My 7 y-o son has been playing football with a small, local team for a couple of years. In general he's a reasonably confident, out-going child. He's the team's back-up goalie, but it's a role he now dreads. The pressure of being a goalie (especially when they were all new to it and losing 10-0), was considerable. He always maintained when asked that he wanted to keep doing it. He's now asked to stop and I'm going to have a word with the coach.
The problem is that over the last couple of months his confidence has taken a real knock (not surprisingly, bless him!). He's become convinced that he's 'rubbish at all football, not just being a goalie', and hangs around on the pitch looking sad and not chasing the ball. Nothing we say or all the hugs we offer seem to have helped. I've been wracking my brains trying to think of a way to help him, as he's still keen to go, but he seems more down each week. Part of me thinks that he would probably lose interest naturally over the next few months, but I think he feels under pressure as they're a small team of his close friends and he's realised that if one child leaves there won't be enough to play matches. (Of course, we've stressed that this ISN'T his responsibility). Poor boy. It makes me sad to see him doing something he used to really enjoy, and now he's just trying to be very brave about it!).