This has been a busy soccer week. On Saturday Ethan had his mini-tournament, it consisted of two games, Monday was Nolan's game and then Ethan had his normal game again last night.
I really enjoy watching and playing with the kids as they learn this sport. It is great to see that some kids have a better sense of fair play than some adults I know. Some kids are more apt to yield the ball to the other team in order to give them a turn. Other kids are pretty eager to play and have some pretty good foot work.
I coach Ethan's soccer team and prior to each game we as coaches will chat about the details of how we expect the game to run. If the other team that we are playing does throw-ins, how they are subbing their players, what goals count etc... For U6, we are starting to introduce the general rules of the game and are starting to enforce them. At this age, for safety, we have a keeper's circle, a line which we do not allow our kids to pass to try and score. To enforce this we generally do not allow goals to count if they are scored past this point - we blow a whistle to try and keep the kids back and explain to them what is expected. Unfortunately we have a number of new coaches this year and not every team is being taught this element of the game.
Last night I had a bit of an oops on the field. We had spoken with the other coaches prior to the game and they had said they were playing with the keeper's circle. So the kids get out there and start playing. One of their players gets the ball and rushes down towards our goal. He was being chased by a few of our players and a number of his own teammates. He gets into our goal area and instead of shooting prior to the circle, he rushes into towards our keeper and scores. I blew the whistle to stop the play, just before the ball went in the net. I knew the kid that scored and knew he was a pretty good player. My team were all looking at me upset that the ball went into the net and that this kid was saying it was a goal. They were protesting that he was in the keeper's circle and that it should not be a goal. Having spoken with the coaches prior, I thought we all agreed to the rules, I told my kids that yes it did not count. I also took a moment and explained to the kid who "scored" why it did not count.
At the time I thought I was being fair to my team and abiding by the rules. Later I spoke with the other coach and she expressed that the rules had really fluctuated with each team this year and that they did not always abide by the keepers circle rule. She then said that had it been a kid who never scored or rarely scored that it would have been heart-breaking for them to be told that goal did not count. I reflected on her comments and feel she has a point. I quite honestly feel bad about it. But on the same token, my team is learning the rules and what is expected and the keeper was upset that she had been scored upon unfairly. Fortunately this kid went on to score another six goals during the game so this was not the case, but the coaches comments made me feel bad and to take a moment of pause.
I guess this is where I feel insecure. I always want to do the best for my team, for the kids to have fun and for them to love the sport. I also want them to learn teamwork, the rules and fair play. I strive for this to happen and with any conflict it causes me to second guess myself.
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