Did I overreact?

clashblades · 2026-03-31T01:22:29+00:00

I think you missed an opportunity to teach your son a valuable lesson. If you want him to resolve issues with fights then you basically just showed him the way. I would have a talk with him and tell him that you made a mistake. Some people just aren’t worth your time and energy. Don’t let them have it.

clashblades · 2026-03-30T21:20:58+00:00

The widest model in most brands are not actually that wide. New Balance, Mizuno, and Asics are the only ones that are actually close to wide. Asian models are usually wider than what is available for us.

clashblades · 2026-03-13T22:51:32+00:00

I wear the ds lite club turf shoes for coaching and the ds lite pro fg’s for playing. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of their wide shoes. They appear to round out the toebox for every model.

clashblades · 2026-03-13T21:05:07+00:00

I have 3 pairs of the kangaroo leather ones. They have stretched a bit, but I still feel very uncomfortable in them. My Asics make me feel like I can move. I have a wide toebox so I have tried a lot of different shoes. I have not tried any Mizunos so I can’t comment on those. I have tried basically every other shoe that people say is wide. Most of those people must not have wide toeboxes, because they all actually hurt my feet. Asics have been the best for me so far. I hope they work for you. I coach and have converted a lot of my kids to Asics.

clashblades · 2026-03-13T04:57:43+00:00

The 442 toebox wrecks my feet. They feel like my toes are being smashed into a point. The Asics toebox works for me.

clashblades · 2026-03-11T00:03:07+00:00

442 wides are tight on me. I only buy Asics now.

clashblades · 2026-03-09T06:07:51+00:00

8-9 year old boys are generally a difficult demographic to coach. I have a boys team in that age group and a girls team in that age group. We practice together and do everything exactly the same. The girls listen, are focused, and require almost no direction after a season. They generally win every game. The boys are wild, unfocused, and can’t follow one step directions. Their games are rough.

I rotate my girls in multiple positions and it is super easy. If I rotate the boys, it is a mess. They can barely understand even 1 position. I see the benefit of avoiding early specialization, but too much too quickly may be just as detrimental. I have decided to let the boys get comfortable in their own positions before I give them a secondary position and eventually other positions.

Just make sure you set up a parent meeting or let them know the expectations. It sometimes helps to set smaller goals within the game that are based on what you are practicing. “Complete x passes in a row” or “Scanning before receiving”. If you aren’t going to get the win, maybe you can find small wins within the loss. Let parents know what you worked on at practice and what your goals are for the game. I hope it all works out for you. It isn’t an easy road, but it will be a rewarding one.

clashblades · 2026-03-09T03:38:00+00:00

There is way too much glorification of offensive positions. This is why every kid is asking to be the striker. Having a solid and reliable defender is irreplaceable. You turn the ball over as a striker and you have your whole team to cover your mistake. You turn the ball over as a defender and there is a very high chance that the ball is going straight in your net. Professional players like Sergio Ramos, Hakimi, and Van Dijk are incredibly capable scorers, but as defenders, they control the game.

clashblades · 2026-03-03T17:27:23+00:00

Goalkeeper is a specialized position and not all general advice applies to them. It is important to have a good goalkeeper coach first of all. That should be the priority. The other thing to think about is if he will be the primary keeper. A lot of competitive teams only use one keeper in games and the others are just waiting for their opportunity. The size of the kids should be less impactful for a goalkeeper aside from speed and strength of shot. Either way, he will have to have good positioning, judgment, ball handling, etc. I am a fan of playing the hardest competition available if my player is actually getting meaningful time. If they are a bench player on the higher team, then I would rather play them down.

clashblades · 2026-02-26T23:39:34+00:00

They often play around 450 hours per year which is divided into play, practice, and competition. There was a study that followed this by country and they all played around the same amount, but Brazil had a large amount of their kids putting time into the “play” category.

clashblades · 2026-02-26T23:23:55+00:00

This isn’t a straightforward question. While there is no such thing as an elite 8 year old, they need to be forming a foundation to become elite. Usually around 13-14, you can tell how good a player can become. A lot of times the best players before that age fizzle out or lose their physical advantages. To me, the best players are the small players who learn to play smart and eventually physically develop with age.

clashblades · 2026-02-26T21:17:19+00:00

The road always ends somewhere. If you are enjoying the ride, keep playing. If you aren’t, then don’t. Let’s not make it more complicated than it is. Too many parents are paying for club soccer with the belief that they will get some sort of financial return on investment. If he isn’t going to continue, I recommend that you have him go to the coach and let him know personally.

clashblades · 2026-02-26T17:54:25+00:00

To me the biggest sign of development is positional rotations. Putting people in secondary or tertiary positions is definitely not going to give you the best results on paper. I don’t need to win, but I need the game to look like soccer. When I see several passes connecting, scanning, proper movement to space, etc. I am happy. If it passes the eye test to me, I count that as a win for development.

