If you think your child may be moved down did your DD's coach talk to you or to her?

[Anonymous]

The hope was the demoted current members would stay on lower teams but new kids would only join the club if they were placed on the top team.

While not right from a moral standpoint, I think that this assessment is accurate - not necessarily with respect to a very top team, but we are only making a move to a different club if we think our child will be on a better team there than where he currently is. So I see the inclination to err on the side of making a new player an offer on a higher team, if it could go either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No heads up for us, but we asked the coach about the reasons for the decision to move my DS to a lower level team. Apparently the club needed to add a number of outside players from the tryouts so some kids were moved down even though they did well on the field throughout the season (DS was a regular starter with plenty of playing time and was rarely subbed out). Some clubs hope that if they let the player know at the latest possible moment, the player is more likely to agree to move down to a lower team within the club, because the roster spots are getting filled by big clubs at around the same time and it is harder to secure a spot elsewhere. My DS is adamant that he wants move to a different club even though the coach hinted that he will likely have an opportunity to move back up next year. DS insists that we reject the offer and does not even want to wait for an offer from another club before we do it.

This happened to us too one year. Outside players won’t move if they are put on lower team. Child had good evaluations and started, never missed practice, etc. I don’t think they thought we’d leave. Left club on kid’s decision, it was tough to recover from the late notice, but eventually landed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not if the old player leaves, and it causes bad feelings. Especially at the younger ages if you're part of the club you want to make sure these kids stay as long as possible.

One of the big clubs likes to put a lot of the new kids on one new team if they can. This is for younger ages and I think that often works out well. They bond better because they are all new and it gives the coaches more time to watch all of them. The existing players are happy because they are on a higher team than the new kids. Win win.

I know this club. It works well. The good ones move up the following year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No heads up for us, but we asked the coach about the reasons for the decision to move my DS to a lower level team. Apparently the club needed to add a number of outside players from the tryouts so some kids were moved down even though they did well on the field throughout the season (DS was a regular starter with plenty of playing time and was rarely subbed out). Some clubs hope that if they let the player know at the latest possible moment, the player is more likely to agree to move down to a lower team within the club, because the roster spots are getting filled by big clubs at around the same time and it is harder to secure a spot elsewhere. My DS is adamant that he wants move to a different club even though the coach hinted that he will likely have an opportunity to move back up next year. DS insists that we reject the offer and does not even want to wait for an offer from another club before we do it.

Hook, line…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No heads up for us, but we asked the coach about the reasons for the decision to move my DS to a lower level team. Apparently the club needed to add a number of outside players from the tryouts so some kids were moved down even though they did well on the field throughout the season (DS was a regular starter with plenty of playing time and was rarely subbed out). Some clubs hope that if they let the player know at the latest possible moment, the player is more likely to agree to move down to a lower team within the club, because the roster spots are getting filled by big clubs at around the same time and it is harder to secure a spot elsewhere. My DS is adamant that he wants move to a different club even though the coach hinted that he will likely have an opportunity to move back up next year. DS insists that we reject the offer and does not even want to wait for an offer from another club before we do it.

Be proud of your kid. He’s no fool and not falling for their BS...smart kid. I hope he ends up in a great situation elsewhere!

[Anonymous]

My child's coach was all over the place. It was he may be moved up, he may play in the field (he is a keeper) if he doesn't have a keeper spot, he may be the second keeper to there are a bunch of random keepers trying out so he may not have a spot. The coach was somewhat honest in that he told many kids to try out multiple places if he felt they were at risk, our son included.
He didn't get a spot in the end and then the coach called a day later asking if we were satisfied with that. I have no idea what that was about as he had already accepted a spot on another team. I think coaches often don't know until tryouts whether your kid will be demoted.

[Anonymous]

Our club has only guaranteed existing players a spot but will not commit at all to which team, nor to a timeline for that commitment. We are leaving, it is not worth the drama at this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how it works generally. Maybe some clubs just do it out of the blue?

Coaches may not tell you specifically but game minutes speak much louder than any coaches words. If your kid steadily loses game time over the course of the season then the writing is on the wall.

Losing game time may not be the final answer but the child’s fate is determined by outside players coming in or bubble players below moving up. But either way, losing game minutes is a strong warning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how it works generally. Maybe some clubs just do it out of the blue?

