need advice

What do you do when your bb has lost all his confidence with the ball. He plays scared, turns ball over, panic passes. Please anyone who has gone thru this with their bb, or has any good ideas, I am ready to give up and put him in rec or take him out of soccer all together. How do I get my bb to go balls out with no fear?

I found this post on the girl's site:

Have a 12 year old that has lost all confidence with the ball, just freaks out when gets the ball, turns it over, makes a rushed bad panic pass, just plays scared. Has any body experienced this before, or have any advice, I have tried everything I know and am about to give up. HELP!

Is this from the same person? Is there some possible trolling going on, or is somebody trying to steer the answers to this question towards a predetermined answer? Maybe trying to promote a specific coach or soccer camp? I'm just wondering.

Seems like a number of key words being used in both: "panic pass" "plays scared" "lost all confidence with the ball"

Maybe they are looking for real answers on both sites.

I'mjustsayin

My advice would be to continue to work on his skills and improve his comfort level with the ball. Then look at what team he is on. Maybe he is on a team that is above his current level of play. He might feel too much presure to perform and when he looses the ball his confidence is shot not to mention all of the other players, coaches and parents yelling at him (this may or may not be happening). But I would take him to a team where he gets a lot of playing time and where he can perform at a high level. Even if that meant rec, but there maybe a competitive team, that although not be in D1, it could be a good fit for your BB where he could perform up to his highest potential. Just my advice. Most importantly of all make sure that he is having fun and enjoying soccer and then his game will improve. If he is not having fun then he will continue to backslide. Hope it works out for you. Remember it does not matter if he is not on the best team as long as he is developing having fun and enjoying soccer.

imjustsayin wrote:I found this post on the girl's site:

Have a 12 year old that has lost all confidence with the ball, just freaks out when gets the ball, turns it over, makes a rushed bad panic pass, just plays scared. Has any body experienced this before, or have any advice, I have tried everything I know and am about to give up. HELP!

Is this from the same person? Is there some possible trolling going on, or is somebody trying to steer the answers to this question towards a predetermined answer? Maybe trying to promote a specific coach or soccer camp? I'm just wondering.

Seems like a number of key words being used in both: "panic pass" "plays scared" "lost all confidence with the ball"

Maybe they are looking for real answers on both sites.

I'mjustsayin

Not trolling,LOL,just looking for some advice from both sides of the spectrum.

messican wrote:

imjustsayin wrote:I found this post on the girl's site:

Have a 12 year old that has lost all confidence with the ball, just freaks out when gets the ball, turns it over, makes a rushed bad panic pass, just plays scared. Has any body experienced this before, or have any advice, I have tried everything I know and am about to give up. HELP!

Is this from the same person? Is there some possible trolling going on, or is somebody trying to steer the answers to this question towards a predetermined answer? Maybe trying to promote a specific coach or soccer camp? I'm just wondering.

Seems like a number of key words being used in both: "panic pass" "plays scared" "lost all confidence with the ball"

Maybe they are looking for real answers on both sites.

I'mjustsayin

Not trolling,LOL,just looking for some advice from both sides of the spectrum.

Take him/her off the club he / she is on, go find a lesser league, like plano or Arlington if you want to continue select.

Less caliber of competition will improve the kids skill level and confidence.


Skills
Playing time
Confidence that comes from playing.

Then you can increase the degree of difficulty.

Listen, even professional players become little kids and panic when Cristian Ronaldo or Messi, back in the day Maradona or Zidane were coming against them with the ball.

Whole countries used to fold to Brasil before the game even started.

Just keep them playing and talk to the kid about confidence.
The rest will work its way, takes time.

The environment he is in has him feeling that mistakes, turnovers etc, are not acceptable. It is pressure from parents, peers or the coach or maybe a combination. He is not comfortable. You have to find a place for him to play that is at his skill and comfort level. Then he will relax , enjoy and improve. In this situation you will not have to pull him. The stress will have him quitting in a season. The way he is playing he can not be enjoying it no matter what he says.

Every BB or DD will turn the ball over at some point in the game. Its what they do after the turn over, do they try and win the ball back or jog walk back up the field with head down as they here come on from the parents or coach in some cases teammates? As far as the panic pass that is an extension of the above,bb or dd would rather kick it wildly and to no one or in most instances to the other team for fear of turning the ball over they just kick it and dont care where.
I agree with most that has been said already


My 2 cents

messican wrote:

imjustsayin wrote:I found this post on the girl's site:

Have a 12 year old that has lost all confidence with the ball, just freaks out when gets the ball, turns it over, makes a rushed bad panic pass, just plays scared. Has any body experienced this before, or have any advice, I have tried everything I know and am about to give up. HELP!

Is this from the same person? Is there some possible trolling going on, or is somebody trying to steer the answers to this question towards a predetermined answer? Maybe trying to promote a specific coach or soccer camp? I'm just wondering.

Seems like a number of key words being used in both: "panic pass" "plays scared" "lost all confidence with the ball"

Maybe they are looking for real answers on both sites.

I'mjustsayin

Not trolling,LOL,just looking for some advice from both sides of the spectrum.

so do you have a BB or DD?

It all comes down to comfort with the ball. Specifically, work on his control/first touch. This will give him more time to make quality passes.

Regardless of his age, technique is what matters most. But, repitition, repitition, repitition....

I wouldn't necessarily change teams right away. Unless he is not getting minutes in games.

Coming out of lurkdom because your post hits very close to home. We have gone through something similar with our 14 year old. He's back on the upswing but here's some things we've learned along the way.....

