Viewpoint: No scores, no standings, no difference

The Ontario Soccer Association recently announced that  leagues for players under the age of 12 would no longer be keeping track of scores or standings.

By 2014, scores and standings will be a thing of the past across the province in those age groups.

The system has already been implemented in many places around the world, including Europe.

It’s a nice attempt with good intentions. But kids aren’t the problem. They never were.

Parents and over-zealous coaches are and always will be the problem.

First, my own experience with intense soccer parents.

I can remember standing in the middle of the soccer field, 10-year-old players all running around while their 40-year-old coach screamed at me.

I was 13 and had been a soccer referee for little over a month.

The coach told me to be careful because he had a parent recording the game and would make sure I never refereed again.

I didn’t know how to deal with this; my voice still hadn’t even cracked.

The coach, who also happened to be a parent, was banned from coaching and I continued refereeing, albeit with a bit less passion than before.

Getting rid of the scoring system won’t change a thing.

Parents will still keep track of the score. They’ll assign their team points for winning or tying games, while critiquing when they lose.

They will still get in arguments with referees and other officials over missed calls and fouls given.

The soccer association’s proposal hinges on the argument that by no longer keeping track of scores or league standings, coaches won’t pressure their teams to solely focus on winning.

It’s part of Canada Soccer’s plan dubbed “Wellness to World Cup Long Term Player Development Proposal,” which aims to encourage coaches to focus more on the development of players over trying to win games.

The plan includes improving coaching, while also encouraging kids to continue participating in soccer regardless of skill level.

Ron Smale, president of the Ontario Soccer Association, says that part of the push for an abolition of keeping score is drop out rates from kids who are sick of seeing their team lose games.

“We have been losing kids in big numbers in recent years and the feedback is inevitably the same: kids are pressured at too early an age and coaches and parents yell all the time,” he writes in an open letter.

And he’s right.

Parents do yell. My parents yelled at me when I played, my friends’ parents yelled at them.

You would be hard pressed to go to any sports setting and not hear parents or coaches yell.

But what remains unclear is how removing scores and league standings will change any of this.

Jason de Vos, a former professional soccer player and a former coach with OSA, further elaborated on this in a recent column for TSN.

He says that winning and losing are still important lessons for children to learn, but they need to learn it at an age where they can handle their emotions maturely.

Further, he says the implementation is needed because “adults are using scores and standings as the only measurement of success.”

Abolishing scores and league standings will not solve this.

It will lead to more arguments among parents, from both teams, about who won the game.

It’s natural to want to win and prove yourself better than someone else.

Coaches will still try to win, even if they can’t point to official results.

Kids need to learn how to win and lose.

Keeping them from learning that at 12 doesn’t make sense. By the time they’re teenagers they need to understand what it feels like to lose.

By not allowing them to lose, you’re just sheltering them from the real world.

Kids and adults need to learn how to lose and how to accept doing so.

If the soccer association was abolishing scores as part of dealing with parents, then there should be more done to curb excessive parent behaviour.

If you want to stop competitive parents, then admit it. Don’t hide behind kids as an excuse.