Frustrating club/travel experience on second team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get out ASAP, b/c once you are slotted on a 2nd team, you are destined to stay there unless you REALLY stand out, and it doesn't sound like your DD is destined to stand out if it's a bad team fit and she isn't getting PT.

Also, I have enrolled my kid into 2 skills clinics and they wanted to know which team she was on in order to put her into the right skill group. (Makes sense to some degree...) So, having a second team label could also impact outside training. We arrived at Futstars training, and we were automatically placed in a lower skill group and it had a newer/ less experienced coach lead the sessions. While the 1st team kids had a much better coach and were getting a lot more out of training. But yes, your kid should be challenged a lot at practice, there is where a lot of growth and development will happen. With our 2nd team games/ team, there is significantly less dedication, intensity and participation by the players and families. And if the won't bring your kid up because it will upset some other families, then it might take 2 years when rosters expand. Id try out other team practices now.

OP again. This is exactly what I am worried about. Most of the other girls on the team have been playing together for years and the families are very tight. They are all lovely and welcoming, but the coach clearly favors the players he has had for a long time, even those with clear skill deficiencies. And it seems like most of the families are content to pay $3-4k/year to have social soccer. That’s really not what I want to spend that money on.

[Anonymous]

And it seems like most of the families are content to pay $3-4k/year to have social soccer. That’s really not what I want to spend that money on.

Speaking of the $, if you switched, wouldn't you lose that $ for the club you're already on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And it seems like most of the families are content to pay $3-4k/year to have social soccer. That’s really not what I want to spend that money on.

Speaking of the $, if you switched, wouldn't you lose that $ for the club you're already on?

PP is talking about moving for next year, so... no.

If your DD is in an age where, next year, they increase team size (e.g. 7v7 going to 9v9 or 9v9 going to 11v11), the roster sizes increase so she may stand a great chance of making a first team at current club or elsewhere. If the first team coach isn't involved at all with the non first team groups at your club and has a separate tryout for the first team, that might actually be to your DD's benefit. If he can't name all the kids in the pool it means he may not her from eve and therefore not have a much of a preconceived notion of if she's good enough or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And it seems like most of the families are content to pay $3-4k/year to have social soccer. That’s really not what I want to spend that money on.

Speaking of the $, if you switched, wouldn't you lose that $ for the club you're already on?

PP is talking about moving for next year, so... no.

If your DD is in an age where, next year, they increase team size (e.g. 7v7 going to 9v9 or 9v9 going to 11v11), the roster sizes increase so she may stand a great chance of making a first team at current club or elsewhere. If the first team coach isn't involved at all with the non first team groups at your club and has a separate tryout for the first team, that might actually be to your DD's benefit. If he can't name all the kids in the pool it means he may not her from eve and therefore not have a much of a preconceived notion of if she's good enough or not.

Visit other clubs before the spring tryout season. That will provide you the feedback you desire. If she is first team material, then the other club(s) will let you know. and you will also have your answer if she isn't part of the top line talent. Hopefully, she will have solid days when visiting the other teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And it seems like most of the families are content to pay $3-4k/year to have social soccer. That’s really not what I want to spend that money on.

Speaking of the $, if you switched, wouldn't you lose that $ for the club you're already on?

PP is talking about moving for next year, so... no.

If your DD is in an age where, next year, they increase team size (e.g. 7v7 going to 9v9 or 9v9 going to 11v11), the roster sizes increase so she may stand a great chance of making a first team at current club or elsewhere. If the first team coach isn't involved at all with the non first team groups at your club and has a separate tryout for the first team, that might actually be to your DD's benefit. If he can't name all the kids in the pool it means he may not her from eve and therefore not have a much of a preconceived notion of if she's good enough or not.

Visit other clubs before the spring tryout season. That will provide you the feedback you desire. If she is first team material, then the other club(s) will let you know. and you will also have your answer if she isn't part of the top line talent. Hopefully, she will have solid days when visiting the other teams.

This is good advice - thank you. I can handle the feedback if she’s not first team material. At least I’d have a good assessment and could make decisions accordingly.

[Anonymous]

OP again. This is exactly what I am worried about. Most of the other girls on the team have been playing together for years and the families are very tight. They are all lovely and welcoming, but the coach clearly favors the players he has had for a long time, even those with clear skill deficiencies. And it seems like most of the families are content to pay $3-4k/year to have social soccer. That’s really not what I want to spend that money on.


E-mail the clubs you want to try out for and ask if your daughter could attend a 1st team practice. Tell them about all the good travel soccer experience or training your player has already had and they are super, motivated/ dedicated. Then attend 1 or 2 practices. They should let you know if she can make the 1st team. If they say yes you can join, but don't specify a team, then you may end up in the same boat. There can be too much pressure at the official tryouts; i.e. lots of competition. Teams usually will prefer to go with players at tryouts who are already dedicated to joining the club before opening up additional slots to new players. Try practices at 2 or 3 teams if possible. You can also chat with the team manager parent offline to get their feedback. While this is occurring, chat with your current 1st team coach and tell them your goal is to have your player play for the 1st team and see what their response might be... you might be surprised they already have a plan to move her up? Or you might get the deer in the headlights look.

Also remember, its a journey/ marathon not a sprint/ destination! Since you're paying for it, you gotta enjoy it as you go! Lastly, talk this over with your player.... younger kids might not understand switching clubs to get better. And just a tip...When you do go to to new practice, get there early and warm up with your kid, before they are thrown into the meat grinder! Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So what to do? She will try out for multiple clubs this spring, including for the top team at her current club, but is it worth reaching out to the top team coach now and seeing if she can attend some of their practices over the winter? I did ask her current coach to put me in touch with the top team coach, but (shocking) that has not happened.