Coaches may not tell you specifically but game minutes speak much louder than any coaches words. If your kid steadily loses game time over the course of the season then the writing is on the wall.

Losing game time may not be the final answer but the child’s fate is determined by outside players coming in or bubble players below moving up. But either way, losing game minutes is a strong warning.

Coach here - stealing the words out of my mouth. There's no reason to act oblivious to what you've been seeing all season. It's not like we're rolling dice to pick players to cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Apparently the club needed to add a number of outside players from the tryouts so some kids were moved down even though they did well on the field throughout the season (DS was a regular starter with plenty of playing time and was rarely subbed out).

I am sorry that this happened, but if the reason they moved your son down was that there were better outside players at the tryouts, how could they have told him beforehand? Do you mean that they delayed telling him once notifications went out? But wouldn't they need to see if those outside players even accepted? There might have been nothing to tell him if they didn't.

NP. My kids used to play at a club where the rule was if you get a player who is roughly the same as the lower half of your top team, you bump the current player and bring on the new player. The new players didn't necessarily have to be better, but bringing them on brought more $$$$ for the club.

Loudoun will do that and even promote a wealthy kid if daddy is willing to make ‘donations’

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No heads up for us, but we asked the coach about the reasons for the decision to move my DS to a lower level team. Apparently the club needed to add a number of outside players from the tryouts so some kids were moved down even though they did well on the field throughout the season (DS was a regular starter with plenty of playing time and was rarely subbed out). Some clubs hope that if they let the player know at the latest possible moment, the player is more likely to agree to move down to a lower team within the club, because the roster spots are getting filled by big clubs at around the same time and it is harder to secure a spot elsewhere. My DS is adamant that he wants move to a different club even though the coach hinted that he will likely have an opportunity to move back up next year. DS insists that we reject the offer and does not even want to wait for an offer from another club before we do it.

Be proud of your kid. He’s no fool and not falling for their BS...smart kid. I hope he ends up in a great situation elsewhere!

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend was told in the middle of the season that it was a possibility. I think that's helpful. Her child is young so she didn't tell her child, but it helped her with managing expectation for her child and making plans. In the end, her child did not end up getting moved down and they are still at that club a few years later.

the downside to the club is that the kid may try out for more clubs if they are expecting it and they may accept another offer before the current club even holds tryouts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child's coach was all over the place. It was he may be moved up, he may play in the field (he is a keeper) if he doesn't have a keeper spot, he may be the second keeper to there are a bunch of random keepers trying out so he may not have a spot. The coach was somewhat honest in that he told many kids to try out multiple places if he felt they were at risk, our son included.
He didn't get a spot in the end and then the coach called a day later asking if we were satisfied with that. I have no idea what that was about as he had already accepted a spot on another team. I think coaches often don't know until tryouts whether your kid will be demoted.

it sucks for keepers on competitive teams. DD is just getting into this situation. She is moving to U13 and now a full time keeper. Other keepers came to our tryouts so we tried out widely too. She ended up seeing a lot of familiar faces. She's staying put, but it really feels like a game of musical chairs

[Anonymous]

Be proud of your kid. He’s no fool and not falling for their BS...smart kid. I hope he ends up in a great situation elsewhere!


Agreed.

I think it depends. If the reason they are moving him down is to get more $, by all means, getting out of there is 100 percent the right choice. If the reason that they are moving him down is that they think the other players are better, then the club is doing what it is supposed to. Much as I would like to think that clubs are working to develop kids, and I hope that they are, at the end of the day, another consideration that they have is to put together the most competitive teams that they can. I get that it stings - my son was not offered a spot on his club's futsal team, even though he did a good job for them in multiple previous years, because there were players outside the club that they felt were stronger.

[Anonymous]

Losing game time may not be the final answer but the child’s fate is determined by outside players coming in or bubble players below moving up. But either way, losing game minutes is a strong warning.


Coach here - stealing the words out of my mouth. There's no reason to act oblivious to what you've been seeing all season. It's not like we're rolling dice to pick players to cut.

Would that apply to mid to lower level teams, or just higher level ones? We are on a mid level team, and for some field positions, there is only one player that can perform them competently at all. No one else ever plays them.