Coaching U7 girls team is the worst sports experience of my life

Half don’t want to play, at practice 3 out of 8 of them just get dropped off and left by their parents. We got beat by at least 10 goals today, demoralized, and the mom that was supposed to bring snacks didn’t, so the girls felt terrible and blamed me. I feel bad for the girls on the team that want to learn but can’t because the others are walking problems and dragging everyone else down. Their parents are not present and there’s no team morale because I’m treated as their babysitter. We have 3 games left, should i just focus on teaching/playing the ones that actually want to learn and ignore the rest? Because i kinda want to.

Top replies, most upvoted first

• (+13) We tell the parents that they have to be there for bathroom breaks. That’s an immediate fix. Your session plan is good and age appropriate, so I think part of it may be resetting your own expectations. At this age, your job is to teach the girls to love football (or to help they find out if they can) more than it is to teach them how to play it. That means high energy and relentless positive reinforcement. Being silly with the group helps. Joining in gives them a positive role model and letting the sharks steal the coaches ball (or whatever) might help too. You can also try a bit of...
• (+10) You need to set expectations with parents, both for their level of involvement and their kids’ level of engagement. I’ve coached that age group multiple times, and drop off simply isn’t ok at that age. Kids routinely need mom or dad to sort them out (which is normal and fine at age freaking 6!) and you cannot do that and run a practice. This season might be a wash but next one, if you do it, start with clear expectations and requirements for parents.
• (+5) I would send an email/text that a parent must be there to help their child at that age. You shouldn’t be treated like a babysitter. Start there, then make the rest fun! Unfortunately, you haven’t weeded out the kids that just don’t want to play yet. Thank you for stepping up. It’s a hard age.
• (+5) It's a cliche, but all you can do is try to have fun. Let the ones that want to pick flowers pick flowers, focus more on the ones who want to learn. It's likely parenting, you don't really teach with your words, you just model with your behavior.
• (+5) Focus on the fundamentals
• (+3) First off, I feel like you're taking your job too seriously (which is a positive reflection your character). At this age, you really can't push or develop players the way you think you can. You only have one practice per week right? That's nowhere near enough to build skills. That is enough to give them an hour to have fun, and more importantly, to work on your own ability to interact positively with all kinds of kids, especially the ones that frustrate the living hell out of you. Treat this as your own character building experience. You have the opportunity to be a positive presence in...
• (+2) At this age girls just wanna have fun :) There were over the limit like I forget maybe 13-14 girls in my daughters K rec team. Out if that group there are only 2 incl my daughter now u15 in GA/RL. There's another 1-2 who play travel low lower level but my point is the ones who are interested are going to be very very few indeed. My daughter joined to play, she fell for soccer immediately, not to socialize but pretty much everyone else did for the latter. You gotta sorta manage your expectations. As a side hustle she also refs and she's always saying the u9 girls just totally suck and it's so...
• (+2) At six they can either focus or not. I let young kids wander if they need space.
• (+2) He means just focus on the basics
• (+1) There is a difference between rec soccer and competitive soccer. If the goal is simply to give parents a place to send their kids so they can say they are playing organized soccer, then you have to work with what you have and adjust your expectations. As a coach, you have to ask yourself what you really want. Are you just there to run practices and keep the kids occupied, or do you want to develop players and change their attitudes toward the game? The second option is much harder because you cannot force kids to have passion, discipline, or the desire to improve. Another option is to find a...
• (+1) So I’d say your coaching style has to change. Maybe ask a parent to volunteer to assist if you need help. My son has done two different soccer programs. Lil kickers with a professional highly engaging and motivating coach and an u7 rec team which we went to 3 practices before quiting and going back to lil kickers. The style of the practice was completely different. U7 was terrible and lil kickers is so much fun and my kid gives it his best. At lil kickers each kid is constantly with the ball, everything is gamified, no waiting in lines, no waiting for the ball, the coach is very animated. At...
• (+1) This is how I would handle it. - I would send out communication to the parents and walk them through things. Set guidelines and parameters and most importantly, expectations from both parent and player side. - My U6 team is very similar. I have 4 kids that show up wanting to do anything and everything to get better. 3 are hit and miss and 3 are so challenging to manage. I run my drills as expected and if the kids want to be kids and do their own thing, let them. I always give multiple warnings but I cant slow down practice for kids actively disengaged. As long as they are being safe and...