[ShepherdsDog]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story ... alcomments

Quote:

Manitoba Soccer Association is mulling big changes to its program that could mean more of a concentration on fun and fitness and less of an emphasis on winning.

This seems well intentioned, but there always seems to be a 'but', following the good intention. This is the but

Quote:

And it could mean the end of scoring and rankings in the area's soccer games in three years time........
If the association goes through with the plan it could also mean no scoring for children under the age of 12 as well as no playing for league titles. And Vergara predicts all youth sport will focus more on skill development and fun in the future.

Now it's not even an organized game let alone soccer. Whatever happened to teaching kids to work as a team to achieve a goal? Again the well meaning fail to see the big picture. Teaching kids to cope with failure and developing a realization that practice makes better.

[Unsound]

How do you get kids to focus on "skill development" if there's no reward for developing your skills? No goals or championships = no incentive.

[Canuckism]

Gotta teach these kids how to score goals from a young age.

[QBC]

OMG...political correctness running amok.

Sorry, boneheads, it's a sport, it has rules, you play to achieve a goal and to improve social skills and character. How is this helping these kids to teach them that there is no point to what they are doing? Being scored on is a disappointment, you have to learn how to deal with those in life too, not just successes.

[Canuckism]

1st: Score goals!!!

2nd: Life skills...

[Strutz]

You have GOT to be kidding me...

What's next... no more grades?

[Canuckism]

Lol, I meant that last statement with a hint of sarcasm!

[ShepherdsDog]

Strutz wrote:

You have GOT to be kidding me...

What's next... no more grades?

Too late, as that's already happened. In my son's school division(not sure if it's all of Saskatchewan) their report cards have 3 letters. They represent these 3 levels - Does not meet expectations, Approaching expectations and Meets expectations. There is no exceeds expectations. Brought to you by the caring left wing, because when everyone has been conditioned to be too stupid to think or do for themselves they will take 'care' of us.

[Canuckism]

What?! I didn't know they did that in some schools.

[Canuckism]

What?! I didn't know they did that in some schools.

[Zipperfish]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

Strutz wrote:

You have GOT to be kidding me...

What's next... no more grades?

Too late, as that's already happened. In my son's school division(not sure if it's all of Saskatchewan) their report cards have 3 letters. They represent these 3 levels - Does not meet expectations, Approaching expectations and Meets expectations. There is no exceeds expectations. Brought to you by the caring left wing, because when everyone has been conditioned to be too stupid to think or do for themselves they will take 'care' of us.

A similar situation to BC. All the reports cards are the same. The girls all get "Meeting Expectations" and the boys all get "Meeting Expectations" except for Listening, where they get "Approaching Expectations." There's no assessment happening there at all.

I coach kids soccer--U8 and U6. You do get overly competitive coaches and it can be an issue (though it's way worse in hockey). I'm not trying to turn everyone into an English Premier League player. My focus is to instill a life-long love of the game like I have. At this age it's about skills development and coordimation. (And it's not the Canasdian Soccer Assosciation that told me that, but a special clinic we had by some Italian development coaches).

But it doesn't matter if we keep score or not for my U8 boys. They know what the score is, regardless. It matters to them if they win or lose. If you don't compete against the other team, you are not playing soccer. You're playing something but it ain't soccer. They should make them change the name.

Winning and losing is a part of life. And part of the skill you develop is how to learn from a loss (most kids are already pretty good at "coping with winning" ). I'll never forget when my U8 boys lost the final of a tournament they were in. They'd already lost to the team during the round-robin. They knew this team was good, and so they went in and put everyhting into it...and still lost. It was tough. But a good life lesson "No matter how hard you may try in life, boys, you are still all LOSERS. Now get out of my sight.". OK, what I really said was hopefully alittle more inspirational than that, and we it took a while but we did end up beating that team during a regular season match later--because they were unprepared and we were still driven to prove ourselves. You couldn't wipe the smiles off those kids' faces after the game.

[Mr_Canada]

Two things:

1. Not a bad idea.

2. Destroying soccer for this idea is pretty stupid though.

Maybe as an option? If parents (who?) want their kids to run around and 'develop skills' they can put them in a separate 'league' of warped soccer.

The kids who get involved regardless will play soccer on their own time. They don't need some coach with a manual of 'skill development activities' in order to play a very simple game. Last thing the kids need to hear is that the MSA has decided what defines 'fun'.

This would actually destroy the MSA.

[Choban]

no surprise here, constantly society is pandering to those who lack skill/drive/motivation/ability to protect their precious self esteem and foster an environment where no one is allowed to stand out or be good at anything for fear of alienating those who cannot or will not excell.
I worry about the futer as we are raising a bunch of kids who will expect everything to be handed to them with little or no effort, not to mention that when they do grow up they will all realize that life in no way reflects what they were raised to believe it is.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Quote:

Manitoba Soccer Association is mulling big changes to its program that could mean more of a concentration on fun and fitness and less of an emphasis on winning.

Isn't that what phys-ed is for???

[Canuckism]

PublicAnimalNo9 wrote:

Quote:

Manitoba Soccer Association is mulling big changes to its program that could mean more of a concentration on fun and fitness and less of an emphasis on winning.

Isn't that what phys-ed is for???

Good point.