Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Yep. I think it's absurd to say that this change is to truly eliminate RAE. It's just to make it in line with international RAE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's hilarious. I've checked rosters on leagues be I have a late June bday kid. Absolutely the fall bday kids have had an advantage. Things are definitely going to change. True talent shows regardless of a 3 mo range. The problem is all those fall bday kids on A team thinking they are so much better than the spring kids on the b team. Seems like the best thing is for everyone to prove their worth. Not who their friends are , who they are usually with but who is actually playing the best. Tryouts could be interesting. Though I see many ways that some leagues will just for the most part ignore the changes and just redistribute based on current teams. I think it's a great opportunity.

Unfortunately all I've heard is that they are going to redistribute teams. No real tryouts specifically geared to spot talent.

Give me a break. Tryouts are a f@cking joke at our Club. They are for show.

They don't even let kids in the scrimmages with the pre-selected A and B teams.

If you are D team. You aren't getting on a tryout field with an A or B team even if you dominate everything. They segregate the players at tryouts--just like they don't allow the lower teams to scrimmage during the year with the upper teams. The upper teams continue to get crushed yet they don't mix anyone year to year...or they just add a new player from a different club.

I guarantee Our Club will just mix the A teams from the 2 age groups, etc. but they aren't going to really evaluate anyone.

You are absolutely fooling yourself if you think there will be 'actual' tryouts. If you are on a low team moving up they will keep you with the low team at tryouts.

This is why good players leave clubs. I also love when they think they have developed a D team player. No--it just took him 4 years to breakthrough the horrible initial placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Our club focuses on labeling a kid A-D. If a 'D' drops down an age group he automatically is placed on the 'A' team of the lower age group--even if the younger kids are more talented. I could see them just sticking with labels when they've proven so inadequate. Our A team continually gets clobbered while our lower teams blowout all of the competition. Our lower teams don't even get to scrimmage with the A and B teams. It's quite ridiculous.

You're in the wrong club....

What club is this??? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=45&f=35

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So two weeks ago, my son's team played SYC in U9 travel. After stopping a shot, the goalie would pick it up and run to the edge of the box, drop it, and dribble as far as he can and stay on the attack, leaving the goal wide open. The GK was often down in the opponent's box on attacks. Also, SYC didn't play in any shape or anything. It looked like U6-U7 rec swarm ball. Is this the club's philosophy on player development? How do the parent's tolerate it?

To my knowledge, SYC does not have any philosophy on player development as a whole. They are really just a club that houses individual teams, rather than a club that has an overall path to making players better and getting them to the next level.

And parents pay how much for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=45&f=35

Thanks for the link. I'm glad ECNL is going to have a combined U17-U18 bracket. That will avoid the problems for the fall birthday seniors many of us were worried about. Hopefully other leagues follow suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So two weeks ago, my son's team played SYC in U9 travel. After stopping a shot, the goalie would pick it up and run to the edge of the box, drop it, and dribble as far as he can and stay on the attack, leaving the goal wide open. The GK was often down in the opponent's box on attacks. Also, SYC didn't play in any shape or anything. It looked like U6-U7 rec swarm ball. Is this the club's philosophy on player development? How do the parent's tolerate it?

To my knowledge, SYC does not have any philosophy on player development as a whole. They are really just a club that houses individual teams, rather than a club that has an overall path to making players better and getting them to the next level.

And parents pay how much for this?

I'm not at all affiliated with SYC, but it took 5 seconds on Google to show that all of this is empirically false.

http://www.sycva.com/page/show/480440-syc-travel-soccer-academy-

SYC trains Academy style. They're not "housing individual teams."

Look, folks -- you can't draw any conclusions from a U9 game, especially the first U9 game of the year. These coaches in all clubs are trying to teach, and they've got a plan to teach dribbling, passing, etc., in a certain order. Sometimes, players don't get it, especially at first. It takes time.

Today, I saw two games -- one that ended 10-2 and one that ended 1-0. The one that ended 10-2 was actually quite competitive in stretches. A few kids are just behind the curve right now, and when in two separate stretches when they were out on the field, they gave up 4-5 goals in a few minutes. In the 1-0 game, one team barely crossed midfield at any point.

Goalkeepers in particular take a while. A month ago, most of them had never played on a "big" field or played goalkeeper. And we're shocked that they would have their own unique approaches?

That doesn't mean the coaches are idiots. It means kids are kids, and some learn faster than others.

The kids aren't idiots, either. Parents ... well, I can't make any guarantees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=45&f=35

Thanks for the link. I'm glad ECNL is going to have a combined U17-U18 bracket. That will avoid the problems for the fall birthday seniors many of us were worried about. Hopefully other leagues follow suit.

This is an interesting way to address the problem but what will it mean for the bottom players on the u17 team? Will they be forced off the team by the addition of the returning u18 players?

