A better way? U8-U15 soccer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With an incompetent national federation, generally ignorant populace, tiny professional structure that is spread over a massive geographical area, and an infrastructure of local neighborhood clubs controlling fields this is where we are stuck. Lots of competing “elite” money grab leagues with coaches and administrators looking out for their paychecks over the good of the players and actual development.

There should be regionalized competitive structure with a defined pathway for players (local neighborhood rec - local travel - regional travel) where coaches actively push players to the appropriate level, but instead coaches cling to players that can win them games. The extra long travel component that has developed over the past 10 years is ridiculous, especially in an area like this. Time and cost are out of control.

+1

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well they actually had a smart way to do it (ODP), but everyone shits on that now, especially since elite private clubs took over. You could have the relatively local playing clubs, but then your best players tryout for a state pool that plays other states or regions. This way your average player doesn't have to travel insane amounts and you push the best players to the top no matter where they come from. Now the big clubs keep all the players paying vast sums of money and crazy travel for everyone.

Yep. Welcome back 1980s. That's when I played and I hate how sh*tty the system has gotten for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With an incompetent national federation, generally ignorant populace, tiny professional structure that is spread over a massive geographical area, and an infrastructure of local neighborhood clubs controlling fields this is where we are stuck. Lots of competing “elite” money grab leagues with coaches and administrators looking out for their paychecks over the good of the players and actual development.

There should be regionalized competitive structure with a defined pathway for players (local neighborhood rec - local travel - regional travel) where coaches actively push players to the appropriate level, but instead coaches cling to players that can win them games. The extra long travel component that has developed over the past 10 years is ridiculous, especially in an area like this. Time and cost are out of control.

+1

+100

Add to this that part of the problem is parents. They want an ROI for all this training which is competing even at u8. If they cannot cheer and see their kids score goals then it's just not worth the investment. I guarantee if you have 2 programs, 1 with the best trainers in the world with no tournament/league play at young ages and another with parent coaches and kids competing weekly and as many tournaments as possible. Guess which ones we choose.

[Anonymous]

now that DA is gone, ODP might get some value back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:now that DA is gone, ODP might get some value back?

Not really since MLS discourages it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s countless articles and posts about how bad the US pay to play system is. Nothing discussed in this thread is/will be any different.

How about using DCUM to organize more free play soccer for the kids? It doesn’t have to be a full 11v11 game but rather smaller groups such as 5v5, etc. Winner stays just like street basketball.

love this idea. maybe we can do it in summer. currently a lot of high school kids are busy with varsity soccer at Virginia.

[Anonymous]

My kids play soccer. I have grown to love it. It will never equal football, basketball, or even baseball in the US. At best it is hockey.

It is not part of the culture, it takes too long to master, it takes too long to play. Just not going to happen.

We have to have a different approach in the US. Also who pays for soccer. We have no clubs to fund youth development. Parents have to pay here. There is no other way.

Also, please look to Europe. The new super club league will be the death of club support for youth soccer development. They will be moving to a US system over time.

[Anonymous]

You're 100% correct. We're lucky to live in a quiet neighborhood with lots of kids who like to play backyard pick up soccer. Our kids have been doing that for years and I credit that after school pick up time with helping my DS gain creativity in his game. Sadly, however, as the kids have aged, we have less time for pick up on the street but hoping we'll get back to that in summer.

But you're right, OP. I keep trying to figure out how we can make more pick up happen with the kids but it's a battle against the culture of over scheduling, of which we are all guilty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s countless articles and posts about how bad the US pay to play system is. Nothing discussed in this thread is/will be any different.

How about using DCUM to organize more free play soccer for the kids? It doesn’t have to be a full 11v11 game but rather smaller groups such as 5v5, etc. Winner stays just like street basketball.

love this idea. maybe we can do it in summer. currently a lot of high school kids are busy with varsity soccer at Virginia.

+1. Parents hold the key to this. If people are able to organize large snowball fights, it shouldn’t be difficult to organize these types of soccer games in local parks, communities, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s countless articles and posts about how bad the US pay to play system is. Nothing discussed in this thread is/will be any different.

How about using DCUM to organize more free play soccer for the kids? It doesn’t have to be a full 11v11 game but rather smaller groups such as 5v5, etc. Winner stays just like street basketball.

love this idea. maybe we can do it in summer. currently a lot of high school kids are busy with varsity soccer at Virginia.

+1. Parents hold the key to this. If people are able to organize large snowball fights, it shouldn’t be difficult to organize these types of soccer games in local parks, communities, etc.

