Club Interest in Player Development

[Anonymous]

As I look around at the rapidly rising number of teams at many age levels, I feel like the Club interest in player development has become focused on quantity of players/teams and financial economies of scale. Even at the top teams in Club there seems to be an almost ambivalence and laissez faire approach to providing a good experience instead of demanding development. Am I disillusioned correctly of incorrectly? I perceive that the Club wants to improve players but is not willing to cut or relegate players and tell them the truth (that they are unlikely to meet certain objectives

[Anonymous]

I think you are correct in the thought of relegating players. Thats an almost certain loss of guaranteed income. The better clubs will cut from the lower teams as false show of them having an Elite product. Its not a true cut as in the kid isn't good enough to be on the team. Its more of a sacramental lamb to give the appearance only the best can make our program. The old smoke and mirrors act.

[Anonymous]

You are generally correct that the clubs are primarily concerned about revenue stream and player development is secondary. However, lots of clubs will relegate players and try to bring outside players to take their spots. Sometimes the goal is to improve the team. Sometimes clubs hope that the relegated player will stay despite demotion and offering outside player a spot on a higher team helps recruitment.

[Anonymous]

That is correct. Unlike other countries where youth players become a financial resource for a club if they sign a professional contract, most youth clubs in the United States do not have professional teams so there is no end payoff. Therefore it doesn't really matter what the players final level that they turned out at after their youth years. So in effect it doesn't even matter for anything so may as well just focus on the financial aspect of it which is all that the clubs get out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is correct. Unlike other countries where youth players become a financial resource for a club if they sign a professional contract, most youth clubs in the United States do not have professional teams so there is no end payoff. Therefore it doesn't really matter what the players final level that they turned out at after their youth years. So in effect it doesn't even matter for anything so may as well just focus on the financial aspect of it which is all that the clubs get out of it.

Absolutely. In this country, the value is all in the size of the bank accounts of the paying families. Three is no money to be made from finding and developing actual talent if it is not accompanied by money to pay.

[Anonymous]

That may be the club's approach but not necessarily the coach. Find a coach that cares about the development of the player, is able to communicate with the player on what they actually need to improve, and challenge the player to get to a higher level. It's hard to find but they are out there.

From my experience those that talk a big game about ABC tournament, scores, rankings are those that care more about the status of the team and are usually quick to demote a player or overload the team with numbers to recruit an outside player to make the team better. After or before tryouts, if the coach is unwilling to talk to you about himself, his team, and approach, think twice as that will likely be the same all year long. I feel like most parents are putting their kids in teams based on the status of the club for FOMO and regret the experience in the end without any development from their player.

[Anonymous]

$$$$$$$$

[Anonymous]

Agree with the above poster. It's worse when the team is smaller in size. Even when you encounter a coach that sounds good, they can be feeding you lines they feed to every recruited player. Parents talk. In my experience, those who brag about goal differentials are the worst. They either play in the wrong bracket, had guest players that normally doesn't play with the team, only play the top players (not playing the bottom 1/3 team even when they're up by a ton) or all the above or more. In my opinion, they look like jerks for bragging the wins on social media with fist bumps and on fire emojis.
Families should recognize the signs and decide if it tolerable. In the end, the club doesn't care if you stay or go. I'd do what's best for your situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That may be the club's approach but not necessarily the coach. Find a coach that cares about the development of the player, is able to communicate with the player on what they actually need to improve, and challenge the player to get to a higher level. It's hard to find but they are out there.

From my experience those that talk a big game about ABC tournament, scores, rankings are those that care more about the status of the team and are usually quick to demote a player or overload the team with numbers to recruit an outside player to make the team better. After or before tryouts, if the coach is unwilling to talk to you about himself, his team, and approach, think twice as that will likely be the same all year long. I feel like most parents are putting their kids in teams based on the status of the club for FOMO and regret the experience in the end without any development from their player.

It is easy to blame clubs for this culture, but it is really a parent issue ultimately. People here have $$ and are willing to pay club soccer fees for kids that aren't very good. Some do it to say their kids are playing "club" or "travel". Many others want a paid coaching experience and can afford it (and their kids don't mind being on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th team). If your kid isn't drilling and practicing on their own, you really don't need to pay for club soccer. Rec is just fine. It's unlikely that a lot of these kids will "develop" by the way. What does that even mean? People have chosen to have their kids in a club system for a variety of reasons, often it is not really "development".

[Anonymous]

Youth sports are like any other activity that parents want to purchase for their children. It is a business. Piano, ballet, religious school, oil painting, ice hockey....pick your poison.

[Anonymous]

Youth sports are like any other activity that parents want to purchase for their children. It is a business. Piano, ballet, religious school, oil painting, ice hockey....pick your poison.

[Anonymous]

This is not a problem unique to travel soccer. Rampant and pervasive parental ignorance leads to horrendous decisionmaking on colleges, etc. People honestly have no idea what they are doing or why they are doing it other than what they think sounds like the safest choice (or the choice that they think others will think is best). Herd mentality leads to a lot of sheep getting slaughtered.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter for the parents or player. It's travel soccer. But it does mean smaller clubs and really good coaches at those clubs may have a harder time than they should recruiting and retaining talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not a problem unique to travel soccer. Rampant and pervasive parental ignorance leads to horrendous decisionmaking on colleges, etc. People honestly have no idea what they are doing or why they are doing it other than what they think sounds like the safest choice (or the choice that they think others will think is best). Herd mentality leads to a lot of sheep getting slaughtered.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter for the parents or player. It's travel soccer. But it does mean smaller clubs and really good coaches at those clubs may have a harder time than they should recruiting and retaining talent.

This person said it best. It doesn't matter for the parents or players at the end of the day. It's the clubs that struggle. How about players first.

[Anonymous]

What do you suppose is the objective of these clubs? It's not to improve the level of soccer in the country, or to get kids to the pros. Their objective, as is the case for any organization/business, is to make the club bigger and better. How do they get bigger and better? more players, more money, more fields, more social media, more paying members. Everything the club does is towards these goals. Getting kids into good colleges is not for the benefit of the kids, it's for the benefit of the club which can use it to recruit more younger players. Recruitment is the life blood of youth soccer clubs because every club is guaranteed to lose a certain number of players every year because they age out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you suppose is the objective of these clubs? It's not to improve the level of soccer in the country, or to get kids to the pros. Their objective, as is the case for any organization/business, is to make the club bigger and better. How do they get bigger and better? more players, more money, more fields, more social media, more paying members. Everything the club does is towards these goals. Getting kids into good colleges is not for the benefit of the kids, it's for the benefit of the club which can use it to recruit more younger players. Recruitment is the life blood of youth soccer clubs because every club is guaranteed to lose a certain number of players every year because they age out.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. A club serving as many customers as possible gives more kids the ability to play. If someone thinks the goal should be development with the goal of reaching the pros with ruthless cutting at every stage, they are free to found such a club. If someone wants a small local club that isn't constantly trying to expand, those already exist. Most people overlook them because the lack of size means that their teams likely aren't as competitive.