Am I naive? Kid made the top team who can barely play.

[Anonymous]

Not in the DC area anymore so no use speculating on which club I'm talking about. Club's first year of travel is U9 for boys. My son tried out along with most of his friends, to the same club. Large number of kids seemed to be there, maybe 40? Since it's the first age grouping I naively assumed there would not be a bunch of politics involved. The club doesn't have a rec program so these kids were all completely unknown to the evaluators and coaches, although I know people know eachother socially (the head coach for the top team grew up around here, as did many of my son's friend's parents) and some people have older kids on teams so are already known to the program. Anyways fast forward until after tryouts, my kid got an offer to be on the second team (out of 2 teams). So did 2 of his buddies, and a couple other buddies got cut entirely. One of his buddies is a standout player and made the top team. Now get this- another buddy of his, who is very objectively not athletic, and does not enjoy sports, but whose mom made him try out, made the top team. When I tell you that at tryouts, he stood out as one of the kids who didn't seem into it and didn't get many touches on the ball in the scrimmages, I am being serious. He was placed in the lowest tier scrimmage group pretty quickly when they started evaluating.

Please tell me what is happening! Was it a mistake?? (he has a very common name- think Jack or Henry). Is his mom sleeping with the coach?? Like literally tell me why this might have happened. I am new to the travel soccer world and know I can't engage in unkind gossip with the moms of my kid's friends, because he's friends with this kid. He's also about a hundred times better at soccer than him and the kids that got cut are marginally better too!

[Anonymous]

Yes you are. Some teams field players to keep targeted players happy or for logistical reasons (the dreaded carpool cliques).

Either way the sleeping w the coach thing makes me think you are a troll.. or trolling a particular club where this has happened

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes you are. Some teams field players to keep targeted players happy or for logistical reasons (the dreaded carpool cliques).

Either way the sleeping w the coach thing makes me think you are a troll.. or trolling a particular club where this has happened

No no the sleeping with the coach was tongue in cheek. I am sure she isn't. She and her husband did both grow up around here though, as did the head coach, so I'm wondering more if it's that they're close friends or they begged him or something. But like- it's not like he was a borderline kid who could have made first or second team and is maybe a stretch for the first team, but, it could be explained away as maybe he had a certain quality the coach liked. I mean this is a get picked last in gym class type of kid. No one can reasonably explain it away as that the coach saw a particular skill set in him that he valued.

And I like this kid, he's nice, my son likes him, which is why I would NEVER say this out loud to anyone I know IRL which is why I'm asking here how it's possible that a club could do this without anyone being like, um...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes you are. Some teams field players to keep targeted players happy or for logistical reasons (the dreaded carpool cliques).

Either way the sleeping w the coach thing makes me think you are a troll.. or trolling a particular club where this has happened

Oh you mean maybe they picked him because he is good friends with one of the actual top kids? Or the coach's son begged him or something? (Coach's son is also on the team and is a borderline player but no one is going to say anything about that because of course if the coach's son is borderline, he's going to be given the benefit of the doubt.)

[Anonymous]

It's grossly sexist and hurts all women, yourself included, when you make such allegations, OP, even on an anonymous forum. Why? Because you're perpetuating myths that persist in the minds of stupid people.

I'm not inclined to engage with your topic any further. Check yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes you are. Some teams field players to keep targeted players happy or for logistical reasons (the dreaded carpool cliques).

Either way the sleeping w the coach thing makes me think you are a troll.. or trolling a particular club where this has happened

No no the sleeping with the coach was tongue in cheek. I am sure she isn't. She and her husband did both grow up around here though, as did the head coach, so I'm wondering more if it's that they're close friends or they begged him or something. But like- it's not like he was a borderline kid who could have made first or second team and is maybe a stretch for the first team, but, it could be explained away as maybe he had a certain quality the coach liked. I mean this is a get picked last in gym class type of kid. No one can reasonably explain it away as that the coach saw a particular skill set in him that he valued.

And I like this kid, he's nice, my son likes him, which is why I would NEVER say this out loud to anyone I know IRL which is why I'm asking here how it's possible that a club could do this without anyone being like, um...

