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The good, the bad, and the insane, though not necessarily in that order...
So...my daughter's soccer coach again. *sigh* I've come to the conclusion that he's an absolute schmuck, and have told my daughter as much. I've tried to be as supportive as possible but he makes me nuts.
First, the Bad:
The tournament my daughter was not invited to, along with 5 other players who were also not invited to? Yeah. The team's pulled out of the tournament because they didn't have enough girls to play. What?? Umm, sorry, did you even bother to check with the SIX other girls who have been left out? No. So now they're looking at a more local tournament to go to in November. I'm not holding my breath that Brenna will be invited to go.
Next, the Insane:
When I picked Brenna up from practice on Tuesday, she informed me as she got in the car that "the reason [the coach] wasn't at practice tonight was because he says the girls have bad attitudes." Huh, gee, you think? I wonder how a group of normally GREAT girls can get all nasty and snotty only when in the presence of the coach? She went on to tell me that the girls were going to get to vote to see if they want him to return as a coach. Hah. I didn't think that'd happen, and it didn't. The coach showed up at Thursday's practice as if nothing had happened. Schmuck.
And last but not least, the Good:
The coach DID preface the practice by saying that he'd (finally) figured out that while SOME girls play better when he yells at them because they then get mad and play harder, some OTHER girls will break down and not play well at all when yelled out. Again, gee, you think? Duh. His parenting license should be taken away if it's taken him this long to figure that out. So maybe there's hope now that his coaching style may change. Also on the good side, this A-hole coach typically takes the "good" players aside and works with them personally, and leaves all the other players to be worked with by the assistant coaches, and last night Brenna got pulled into the "good" group. She was ecstatic. I can't help but feel like he's dangling a carrot in front of her, but maybe he's finally seeing that maybe if he'd PLAY her, he'd see how good she really is. The girl's got definite skills...she just needs to work on aggression out on the field. All too often she gets run over or pushed aside by the tougher teams, and we've been trying to get her to force her way back to the ball. I guess last night she showed the coach that she really can do that, and he was all amazed, saying, "Wow, Brenna! Where did THAT come from??" So perhaps she'll get played more now as well.
So much for my hopes that she'd elect to move to a different team, but perhaps things may start looking up on this one after all.
Cross your fingers with me. ;p
But...in other, somewhat related other-kid news, my son's new soccer team is WONDERFUL. Apparently the coach (Scott) had been frustrated with the team's performance last year, and wasn't sure he'd want to coach again. The current team has several new players (including Connor, my son), and the team is blowing away the other teams in each and every game, so they may actually move up a division in the Spring. I'm guessing the kids that frustrated the coach have moved on to other teams. Anyhow, we got the news on Tuesday that unless the coach's son decides not to play (which I don't see happening), Scott will be returning to coach again, and he wants all the same boys to return. Yay! I just adore that team...half of the kids are from church-going, home-schooled families, and the manners of these kids are just so great. Connor knows 3 other boys from his school, and two of them are also in LEAP, the district's gifted program, that Connor's also in. So we've got a team of just fabulously mannered and intelligent boys who all just happen to ROCK at soccer. The parents are all supportive and I feel so at home with that group, even though I know very few of the parents by name. It's just been wonderful going to each game. I'm tickled pink that Connor can continue to play with Coach Scott. :)
(And I just have to describe this guy....he's short...as in, not much taller than any of the boys, and stocky and bald, and I guess deafness runs in his family, so he's very hard of hearing and refuses to wear his hearing aids out on the field. He's very upfront about it, and will yell back at you that he can't hear you because he's not wearing his hearing aids, heh. He's ALWAYS apologizing for being so hard on the boys, and he tells the boys that they'll surely have harder coaches than he is, but that he's got to be hard on them so that they'll learn. Only...his idea of being hard on them? Running up and down the sidelines with them and encouraging them each by name, telling them, "Go for the ball! That's right, Jordan! It's all yours, Connor! Go! Go! Go!" Hee! I don't know if he thinks he should just be sitting quietly and doing a golf clap when they score or what, or maybe he worries that calling them out by name will embarrass them, but whatever, I say Go Coach Scott! I wish I could clone him and make EVERY soccer coach be like this guy.)
Okay, I'm done bragging on him now. Just thought I'd share some happy news to go along with the Schmuckelhead. ;)
The tournament my daughter was not invited to, along with 5 other players who were also not invited to? Yeah. The team's pulled out of the tournament because they didn't have enough girls to play. What?? Umm, sorry, did you even bother to check with the SIX other girls who have been left out? No. So now they're looking at a more local tournament to go to in November. I'm not holding my breath that Brenna will be invited to go.
