re: "Unlucky" -- the participation trophy of soccer tems

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I hate ‘good pass’ when in fact it was just a ‘good thought’ or more likely just ‘bad pass’ but yea you’re right...you’d never say that.

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This. If you're in a competitive environment, the kids are there to get better. "Good idea" and "right play, clean it up" are simple enough. My first priority is their thought process. Teach them to play chess, not checkers... at the same time, develop touch. Patience is gigantic, and for some reason patience on the part of coaches is rare. The skills will catch up as long as you keep developing them.

I fired a coach that had stewardship of my team when he said "they're trying to play like Barcelona, but they're not Barcelona," frustrated they were playing one and two touch ball even though they would they make mistakes in the process... Of course they will make mistakes now, they're 11 and 12. It's our job to help them develop the skill.
Too many coaches are worried about records over the development of the players for high level competition at an older age. At some point, "kick the ball up the field and have a fast kid go get it" doesn't work anymore.

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Pass execution should never be luck though, get your body in the correct position and make a good pass. When young players who don’t often connect on passes try and be too cute it pisses me off...and we’re no longer in ‘good thought’ territory. It’s just lazy and show off, and you couldn’t even do that with 10 tries.

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Outside of the foot weak pass instead of opening hips and hitting it solid because "I'm too good for fundamentals" mentality. Goes right along with "I'm a forward. I always play forward."