Unusual Soccer Drill

At Peyton’s soccer practice on Tuesday he had a soccer drill that really struck a cord with me, and I’d like to know your thoughts on it. Now understand that this is a team of 7 yr olds, possibly some 8 yr olds. The coach instructed all of the boys except 1, to line up on the goal line in the net. And the other kid would kick the ball into the goal. He told the kids to cover there “privates”, and NOT to move at all. While the kid kicks the ball; which they’ve been instructed to do from the waist down. At 7, where they are still learning the skills of precision, getting the ball where it needs to go. So after a few rounds of watching this I’m shaking my head thinking to myself, are you kidding me? Someone is going to get hurt. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a soccer game, but some of these young boys have a powerful kick on them! Peyton has been kicked by a flying ball that has bent up, broken his glasses; he’s gotten bloody noses etc from it. And my child is asked to line up on the goal while another kid TRIES to kick the ball from the waist down? Well as you have probably guessed, someone got hurt. And yes, it was my son. On the 3rd or 4th kick the ball came flying and hit square in the face, glasses go flying behind him a few feet and he’s doubled over in the goal box crying. And the coach had the audacity to say “are you alright?”... I went flying over there... Let me preface this part by saying that this particular day was a bad day for me. I was extremely tired, felt really tested and just didn’t want to talk to anyone by the end of the day. And this did not set for a good reaction out of me. I go flying over there and say “Of course he’s not alright, he was just hit in the damn face”… He tells me that the kids were told to aim waist down, reiterated it to the kids again, and then says to me “this brings up a good point though, are these lenses shatterproof?” wanting to know if hit would they not shatter in his eye etc.. I ask him what exactly this is supposed to teach and he said it was a team building skill, that many teams use it. And I said I thought it was a ridiculous idea; teach them to kick in the goal waist down before you put my child there. What does my child standing there still teach the kid kicking the ball?? If you want it waist down, YOU stand there and let them kick the ball at you. In a real soccer game the kids are allowed to raise there hands and protect there face, so why don’t they have the same privilege in your stupid drill?? Now I didn’t say all of that to him, but those are my thoughts. I did say a few more things to him but don’t remember all of the details. After making sure Peyton was OK I walked over to my chair, put things up and by the time I finished that he was done talking to the kids and I left. I’d like to know your thoughts on this... Shoot me an email, leave a msg etc…

Thanks.