In this article I want to get into the psychological insides of taking children to Football trials. As a good parent you would want your child to practice sports because it is good for him. The problem arises when the sport isn’t fun anymore and can become a source of stress and frustration to your child.
Some parents have the right attitude and they are very involved in the sportive development of their sons. They take them to practice and even to Football trials that perhaps are for people looking to be recruited but they don’t take it that seriously so the child doesn’t get all the hopes raised going to the trial with high expectations.
The problems start when the parents put in the minds of their sons the idea that they have to be the best and they have to get recruited no matter what. Unfortunately the child becomes obsessed with football and they actually believe that their parent will love them more if they manage to get into a team.
Then when they are not picked up they are full of a sense of failure and they don’t feel worthy of anything. It is quite sad because the truth is that most of the times trial are a matter of luck. There are thousands of children who play football very well and who could become soccer stars in the future with the right preparation but there isn’t space for all and not all of them are going to be given the chance.
A parent should know how to explain that to their kids, making them know that soccer is one of the talents that they have but not the only one. A child should never feel that if they are not good for soccer then their professional life is over.
The worst that you can do is to see your kid as way to accomplish your own dreams and perhaps as a way to end to your financial problems. You are just going to end hurting you kid forever and perhaps ruining other options that he might want to contemplate.
It is also fair to say that it is the pressure of the media sometimes the one that helps to develop this ideas into children´s minds. But it is our duty as parents to guide them and support them too. If your child has a dream about playing soccer it is ok that you encourage that dream but it is also advisable that you prepare your kid to accept a no as an answer. Frustration management is something that at one point in our lives we have to deal with.