U17 team not practicing for the Fall - Scam Alert?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the responses. I talked with people from 7 different clubs, and none had this approach to the season. So it is somewhat reassuring to hear that some clubs do this.

I am not sure that my DS will play HS ball, so he - and any other kids like him - will lose out. That just doesn't sit well with me so we may be moving clubs - not exactly an ideal thing to do at this stage.

Why wouldn’t he play high school? Most kids who play club want to play in high school. That’s almost the point of playing club - to be good enough come high school.

The only kids we know who don’t play in high school are on MLSNext teams.

So false.

Every college coach told my son they do not care about high school soccer. They will not come to HS games abd any film take they want at the ECNL/MLSNext level.

Junior year he decided to focus only on club which plays at such a higher level than HS.

Should have added more context, but I don’t disagree with that. I should have added that unless a kid was good enough or planning to play in college or go pro, and so needs to play travel/club to accomplish that, the only other reason to do travel/club is to be good enough or stay competitive enough to make your HS team.

My kid is MLSNext and has never wanted to play HS and we prob will disallow it if he wanted to, where I have another kid who is in EDP and only wants to make their high school team.

[Anonymous]

My son’s EDP team is similar though they will have a Labor Day tournament. My son does play HS so he would have found it tough to take advantage of 3x a week practices but I feel like they should really charge less for teams that play for 9/10 months instead of 11/12. I didn’t know until after we had paid that there was basically just one tournament, no practices and no league play. To their credit, they offered to let them train with younger groups but really it’s not helpful for my HS varsity player to train with middle school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the responses. I talked with people from 7 different clubs, and none had this approach to the season. So it is somewhat reassuring to hear that some clubs do this.

I am not sure that my DS will play HS ball, so he - and any other kids like him - will lose out. That just doesn't sit well with me so we may be moving clubs - not exactly an ideal thing to do at this stage.

Why wouldn’t he play high school? Most kids who play club want to play in high school. That’s almost the point of playing club - to be good enough come high school.

The only kids we know who don’t play in high school are on MLSNext teams.

So false.

Every college coach told my son they do not care about high school soccer. They will not come to HS games abd any film take they want at the ECNL/MLSNext level.

Junior year he decided to focus only on club which plays at such a higher level than HS.

Should have added more context, but I don’t disagree with that. I should have added that unless a kid was good enough or planning to play in college or go pro, and so needs to play travel/club to accomplish that, the only other reason to do travel/club is to be good enough or stay competitive enough to make your HS team.

My kid is MLSNext and has never wanted to play HS and we prob will disallow it if he wanted to, where I have another kid who is in EDP and only wants to make their high school team.

Have you thought about, maybe, for fun? A kid who likes to play at a certain level and enjoys being with other likeminded players?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Why wouldn’t he play high school? Most kids who play club want to play in high school. That’s almost the point of playing club - to be good enough come high school.

The only kids we know who don’t play in high school are on MLSNext teams.

Anonymous wrote:
So false.

Every college coach told my son they do not care about high school soccer. They will not come to HS games abd any film take they want at the ECNL/MLSNext level.

Junior year he decided to focus only on club which plays at such a higher level than HS.

Anonymous wrote:
Should have added more context, but I don’t disagree with that. I should have added that unless a kid was good enough or planning to play in college or go pro, and so needs to play travel/club to accomplish that, the only other reason to do travel/club is to be good enough or stay competitive enough to make your HS team.

My kid is MLSNext and has never wanted to play HS and we prob will disallow it if he wanted to, where I have another kid who is in EDP and only wants to make their high school team.

OP again - To qualify my prior post, my son wants to play for his HS team. He's a rising freshman and did not make the JV team. Freshman tryouts are happening now - 50 kids for 20 spots and majority are good players. If he makes the HS team, he will play there. If not, then he may be out of luck this fall.

