To me, the single-most important trait to develop is confidence. And nothing kills confidence more than losing over and over with a coach that keeps telling you that they don't care about winning and they are going to keep doing the same thing over and over regardless of the results.
This is true. Losing every game kills confidence. Losing every game blows up the team. Losing every game turns things ugly as people start looking for scapegoats: the coach, the league, the refs, the goalkeeper, the striker, little Johnny back that is always beaten for a 1v1
The opposite is true though too: an obsession with doing anything you can to win, particularly at the younger ages, leads to a lot of detrimental effects:
-soccer is a game about mistakes. If neither team makes mistakes the score should end 0-0. But mistakes are how kids learn…there’s NO other way. If you don’t make mistakes you don’t learn
-coaches can take short cuts. We’ve all seen it. Asking the gk to punt every ball. Getting the big legged defender to goalkick it up field. Having the really fast striker or winger just outrun the slower defender rather than outplay with passing and dribbling. The short cuts may produce wins. They don’t teach soccer
-it’s easier (if you can do it) to recruit already developed players than to develop your own players. It helps if the players are just taller and closer to the age line
-it’s easier to coach them. It’s easier to run them in practice than to teach the a passing figure.
it’s why soccer is such an unforgiving game…for development it’s ideal to be on a team that’s in the middle of the bracket. Too far gone and things begin to crumble. To high up and that’s wasted development as the team isn’t being challenged
you can have your soccer competitive, developmental or accessible (pick 2).