In effect, this means the u17-18 teams will look a lot like the ECNL teams that exist today, with kids from Aug though July plus the really good players who can play up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's hilarious. I've checked rosters on leagues be I have a late June bday kid. Absolutely the fall bday kids have had an advantage. Things are definitely going to change. True talent shows regardless of a 3 mo range. The problem is all those fall bday kids on A team thinking they are so much better than the spring kids on the b team. Seems like the best thing is for everyone to prove their worth. Not who their friends are , who they are usually with but who is actually playing the best. Tryouts could be interesting. Though I see many ways that some leagues will just for the most part ignore the changes and just redistribute based on current teams. I think it's a great opportunity.

That's not going to happen. All that's going to happen is RAE will favor Jan-Apr instead of Aug-Dec. There aren't going to be true tryouts any more than there are now.

But the RAE will be more in line with international play!

(Seriously -- check out the U.S. U17 boys roster. No one born in short-sleeve weather need apply.)

So now no one born in fall weather need apply. What's the difference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So two weeks ago, my son's team played SYC in U9 travel. After stopping a shot, the goalie would pick it up and run to the edge of the box, drop it, and dribble as far as he can and stay on the attack, leaving the goal wide open. The GK was often down in the opponent's box on attacks. Also, SYC didn't play in any shape or anything. It looked like U6-U7 rec swarm ball. Is this the club's philosophy on player development? How do the parent's tolerate it?

To my knowledge, SYC does not have any philosophy on player development as a whole. They are really just a club that houses individual teams, rather than a club that has an overall path to making players better and getting them to the next level.

And parents pay how much for this?

I'm not at all affiliated with SYC, but it took 5 seconds on Google to show that all of this is empirically false.

http://www.sycva.com/page/show/480440-syc-travel-soccer-academy-

SYC trains Academy style. They're not "housing individual teams."

Look, folks -- you can't draw any conclusions from a U9 game, especially the first U9 game of the year. These coaches in all clubs are trying to teach, and they've got a plan to teach dribbling, passing, etc., in a certain order. Sometimes, players don't get it, especially at first. It takes time.

Today, I saw two games -- one that ended 10-2 and one that ended 1-0. The one that ended 10-2 was actually quite competitive in stretches. A few kids are just behind the curve right now, and when in two separate stretches when they were out on the field, they gave up 4-5 goals in a few minutes. In the 1-0 game, one team barely crossed midfield at any point.

As far as the SYC U9 goalie goes. The goalie was playing on the field as a forward? By U8 most players are interested in the goalie position and know the goalie stays in the box, without ever playing goalie. At U9 Travel the score is not kept, b/c it is supposed to be developmental. Usually goalie camps start at U11, b/c of this. The players are to be learning position, spacing, passing, foot work and when it is appropriate to boot the ball. By U10 developmentally kids should have or are on the upward development curve to know their body and its space on the field. Bunch ball is no longer acceptable at u9. When a new U9/U10 team working on position, spacing, passing encounters a team still playing bunch ball, they have a hard time dribbling around, passing and scoring against a wall of 5 defenders. This is definitely something to consider at the U9/U10 age groups. That should be the concern of parents paying to have kids on a Travel team at U9/U10, is the coach and or academy teaching the teams position, keeping spacing on the field, passing during the game. Teams at U9 not scoring are either not in the correct bracket, playing bunch ball against a team with a lot of players whom already have their special awareness, or they are a young team learning position etc, doing the right thing, playing against a team still playing bunch ball. This is all part of child development, we all know kids develop at different rates-kids are still hitting development mile stones until adulthood and beyond. Again, the development in ones ability to recognize ones space on the filed is a development milestone that happens usually by U10. At U9 the A team is made up of typically older players, who are fast, are space aware and have good foot skills and do not just boot the ball. B team is made of a mix of older and younger players that are fast (not as fast as the A team), some are space aware, and most have good foot skills-may still boot the ball from time to time. The C team is made up of younger in the year group players, not yet space aware, not as fast, but still have decent foot skills, but many still booting the ball. The D team, you can guess. This is typically what a coach is looking for at a U9 tryout and is why tryouts are small sided scrimmages and do not incorporate practice drills. Teams are typically kept together over the years, just as in all sports. To many this may seem unfair at tryouts to new comers, but it is clearly not. After U9 tryouts are going to only fill open positions on a team caused by players quitting, moving away etc. Sometime a new team forms after U9.



The kids aren't idiots, either. Parents ... well, I can't make any guarantees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's hilarious. I've checked rosters on leagues be I have a late June bday kid. Absolutely the fall bday kids have had an advantage. Things are definitely going to change. True talent shows regardless of a 3 mo range. The problem is all those fall bday kids on A team thinking they are so much better than the spring kids on the b team. Seems like the best thing is for everyone to prove their worth. Not who their friends are , who they are usually with but who is actually playing the best. Tryouts could be interesting. Though I see many ways that some leagues will just for the most part ignore the changes and just redistribute based on current teams. I think it's a great opportunity.

