Soccer-At what point is it ok to switch clubs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't leave in the middle of the season as that is not fair to the other players.

what are you talking about? how is it unfair? i’d love if some of my kids teammates quit or the team roster was smaller to begin with. This is an opportunity for them to get more PT. it’s not always a great fit, and i’d rather some people moved on quickly.

+1, please leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't join a team if I didn't know who the coach was going to be. That's literally the most important factor.

More than once, we've committed to a Club knowing the Coach and come September that Coach is gone and it is someone else entirely.

It happens quite frequently.

My kids have had Coaches leave in the middle of the year. This has happened at Big Clubs and at small Clubs.

The other thing is that Coaches will often be assigned to several teams. There have been many a tournament Final where our Coach shows up half-way through the game (or not at all) because of a conflict. Every time that has happened we lost in the Final. It messes with the kid's heads and the fill-in Coach often screws everything up not knowing much about the kids.

[Anonymous]

It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP on the "Don't leave in the middle of the season" comment. We had a situation a while back where 2 players left mid-season for legit non-soccer reasons. This led to 3 other players running off to join other clubs mid-season which left the rest of the team without enough players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

LOL these clubs are all made up of ex players and coach rising to their level of incompetence. It the Peter principle in action. The only better example is athlete directors at colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

FCBEscola comes to mind. Everyone else seems to follow the highly variable model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP on the "Don't leave in the middle of the season" comment. We had a situation a while back where 2 players left mid-season for legit non-soccer reasons. This led to 3 other players running off to join other clubs mid-season which left the rest of the team without enough players.

Enough players is relative and guest players for games can be found. I have friends team who routinely had 10 players rostered. Playing a man down is a great opportunity to develop, even if it doesn't produce Ws.

[Anonymous]

We left once the coach made it clear he didn't want our player practicing with the team and cut playtime down to miniscule. Coaches who don't do this and have direct and open honest supportive conversation wirh the player, well they make it much harder to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

LOL these clubs are all made up of ex players and coach rising to their level of incompetence. It the Peter principle in action. The only better example is athlete directors at colleges.

Their level of incompetence; so true. Besides, clubs aren't loyal. They will readily pick up a player mid-season and bench another long time member of the team, if it suited them. Seen it happen. So why maintain a one directional loyalty? Ask yourself. Would your club cut your child? If the answer is yes, don't be afraid to cut the club. Travel soccer is pretty expensive anyways.

Actually I would prefer a club not pick up my child as a player, rather than either have my DC not be at the right level for the level of play or not be viewed as a good enough player to see a decent amount of time. The initial heartbreak of not making the team is better than the year long slow bleed of being the bottom player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

This is the bryc model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

This is the bryc model.

Ha!!! Maybe bryc 6-8 years ago. at least on the boys side. Maybe the new u9 coaches work that way together but from u11 up its a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

I think you have to find a club that has a club wide curriculum it teaches to all the players. Most clubs have a coach dependent model. Each coach has a completely independent approach that has nothing to do with what any other coach is doing. If the club itself has a style it is teaching, then you would find what you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

LOL these clubs are all made up of ex players and coach rising to their level of incompetence. It the Peter principle in action. The only better example is athlete directors at colleges.

Their level of incompetence; so true. Besides, clubs aren't loyal. They will readily pick up a player mid-season and bench another long time member of the team, if it suited them. Seen it happen. So why maintain a one directional loyalty? Ask yourself. Would your club cut your child? If the answer is yes, don't be afraid to cut the club. Travel soccer is pretty expensive anyways.

Actually I would prefer a club not pick up my child as a player, rather than either have my DC not be at the right level for the level of play or not be viewed as a good enough player to see a decent amount of time. The initial heartbreak of not making the team is better than the year long slow bleed of being the bottom player.

I agree.

I would also love to know if any club would actually honestly turn away a player who wasn't a good fit for any team in the club? Like OP, I've had a kid that was on the bubble for the A team, but was assigned to a B team largely made up of soccer newbies. For a competitive kid, that situation is not a good fit. It is all well and good to say work hard and play your way back onto the A team, but it is hard to learn and play the right way if the team is far below the player's level, no matter how hard a kid works. This is particularly as the kid gets older. The "play your way back to the A team" situation really only works if someone leaves the A team for another club or the club trains as a full age group. With coach specific training, there isn't going to be much movement between teams unless a really big fast kid who slipped through the cracks at tryouts gets spotted and claimed by the A team coach. In practice, I haven't seen many B or C team coaches advocating for their strongest players to get opportunities with the A team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that my kids experience on a team is so dependent on the whims of the coach and other players. Is there a club that maintains a constant experience across all their teams? Coaches all follow the same consistent pattern so if the coach leaves the new one maintains the same approach? Also the system is same from team to team within the club? System doesn’t change based on players but rather players adapt to the system? Which clubs operate like this?

FCBEscola comes to mind. Everyone else seems to follow the highly variable model.

Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes shop around. You are paying customers. If the club puts your kid on a lower team they do not want your kid. They only care about the top 3-4 players on the top team. Everyone else is part of support cast that they can replace easily. [/quote]

Very true!