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For the first time since my daughter started playing soccer, back in 2006, my daughter was selected to represent her recreation league at the regional all-star tournament. We have known other girls who were selected for the all-star team in earlier seasons, but the timing of our daughter's selection was ideal, as this will be her last season playing youth soccer (she is planning to switch to field hockey in the fall). The tournament was organized in a non-elimination, points format, where each team played each of the other teams in their group, and the team with the best record winning the championship. My daughter's team was in a group with four other teams from around the region and would play four games in two days.
I wasn't prepared for the results. My daughter's team and one of the others were badly out-matched, each scoring NO goals as they struggled to an 0-3-1 record. My daughter's team was placed last on the goal differential tie-breaker, as they had allowed more goals than the other team. The team that won the group posted a perfect 4-0-0 record.
Along the way, I learned that the winning team selected their all-stars back in September, at the beginning of the fall season, and that they had been having weekly practices since then. Contrast that with our league's selection at the end of the spring season, with only two weeks to prepare for the tournament, and the results become anything but surprising.
Under the tournament rules, players are eligible if they play for a recreational league team during the season and do NOT play for a travel/select team during that same time period. There does not appear to be any rules governing the selection of the all-stars or the timing of that selection, so that these details are up to the individual leagues. This means that the undefeated team does not appear to have violated any rules.
The problem is, that it strikes me as a violation of the spirit of the tournament. I would think that an all-star tournament for recreational leagues should be a way to reward those recreational players who showed outstanding performance during the season. The very nature of a recreational league is that participation should be about having fun and learning the game, rather than a focus on winning. Selection of the all-stars at the beginning of the season is unfair to players who might otherwise show surprising development during the season, and shift the focus away from the ideals of fun and learning and places it firmly on winning the tournament. In the end, it makes the tournament less fun (except maybe for the winners), and makes the all-star status less meaningful for those that were selected for their performance through the season. What started out as recognition for a job well-done becomes a frustrating struggle to preserve some dignity on the field. It was painful to watch.
The behavior of the coaches and parents for the better teams in the group was awful as well. In one of our games, we trailed 5-0, and the coaches for the other team were still screaming at their girls, demanding that they continue to press their attack, even after it became all too clear that we were never going to be able to make an effective effort to come back. The parents were even worse, yelling at their daughters when they made mistakes and encouraging them to be aggressive in their play against our weaker team. What lessons are these girls learning from their coaches and parents?
I suppose I should be glad that our daughter's recreational league fosters an environment that does not promote such attitudes. We rarely have issues with coaches or parents who promote winning at all costs or are mean-spirited towards other teams. While we celebrate victories, the emphasis was always on effort and fun, rather than the final results, and the girls generally enjoyed themselves, even when they didn't win. All of which left me feeling disgusted and frustrated by the attitudes of many of the other teams I saw play at the tournament.
I wasn't prepared for the results. My daughter's team and one of the others were badly out-matched, each scoring NO goals as they struggled to an 0-3-1 record. My daughter's team was placed last on the goal differential tie-breaker, as they had allowed more goals than the other team. The team that won the group posted a perfect 4-0-0 record.
Along the way, I learned that the winning team selected their all-stars back in September, at the beginning of the fall season, and that they had been having weekly practices since then. Contrast that with our league's selection at the end of the spring season, with only two weeks to prepare for the tournament, and the results become anything but surprising.
Under the tournament rules, players are eligible if they play for a recreational league team during the season and do NOT play for a travel/select team during that same time period. There does not appear to be any rules governing the selection of the all-stars or the timing of that selection, so that these details are up to the individual leagues. This means that the undefeated team does not appear to have violated any rules.
The problem is, that it strikes me as a violation of the spirit of the tournament. I would think that an all-star tournament for recreational leagues should be a way to reward those recreational players who showed outstanding performance during the season. The very nature of a recreational league is that participation should be about having fun and learning the game, rather than a focus on winning. Selection of the all-stars at the beginning of the season is unfair to players who might otherwise show surprising development during the season, and shift the focus away from the ideals of fun and learning and places it firmly on winning the tournament. In the end, it makes the tournament less fun (except maybe for the winners), and makes the all-star status less meaningful for those that were selected for their performance through the season. What started out as recognition for a job well-done becomes a frustrating struggle to preserve some dignity on the field. It was painful to watch.
The behavior of the coaches and parents for the better teams in the group was awful as well. In one of our games, we trailed 5-0, and the coaches for the other team were still screaming at their girls, demanding that they continue to press their attack, even after it became all too clear that we were never going to be able to make an effective effort to come back. The parents were even worse, yelling at their daughters when they made mistakes and encouraging them to be aggressive in their play against our weaker team. What lessons are these girls learning from their coaches and parents?
I suppose I should be glad that our daughter's recreational league fosters an environment that does not promote such attitudes. We rarely have issues with coaches or parents who promote winning at all costs or are mean-spirited towards other teams. While we celebrate victories, the emphasis was always on effort and fun, rather than the final results, and the girls generally enjoyed themselves, even when they didn't win. All of which left me feeling disgusted and frustrated by the attitudes of many of the other teams I saw play at the tournament.
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Date: 2011-06-22 11:04 pm (UTC)