Tryout Restrictions Might Not Be Best Idea

A year or so ago, the United States Youth Soccer Association (USYSA) and the Iowa State Youth Soccer Association (ISYSA), introduced rules prohibiting the formation of soccer teams for players Under 10 and younger through tryouts or other similar selection processes.
     The objective is to shield players from the more negative aspects of competition (i.e. too much emphasis on winning etc.), until they are older and better able to deal with them.
     Now, the USYSA and the ISYSA, are looking to extend these rules to include all Under 11 age players. While it is extremely doubtful that this change would be mandated for the 2000-2001 season, there are some Iowa clubs who intend to impose the new age restriction of their own accord.
     This would mean that Under 12 would be the first age at which tryouts could officially be held.
     There is a sound rationale behind these restrictions. The aim is to allow players more time to develop their skills and their understanding of the game without worrying unduly about game results. However, I'm not so sure that this is what is being achieved. It appears to me that just about ALL of our age group teams, whether formed through tryouts and based on ability, or structured around groups of friends, car pooling or existing recreational teams, are pitched into league games and tournaments where, like it or not, winning is important.
     And I believe the winning is just as important for many recreational players who don't like to be "second best," as it is for so-called "competitive" players who may have more invested in their performance.
     As long as we put players into competitive situations, they will be playing to win and their support groups will be urging them to do so. Often times, the pressures to win are such that emotions spill over into
over-aggressive and foul play, abuse of officials, temper tantrums and so on. But you're just as likely to see these things at Kickers' games as at Alliance or Iowa Soccer Club games. And you'll see them at Under 10 games, as well as at Under 16 games. They are an unfortunate by product of competition.
     So, I don't believe that altering the age at which tryouts can be held will really make much difference. Indeed, one could argue that by not allowing stronger players to play together at an earlier age i.e. by NOT forming ability based teams, or at least by not encouraging ability based training, at say Under 9, we may actually hold back the progress of our younger players.
     The key then, is not so much rules and regulations, policies and procedures, but on what coaches and parents emphasize within the framework they provide. If the goal is truly to develop players, the focus needs to be more on improving skills, on encouraging creativity and imagination, on playing the right way, and on having fun. This should be the emphasis in practice situations. And it should be the emphasis too, in competitive play -- rather than, as is usually the case, focusing only on winning, on the size of the trophies for first place or on finding someone or something to blame should the game be lost.

From the Iowa City Press Citizen, March 6, 2000
Submitted By: Ian Parratt - Coaching Director, Iowa City Alliance Soccer Club