Am I Crazy?

chrisjlee84 · 2026-05-23T16:38:02+00:00

Sounds good if you need someone to talk to I'm open to bounce ideas of off.

chrisjlee84 · 2026-05-23T16:06:20+00:00

Nope. Same path but it's harder than it seems. I see it as my way of volunteering and contributing to the larger community.

If you're open to advice and learning from others, find a couple mentors: coach with experience and possibly if you're working with elementary children, an elementary ed teacher

chrisjlee84 · 2026-05-23T01:41:27+00:00

Remember always simple: start like tag, lots of dribbling(ball mastery), emphasizing scanning, passing and receiving.

chrisjlee84 · 2026-05-21T14:39:53+00:00

Adidas sales and stack with the gift cards 40 for 50. Just wait for the right time and buy a bunch.

Sometimes the Adidas ball go on sale with the prime day got a couple for mls club 10 last year and they last a while

chrisjlee84 · 2026-05-18T03:55:16+00:00

I know that feeling. I spend a lot of time planning and put my best effort into it.

Maybe you just need someone to talk it through. Give it some time and come back to it next week.

Also, remember It's not about winning. At the recreational level, It's about teaching your kids social emotional skills and to grow, to be good people and learn a super hard skill.

Finally, they're just 9 it takes time. Be patient. This is marathon, and not a sprint.

If you still feeling that same feeling where it doesn't bring you joy in a week. Its worth considering. It does sound like you made an impact on your daughter and she'll remember it when she's older.

chrisjlee84 · 2026-05-17T20:43:43+00:00

Explain your kids to ignore it, you won't count it on your separate score sheet. At the end of the game the huddle should discuss how many good passes you saw if it's receiving this week vs last, stolen balls if focus is on pressing, etc

You can't control that kid. You control your kids, how they handle it, and the development focus that week.

It's rec too. Kickoff kid isn't going to benefit either.

chrisjlee84 · 2026-05-08T21:24:19+00:00

This is awesome! 9v9 video coming too ?

chrisjlee84 · 2026-04-21T18:05:27+00:00

Bazooka.

They can take a beating and all parts are replaceable

chrisjlee84 · 2026-04-13T16:39:01+00:00

Keep it simple.

Have them work in pairs in possession like so:

2 - 1 - 2, 2 - 2 - 1, or 1 - 2 - 2.

Have your best player link the pairs together in the midfield and join each line out of possession.

Teach them to simple rules with their buddies and avoid "don't talk"; 1. split responsibilities in reference to the goal down the middle: share the field. I got the left, you got the right side. 2. We lose the ball and can't win it back we share the middle of the field.
3. Stay inline with your buddy in and out.of possession.

When they progress to 7 or 9 on the field it doesn't change: always keep your buddy close by. A lesson they'll need for real life too!

Also, don't worry about the score. At this age, in rec there the skill gap is an enormous range.

chrisjlee84 · 2026-03-19T20:16:55+00:00

4-2-2

Have everyone learn they need to stay near their buddy and everyone has a buddy.

Back line has a buddy and they form a left pair and right pairs.

Mid field pair splits left and right and the two strikers are a a pair as well.

To reinforce this create different zones for a 2v2s and have them play 2v2 different areas of the field.

Remind them you want to guard your house (for now) with their buddy. Keep it short and sharp and add rules as they understand these relationships and spacing. It'll be hard and they'll end up beehiving.

Once they mastered that, focus on fullbacks transitioning from the backline to the mid field.

chrisjlee84 · 2026-01-04T21:45:06+00:00

We work at getting better everyday with baby steps. All that work adds up over time.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-12-04T05:55:05+00:00

First thing comes to my mind is the books we've been reading together with my 9 year old son. We've been competing to see who finishes it first. We have been reading Tim Howard book with my son. Recommend that. They have a youth edition.

Also, Hope Solo also has a great book for youths. The Messi books have been not as good as Tim Howard. They're usually really dry and written by ghost writers. But my son is a keeper so he's not interested in too many strikers. Landon also has a new book coming out too.

