Competition - Eliminating standings does not eliminate competition

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Physical Literacy / Le savoir-faire physique

The elimination of league standings in some children's sport leagues below U12 age has generated some controversy in Canada in the past 6 months (e.g. Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association, and more recently the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association).

Did you see the CS4L Blog response? What do you think? Do you know of other Canadian communities or sports where this is creating controversy for sport clubs, coaches or parents?

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Re: Eliminating Standings

Submitted by brobillard on 1 Décembre, 2011 - 13:14

I love the idea of removing standings from children's sport leagues. To be completely honest, standings never played a huge role when I played soccer in my earlier years - heck I barely knew they existed because the coaches rarely spoke about it. Did the fact that I was not fully aware of standings have a major impact on the way I played/practiced? Not at all. I still played to the best of my abilities during every game and almost always practiced as hard as I could. My motivation came from the desire to improve my own abilities and the need to prove myself to my team mates. No child needs the added pressure of winning games in order to place higher up in the league standings, especially when most children would not be aware that leagues exist if not for their coaches.

Bottom line: Let the kids play without standings and they will find other reasons to be competitive (and hopefully these reasons promote the development of physical literacy).

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Re: Eliminating Standings

Submitted by Chico on 8 Mars, 2012 - 11:07

Perhaps a weekend "tournament format" for younger athletes would provide the appropriate competition experience. No standings would need to be kept because there would be no league play. Teams would be able to use weekday facility time to practice and then choose to compete in tournaments when they are ready. This structure works very well with individual sports.

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Eliminating Standings

Submitted by sportquick@gmail.com on 22 Juin, 2012 - 09:02

That is great at very young ages, but we have to ensure that we do not develop a society of individuals that have never experienced losing or not being successful. The ability to set and strive to reach goals is also part of the process. This is also a skill that must be developed to function in society. Let's not be so afraid of competition and having a winner declared that we do not develop this part of the individual.

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Eliminating standings

Submitted by weneedtraditions on 30 Novembre, 2012 - 08:05

The reality is that very young kids should not be playing organised sports, period. It is totally ridiculous to watch a bunch of 3, 4, 5 or 6 year olds chasing a ball around a field, the parents believing that they are playing soccer. They are not, they are chasing a ball around a field, much like a swarm of bees chasing a honeypot.

It is truly disappointing that the socialist/liberal philosophy that there shouldn't be winners and losers in life has now invaded sports. It sickens a volunteer such as myself, almost to the point of walking away from the game. Sports are character builders. You learn to win graciously and you learn to lose graciously. With this new "can't fail in sports" coupled with the existing "can't fail at school" is ill preparing kids for the reality of the real world and the time they have to get out into the working world. This whole nonsense would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

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The reality is that very

Submitted by angelo on 15 Février, 2013 - 05:17

Maybe you are right here.
Strip Map

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Sport is play. So yes,

Submitted by notafraidtocompete on 29 Avril, 2013 - 10:34

Sport is play. So yes, running around chasing a ball is sport. As far as eliminating standings before age 12 goes, that's fine for the children that haven't developed or are only interested in casual play. There should always be a competitive league however because there are those that are mentally and physically ready to challenge themselves. We cannot forget those athletes as those are our future podium holders. The new model works well for involving the entire society to be fit and healthy but we must be careful to allow kids to pursue their dreams.