Pipeline plays kids down, not up. For instance, girls on the "A" team will often guest on the "B" or "C" teams in order to win tournaments. Most clubs will ask players from the year below to play up on these "B" and "C" teams as that is what is better for Development. Also what happens is if a team is playing one year up, players from the top team on age will guest with that team even though the team playing a year up may be in the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th EDP division. Cheating, no. Perfectly within the rules. But the choice of trying to win games rather than develop its younger or weaker players shows what a club's priority is. It also shows there are likely many other problems within the club because they choose to do things the wrong way in an ethical matter. Good Luck. |
And again, if your child is male, development is ok. If your child is female, I would recommend elsewhere as they don't "develop". |
Well, calling it "guesting" on the lower teams isn't the entire story, but your point is understandable and accurate, but it's a broader "guesting" policy than club-internal. Pipeline tends to bring in external guest players for tournaments that join their teams (particularly at younger levels on their A roster, see Jeff Cup as an example), which pushes some of the regular players down to the B or C teams. This definitely has the result you describe where they're much more competitive than they already are in tournaments across the board. I presume this is a recruiting strategy, a way to get new players to know the team and unofficially try out. I don't know how they handle communication of it, but when we saw them at Jeff Cup the parents seemed to openly talk about it and be fine with it, but I'm making a big assumption there. Personally, I think it's a great plan if you're looking to build a competitive, winning team and extending a tryout period, but it does support what several have said on here that there's a clear focus on winning. I just think there can be a focus on putting the strongest kids togethe and winning while focusing on their development and practicing against the best players you can practice against. |
This isn’t true, there are far more kids playing up a year than kids playing down a level at Pipeline. The kids who play down are typically getting no or little playing time on their current team and are double rostered on lower team to get playing time and develop. The superstars on any team never play down. |
There was one Pipellne boy's team that had a rash of injuries and several players move up to the top team that brought several guest players to Jeff cup. I don’t think this is a typical practice, and the reason parents seemed ok with it was they would not have been able to field a team otherwise for that particular tournament. |
Oh, I thought PP was talking about the 2010 Girls who had multiple McLean Guest players at Jefferson Cup. That's a long drive just to play for Pipeline...As a parent at Pipeline, I can tell you that BEST players at the younger ages do in fact play on the 2nd and 3rd teams to get wins. Yes, some players also play up on top teams. No idea about ECNL ages. We are leaving after Spring as our experience has been disappointing. I also know there are many other families across other age groups that are leaving. The girls side is managed completely different than the boys side. It's night and day actually. |
I wa talking about boy’s side so that might be true. |
| No club is perfect. It really comes down to your year and the coach. If you're looking for a top girls team in the Baltimore area, check out Pipeline, Baltimore Armour and Celtic Union. OPSA and Coppermine are worth looking at too if you're not set on ECNL or GA. |
Unfortunately many clubs manage the girls different than the boys. So at the new club you may see the same thing. |
I'm the OP. Can you please share some more on why you are leaving? Is your daughter above or below u12? I think what I have gathered is that it will be a great place for my son and I may have to look a little deeper or elsewhere for my daughter. I was trying to make it work at the same organization since the boys and girls practice at nearby locations, but I'm concerned about the girls side. Also agree with the other poster that most girls teams are managed much differently than the boys teams |
Coppermine has its own set of issues, which are worse imo. The legacy Premier teams are fine but those don’t exist at the younger ages. |
| OOGA OOGA, GO PIPELINE, OOGA OOGA |
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I've had limited exposure just watching boys side play in two different age groups. Both of those teams emphasized a style of play that was all about winning, running as fast as possible, and hoping to just score goals on breakaways and one-on-one. I was underwhelmed by their buildup play or off-the-ball play of the kids. It really was to find the fastest athletes and run them until they pass out. Then substitute and repeat.
This is just my experience watching two age groups. Others may vary. |
Yes, that’s why the boys 2006 encl team hasn’t lost a game in more than 2 years. |
Well boys ECNL sucks so there is that. |