Help me decide if a mid season move makes sense

[Anonymous]

Ask to guest play with the 3rd team in a tourney with the plan that he shows himself to be the best player on the field. If he can do that then there will be some more doors or opportunity that may be open.

OP keep in mind there may be other things holding him back you need to be attentive. Are you a difficult parent that other coaches don’t want to deal with? How coachable is he? How is he as a teammate on and off the field? Does he yell at or belittle teammates? What’s his soccer IQ like? Is he a ball hog that only wants to score goals or does he value assists and the team winning? These are rarely talked about but can have an impact beyond the physical traits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I have a few thoughts to consider. If you are doing 2 private sessions per week, you guys must defiantly be dedicated and should move up and or the skills should shine through and the coaches should take notice.

1.) Are you using a private Coach organic to your club? If not, and if it's allowed, that might produce more benefit as the Coaches talk and might influence who moves up.

2.) Sometimes the extra pushy parent gets what they want. We have family literally complain about the 3rd team loudly and just started bringing their kid to all the 2nd team practices. -They aren't on the team yet, but the other kids like the kid, so after a month, they were invited to guest play at the end of season tournament. Seems like they unofficially made room for the pushy parents.

3.) Some clubs do get full and moving kids around creates too much drama/ so they only bring in kids from outside the club for the top teams. So, yes I would look at bringing your kid to practice as soon as possible to another club you are most interested in now. Don't wait for tryouts, just bring them to try the practices now if at all possible. Just e-mail the TECH Director or DOC or Club Admin and talk up your kid and bring them out. At 2014, your kid should be ready to make the switch to another club and understand the reason why. -Don't tell your current club anything unless you think it can be helpful in their consideration to move your kid up.

4.) Lastly, if you only go to a tryout for another club. Get there early, have your kid help the coaches set up, wear and Argentina jersey, wear neon headband w his name on it and juggle a grapefruit before the session start. Talk to the head Coach before and after practice. Otherwise, it will be hard to get noticed during an open tryout.

-Good luck and have fun!

Thanks so much for taking the time to give such a thorough response. Here is my response to your points:

1)The private coach that we are using is the assistant coach of the 2013's 2nd team. Great coach. Very professional. Unfortunately, our 2014 head coach has far more power within our academy.

2)I have never been a pushy parent because I am a believer that talk is (or should be) cheap. Its what you do in the field and in practice that counts. I became team manager at the request of the coach but haven never demanded anything. I only asked the coach if my kid could try out with a higher team at the end of the season after we would the tournament and he scored the game winner in the final.

3)I am considering emails several academies, buy my hesitation is that most are now doing Futsal and my kid has always played regular soccer or indoor soccer, but never Futsal so I am not sure he would show well under this circumstances.

4)I agree that main tryouts should 100% be avoided. I have seen them and I am baffled on how academies can discern talent by watching hundreds of players playing 4v4 with pug goals.

Last update: our private coach corroborated that the team within our academy that we were interested in trying out, currently has 15 players and is actively trying to trim down its roster. They are not looking for more players.

Apparently, our academy has the beautiful problem of having too many good players...

[Anonymous]

If you've committed to a year, you may be committed to the fees for a year as well. In MD, a club doesn't have to let you go if you haven't paid the fees. So, in theory, you could pay for the entire year to club A, and a pro-rated amount to club B for just Jan - June, but you'd be paying a lot of $$$.

I would wait until Fall to move

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you've committed to a year, you may be committed to the fees for a year as well. In MD, a club doesn't have to let you go if you haven't paid the fees. So, in theory, you could pay for the entire year to club A, and a pro-rated amount to club B for just Jan - June, but you'd be paying a lot of $$$.

I would wait until Fall to move

Absolutely. I am in peace with the fact that its money lost on my end (I prepaid the full year). The most reasonable thing to do is to ride it out and start contacting other academies once it gets warmer. Having said that, it still weighs on me because it means accepting that my boy will continue practicing every day and that there is very little trust in him.those are not the life lessons that I wanted him to get, but he is getting them nonetheless.

I promise we never insulted anyone in the organization. He shows up to practice hard day in and out. Nothing else.

[Anonymous]

You have to leave for sure. Bethesda and Potomac I think are the only MoCo teams that have 4 teams. Your kid is not the only one that is trapped on a 3rd or 4th team when they should be playing higher.

I would look at Juventus or Liverpool. Very expensive but their first teams are equal in strength to Bethesda or Potomacs 2nd teams (unless either team decide to mix in their first team with the second to achieve better results)

Liverpool coaching is good. The program is looking for new players. Ask to have a practice session. Very expensive to join and no futsal right now but indoor season on artificial grass to start soon.

[Anonymous]

In terms of joining outside club trainings, most will likely start easing back into outdoor training by February at the latest (if they stopped at all) bc a bunch of tournaments start first weekend in March

[Anonymous]

I would suggest asking your child if he wants to switch mid season. His POV is most important as he will come into an established team and trying to break-in. If he's been playing with many different teams already, the adjustment may be quick and simple otherwise it may not be the best time.

[Anonymous]

Switching mid season was the best thing we did for our kid. Better team, better coaching, better development

[Anonymous]

We moved mid season. Best decision ever.

[Anonymous]

You should check out the discussions on here about ROSA and Potomac. It sounds like there is a lot going on in the 2014 age group at Potomac right now and so the future at at that club for that age bracket is particularly hard to read especially below the top one or two teams. I bet you would like the vibe at Juve. Very good coaches there and they try to play a good style. I wouldn't bother to switch midseason, but I would start reaching out to other clubs/teams in Spring and get your son to their practices. You'll see that at a lot of big clubs they will start moving guys around internally in Spring for practices to give the coaches a longer look at them, and you might be able to get into that process as an outsider.

[Anonymous]

OP we considered trying to make a midseason move for our 2014 boy but I have decided to just do our research and try to bring him to some practices in the spring. He is not quite in the same situation as your son in terms of being on a lower team and not being able to move up, but rather at a smaller club that probably won’t help him reach his potential if we stay. The fall season went by so quickly and I’m thinking the spring will feel the same way. I think a mid season move is a good idea if a situation is truly toxic or if your kid is truly miserable. But waiting until next year can show your kid that it’s good to finish out a commitment and you won’t burn any bridges leaving at the end of a year. We went to practices for one other club last spring and I think it makes a huge difference in how they see your kid fitting in versus just going to an open tryout. The offer he got from the club where he attended practices was much higher. than a different place where he only went to tryouts. Going to practices also allows your kid to see who their teammates might be and whether he might like playing with them. Spring is probably a better time for that than right now because winter might just be futsal, or some kids not showing up due to other sports.

[Anonymous]

Are there any clubs you recommend in Northern Virginia? I feel that Maryland area has more to over than VA…am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In terms of joining outside club trainings, most will likely start easing back into outdoor training by February at the latest (if they stopped at all) bc a bunch of tournaments start first weekend in March

MSI practices all winter - on turf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In terms of joining outside club trainings, most will likely start easing back into outdoor training by February at the latest (if they stopped at all) bc a bunch of tournaments start first weekend in March

MSI practices all winter - on turf.

How many times per week?

[Anonymous]

Your kid is at the perfect age to switch clubs.