Awarding Awards and Soccer Muses

I'm making some soccer awards for my son's soccer team.
I have a few thoughts.
I am trying to balance the "Politically Correct" terms:
Best Defensive Player instead of Best Defensive Man

And the stupid awards. You know. "Most Improved" and "Best Kick" and the like.
I came up with
Best Striker, Winger, Defender, Keeper, Sweeper, Forward, Stopper. But I had to go with "Best All-Around Player" for one girl because she was good at everything. I almost used "Best Team Player" but couldn't. I don't want to do "Pat on the Head" awards.

I've seen those. Stupid. Best Sportsmanship awards fall into this category. I like the MVP awards only when the team votes on it, not the coaches or the league. I'm trying to decide who should be nominated for that.

Coaching soccer with kids is fun. I've had to deal with the petty issues. Divorced parents causing tension on the sidelines, obnoxious parents, kids that aren't motivated, weather, etc. I've liked seeing their eyes light up when I teach them a new skill or new thing -- and they get all excited, running and playing.

My two favorite things to play with them are two games. One is "Hit the Coach". Pretty simple. I give everyone a ball, mark out a spot on the field (usually the mid-field circle or a goalie box) and then let them try and hit me. It's a good workout. They can really kick hard, and it teaches them to strike quickly instead of waiting to kick. The other game is "Everybody Against the Coach". I can sometimes get away with this on half a field. Everyone plays against me. Oh, I let them make a few goals. I use my stopwatch countdown timer to give them a timeframe. And when some kids start to dominate the scoring, I'll say "Ok, the next 5 minutes only Max and Zoe can score -- everyone else has to help them or pass the ball to them." And then I force the other players (by pressing the defense on the others) to pass the ball to the designated strikers and we all get a learning experience out of it.

Ahh, Under-8 Soccer. I love it. My son is on the team and I've not really had any favoritism things. He's a good keeper and I think he'll want to play that position as he gets older. :)

More later.