That's not going to happen. All that's going to happen is RAE will favor Jan-Apr instead of Aug-Dec. There aren't going to be true tryouts any more than there are now.

But the RAE will be more in line with international play!

(Seriously -- check out the U.S. U17 boys roster. No one born in short-sleeve weather need apply.)

So now no one born in fall weather need apply. What's the difference?

You missed the point. This IS now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=45&f=35

Thanks for the link. I'm glad ECNL is going to have a combined U17-U18 bracket. That will avoid the problems for the fall birthday seniors many of us were worried about. Hopefully other leagues follow suit.

This is an interesting way to address the problem but what will it mean for the bottom players on the u17 team? Will they be forced off the team by the addition of the returning u18 players?

In effect, this means the u17-18 teams will look a lot like the ECNL teams that exist today, with kids from Aug though July plus the really good players who can play up.

I assume the top age group for ECNL would become like the U17-U18 DA bracket (all the DA brackets are two year). I would guess that the team starters would be made up of the best of the U17s and U18s, with the others either mostly on the bench or moving to another team. There tends to be some attrition at the U18 level as it is, so it might be that you could fit both teams together if ECNL allows large rosters, though then many kids wouldn't play much.

For non-ECNL teams, if you combined the age groups I'd imagine you'd end up with an A and B team that might be pretty similar in talent. As long as they play in different leagues, and the club is willing to double-card freely, you could have a big pool that would allow players to play sometimes on one and sometimes on another.

[Anonymous]

After coaching youth soccer, rec and travel, for seven years, I up and quit, not because I had lost interest in teaching young athletes, but because I got sick of struggling to cope with the misbehavior, stupidity, unquenchable thirst for winning, even threats I faced from other coaches, parents on my teams, league managers, over tactics, playing time decisions, etc. Now I'm being asked to coach again in this spring. What do you think: All in all, is it worth it for you to coach? Are youth sports broken? How do you deal with the adults who are always intentionally or unintentionally ruining kids' sports experiences? I have a thick skin, but I don't have infinite amounts of energy and patience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After coaching youth soccer, rec and travel, for seven years, I up and quit, not because I had lost interest in teaching young athletes, but because I got sick of struggling to cope with the misbehavior, stupidity, unquenchable thirst for winning, even threats I faced from other coaches, parents on my teams, league managers, over tactics, playing time decisions, etc. Now I'm being asked to coach again in this spring. What do you think: All in all, is it worth it for you to coach? Are youth sports broken? How do you deal with the adults who are always intentionally or unintentionally ruining kids' sports experiences? I have a thick skin, but I don't have infinite amounts of energy and patience.

Sorry you've had to deal with this PP. What sort of issues have you faced in the past with league managers? Are the managers still in place in your local league? Things may have changed for the better since you last coached or perhaps it might be time for like-minded people to push for new league leaders. For problems with other coaches, I think you just have to rely on your thick skin and some zen breathing techniques.

Parents seem to be the most difficult factor. Our kids have been on teams with a few really difficult parents, but other years everyone is great. You might luck into a good group. In general, I think the key is to set up your goals and expectations up front, at a parent meeting prior to the start of the season, then follow up with an email outlining what you said at the meeting. Many of our coaches have asked parents to observe the 24 hour rule (following a game or practice) in communicating any concerns, which I think is smart. If you get pushback on anything, then you can either remind parents of your rules and expectations individually, or call another team meeting to emphasize them. If you are able to stay calm and keep to your script while doing this, then any nut job parents will hopefully start to realize that they are over-reacting and behaving inappropriately. If they don't, I imagine you'll find that your more reasonable parents will stick up for you and give the annoying people the side eye.

A less collaborative approach I've seen coaches take is to simply tell parents (at the initial meeting, after they've very clearly outlined team goals and philosophy about playing time) that they will not discuss playing time issues with parents, ever. This won't work well if your playing time decisions are different from what you have outlined in the initial meetings, but it works surprisingly well if your behavior is consistent with what you told parents to expect and if whoever is in charge will back you up. If you don't have good leadership in your club, it may not be worth the effort to return to coaching.

[Anonymous]

I'm finding that the awful people are in the minority. Probably not as far in the minority as we'd like, and it really only takes 1-2 awful people to give us misgivings about coaching or being on the parents' sideline. But they're in the minority.

That said, I'm getting awfully sick of these coaches teaching their kids to give nice hard fouls at U9, then yelling at the ref to "call it both ways." Yeah, you're a real man, bro.