He is one of the kids that the PP mentioned has been doing travel/club with the goal of playing in HS. He likes the idea of representing his school (something he did in MS), and I have supported him in that. I recognize that playing in college is not in the cards since he's not in ECNL/MLS Next (and even then it's no guarantee of course). He may grow/develop more over the next couple of years, but I'm certainly not holding my breath for playing in college especially if he can't even make the HS team. (Granted, it is one of the top HS programs in the area, but still)

Saw the other PP about asking to practice with the 08 MLSNext team. I thought of that since he knows most of those players, so I inquired before I posted here. Haven't even gotten an acknowledgment of my E-mail for almost a week.

Thanks to everyone for their perspectives. This helped a lot. At least I know now that this practice is not out of the norm, even though I think it still is ripping us off in terms of cost per practice. My issues at this point are 1) the shitty communication from this club to include a lack of proposed alternatives or explanation of what we are getting for our money and 2) the fact that only 1-2 other parents out of 19 (the number on the roster) have responded in kind to my initial complaint to express any concern about the situation. Maybe the latter is because they are playing HS and so they don't really care. Just seems bizarre to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son’s EDP team is similar though they will have a Labor Day tournament. My son does play HS so he would have found it tough to take advantage of 3x a week practices but I feel like they should really charge less for teams that play for 9/10 months instead of 11/12. I didn’t know until after we had paid that there was basically just one tournament, no practices and no league play. To their credit, they offered to let them train with younger groups but really it’s not helpful for my HS varsity player to train with middle school kids.

OP here. Completely with you on your points. Our situation was the same - paid back in June and didn't find out until mid August about the situation for the fall and only after I posed a question on TeamSnap. WTH. Problem is these clubs/coaches have us over a barrel and they know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I read the post more carefully and I think your best bet is to ask if your child can practice with the MLSNext team for the fall.

I wouldn't necessarily call what your club is doing a scam if they are making up the training later in the year. I know some clubs start right away in early November with intense training, league games and tournaments to try to cram what they missed in Sept./October into the early winter. Maybe that is your club's plan?

For younger age groups they would be winding down in Nov. in preparation for the winter season.

OP here. Thanks for the thoughtful response. I think they plan to start training, games, and tournaments in Dec., but they haven't said anything about their plan other than "after the HS season ends." I doubt that they will do anything to make up for the practices we lost in Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov. The norm is practicing 3x per week, so I don't see them going to a 4x or 5x week model.

[Anonymous]

OP- we may be at the sane school but I have a sophomore.

We have the opposite issue. His ECNL club is in full swing and he has 2 hours of high school soccer practice every day. His HS coaches require everyone there and his ECNL coach wants them there. He is new to the ECNL team.

He was starting playing most of the game at ECNL but as he has started to miss done practices he’s not starting. He has occasionally had to miss a HS practice with the same result. He is playing great in the games.

I feel like doing HS is going to jeopardize his ECNL spot. The HS roster is huge.

It’s tough.

[Anonymous]

OP- how the h@ll is a Freshmen a U17???

My sophomore was a U15 last year.

[Anonymous]

It's a tough issue around here, especially given that VA plays in the spring whereas privates, DC, and MD play in the fall. DD's club is based in VA but more than half the kids play fall HS soccer, so half the team is always managing attendance to prevent overuse, skipping club for HS practice, or injured. Club seems to do the best it can, but's really gets disjointed and disruptive come U15 when HS starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why wouldn’t he play high school? Most kids who play club want to play in high school. That’s almost the point of playing club - to be good enough come high school.

The only kids we know who don’t play in high school are on MLSNext teams.

Anonymous wrote:
So false.

Every college coach told my son they do not care about high school soccer. They will not come to HS games abd any film take they want at the ECNL/MLSNext level.

Junior year he decided to focus only on club which plays at such a higher level than HS.

Anonymous wrote:
Should have added more context, but I don’t disagree with that. I should have added that unless a kid was good enough or planning to play in college or go pro, and so needs to play travel/club to accomplish that, the only other reason to do travel/club is to be good enough or stay competitive enough to make your HS team.

My kid is MLSNext and has never wanted to play HS and we prob will disallow it if he wanted to, where I have another kid who is in EDP and only wants to make their high school team.

