It is absolutely heart breaking to see what a club near me is doing to young girls. The ECNL expectations along with the pressure and intentional emotional control over the girls is having lasting impacts on their lives. We know several young adults who 10-15 years later are still dealing with body issues due to middle age male coaches telling them to lose weight, etc. There are some that have considered taking it a step further. This club holds threats over the heads of children that if they mess up, they will be moved to another team. This club really needs the attention of a governing body that will do some due diligence and not just see it at the surface level. Save these young athletes from the sport they love and make an impact as the parents are all concerned but no one is willing to step out for fear of retribution.

Clubs not wanting multiple sport athletes as young as U12. We have an 11 yr old girls team and the team is already not playing certain kids in games.

Male coaches that seem unable to tell the difference between coaching girls and coaching boys. I would like them to take a few minutes or hours to read the extensive literature concerning those differences so that they may make the change immediately.
For example. it has been proven that boys and girls need a different entry experience when arriving at practice -- boys want to immediately get to practice while girls want a few minutes to socialize first by talking to one another. Read the research!

Referees. The quality of refereeing across club and high school has been appalling, especially high school.

They do not protect players as well as they should be. I don't care if they miss small fouls, offsides, or even PKs. But when they do not protect players, I have a problem with that.

I care when players are not called for fouls for hurting other players, especially blatant ones. I care when the game is not stopped immediately for head injuries. I care when the referee stands by and does nothing when players laugh when opposing team players are hurt, especially when they are the ones who hurt them. Referees are quick to give yellows for dissent and swearing, but do not give enough cards for this type of behavior.

Lastly, I have a problem with referees making the game as a show for themselves. I have had a referee think he's funny for starting the second half late because he wanted to have a sip of water. I have had a referee speak to me rudely and aggressively because he didn't like something my child had said. I have seen referees give cards just to give a card.

I'd also like referees to explain their decisions when asked to do so nicely. I do not believe they are held accountable for their actions. I get it. Referees are humans. They make mistakes. But again, there is no accountability. And even if there is, the referee assignors and associations just do nothing when a complaint is filed.

Yelling at the referees and not understanding the rules. Everyone needs a little education and grace or the sport will deteriorate. If we can’t get good referees, we can’t. Have a game.

Parents joystick coaching their 5 and 6 year old kids from the sideline.

I am most concerned about the number of concussions among soccer players and the slow recognition of the protection that head gear can provide. Studies show it can be very protective. Some coaches are afraid it will make soccer seem too dangerous. The number of concussions show how big a problem head injuries are. We need to advocate for protective headband or similar protection for our soccer players nationwide!!

The competitive structure that emerges before puberty is absolutely horrible. It removes fun from the game, increases pressure unduly, and you will never convince me its an accurate predictor of talent (theres very little confirmatory data). Keeping kids playing and engaged, having fun with their friends, should be the goal. Anything else is a burnout machine for youth athletes.

The greatest challenge is coaches who can play soccer but know nothing about coaching or developing players.

Greatest challenge as a parent is getting caught up in the whole soccer world. What other parents are doing for their kids, what team they play on, there success, amount of private training they do, and how great the team is. The parent FOMO is real in todays sports and can great hinder the experience and outcome of the player and family.

The pay-to-play disparity between male and female athletes is very upsetting. I hope more scholarships and sponsorships can help girls play the game at all levels (recreational through elite).

My children who played soccer are adults now, but I'm still coaching youth teams. After moving to Maryland, I've encountered this situation (it would be interesting if Skye would comment at some point - this was previously posted in the USSF Coaches group in Facebook):