Yeah. No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's grossly sexist and hurts all women, yourself included, when you make such allegations, OP, even on an anonymous forum. Why? Because you're perpetuating myths that persist in the minds of stupid people.

I'm not inclined to engage with your topic any further. Check yourself.

OMG the sleeping with the coach was a joke. I didn't realize that sort of thing actually happened so I assumed it was safe to joke about. She didn't sleep with the coach. We aren't a Lifetime movie.

[Anonymous]

Do I need to ask jeff to delete this entire thing and I can re-post it without the joke about the sleeping with the coach? Or can you guys find it in yourselves to realize I wasn't being serious about that and just tell me why this might have happened in a well regarded soccer club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes you are. Some teams field players to keep targeted players happy or for logistical reasons (the dreaded carpool cliques).

Either way the sleeping w the coach thing makes me think you are a troll.. or trolling a particular club where this has happened

Oh you mean maybe they picked him because he is good friends with one of the actual top kids? Or the coach's son begged him or something? (Coach's son is also on the team and is a borderline player but no one is going to say anything about that because of course if the coach's son is borderline, he's going to be given the benefit of the doubt.)

Yes this is a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do I need to ask jeff to delete this entire thing and I can re-post it without the joke about the sleeping with the coach? Or can you guys find it in yourselves to realize I wasn't being serious about that and just tell me why this might have happened in a well regarded soccer club.

There is a whole VRSC thread where this topic comes up from time to time. Folks have thick skin and will get over it.

Dont sweat it too hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's grossly sexist and hurts all women, yourself included, when you make such allegations, OP, even on an anonymous forum. Why? Because you're perpetuating myths that persist in the minds of stupid people.

I'm not inclined to engage with your topic any further. Check yourself.

OMG the sleeping with the coach was a joke. I didn't realize that sort of thing actually happened so I assumed it was safe to joke about. She didn't sleep with the coach. We aren't a Lifetime movie.

You're so stupid you don't even realize the damage you're causing. I'm sure you talk like this in real life too, about celebrities or people you think are legitimate targets.

[Anonymous]

Is he really tall? Willing to play goalie? Some kids who are really tall aren’t the most athletic when growing so fast but have a lot of potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's grossly sexist and hurts all women, yourself included, when you make such allegations, OP, even on an anonymous forum. Why? Because you're perpetuating myths that persist in the minds of stupid people.

I'm not inclined to engage with your topic any further. Check yourself.

OMG the sleeping with the coach was a joke. I didn't realize that sort of thing actually happened so I assumed it was safe to joke about. She didn't sleep with the coach. We aren't a Lifetime movie.

You're so stupid you don't even realize the damage you're causing. I'm sure you talk like this in real life too, about celebrities or people you think are legitimate targets.

Its probable that the kid is buddies with many of the other kids and coach is just keeping them together, because in a smaller area that could have social ramifications - for the coach.

I wouldn't even joke about the mom sleeping with the coach, highly doubtful. Kids have probably been together for a while and the parents / coach want to keep it that way.

Even the varsity teams in my high school were more about popularity and parental income than they were about skills. You do sound naive OP.

[Anonymous]

If he’s not first team material he will sit on the bench. Your athlete will play. It’s that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he really tall? Willing to play goalie? Some kids who are really tall aren’t the most athletic when growing so fast but have a lot of potential.

he is average height but built solidly. my own kid is skinnier but faster/ more agile, same height. my kid was a solid second team choice, this is not my own hurt ego or feeling of unfairness about this other kid taking a rightful spot from my kid, my kid will fit in better on the second team. what's funny though is that my own kid is also in the friend group of the 2 B team kids, the 2 A team kids, and the two cut kids. I myself did not grow up around here, nor did the parents of the cut kids. And my husband is not an alpha, social "guy's guy" with the other dads. He's athletic and tall but introverted and has no interest in playing the suburban dad popularity game. The parents of the kid who made the A team who should 1000% be an average to low average player on the rec team, both seem to have a lot of social clout. It really honestly just fascinates me that instead of throwing them a bone and maybe putting their kid on the B team to let them save face, they put him on the A team! Anyways point taken, I'm naive, and clearly not cut out for the travel soccer world of drama, fingers crossed my kid moves on to a sport where the parents seem less inclined to base their social lives off of what youth sports team their second grader made!