u/KnoxCastle

This is just a bit of a funny story I thought I would share with like minded people.

So my nine year old loves soccer. He plays for two teams and between them does training four nights a week.

This is the first year that the teams have issued report cards.

Got the report card from his first team and one of the "things to improve" was working on his weaker foot.

Hmmm. I thought, because he's actually really two footed. Like his right is stronger but he scores pretty much equally with either foot. He isn't one of those kids you see missing out on a chance because they are trying to get on their strong foot.

I've always liked watching the game but when I was a kid I was, um, kind of the last to be picked. Grew up with just me and my Mum and sister and didn't really have anyone to teach me. So just started playing in the park with friends at 11... which was old enough to enjoy but I just never developed the co-ordination to be any good.

With my son I've been kicking about in the park with him since he was a toddler and we've always tried to work on both feet. It's an obvious skill that doesn't take much coaching skill from me. Just play it to his weaker side and get him to practice shots and passes.

Then his report card from his second team came out... and again it mentioned "Needs to get stronger on his weak foot". What is going on?

At his next game I watched him sprint up the pitch and smash in the winning goal with his weak foot, play passes with his weak foot... as always, he just plays it on the foot it comes to.

Then at training last night. The coach noticed me walking by and mentioned that he'd noticed my sons weak foot really improving recently and he'd spotted us doing our usual kickabouts down the park and "whatever I'm doing keep it up because he has a heck of a left foot now"...

... I smiled and said thanks, great ... but absolutely nothing has changed! He has always had a strong weak foot! Ha ha, sorry if that's me waffling. Thought some of you might laugh at the story!

Has anyone got experience and/or recommendations for JDL clubs versus community clubs. JDL is the official NSW pathway from U9 to U13.

My son is currently playing for a community club in a park league. It seems pretty good - no league tables, focused on development not winning or losing games.

Three kids at his school play in JDL teams and my son is interested because he hears this is the elite level.

I'd probably prefer him just to continue with his normal club where he has friends, the coaching seems good and I have seen the team develop over the years.

Are JDL clubs really a better environment than park football?

Is anyone going to the Spurs versus Chelsea match at the Accor on the 1st of August. I looked into tickets today and cheapest ones seem to be ... $250 a seat. I'm a bit shocked at that and wondering if I'm just out of touch.

My son loves football and he would love to go and see the big names... but the price just seems crazy. We usually go to the Sydney FC home games and and I get a season ticket for every home match for less than $300 for the whole season. We went to Asian Cup Final for the Matildas and I think that was $150 for good seats for a final.

Has anyone been to these kind of preseason games in the past? Do they sell out? Any hacks for cheaper tickets?

Okon-Engstler moving to Koln. Shame.

Does anyone have any other live sport they watch when Sydney aren't playing?

Used to go to loads of games as a kid in the UK, then emigrated over here and have just last season got into watching live football again because my son has got old enough to want to.

Absolutely bitten by the bug again. The away semi final at Newcastle was such a buzz. Home against Perth not so much... but I can't wait for some live games again.

Obv, there is the world cup on TV right now but does anyone enjoy any other live sport in Sydney when Sydney FC aren't playing?

Takahiro Sekine has just signed for Sydney FC. He is being described as a japanese icon. Is that a fair description? How good is he?

Takahiro Sekine has just signed for Sydney FC. He is being described as a japanese icon. Is that a fair description? How good is he?

My son has been showing some interest in various maths topics recently. I think it ties in with the kind of stuff some of his friends talk about at school. He's in third grade and they have starting streaming this year for maths. He's really enjoying that.

Now when I walk him home from football practice after school, or sometimes as a detour from bedtime books we sometimes chat about maths topics and he enjoys it.

I only did maths up to high school (not university level) and a couple of years ago i went back did some of the khan academy classes to brush up my knowledge to teach my kids.

Does anyone have any ideas for fun math topics that would work well as chats during ten minute walks with a 9 year old?

Things he has loved recently :

- how many sides does a circle have? 0,1,2, infinite? what even is a side?
- factors, what are they and which numbers have the most?
- squaring - how to square bigger numbers that end in 0, the trick to square numbers that end in 5, thinking of square numbers as actual squares and layering on the extra ends to work out something like 61 squared (we can easily work out 60 squared is 6 squared and add the zeroes - then imagine an extra layer of 61 at the top - the one pokes over - add the 60 to the side - so 121 - so 61 squared is 3721)
- maths is broken - what's 1 divided by 3, ok what's that as a decimal 0.3333 to infinity, ok, what's two times that, 0.6666, ok what's three times 0.3333, 0.9999 - ok you but shouldn't be 1?
- anything to the power of 0 is 1, well except 0 it might be 1 or it might be undefined, ok so any positive integer to the power is 0 is 1 ( we had a big chat about this last night and he loved it but I couldn't explain why it was like that - so I've looked up a khan academy video and we will rediscuss tonight!) - this is farther than I want him to go right now, but he's really showing interest and just playing around with exponents is good practice for multiplication which i do want him to focus on at this age.

So it's kind of just playing with numbers in a way relevant to the first years of schooling, with me (a non-mathematician without any advanced maths knowledge guiding him). This all gives practice of the basics (six times six) but in a very engaging way.

Any other ideas for fun topics that would be approachable and suitable?