Next, the Insane:
When I picked Brenna up from practice on Tuesday, she informed me as she got in the car that "the reason [the coach] wasn't at practice tonight was because he says the girls have bad attitudes." Huh, gee, you think? I wonder how a group of normally GREAT girls can get all nasty and snotty only when in the presence of the coach? She went on to tell me that the girls were going to get to vote to see if they want him to return as a coach. Hah. I didn't think that'd happen, and it didn't. The coach showed up at Thursday's practice as if nothing had happened. Schmuck.
And last but not least, the Good:
The coach DID preface the practice by saying that he'd (finally) figured out that while SOME girls play better when he yells at them because they then get mad and play harder, some OTHER girls will break down and not play well at all when yelled out. Again, gee, you think? Duh. His parenting license should be taken away if it's taken him this long to figure that out. So maybe there's hope now that his coaching style may change. Also on the good side, this A-hole coach typically takes the "good" players aside and works with them personally, and leaves all the other players to be worked with by the assistant coaches, and last night Brenna got pulled into the "good" group. She was ecstatic. I can't help but feel like he's dangling a carrot in front of her, but maybe he's finally seeing that maybe if he'd PLAY her, he'd see how good she really is. The girl's got definite skills...she just needs to work on aggression out on the field. All too often she gets run over or pushed aside by the tougher teams, and we've been trying to get her to force her way back to the ball. I guess last night she showed the coach that she really can do that, and he was all amazed, saying, "Wow, Brenna! Where did THAT come from??" So perhaps she'll get played more now as well.
So much for my hopes that she'd elect to move to a different team, but perhaps things may start looking up on this one after all.
Cross your fingers with me. ;p
But...in other, somewhat related other-kid news, my son's new soccer team is WONDERFUL. Apparently the coach (Scott) had been frustrated with the team's performance last year, and wasn't sure he'd want to coach again. The current team has several new players (including Connor, my son), and the team is blowing away the other teams in each and every game, so they may actually move up a division in the Spring. I'm guessing the kids that frustrated the coach have moved on to other teams. Anyhow, we got the news on Tuesday that unless the coach's son decides not to play (which I don't see happening), Scott will be returning to coach again, and he wants all the same boys to return. Yay! I just adore that team...half of the kids are from church-going, home-schooled families, and the manners of these kids are just so great. Connor knows 3 other boys from his school, and two of them are also in LEAP, the district's gifted program, that Connor's also in. So we've got a team of just fabulously mannered and intelligent boys who all just happen to ROCK at soccer. The parents are all supportive and I feel so at home with that group, even though I know very few of the parents by name. It's just been wonderful going to each game. I'm tickled pink that Connor can continue to play with Coach Scott. :)
(And I just have to describe this guy....he's short...as in, not much taller than any of the boys, and stocky and bald, and I guess deafness runs in his family, so he's very hard of hearing and refuses to wear his hearing aids out on the field. He's very upfront about it, and will yell back at you that he can't hear you because he's not wearing his hearing aids, heh. He's ALWAYS apologizing for being so hard on the boys, and he tells the boys that they'll surely have harder coaches than he is, but that he's got to be hard on them so that they'll learn. Only...his idea of being hard on them? Running up and down the sidelines with them and encouraging them each by name, telling them, "Go for the ball! That's right, Jordan! It's all yours, Connor! Go! Go! Go!" Hee! I don't know if he thinks he should just be sitting quietly and doing a golf clap when they score or what, or maybe he worries that calling them out by name will embarrass them, but whatever, I say Go Coach Scott! I wish I could clone him and make EVERY soccer coach be like this guy.)
Okay, I'm done bragging on him now. Just thought I'd share some happy news to go along with the Schmuckelhead. ;)
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And I would still watch Brenna's coach very closely - any coach that would refuse to show up for a scheduled practice because of a 'bad attitude' on the part of his players is *not* at all interested in building players - just a team that will make him look good. And that is not a good attitude to have when working with youngsters.
(While it is entirely possible that the coach had a legitimate reason for not being there, the very fact that the kid rumor mill could create such an excuse speaks quite eloquently about what the kids think of their coach - and that is a disaster waiting to happen...)
I still think that you and Brenna should be looking for another team for next year - the more I hear about this coach, the less I like the idea of him being involved in childrens' lives.
My 2p worth....
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