The 4th annual Integrity Friendlies are hosted by Integrity Soccer Club in Springfield Illinois on April 7 2018 - April 8, 2018. Flights are available for teams from U8 through High School for both boys and girls. Three games are guaranteed but we are really trying for four!
HOW IS A FRIENDLY DIFFERENT THEN A TOURNAMENT?
The concept is easy to understand in that a friendly is just that 'a friendly game between two equally matched teams where the results don't count towards points or trophies'. Unfortunately, competitive soccer has seemingly gotten away from 'Soccer For Fun' and it is now more important for many teams (and parents) to 'get the trophy'. I have never seen the following question on a college application: "How many trophies did you win?"
I think it the concept of friendly is well defined by a 2014 study from George Washington University in which numerous youth athletes were interviewed and asked why they played sports, and 9 out of 10 said the #1 reason they played was IT WAS FUN! The children in the study defined fun as trying their best, being treated respectfully by coaches, parents and teammates, and getting playing time. They listed winning at #48 and earning medals or trophies at #63. Basketball superstar Michael Jordan had a "love of the game" clause in his professional basketball contracts, allowing him to play pickup whenever he wanted to, because he enjoyed playing so much. IT HAS TO BE FUN! And if it stops being fun, you need to figure out a way to make it fun, or before you know it, early retirement!
If kids are on a team, and they never get to play meaningful minutes or get pulled out after any mistake, they are going to quit! Kids want to play. Kinds need to play. It matters little to them how good their team is if they never get in and contribute to the team. A study by the Josephean Institute found that 90% of children would rather PLAY on a losing team then SITE THE BENCH on a winning team. Did my son get better at soccer because he watched some other kid come onto his 'team' as a guest player and win the trophy for us? Now at every tournament you can have 5 guest players and many teams bring those players just to attempt to win the tournament, sometimes even leaving other 'teammates' at home. The ISC Friendlies is only allowing 2 guest players to try and keep the 'guest player for the win' coaches in check.
Kids tell us they are afraid to make mistakes, because they get criticized, benched, yelled at or have the long car ride home with dad. Great players develop in an environment that they do not fear making a mistake, where they are encouraged to try and understand that failure is a necessary part of the developmental process.
Although our tournament is geared toward Classic level teams will be offering Premier brackets in our U12 boys and U12 girls - under NO circumstances will we combine age groups or flights/brackets in these flights. If you signed up for Classic you will play Classic. Our goal is to provide all teams with quality soccer match-ups and provide a player development environment over wins and losses. In our friendlies format we will not have any semi-finals or playoff/championship brackets (no trophies or participation awards will be given).