1. Is he still having fun or is he stressed out? Has he been able to articulate what's going on or why the loss of confidence/playing with fear? If you haven't talked about it with him, you need to. So many kids between the ages of 11-15 simply burn out and don't want to work as hard as they did before to play at a competitive level, no matter how badly their parents want them to. For my son it was a combo of things. He went from being the best on his D1 team the previous 2 years to making a Pre-Academy team where he's squarely in the middle of the pack. (the constant praise from coaches and notariety was no longer there). That combined with being the youngest on the team and one of the smaller ones was quite a blow. He wanted to play at this level so badly but was feeling overwhelmed with what he percieved as obstacles.

2. What feedback is he getting from his coach? It's not the easiest conversation but you son needs to have a discussion with the coach (you could/should listen in but it should be between the 2 of them) on what your son needs to work on and develop and what specific suggestions the coach has for him. You need to be prepared to hear the answer. For my son it was tough for him to hear that he had some skill deficiencies but it gave him specific things to fix but he also heard what he was really good at and didn't have to work on so much. He formed a plan with his coach and started working on it every chance he got.

3. Where does the pressure or fear come from? Is it coach riding him too hard, or trying to keep up with an older sibling or some other external pressure? It turned out that for my son it was his own perfectionist tendencies getting in the way. He was taking every criticism the coach had for the entire team way too personally and couldn't get of his own head. Even before his foot touched the ball, he had himself convinced that he wasn't going to be perfect. This was the most difficult part for us to deal with and we ended up going to a sports psychologist to help figure it out and fix it.

Several other responses mentioned more practice and touch on the ball, that is really is important and the best thing your son can do. But, in my humble opinion, only after you've helped him figure out why the fear and helped him find ways to overcome it.

Sorry for the long post, I hope your child gets out of his/her slump soon.

eilzur wrote:Coming out of lurkdom because your post hits very close to home. We have gone through something similar with our 14 year old. He's back on the upswing but here's some things we've learned along the way.....

1. Is he still having fun or is he stressed out? Has he been able to articulate what's going on or why the loss of confidence/playing with fear? If you haven't talked about it with him, you need to. So many kids between the ages of 11-15 simply burn out and don't want to work as hard as they did before to play at a competitive level, no matter how badly their parents want them to. For my son it was a combo of things. He went from being the best on his D1 team the previous 2 years to making a Pre-Academy team where he's squarely in the middle of the pack. (the constant praise from coaches and notariety was no longer there). That combined with being the youngest on the team and one of the smaller ones was quite a blow. He wanted to play at this level so badly but was feeling overwhelmed with what he percieved as obstacles.

2. What feedback is he getting from his coach? It's not the easiest conversation but you son needs to have a discussion with the coach (you could/should listen in but it should be between the 2 of them) on what your son needs to work on and develop and what specific suggestions the coach has for him. You need to be prepared to hear the answer. For my son it was tough for him to hear that he had some skill deficiencies but it gave him specific things to fix but he also heard what he was really good at and didn't have to work on so much. He formed a plan with his coach and started working on it every chance he got.

3. Where does the pressure or fear come from? Is it coach riding him too hard, or trying to keep up with an older sibling or some other external pressure? It turned out that for my son it was his own perfectionist tendencies getting in the way. He was taking every criticism the coach had for the entire team way too personally and couldn't get of his own head. Even before his foot touched the ball, he had himself convinced that he wasn't going to be perfect. This was the most difficult part for us to deal with and we ended up going to a sports psychologist to help figure it out and fix it.

Several other responses mentioned more practice and touch on the ball, that is really is important and the best thing your son can do. But, in my humble opinion, only after you've helped him figure out why the fear and helped him find ways to overcome it.

Sorry for the long post, I hope your child gets out of his/her slump soon.

Good post. One of mine is a perfectionist as well and has just started to struggle with making the transition to the next level. I appreciate this response.

I think the hard thing for the average player is to see the entire field while they are playing. Most turnovers occur because they don't recognize where the pressure is coming from. The better players seem to always make their first touch into space away from where the pressure will be. This gives them time to make a better second touch or pass it. I see a lot of players try and settle the ball while standing still and not recognizing that an opposing player is bearing down on them until it is too late. I have tried to instill this into my bb and at times he gets it and others he still has tunnel vision on the ball. It takes some players longer than others to develop this skill, and yes I think it is a skill that can be learned.

I also agree with some of the other posters to make sure they are playing within a league that matches your bb skill level. It is easier to develop new skills if you are within your own playing ability.

great post.

I think people (meaning parents) get too hung up on division/playing level and lose sight of the fact that kids develop at different rates.

Many of the academies abroad believe that level of competition shouldn't be a primary consideration until around 15.

It takes a lot of confidence (and a degree of success) for a player to be comfortable enough to make an impact on the game. Conversely, they should find it difficult (slightly) to dominate a game.

But if their confidence suffers, so does their comfort. You have to find the right balance of difficulty and success. Some kids are very good technically but lack the size/speed to be able to make a huge impact.

One of the biggest shortcomings of players is that they tend to focus too much on taking on players with a dribbling run. Ideally, they should be able to scan the field before receiving the ball and then determine the best course of action.

Plenty of skilled dribblers out there. What is lacking is players with a solid first touch combined with the ability to make intelligent decisions.

The best players, players better prepared for the next level, are the players who play 1 and 2 touch football.

Pass and move is the essence of the game. It's not taking on 2, 3 or more defenders and going to goal. This creates one dimensional players.

If you really want to accurately gauge player performance, the first step is to count their turnovers. And how many passes they connect.

And all their 1v1 encounters.

If they are struggling and riding the bench for a "top level team", they aren't getting much out of it.