OP again - To qualify my prior post, my son wants to play for his HS team. He's a rising freshman and did not make the JV team. Freshman tryouts are happening now - 50 kids for 20 spots and majority are good players. If he makes the HS team, he will play there. If not, then he may be out of luck this fall.

He is one of the kids that the PP mentioned has been doing travel/club with the goal of playing in HS. He likes the idea of representing his school (something he did in MS), and I have supported him in that. I recognize that playing in college is not in the cards since he's not in ECNL/MLS Next (and even then it's no guarantee of course). He may grow/develop more over the next couple of years, but I'm certainly not holding my breath for playing in college especially if he can't even make the HS team. (Granted, it is one of the top HS programs in the area, but still)

Saw the other PP about asking to practice with the 08 MLSNext team. I thought of that since he knows most of those players, so I inquired before I posted here. Haven't even gotten an acknowledgment of my E-mail for almost a week.

Thanks to everyone for their perspectives. This helped a lot. At least I know now that this practice is not out of the norm, even though I think it still is ripping us off in terms of cost per practice. My issues at this point are 1) the shitty communication from this club to include a lack of proposed alternatives or explanation of what we are getting for our money and 2) the fact that only 1-2 other parents out of 19 (the number on the roster) have responded in kind to my initial complaint to express any concern about the situation. Maybe the latter is because they are playing HS and so they don't really care. Just seems bizarre to me.

I'm sorry OP. I hope you figure out a way to work something out with the club. I bet your child's team is pretty good and most of those 19 kids are playing HS which is why they did not respond. I confess I have not paid any attention at all to our club's fall schedule or TeamSnap so if you sent a message out on our chat I probably missed it. But I do empathsize!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for the responses. I talked with people from 7 different clubs, and none had this approach to the season. So it is somewhat reassuring to hear that some clubs do this.

I am not sure that my DS will play HS ball, so he - and any other kids like him - will lose out. That just doesn't sit well with me so we may be moving clubs - not exactly an ideal thing to do at this stage.

Why wouldn’t he play high school? Most kids who play club want to play in high school. That’s almost the point of playing club - to be good enough come high school.

The only kids we know who don’t play in high school are on MLSNext teams.

So false.

Every college coach told my son they do not care about high school soccer. They will not come to HS games abd any film take they want at the ECNL/MLSNext level.

Junior year he decided to focus only on club which plays at such a higher level than HS.

Should have added more context, but I don’t disagree with that. I should have added that unless a kid was good enough or planning to play in college or go pro, and so needs to play travel/club to accomplish that, the only other reason to do travel/club is to be good enough or stay competitive enough to make your HS team.

My kid is MLSNext and has never wanted to play HS and we prob will disallow it if he wanted to, where I have another kid who is in EDP and only wants to make their high school team.

Have you thought about, maybe, for fun? A kid who likes to play at a certain level and enjoys being with other likeminded players?

Sure. If money was no object I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- how the h@ll is a Freshmen a U17???

My sophomore was a U15 last year.

Seriously - this is the big question?!

How can a U17 be a Freshmen?? These are mostly Juniors and a few Sophomores (2007).

Is your kid driving to school Freshmen year?

[Anonymous]

Even the serious redshirt spring bdays are U16 Freshmen year. You would have to hold a kid back 2 full years to be U17 as a Freshmen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even the serious redshirt spring bdays are U16 Freshmen year. You would have to hold a kid back 2 full years to be U17 as a Freshmen.

He will be 20 at his HS graduation—almost legal to drink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- how the h@ll is a Freshmen a U17???

My sophomore was a U15 last year.

Seriously - this is the big question?!

How can a U17 be a Freshmen?? These are mostly Juniors and a few Sophomores (2007).

Is your kid driving to school Freshmen year?

Didn't she say he was playing up a year? My kid is 2008 and is a freshman -- he went to school at the normal time (not held back or advanced). But this may be the answer for OP, if there is a U16 team with freshman, he could train with them. I think more of the freshman don't make the HS team so they have more of a club presence. At our school, only 3 freshman made the team, and about 50 tried out -- all good players who play travel soccer. They didn't take any freshman for my kid's position.