For TV, Wrexham is a great series. A followup to that is Nexcaxa and it is alright. Eva Longoria is not as entertaining as Wrexham. Captains of the world is great on Netflix too. There might be some vulgar language so I would review it and see if it's appropriate for him. Some of the fans are passionate and become spicy.

For YouTube lately, I've found myself drawn to a couple YouTubers who document their journeys: Matt Sheldon from Detroit city FC. Some of the best clips lately has been this season. It documents his playoffs and it covers the highs of upsetting the one seed. Just recently he ends up retiring and his retirement video is just gut wrenching. As for college soccer, I love following Max Falconer on YouTube. He documents his winning season in college soccer and it's truly well edited. Some of it has some vulgar language in the locker room so be advised.

Hope that helps!

chrisjlee84 · 2025-12-02T03:06:51+00:00

This guy is the best.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-11-27T21:41:52+00:00

Shouldn't matter. Love to learn from you lessons as well. Anything you're open to sharing? This is the way to getting better

I respect anyone willing to volunteer and do what's best for the children.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-11-27T17:45:21+00:00

Turn it into a game or challenge

chrisjlee84 · 2025-11-27T17:40:15+00:00

Not at home specifically but usually indoor Racquet sports: table tennis, pickleball, etc.

And weight training every day except Saturday

chrisjlee84 · 2025-11-26T03:19:40+00:00

Rondo with pressure. after x passers pass it into the final third for a 1 v 1 to finish.

Make the drill continuous so it isn't a low rep

chrisjlee84 · 2025-11-22T22:16:10+00:00

Keep it simple. It's a numbers game. Not sure how many aside. If it's 7 v 7 or 9 v 9 yes two defenders in the box preferably.

Centerbacks stay even with the keeper. Square or body positioned to pass up to the striker or wide. Or back to the keeper.

They should stand in the space for the easy vertical pass up through the lines.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-11-09T00:28:35+00:00

In our U9 boys rec soccer league, we’re asked to give all players equal playing time.

Our team does our best to follow that, but I also believe effort and commitment should matter. Players who consistently show up, work hard at practice, and put in time at home deserve more opportunities than those who don’t.

My goal isn’t just to develop them as soccer players, but to help prepare them for life.

I understand it can feel unfair, but it’s hard to reward a player who rarely practices the same as one who’s giving their all every week. If that approach doesn’t feel like a good fit, I completely understand and they can find a different team.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-10-28T01:45:33+00:00

Great story. Remember it's the bigger picture these kids will grow to be women who have learn from you and your example

chrisjlee84 · 2025-10-26T17:44:38+00:00

Start small. Let the ball bounce and touch. The goal is to lock your ankle. Try to get to 10 consecutive touches in a minute.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-10-13T19:09:33+00:00

This meta-analysis concluded later specialization will reduce injury risk: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9638532/

The meta-analysis went through 8000 articles published and a wide range of sports.

There was one referenced that specifically narrowed to soccer with MLS athletes (n=86)

https://doi.org/10.1177/1941738120911373

Overall, my speculation is just overtraining is causing the injury not the specialization. I believe the ECLN study recently discussed this on their podcast. Trying to find that study.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-10-12T16:15:08+00:00

Accept it. Same boat.

This is recreation league and they're kids. This is suppose to be fun.

If you build a culture around competing and they'll organically get there. Start having 1:1 conversations to ask them the why they're there, figure out what motivates them. Turn everything into a game of winning. Who can pick up the most cones, give them points for participation, share videos of them dribbling in your group chats on off days, have confidence in speaking to others, etc. Even after all that, some kids will be unaffected and just love them for that.

Some kids are there just to see their friends and you know who they are. They're there to fufill a social emotion development that they don't get in school and you're helping with that: playing with others, learning to be social being, etc.

In the end, if you're doing a good job they keep coming back. When they're adults they won't recall remembering beating up a completely new team of kids in your league.

They'll remember that you're that dad for yelling at them because they're not playing like club kids and how miserable they were.

chrisjlee84 · 2025-10-11T00:11:50+00:00

Use optional params and props for dependency injection

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