High School Soccer - Pay to Play?
I’ve recently encountered a situation that I find uncomfortable and am curious on how others feel about this or how they've delt with it. A little background, I recently moved to Maryland from Massachusetts where I’ve been coaching youth teams for over 25 years. In my new home, I’m in the 2nd year of coaching a girls travel team (2010 birth year, playing in EDP league). My current 8th graders are looking to play in high school and the local school only fields junior varsity and varsity teams. Needless to say, competition is high to get on these teams, especially for incoming freshman players. The current varsity coaches (boys and girls) own an outside training/camps company that is not associated with the school and the current “pitch” to incoming players is that they need to attend as many of these camps and clinics as possible so that they can be seen and identified by the coaches (prior to tryouts). The clinics and camps will run throughout the entire year, even during my current EDP seasons. These sessions are not free (even though they use school fields) and the payments to the coaches can be made by cash or venmo on site. To me this seems highly unethical but most of my parents feel that they are in no position to complain, least their daughters are not selected to the teams.
Has anyone else encountered this situation and have you found a way to handle this with your youth organizations? In Mass, I believe that public high school coaches are prevented from doing something like this. The local high school coaches try to compare their clinics/camps with Coerver camps but at a lower cost – their training sessions are no where near the same level.

The parents that think they are the owners of the team and keep pointing who they want or not in the team talking bad about kids or other parents making the environment toxic screaming at their kids that their veins pump in the neck and adding games every Saturday AND Sunday once they don’t know what to do with their kids and have a win mentality and not trust the process of leaning.

My biggest frustration with the youth soccer experience for my kids and the team I coach is the yelling involved by other coaches and parents. I HATE standing on the sideline and being subjected to the opposing coaches' constantly yelled instructions. It is often relentless during a game and I can't hear my players communicating. In addition, yelling is directed at my own kids when they are refereeing games. I have a 16 yo and a 13 yo who are licensed referees. They are KIDS and they get criticized by adults when they have their referee jersey on. I can't understand how any adult can do this to a child.

The professionalization of youth sports. Just let them play 😉

Finding coaches who are well-trained both in the knowledge of soccer as well as in how to communicate with players.

Our daughter had the goal of playing collegiate soccer without sacrificing academics. It was difficult to determine what club would be best to get her exposure and how and when to change clubs so she would have time to prove herself and work her way up in the ranks

My daughter has a love for soccer and wants to play competitively. We are even doing private soccer sessions. People in our league treat her different because she is a rec player working to be a club player. There should be some type of a bridge between rec and club. Help those kids who want to be more competitive achieve their goals

#1 for me is finding a coach that inspires them and communicates effectively.

I believe youth soccer clubs and their coaches need to help address the fact that many players are leaving the game, or not able to maximize the experience as much as they should, purely as a result of the fact that they openly state they have no desire to play in college. The pathway is there for those who want it but let's not frown upon and mistreat those who do not. We have all had coworkers who never want to get promoted but absolutely are the heartbeat of a workplace and everyone happily accepts these facts and benefits from them - youth soccer needs to get better at learning to do the same.

My daughter has been trying to get permission to be rostered on her twin brother's team (also coached by their dad) for 8 years and the Seattle Youth Soccer Association has banned her from doing so. It is Rec soccer and she is a Rec player but has the mindset and physicality to play on the boys team. She appears to just be denied because she is a female. It seems to go against the stated Mission and Goals.

I took my son to tryout for competitive soccer and the Coach stated that he only needed 10 mins to see if someone is good. It has been almost three months and rarely does my son play 1/2 a game. If he gets lucky he may play at the end of each game about 5 mins or nothing.
This feels like a scam.

Greatest goal - for my kids to have fun playing, to enjoy competing, to learn all of the life lessons about teamwork, responsibility, grit, attitude, grace, humility, focus, motivation, dedication that youth sports offers.

Frustration - the cost and politics involved with club soccer in the US. As a parent who can afford the costly fees, I still hate the lack of a level playing field.

Lately as a youth soccer parent (u12) my greatest challenge has been club hopping. My daughter plays for a great club that has worked with her to develop her at her own specific needs and age level. We have a great coach! We have a great team of girls! But during tryout season last spring half of my daughter's team left to go to various other clubs. This was the parents choosing to hopefully have their child "seen by college coaches and recruiters." What is the best course of action in dealing with my daughter's emotions? How to we explain to her and support her when half of her team has left her and for reasons she can't understand at 11 years old? My greatest fear as a parent is for her to quit playing the sport simply because her team left and for her to look back on her choice later with regret.