Also, you should contact the 1st team coach directly and tell him that your player wants to get extra practice in and would like to practice with the 1st team over the winter. I think they should be very receptive to that as less pressure is over the winter and coaches lover players who want to get better by putting extra work in. Trust me, your current coach probably doesn't want to loose a player (aside from the fact they maybe don't have a good impression of your player or they possibly never contacted the 1st team coach.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get out ASAP, b/c once you are slotted on a 2nd team, you are destined to stay there unless you REALLY stand out, and it doesn't sound like your DD is destined to stand out if it's a bad team fit and she isn't getting PT.

Also, I have enrolled my kid into 2 skills clinics and they wanted to know which team she was on in order to put her into the right skill group. (Makes sense to some degree...) So, having a second team label could also impact outside training. We arrived at Futstars training, and we were automatically placed in a lower skill group and it had a newer/ less experienced coach lead the sessions. While the 1st team kids had a much better coach and were getting a lot more out of training. But yes, your kid should be challenged a lot at practice, there is where a lot of growth and development will happen. With our 2nd team games/ team, there is significantly less dedication, intensity and participation by the players and families. And if the won't bring your kid up because it will upset some other families, then it might take 2 years when rosters expand. Id try out other team practices now.

OP again. This is exactly what I am worried about. Most of the other girls on the team have been playing together for years and the families are very tight. They are all lovely and welcoming, but the coach clearly favors the players he has had for a long time, even those with clear skill deficiencies. And it seems like most of the families are content to pay $3-4k/year to have social soccer. That’s really not what I want to spend that money on.

If it makes you feel better, we are on a top team with that organization and are unhappy too.

[Anonymous]

So the OP thinks their DD should be talking to the top team even though the are getting a lack of playing time on the second team? I gotta say I'm skeptical that the club has screwed up this bad when evaluating this player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What age group?

In my experience, kid(s) who are standing out on 2nd team would generally get invited to practice or guest with the top team. If you kid isn't a super star on 2nd and about the same level as many other players on that team, chances are there are a lot of thing for her to work on. Maybe a more honest convo with her coach to see what she needs to work on. Than thinking of switching club.

It's hard to improve without playing time. If OP's kid is young, run far away from coaches not playing the whole roster. If OP's kid is older, then they need a team that will play them

The bolded above is essentially 100% incorrect, and is the prevalent thought of many uneducated soccer parents in this area. You improve through practice, you improve through outside training, and you improve through individual time (running, ball-work, shooting, etc on your own). This is where 99% of the improvement comes from (and I would argue that formal soccer practices is the least impactful one of the three on development). Games are not for improvement - they are to apply what you've learned in a "real-life" setting. If you're not getting those opportunities to do so, I agree that you should at least consider moving to a situation where you will get those opportunities. Parents need to be realistic, however, on why their darling isn't getting the opportunity. Politics/Favorites, or skills aren't at that level? Be honest, get an independent evaluation, and then determine the proper next steps (lower team, new club, etc.).

That's the party line from a club that rosters more kids than they're allowed to dress on game day.

Nope. That's facts.

Take the kid putting in the quality training work 5/6 days a week compared to the kid showing up to subpar team practice maybe 2, 3X's a week.
The 30 to 40 minutes of game time hardly touching the ball on Saturday isn't where development takes place.

What if both kids are putting in the time training but one gets 20-30 of game time every other game and the other plays a full 90 every game? The party line for these 25 player deep money grab clubs is that they do more training than clubs that will only take on 15-18 kids. This is not true. The training is so you perform in games. What’s the point if you never get rostered in games?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the OP thinks their DD should be talking to the top team even though the are getting a lack of playing time on the second team? I gotta say I'm skeptical that the club has screwed up this bad when evaluating this player.

Trust me, coaches can overlook players, especially if they are coaching multiple teams and working another full time and commuting in this area. Some coaches prefer big fast strong players over smaller skilled players also. Maybe a coach categorized/ grouped the player at a good skill level, but doesn’t feel the need to start them as they might have 3-5 in that category already. Also, at our club, players usually do not move up or down mid season…. So that initial team placement may have occurred pre-maturely but they might not switch anyone now.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a second club team. Work hard Get private training. ask how to improve. Put in hours. Third team, second team, starter on the first team. Varsity at a competitive HS. But he has put in an incredible amount of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a second club team. Work hard Get private training. ask how to improve. Put in hours. Third team, second team, starter on the first team. Varsity at a competitive HS. But he has put in an incredible amount of work.

That works, but the quicker way is to jump clubs. It's much easier to make a top team from outside than to get promoted from within.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a second club team. Work hard Get private training. ask how to improve. Put in hours. Third team, second team, starter on the first team. Varsity at a competitive HS. But he has put in an incredible amount of work.

That works, but the quicker way is to jump clubs. It's much easier to make a top team from outside than to get promoted from within.

Maybe. but most kids are placed where they should be. I find that kids that keep moving are always bench players.

OP - If your kid was better than the existing girls, then they would play her. They won't care how long you have been there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the OP thinks their DD should be talking to the top team even though the are getting a lack of playing time on the second team? I gotta say I'm skeptical that the club has screwed up this bad when evaluating this player.

OP here. No - every player on the team gets equal playing time. Some players play more because there aren’t backups for their position, but my DD and her “partner” split the time evenly.

It’s not just about playing time. It’s about challenge. She isn’t challenged in practice and it is pretty clear the coach is skating. It’s just not an intense environment. It’s not the same for every kid, obviously, but my kid is one who is going to play up to the level of expectation.