In sports and in life, the only constant is change. Growth requires it! Many of us can tell you that from experience, having changed jobs, relationships, cities, and even countries several times in our adult lives. It’s important for children to learn to deal with change too! They will gain confidence in their own ability to do well when things change around them, in soccer and elsewhere.

Be prepared. Your coach or your teammates won’t be all the same next year, for many reasons. New players join and a few players leave. Team sizes increase as teams change from playing with 7, to 9, to 11, to 11 with part-time jobs. Players grow at different rates in skill and physically.

There are many positives to change! It’s good for players to listen to a new voice, experience a new style, hear coaching points explained in a different way. The players will be challenged by new teammates and will create new friendships. We know coaching and teammate changes can be daunting for parents and kids, but overall it will work out well.

Maya Angelou says, “we are more alike than we are unalike.” Remember that when some things change, there are a lot of things that don’t change at Cincy SC:

  • They will still be playing with many of their friends!
  • They will still like their coach!
  • They will continue to learn fast, if they work at it, with the same learning curriculum and player-development approach!
  • They will still be playing for Cincy SC, wearing the same jerseys, in familiar places!
  • They will still get Cincy SC’s great emails!
  • They will still occasionally experience coaching and leadership with British, French, Nigerian, Midwestern, and other accents!
  • Their former coaches won’t be far and will definitely keep an eye on them.

How you can help: tryouts can be stressful, but if you approach them with excitement and optimism and you’ll help your child do the same. Remind them that last year at this time they experienced quite a bit of change, and there were lots of good things that came out of it. Thank you!

*Coach Anthony Clerc contributed to this post.