My goal is to lead my child to be successful and also play at highest level like barcelona and real madrid. My problem is that am lacking with the assets that can be used to train my child. Assets like training materials. And then also money challenges

My biggest frustration is the constant change of coaches creating inconsistency in training for the players' development. There are also a limited number of high level female coaches at the youth level. My greatest goal would be to see more qualified and passionate coaches be engaged and stay in coaching. The sport is growing and the youth deserve those who can help guide them to reach their dreams!

Goal: To be the best player in the world, to see his improvements everyday since he's a strong player who believes in himself that he Wana show the world what he's capable of, I believe in him too.
Problems: he's from a disadvantaged rural area where he can't buy even a ball to practice, I'm a single mom raising 2 boys with very low income
Frustrations: I blame myself for failing to help my boy to make his dream come true and whenever he says mom can you please buy me soccer stuff, I just say I will try but deep down I know I can't afford it, wasn't easy for me to say I can't. One time when I attended inter district school soccer competition, I heard supporters calling his name showing they believe in him, some call him Alverez( name of one of best players). I felt stupid and helpless.
Once had a knee injury in grade 5 but the school coach helped a lot for his recovery
I'm appealing to anyone who can help,sponsors out there please help my son. He will be 17 yrs old on the 24th Aug and you will like him I promise.Outside school they have their own team called Gazzetto, plays very well but have nothing, sometimes plays money game for usd$10 which can't even buy a single ball and it's a pity.
I wish I can find a club for him to join and you will never regret helping him. Thank you for your time and your help in advance.

My greatest goal is to see the youth playing at the highest level.
My problem is getting a good Fitch and the right equipment to train the youth .
My challenge is, some of the youth not being able to attend school due to the financial difficulty the family have.

Our greatest frustration is lack of consistent player attendance. Where is the team?

Talented & hard working WHITE soccer players in RSA never gets equal opportunities on the soccer fields in South Africa 😢😢 Often also, it is who you know and not how hard you work and how talented you are. RSA coaches and managers on all levels, grassboots and professional level, needs to address this as a matter of urgency and ensure an equal equilibrium on the soccer field in RSA soccer, as currently 'apartheid' is the order of the day for soccer in RSA. 😢⚽️

I have 2 kids in soccer at the moment.

FEAR has always been the biggest issue.
Fear of making mistake, fear of losing ball, fear caused hesitation and lack of reaction

Lack of high level team options for in the area in which we live. The team that my daughter played with for years was incredibly highly skilled and now that we've had to move clubs, our options were severely limited unless we want to drive over 2 hours there and 2 hours back multiple days per week.

Parents

As a parent of three boys playing at the MLS Next and ECNL levels, my greatest goal with their youth soccer experience is to be supportive. My hope for them is that they have fun, make friends, learn to be a good teammate/person, and develop life lessons beyond the sport. My focus is to stay in the moment and enjoy the ups and downs of the journey.

Consistent refereeing where the game is called equally and the safety of the players is a top priority. I've seen some horrifying displays of refereeing over the past several years at the U9 - U12 range. This poor display and inconsitency creates hostilities between the ref and parents as well as opposing parents and even coaches. My 11 yo son has had more trips to the ER as a result of slide tackles from behind than I'd like to count resulting in sprains, luckily not a broken ankle. In another game he was physically assaulted from behind by a player from the other team who did a flying karate kick as he was walking out of the opposing sides penalty area while the ball was out of bounds 25 yards away. No call was made and the players was allowed to continue in the game. In 40+ years of soccer, I recently saw for the first time a ref leave the game during a tournament and have another ref finish the match because the opposing coach questioned a call he made (which was incorrect). The match was delayed until the other ref made his way to the field.

The lack of quality training sessions my son receives. Everything is either static drill based or set piece training. There is little game context and therefore rarely translates to the game on the field on match day.

