Myths about Club Soccer

- Soccer is just another childhood activity.
- Soccer is the world's least expensive sport. You can play with bare feet, a dirt field, and a ball of rags rolled and tied into a ball. [A myth only in the United States where children cannot play soccer, it seems, without adult assistance.]
- Competitive youth soccer is not political.
- You don’t have a life.
- It’s hideously expensive.
- You travel to Burbank and back each weekend.
- You can play competitively for the same cost as playing recreationally.
- You will be glad it’s over and you won’t miss it when your child goes off to college.
- For children, competitive youth soccer is about winning.
- For adults, competitive youth soccer isn't about winning.
- You cannot go to San Diego too often to tire of the many man-made attractions located nearby. (RH)

Myths about Players

- Forwards are the most important players on the team.
- The #18 player will always be the #18 player; the #1 player will always be the #1 player.
- A small [slow] child will always be small [slow].
- It is possible to predict, at age 8, which players will be great at age 16.
- The same players who are great at age 10 will be great at age 16.
- Children are small adults. They remember what they’ve been told. They understand complex logic and can execute complex strategies. You can yell at them the way you'd yell at anyone else who makes a mistake.
- In order to get good [or, get on a good team], you have to switch clubs every season or two, just as the only way to make more money is to change jobs every year or two.
- Goal keepers are crazy. (RH)
- Goal keepers are not crazy. (RH)
- Defenders are big and slow. (RH)
- A player should be urged to make a 30-yard sprint to challenge the goalkeeper with the ball at his/her feet. (RH)

Myths about My Child

- My child is extraordinary.
- My child is individually the reason his/her team is successful.
- My child is going to get a scholarship to college, become part of the US Women’s/Men’s National Team, play in the Olympics, and/or play professionally.
- My child is going to immediately catch on, make a difference, start, and play the entire game.
- My child is never going to go into a temporary slump. Nor, is it acceptable for him/her to be in a slump.
- My child deserves more playing time.
- My child needs to play “up” in age in order to advance.
- My child needs a personal trainer – now, already!
- My child plays against clumsy opponents whose failure to remain on their feet is attributable solely to their lack of coordination. (RH)
- European soccer tours are the best way to further my child’s soccer career. (RH)
- If my child is called for a foul, the call was probably incorrect; but, in any event, the foul was certainly unintentional and in the spirit of competition. (RH)
- If my child falls down, he/she was fouled and a card should probably be given to the opponent. (RH)
- The coach of a team with a losing record would not be appropriate for my child. (RH)
- The coach of a winning team is the right coach for my child. (RH)
- Snacks are NOT the reason that my child likes playing on the team. (LV)

 Myths about Parents

- My job [as a parent] is to coach my child whenever possible.
- My child will not learn the game unless I tell her the mistakes she is making.
- By my own influence, parental authority, requests, rewards and incentives, threats, and personal involvement, I can change the way my child plays soccer.
- Coaching my child will not affect or change our future relationship.
- I can use financial incentives to improve the quality of my child's performance.
- If I can push my child long enough, eventually he/she will realize how much the game means to him/her.
- I can [should, should be able to, want to, need to] substitute my child's current successes for my own miserable childhood.
- The better my child plays, the more important am I.
- I am not part of the “problem” of youth soccer. It’s those other adults who are the problem. (RH)

 Myths about Coaches

- It is the coach's fault if a team is not winning. (DC)
- Anyone who speaks with a foreign accent is privy to secrets of the game denied to ignorant Americans and is an appropriate coach for my child. (RH)
- Anyone who once played soccer and who owns an Adidas warmup would be a good coach for my child. (RH)
- The more tricks (with a ball) the coach can do, the better will be the coaching. (LV)
- A team’s winning record is a good gage as to whether or not a particular player on that team is developing properly. (RH)
- A good coach yells instructions and paces up and down the field during a game.
- All soccer coaches are inexperienced, amateur, power-hungry, controlling parents (i.e., "idiots").
- A good coach plays on the field with the players during scrimmages.
- You can coach girls the same way that you coach boys.
- Girls should be coached by women.
- All good coaches have national "A" licenses.
- A good player makes a good coach.
- In order to coach effectively, you must have played on the US Men's National Team [in the Olympics, professionally, as a child, as an adult, in college, for Brazil, etc.]
- “Unintentional” balls-to-hand applies to my team. “Intentional” hand-to-ball applied to the opposing team. (RH)
 

Myths about Organization, Associations, Soccer Clubs, and Teams

- All soccer organizations, clubs, and teams are good.
- All soccer organizations, clubs, and teams are bad.
- All soccer organizations, clubs, and teams are the same.
- All organizations are organized.
- A team that doesn’t win is a bad team.
- A team’s winning record is a good measure as to whether or not a particular player on that team is developing properly. (RH)
- Class-3 teams can successfully make the transition to class-1. [A myth only 99% of the time.]
- The teams that are successful at U10 or U12 will be the teams that are successful at U16 or U18.
- Matching team bags carefully lined up along the touch line are indicative of a successful team. (RH)
- Playing up in age on an inferior team is superior to playing on a good team in the right age group. (RH)
- Long kicks up the field in the direction of the opponent’s goal are a good strategy, regardless of who wins the ball. (RH)
- The more tricks (with the ball) the team can do, the better will be its on-field performance. (LV)

Myths about Practicing

- Players can get great by attending only 2 practices per week.
- Practices should be only as long as the length of the game at that age.
- Each practice should be organized around a single theme that isn't repeated at a later practice.
- Players like to hear long explanations from the coach at practice.
- It's fun waiting in long lines for your chance to shoot on goal with the only ball the coach brought to practice.
- Youth players have an attention span longer than 15 seconds.
- It's realistic to expect youth players to ignore such distractions as the Ice Cream Man's truck, a gopher sticking his head out of a hole in the field, someone's new baby, or someone's new puppy, kitten, or rat.
- You can restore order to a practice by yelling at the players.
- The best way to get their attention is to send them on a long run.

Myths about Games

- If a team won its game, the team played well. (LV)
- If a team ties its game, the team played so-so. (LV)
- If a team lost its game, the team played poorly. (LV)
- The farther away a game is, the better will be the competition and/or the player's development. (LV)
- The team with the fanciest warm-up routine will win the game.
- The first team to arrive at the field will win the game. (LV)

Myths about Tournaments

- The farther away and more expensive a tournament is, the better it will be for your child (team). (LV)

The Ultimate Urban Myth
(Thanks to Leslie Vaughn.)

There is an equation out there (not yet discovered) that includes mpg of vehicle, gas price, distance to and from game, time taken in preparation (getting water bottles together, washing and sorting and putting on uniforms, pumping up balls, etc.), number of siblings to get ready as well, cost of snacks, sideline accessories like coolers, chairs, umbrellas, rain slickers, arctic tundra parkas, binoculars, digital cameras, video cameras, etc., cost of sign-up, cost of uniforms, cost of facilities, referees, hotels, airfare, and whatever other "necessities" soccer requires, time taken away from activities like homework, friendships with non-players, etc., headache medication for parents, etc., that ultimately comes out in favor of soccer.

Contributors
David Christensen (DC); Roy Henninger (RH); Leslie Vaughn (LV)