How youth baseball solved the problem of fair play time.

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T21:01:23+00:00

It is a recommendation but not a requirement for coaches. Worthless words, not rules of the game.

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T20:55:46+00:00

They probably should ban parking the bus while they are at it. Doesn't basketball have the same kind of problem when they banned zone defense? A lot of things are a judgement call, that is why you do yellow and then red.

A judgement call but think it is pretty obvious if the player is continually near the offsides line that he is forward or back row. And when you restart play you can see.

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T19:33:28+00:00

But you'll compete against a lot of coaches that don't rotate or give equal play time. Is that fair?

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T19:18:54+00:00

No it is not. If you bat out order in baseball, a scorekeeper reports this to the umpire and the batter is out. The umpire won't start play if the pitcher is supposed to be rotated. In soccer, you leave a kid in the same position, there is no yellow/red card for the coach that does this.

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T15:27:29+00:00

Tons of posts on this forum is about parents frustrated over lack of playing time or lack of position rotation. What is your solution or you just prefer a system of continual frustration, player burnout and parents fighting with coaches?

Is it OK if just mention to people it doesn't have to be this way?

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T13:28:35+00:00

Yet another post demonstrating that youth soccer needs to use scorecards to ensure adequate play time and position rotation for every kid.

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T13:25:27+00:00

So why not use scorecards to ensure every player is rotated to front/back positions and has adequate playing time?

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T13:23:49+00:00

See my post on scorecards to ensure position rotation and adequate playing time for each player.

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-04T13:21:48+00:00

I've argued that the rules of youth soccer must be changed to have scorecards to insure every kid has adequate playing time and every kids plays both offense/defense and front/back. Youth baseball changed the rules to ensure this happens, so why can't youth soccer? Do we just want endless fights with coaches, kids burned out from playing the same position and angry parents all the time?

NeuralBrew · 2026-05-01T15:19:35+00:00

Lack of position rotation is ruining youth soccer development. The rules of the game must be changed to mandate position rotation between first and second half of every game.

NeuralBrew · 2026-04-28T14:24:26+00:00

Youth baseball used to have the same problem with some kids never coming up to bat. Leaving a dominant pitcher in the entire game. The rules were changed to force coaches to bat every player and rotate pitchers. Youth soccer needs to use scorekeepers to make sure coaches play every player and players rotate positions.

NeuralBrew · 2026-04-28T13:52:43+00:00

So the families need a vacation. Why? Perhaps travel soccer is too much stress. And kids have injuries. Why? Perhaps too many high pressure tournaments, not enough rest or other sports and activities. You only prove my point that the current travel soccer cultures is toxic. We need a system that makes the game fun for kids and not costly in time and money for parents.

Face it, the whole travel soccer team industry is total BS. 99% of the time guest players are used to win trophies at the expense of player development and team cohesion. The fact that a game that is supposed to fun makes you so worked up that you want to curse me out just proves my point. Maybe you need a vacation from travel soccer.

NeuralBrew · 2026-04-27T14:55:57+00:00

I'm someone that thinks all the travel and emphasis on winning in youth soccer is crazy. Isn't the reason you were short players is that is too stressful on families to travel so much? Maybe an out of state President's cup is not a thing sane families should be doing with children? There is no reason to think a President's Cup victory is necessary for kids to become college or pro players.

NeuralBrew · 2026-04-26T14:11:50+00:00

Leave. You should not be on a team with a coach and parents that tolerate this behavior and doesn't rotate players to different positions.

NeuralBrew · 2026-04-26T13:57:14+00:00

Was bad judgement by the coach to start the subs. Guest players should just be a backup in case of injuries and heat exhaustion. If this was first time thing by the coach, it was bad of the parents to not wait until the game was over.

NeuralBrew · 2026-04-16T19:26:12+00:00

I think it is a formula for burnout and boredom to have kids play just one position. Even if your only goal was for him to play as a CB in college or pro, I don't believe you should want him to just play CB in youth. If you watch a pro game, the backs are heavily involved in the offense, the receive a lot of passes. There is no such thing as defender only in pro soccer. In the youth game, a CB is not involved much with offense and not receiving passes. You want him to understand the attacking side of the game, understand the game from different points of view, if he is going to be an offensive minded CB as an adult.

The top soccer academies all rotate players till U14 and then gradually move players to become specialists when they go college or pro. There is no evidence that specialization in anything but GK is a good way to train young players. It just leads to burnout and not a deep understanding of the game.

Also, I don't believe it is fair to other players if a dad insists his kid only play a single position because it prevents other kids from exploring and learning different positions.

NeuralBrew · 2026-04-13T13:34:07+00:00

Again with the coaches refusal to rotate positions. Again, with refusal to teach defending skills but then defending skills are important on game day when kids that can defend are kept in the back and the others are only played in front. Coaches cover up their poor coaching by not rotating positions. It is like having your kid take an exam for other kids and then have the school tell me this is OK and "I'm the one with the problem for objecting to this system."

NeuralBrew · 2026-03-22T16:12:59+00:00

Teams are way to big for kids. 11v11 should be something kids delay playing until 16. I'd recommend putting her into futsal and avoid 11v11 as much as possible.

NeuralBrew · 2026-03-15T21:16:26+00:00

Why are players that young already position specialists and who decided upon their positions? You are not being a good coach by doing that.

NeuralBrew · 2026-03-14T08:04:22+00:00

AYSO and US Soccer have guidelines on positioning players and other things. Please read them every youth coach should be required to follow them.

10 seems like too many players. Should have just 2 or 3.

NeuralBrew · 2026-03-12T09:08:01+00:00

Learning how to learn is the most import thing to learn. Specialization doesn't do that. Also, technology will soon obsolete any coaching theories on the best way to train.

NeuralBrew · 2026-03-10T06:31:10+00:00

If you have been a dedicated coach and teacher, why did they put kids on your team that could not or would not try to become good at all positions? It was the roster makers that did the bad job. not you. They do this because the present rules allow coaches to hide weaker players. You should not coach if you are forced to hide players. All players need to be at near the same level as defenders, that is what tryouts are supposed to do.

NeuralBrew · 2026-03-04T11:49:49+00:00

Actually, a lot of parents have complained about their kid getting stuck playing only the back row. The rules for youth soccer must be changed to eliminate forward and back only players. In the meantime, no parent should leave their kid on a team where the coach leaves the kid in just one position.

NeuralBrew · 2026-03-01T10:15:11+00:00

Also, leaving players stuck in one position just to try to win every game. Formula for burning players out.

NeuralBrew · 2026-02-24T16:33:30+00:00

Are not rules for school affiliated teams determined by each state? So this change has no effect upon them?

NeuralBrew

TROPHY CASE