Silicon Valley Eagles Blog

Children gain so much from participating in sports, like the opportunity to develop physical literacy and the chance to make lasting friendships. Playing sports can also help kids become better people as they grow up. My soccer teams have always been known for good sportsmanship. Through the years, coaches and parents from other teams have often told me that they like to play my teams, even when we beat them in competition, because my kids are basically “nice.” That says something.

What makes my players nice? In a nutshell, I coach them to play to win, but always honestly and fairly. Compete as athletes, train hard, and then win by using your superior skill, fitness and intelligence. Don’t compete with personal insults or dirty fouls or vulgar chants. We’re not about “winning at all costs.”

It’s about honoring everyone and learning what respect really means. Most people will agree that good sportsmanship means honoring everyone on the field of competition, including opponents, officials, parents, spectators and ourselves. However, not all kids learn this.

People have frequently asked me the question “what happens when an athlete gets faster?” There are a lot of benefits, from constantly beating your opponent to improving your vertical jump. But the most amazing and fun benefit is to watch an athlete’s entire identity positively transform. Becoming a faster kid builds confidence and personal power from the inside out.

To give you an idea of what I mean, here’s a real quote from the parent of an athlete that became faster: “…also, Jack looked really amazing in practice today. He is running properly, and he is not hurting anymore when he runs. He even looks more confident. He has now decided to try out for his school’s soccer team.”

So how does speed help athletes, both on and off the field?

For starters, you are less fatigued because you run and move more efficiently. Your body just doesn’t hurt as much. Conditioning becomes easier, which helps you get in shape sooner, which improves the quality of your practice, which then transfers to your game.

Like most outdoor kids’ sports, coaching soccer during inclement spring and fall seasons can be tricky.

While winning is motivation enough for a game, that motivation dissipates during cold, wet, or windy practices –especially for the youngest athletes.

Trying out for a sports team can be a scary process. Coaching evaluations, competition for roster spots with other players, and even expectations from parents can be enough to fill make you uneasy before your tryout.

Here’s the deal: although tryouts can be intimidating, if you were able to somehow know what the coach was looking for before you started trying out, wouldn’t this give you more confidence?

The reality is that coaches can vary in the “technical” aspects of what they are looking for in players (i.e. the type of plays they run or the strategic aspect of your sport), but every coach has a few specific things that they look for when they are evaluating players.

Kids love to move. They love to jump and climb and tumble and, as their coordination improves, to throw and catch.

But when does it stop being fun? For some kids, it’s when pressure from school or parents starts to make sports feel like work. For others, it’s when fixation on a single sport takes the joy and spontaneity out of it. Encouraging your child to try new sports can be a great way to remind them that sports are all about one thing…fun!

New sports provide new opportunities

Playing only one sport can make a young athlete’s world extremely narrow. It can limit opportunities for making new friends, and when the focus is on competition, the stress of winning and losing can put established friendships to the test.