u/fartmonkeyjai

I’m looking for some honest feedback from others around 8 to 9 year olds.

I’m coaching my daughters sports team and really struggling with them and I can’t work out if:

1. this is just normal for this age
2. it’s this particular group
3. I’m useless

I’ve coached successful high school and adult teams before, so I’m not new to coaching generally, but this age group feels like a completely different world.

I’m not trying to teach complex tactics or skills, I’m talking really simple activities where the main goal is basically “catch the ball” and I still lose half of them during short explanations, I get Constant interruptions, arguing rules, debating every point, asking hypothetical questions before they’ve even tried the activity, walking off during instructions etc. I try to keep the activities super fun, and want to engage with them all, but it’s absolutely derailing any activity we try.

On top of that, at least half the team are really hard on each other. Every mistake becomes a huge deal, even though they’ll often make the exact same mistake themselves 30 seconds later. There are constant comments towards each other and some genuinely mean behaviour at times. I don’t feel cut out to manage that sort of behaviour beyond having group talks about team work and being kind ect.

I leave every training feeling completely drained and honestly questioning whether I should just quit

I’m looking for some honest feedback from others around 8 to 9 year olds.

I’m coaching my daughters sports team and really struggling with them and I can’t work out if:

1. this is just normal for this age
2. it’s this particular group
3. I’m useless

I’ve coached successful high school and adult teams before, so I’m not new to coaching generally, but this age group feels like a completely different world.

I’m not trying to teach complex tactics or skills, I’m talking really simple activities where the main goal is basically “catch the ball” and I still lose half of them during short explanations, I get Constant interruptions, arguing rules, debating every point, asking hypothetical questions before they’ve even tried the activity, walking off during instructions etc. I try to keep the activities super fun, and want to engage with them all, but it’s absolutely derailing any activity we try.

On top of that, at least half the team are really hard on each other. Every mistake becomes a huge deal, even though they’ll often make the exact same mistake themselves 30 seconds later. There are constant comments towards each other and some genuinely mean behaviour at times. I don’t feel cut out to manage that sort of behaviour beyond having group talks about team work and being kind ect.

I leave every training feeling completely drained and honestly questioning whether I should just quit