Sadly, people do try to organize pick up soccer on the board and guess what, noone shows. It's all talk that people want their kids to do pick up. It's just a buzz word to them. Summer is right around the corner. There will be plenty of pick up soccer opportunities. Very few will attend....again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s countless articles and posts about how bad the US pay to play system is. Nothing discussed in this thread is/will be any different.

How about using DCUM to organize more free play soccer for the kids? It doesn’t have to be a full 11v11 game but rather smaller groups such as 5v5, etc. Winner stays just like street basketball.

love this idea. maybe we can do it in summer. currently a lot of high school kids are busy with varsity soccer at Virginia.

+1. Parents hold the key to this. If people are able to organize large snowball fights, it shouldn’t be difficult to organize these types of soccer games in local parks, communities, etc.

Sadly, people do try to organize pick up soccer on the board and guess what, noone shows. It's all talk that people want their kids to do pick up. It's just a buzz word to them. Summer is right around the corner. There will be plenty of pick up soccer opportunities. Very few will attend....again.

Some of it is a field space issue. But I agree with the idea of fun, unstructured play. If I could do it over again, that's what I would have tried to encourage/organize when my kids were younger.

To add to the valid points that other kids were making, looking back I realize that for one of my kids, the revolving door of a club he was with which included bringing upon the best younger kids to play important games and regularly bringing in new kids from outside the club created a situation where he was no longer playing. Instead of an opportunity to play, each game felt like a tryout required to keep his spot. That constant pressure too young ruined the game for him. It's not like the team was going to win some national championship. They were a very good team at the regional level, but clubs are always trying to be more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s countless articles and posts about how bad the US pay to play system is. Nothing discussed in this thread is/will be any different.

How about using DCUM to organize more free play soccer for the kids? It doesn’t have to be a full 11v11 game but rather smaller groups such as 5v5, etc. Winner stays just like street basketball.

love this idea. maybe we can do it in summer. currently a lot of high school kids are busy with varsity soccer at Virginia.

+1. Parents hold the key to this. If people are able to organize large snowball fights, it shouldn’t be difficult to organize these types of soccer games in local parks, communities, etc.

Sadly, people do try to organize pick up soccer on the board and guess what, noone shows. It's all talk that people want their kids to do pick up. It's just a buzz word to them. Summer is right around the corner. There will be plenty of pick up soccer opportunities. Very few will attend....again.

In Fairfax, people show, then they get kicked off the field when the club team with the permit shows up. Free doesn't work when every turf or even mowed field is booked for every hour that it's light outside

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s countless articles and posts about how bad the US pay to play system is. Nothing discussed in this thread is/will be any different.

How about using DCUM to organize more free play soccer for the kids? It doesn’t have to be a full 11v11 game but rather smaller groups such as 5v5, etc. Winner stays just like street basketball.

love this idea. maybe we can do it in summer. currently a lot of high school kids are busy with varsity soccer at Virginia.

+1. Parents hold the key to this. If people are able to organize large snowball fights, it shouldn’t be difficult to organize these types of soccer games in local parks, communities, etc.

Sadly, people do try to organize pick up soccer on the board and guess what, noone shows. It's all talk that people want their kids to do pick up. It's just a buzz word to them. Summer is right around the corner. There will be plenty of pick up soccer opportunities. Very few will attend....again.

In Fairfax, people show, then they get kicked off the field when the club team with the permit shows up. Free doesn't work when every turf or even mowed field is booked for every hour that it's light outside

+1 That's the big problem. All over the DMV, there's little space for free play.

[Anonymous]

You have to distinguish girls from boys.

GIRLS: US system is still dominant youth system. Many compete with dreams of someday playing college soccer. A few make USWNT and or play in NWSL or now Europe.

BOYS: MLS does not rival European clubs in any way. In Europe best players are recruited to play free for pro academies. As long as MLS doesn't have same fan base as European soccer will be difficult to copy European success in men's/boy's soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Europe and find the youth travel soccer business here completely alien. Why have 9 and 10 year olds sit in a car for 4 hours on a weekend to go beat some poor team 7-0 just to preserve, for proud parents, the conceit that they can’t get a competitive game locally? Why not have them out in local park playing - surely switching those 5 hours with just an hour of playing time for a couple of hours coaching and a couple of hours of scrimmages/pick-up games would do far more for their development (not to mention a more fun childhood)? This strict focus on playing age-groups together is also weird to me - I learnt the most soccer from trying to keep up with the older kids from the neighborhood.

The non-travel teams apparently often have crap/parent coaches though.

Is there a third option? High quality regular (2-3x/wk) coaching with games against the best of neighborhood/city teams and maybe travel to a tournament once a season?

Bethesda has options for something like this?

You sound like you have it all worked out in your head. Go with that.