u/NitroGuy86

I know this isn't a life and death question. But my kid is just turning 7 and his 2nd-3rd grade rec league will be using size 4 balls. We've got a bunch of them around and we'll send him up practice with a 4. And several 3s as well.

But for his age, being just on the small half of typical, should he still be using a size 3 for training at home even though he'll probably never compete with that size again? Or should we retire them? How much does this actually matter?

*Reining- hate to have misspelled the title.

It took me a while to learn to let my daughter figure things out for herself and keep my sideline coaching to praise and "go (player!}." But we have some other people come to watch who really don't know soccer, but bring their fandom-style for other sports with them. They are doing the shouting from the sidelines, yelling at refs, calling the other team dirty, the refs biased, etc.

We've told our daughter not to listen to anything they say about soccer because they don't know what they're talking about. But like, we've had some bad refs lately who just don't call anything for stretches and the last time it happened one of our players needed to leave the game. So it's important IMO to aim to cool the temperature and not feed into the back and forth physicality that should be fouls. It doesn't help to have fans on the sidelines calling the other team dirty or bullies. They mean well and they are supportive and we appreciate them making the effort. It's just counterproductive sometimes.

Have any of you had to have conversations about this stuff with friends or relatives who come to watch?