Player’s Only Sunday

Let us always encourage and support our players while they are learning and playing the game, but for this one Sunday,"Mum’s the Word”

Most well-intentioned parents, coaches and grandparents are found not cheering for their team, but rather, yelling out instructions to the team regarding the game. This is extremely counter-productive and detrimental for the young soccer players. The instructions can be confusing and against what the team’s coach had been working on in practice. We don't want to turn the children into parrots waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Soccer is a free-flowing game for children to enjoy and learn from playing. Experience has proven that a team that talks consistently amongst themselves while on the field will be a stronger team then one that is silenced by the crowd. Without their coaches and parents in their ear, the players communicate with each other. Their voices are supportive, enthusiastic, and creative. Fields normally thrumming with oral adrenaline are quiet; only the chirping of little voices and occasional fits of clapping disturb the peace. It’s like watching a game on television with the volume dialed down to a whisper.

Goals of Players Only Sunday:

1. To emphasize that soccer is a “players’ game.”
2. To give players a chance to trust their skills and instincts without sideline input, and without concern that their mistakes will be corrected from the sidelines in a game environment.
3. To foster leadership skills among the individual players as they have the unique opportunity of giving instruction on the field.
4. To foster a sense of true teamwork as the players must learn to rely upon one another and communicate with each other accordingly.
5. To remind coaches, parents, and players that PRACTICE is the time for instruction. Games are the showcases for learning.
6. To remind everyone that youth soccer is primarily for the purpose of kids playing, learning, and having fun.

Spectators

We request that you make no verbal comments about the game or direct any comments to the players or referees (or coaches) on or off the field. Clapping IS allowed! Be creative in how you choose to cheer your child's team - make signs to hold up or bring a rally towel in the team's color and wave it wildly. There are a lot of ways to cheer other than verbally. But please no noise makers and especially no whistles.

Coaches

It is recommended that you do not provide any direction - verbal or non-verbal - to players who are on the field. You may speak quietly to any players on the bench and have a conversational discussion about the game with the players before and after the game, and during halftime.

Before the game, you can assign a “player coach” that will make the lineup and/or call out plays and instruction. Encourage your players to communicate with each other.

Players

You are in control. The game belongs to you. You are the coaches for the day. You are encouraged to speak to each other on the field as normal. You are free to support each other and provide direction to each other.

Players Only Sunday is one way for our league to encourage parents to let our kids play the game their way rather than the way we want them to play. It is an opportunity for coaches to notice how players learn from each other during a game and appreciate all the subtle ways the game teaches. We expect coaches and parents to let our kids explore their potential by making their own choices on the field instead of being told what to do throughout a game. We want our players to be free to set their own level of competition rather than play to our expectations.