Soccer Shenanigans: One mom's coaching experience begins

8/25/2016

When I think of “rec soccer” – especially for U12 – I immediately conjure up images of little girls playing soccer for all the right reasons: having fun and being with their friends.

That visual was quickly shattered when I volunteered to be the assistant coach on my daughter’s team. Those visions of giggling girls have been replaced with league shenanigans.

Here are just a few examples – and note that we haven’t even had our first practice yet!

Last week the league sent an email requesting that I complete a background check that would be paid for by the city. When I tried to complete the online check, the system asked for payment. So when I was at the field for our “draft” and asked one of the other volunteers about it, I was told that I shouldn’t pay it and just wait to see if they noticed that the background check was not completed.

Really.

Next, we had the so-called “draft,” where players performed skills, coaches evaluated, and teams were decided – all with the wonderful goal of balancing them out as equally as possible to ensure fair competition.

Well, sort of.

Because what happened was that as soon as the official picks were completed, most of the seasoned volunteers were on their feet pressuring others (including myself and the coach I am volunteering with) to trade players.

Why trade, I asked?

When no good answers were given, my coaching partner decided that we were going to stick with the girls we had picked.

That evening, when the league directors sent us the final roster, the names were slightly different than the ones we picked. So come to find out, we had players switched without even being informed. (It’s all good though, because we will have fun no matter what!) 

And one last thing that made me shake my head. All the girls that were not evaluated were placed in a blind draw and divided amongst the teams. Yesterday, one of the league directors left me a voicemail to let me know that “we got a lucky draw in the blind draft.”

I guess we will find out since we will meet our team tonight for the first time – and hopefully begin the journey of instilling a lot of fun into the season.

Just like I imagined.

This blog was submitted by a mom who wishes to remain anonymous.

Soccer Draft Coaching Background check

Search