U8 team struggling - options?
EDIT: Thanks to everyone who's commented so far, your thoughts and advice are great to read. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do yet, but there's plenty of time for that decision. The first thing I'm planning on doing is making sure the last training and match are as fun as possible for the kids. They deserve it after the year they've had!
I've been coaching my son in an U8s rec team over the season (Australia). We've got our final game of the season next week.
To say the season has been a struggle is an understatement. We have won a single game 1-0 and drawn 2, out of 16 games played. Over those 16 games, we've scored a total of 6 goals, and conceded 85. I've put my heart and soul into coaching these boys, but something just isn't clicking for them. I try constantly to shift focus onto things other than scores/results but they aren't dumb, they're 7/8 year old kids and they know that winning feels good and losing sucks.
I don't yell at them or berate them, I really try hard to be positive and encouraging during training and match days, focusing on getting passes or winning 1v1s, etc. but this last half of the season you can see the moment they switch off after they're a couple of goals down, as if they know there's no point putting in the effort any longer.
I've coached the whole season solo, no other parents have stepped up to help assist coaching at training, my manager just handles subs for me and nothing else. I'm feeling burned out and dejected. I feel like the advice given online about not worrying about goals and results is great for teams who have at least some success, but it's just loss after loss.
Right with that vent/context out of the way - I wanted to ask for anyone who's been in a similar situation what the right move is for the next year. A big part of me is thinking it's best to let these kids go their own separate ways and be absorbed by other teams. The club is huge and there are plenty of teams that will be mixed up moving into U9s next year. There is no grading whatsoever at our club, some teams will "pre-form", others go to "formation day" where teams are created from everyone else who's registered.
My son is one of the more skilled players on the team, and has expressed his frustration with many of his teammates' effort during games. He loves that I'm his coach, and he likes the players on his team on a personal level. But from a development point of view, I feel like he's missing out when there's only 1 or 2 other kids out of 10 who can play at his level.
I'm torn between doing what I feel is right for him and getting him on another team (no guarantees it will be better, but it's fairly likely given our track record), or moving forward and bringing the boys into U9s. That said, I'm going to assume many parents might make that decision for me and choose not to proceed in the current team anyway.
Apologies for the brain dump, I'm a bit mixed up, and trying to juggle what's right for my son primarily vs my enjoyment coaching him and the team. And I do enjoy it, the kids are fun, we have lots of successes at training, good attendance - there's just not much translation into performance at matches.
If you've made it this far, thank you, and any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.