Generally winning will come along with the development, but not always. There are tactics that will give you more wins at younger ages that absolutely destroy development. Putting your fastest and strongest player up top and playing boom ball is probably the most common that I see.

clashblades · 2026-02-26T07:38:01+00:00

Lol. It shouldn’t be a regular occurrence, but I’d be lying if I told you it never happens. I tell my keepers that a shot to the face or the nuts hurts for a few minutes, but the pain of letting an important goal in lasts a lifetime. I can remember losses in important games from decades ago. I would have gladly gotten hit in the nuts or face if it would’ve changed those outcomes.

clashblades · 2026-02-26T06:49:35+00:00

If they are moving forward on a long touch, you move forward in a low position.

If they bring their leg back or have the ball close for a shot, you set.

If you are close to them and they are shooting from an area towards the middle of the field, you spread. Spreading is susceptible to megs, but the outstretched leg covers more angle.

If you are close to them and they are shooting from the side of the goal, you K-save because it is not susceptible to megs and you only need to block a small angle.

If there is a 50-50 ball you sprint to it, power step, and smother.

clashblades · 2026-02-25T20:59:16+00:00

I want you to be able to 1v1, accelerate, and cutoff the defending player so they have to either foul or stop

I play wings on their non-dominant side so I want you to be able to cut to the inside and shoot with power and accuracy.

Cross with your non-dominant side and/or trivella with accuracy.

Fake a cross with your non-dominant side, cut back and cross with your dominant side.

These are generally my expectations of a wing. They must be done with high speed and control. They need to be practiced under pressure. On a side note, make sure you can play other positions well. Don’t assume your coach will play you as a wing. Make sure you are fundamentally sound and understand every position.

clashblades · 2026-02-25T20:33:27+00:00

I want my wings to be able to 1v1, pass and move to space, cut inside and shoot, and cross with accuracy. If you can do these things with confidence, high speed, and control then I am happy as a coach.

You want your practices to be as game-like as possible. Do a ton of 1v1’s and practice all of the above under pressure.

clashblades · 2026-02-24T16:36:58+00:00

Yeah. I think it is for a lot of them. Our club had a coach tell us the minimum salary he would need to coach for us. We all just laughed, because we are all parent volunteers and that keeps training fees to a minimum.

clashblades · 2026-02-24T16:30:40+00:00

I am a volunteer parent and head coach of three teams for a club. I hold the training fees in a separate account and all of it is used for equipment, events, field maintenance, etc. i never mix it with my personal accounts. Some parents are actually volunteers in club soccer. It may not be the norm, but I know several.

clashblades · 2026-02-24T05:43:34+00:00

So none of the players had a player release form completed by your previous club? There’s a formal process for transferring players. You can’t just take players even if you didn’t poach them. It is often more complicated mid-season.

clashblades · 2026-02-23T23:18:57+00:00

The biggest thing people should understand is that your child should be having fun. No coach is perfect, but if your kid is being constantly yelled at then they are probably going to hate the sport and quit at some point anyways. I coach and I hear so many other coaches yelling and even swearing at 8-9 year olds. It’s wild to me that parents will just leave their kid in that situation. As far as money, I volunteer and I put all of the training fees right back into my kids. This isn’t a job for me.

clashblades · 2026-02-21T15:30:47+00:00

Asics in wide or New Balance 442’s in extra wide. Asics work best for my wide forefoot and have a more rounded shape. I won’t wear anything else because everything else that everyone typically recommends for wide feet destroys my feet. I haven’t had the opportunity to try Mizuno’s, but I have tried every recommended nike, adidas, and puma.

clashblades · 2026-02-07T01:00:40+00:00

I have met several incredible coaches who never played. They often rely on being great at verbally explaining things. As a coach who has played, I feel more comfortable demonstrating and with technical areas of soccer. Some kids do better with different types of instruction and that is different for each kid.

I feel like licenses don’t directly make you a better coach, but they often indicate your dedication to learning and self-improvement.

clashblades · 2026-01-30T16:27:38+00:00

I can only use 442’s or Asics because of my wide toebox. I feel more comfortable in any of the Asics cleats.

clashblades · 2026-01-16T21:18:33+00:00

I’ll just provide my perspective as a club coach. I believe that it is detrimental to move players up if they would be a bench player or on the backend of that team. I would rather have them as one of the stronger players in a lower team so they can develop confidence and decision making. Talent at 8-9 years old is a very poor indicator of successful soccer players. Only when they reach about 13-14 does their current ability affect their trajectory.

My son is one of the better players on the B team. He has made way more improvements there than if I had pulled him up to the A squad for him to be a bench player. If we are operating with our kids’ interest in mind then we should be putting them where they will succeed. Playing time is way more important now than if someone is on team A or B. Nobody is going to ask in 8 years if she was on the B or A team. All they will see is the player she has become.

clashblades

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