The biggest problem is the lack of guidance at a national level. US Soccer would be well-served by an over-arching guideline rather than a bunch of leagues that compete with one another for clubs to join them. It's frustrating to have me 'the league' and then suddenly a new 'it' league appears and all the clubs now have to vie for a new place in this new league. It's confusing. It's frustrating for parents and players. It's very disheartening to many players to have to keep learning what the new league is. This dissolution of leagues and the appearance of new leagues is absolutely ridiculous and is driven, seemingly, solely by money. It's hurting the game in the United States and we'll never become a greater soccer nation until we can figure this out.

Coaches who teach technical and tactical skills rather than just focus on winning and the poor transition from light competitive to serious competitive.

ts a vast topic & FREE TO LEARN is one of the few books that `examines this process. So few coaches / parents really understand the process. They often only think in terms of a result rather than the educational road that needs to be taken. Looking at how the greatest learn the street/ park/ alley/playground dominates the process. Free to argue, banter and experiment. Between the rigid educational system & parents dominating that free space its getting harder for youngsters to test the waters of the sport.GRAHAM RAMSAY

Because there is so much variation in club systems it takes forever to figure out how to navigate the system and find the best growth opportunities for your child. People hoard information and play political games to get ahead. Would be nice if it’s easy and transparent

The question is posed in the present tense but I would like to answer with a look back: The greatest challenge for me as a parent was dealing with a coach who turned mean to some players on my daughters team and imposed an emotional cost on the young players' participation in every practice, game and interaction; and a great piece of the solution to the problem was learning about the

She doesn’t like her coach and he has been her coach for years.

Now that my son started competitive soccer, how as a parent can I help my son train at home. I don’t have a soccer background and I noticed team training is just not enough without individual practice.

My child to be a professional player.
The problem that I have is lacking soccer techniques

LACK OF SUPPORT AND SHORTAGE OF TIME TO MANAGE THE YOUTH TEAM AND LACK OF COACHING SKILLS

PLEASE HELP WITH ANYTHING YOU CAN DO

The greatest challenge for Youth Soccer in this country from the lowest to the highest levels of Professional Development is the overemphasis on WINNING in terms of deciding who to play and how to play...it is more difficult to teach a technically and tactically challenging style of soccer and yet we spend millions of dollars chasing trophies and 4 games in 2 day tournaments that do little to develop kids and a lot to burn them out....parents want to win, but allowing room to make mistakes and develop a love for playing the game FIRST should come before this WINNING fixation! In Norway across all of their sports they do not keep score or rank players before the age of 12....they led all nations in Medals in the last Winter Olympics - setting a modern record in doing so...why? How? Because the games and the sports ARE STILL FUN after years of playing AND CROSS PLAYING - other sports help too...STOP SPECIALIZING AND OVER FOCUSING TOO EARLY! Let the kids create and play and have fun! Then get more serious as they rise in their levels and be prepared to continue to develop!

U14 players who received significantly less play time, without any explanation or plan of action. Because there usually isn’t communication with the player or parent, we can only guess that the coach perceives other players as having a higher potential. However, trying to identify players in this age range who are generally talented is unrealistic and difficult, given the degree that youth change their physical, psychological, cognitive and emotional domains from early adolescence to adulthood. The impact of putting too much emphasis on competitiveness or being the best team at this age, can result in the loss of young athletes whose potential has not been fully developed. This should not be acceptable for youth play. All players should be provided with feedback on strengths, weaknesses and goals to improve their skill. Players grow through real life experience, and not giving similar play time to all members at this level, only widens the gap. Players who are progressing more rapidly should be considered for starting positions and possibly tapped to play up. Players who need to be developed should be given the instruction and opportunity to improve. Doing both of these things strengthens youth soccer as a whole.

We have two children that participated in rec soccer in the U4 leagues to start off. I believe U4 should not be focus on an actual game but drills and getting introduced to soccer. If 25% of that age group understand kicking it to the goal while the other 75% just stand around and wonder what the heck is going on or just run around. If it was setup only like practice I think they would enjoy it more.

Learning the game as a new soccer parent!