need an official soccer field, just some space. In France i saw my kid play pick up on an asphalt school courtyard.
