Coaching fair play attitudes
Winning the Fair Play Award is a great honour for any soccer (football) team and coach. This season our U13s soccer (football) team won the award and proved what a great bunch of kids they are. The award is significant not because of the kind of soccer the youngsters play, but because of their team spirit and the nature of their attitude to the sport.
Most teams lose matches, and most players get annoyed or irritated when they cannot do what they want with the ball, or when decisions go against them. It is how the team deals with that frustration and accepts defeat which shows fair play.
A reflection of attitude
The Fair Play Award not only reflects the players' attitude to the opposition, but also to the referee and the referee's assistants. The referee's assistants are usually a mum or dad from the opposition and therefore tend to make one or two wrong decisions in a match – most have never been on any sort of course to help them. Young players must accept their decisions.
The other factor that comes into play with this award is the attitude of the parents. If the adult accepts decisions and is fair with the opposition, you can expect the children to follow. So the Fair Play Award is a tribute to the whole set up of the team - the coach, the parents and the players.
Winning Fair Play and the league
One thing I would point out, however, is when my teams have won the league, we have never won the Fair Play Award at the same time – is this a coincidence, or are other teams giving bad marks from being sore at losing?
I am never quite sure about this. Although a couple of seasons ago the U14 team at the club where I was coaching won the league with ease and also picked up the Fair Play Award, which was a great achievement.
It is the first time my 12-year-old son has won the award and it fills a space in his overloaded trophy cabinet, next to his prized top scorer trophies!
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