re: Nerves as a Coach

At the age you're talking about, teaching them fundamentals as the baseline before they start to really grow is far more important than preparing them to win. My daughter's soccer league (5 yo thru 7 yo) requires all their coaches to have played at least the college level. They straight up told us before the season started "do not expect to win games. Usually at this age, there's one or two kids that are just bigger and faster and just outrun the others. We focus on teaching them how to play the sport because when they catch up physically, they will have the fundamentals down and those handful that were just better at the beginning end up being behind"

quote:

---

it really bothers me when we get beat because I didn't have them ready for a certain situation or a certain play

---

Do not think about this. At all. Kids that age are not remotely capable of retaining that kind of information.

They should be having fun. If they catch the ball and start jumping up and down, let them. The world is way too serious as it is.