Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Development academy? Ask around about DA ZZZzzzzZZzzzz........

It's a step above your kid's A team...

I doubt it

National champs? Or the one that keeps getting beat by its lower counterpart in the same club?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Development academy? Ask around about DA ZZZzzzzZZzzzz........

It's a step above your kid's A team...

I doubt it

National champs? Or the one that keeps getting beat by its lower counterpart in the same club?

Hhhhhhwhat? Specifics of stfu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the above post:

This mid season player addition sounds like it might be Birth Year driven. I don't know your club or your team numbers but I think lots of teams will see this as the season progresses. Lots of new faces showing up at practices. Some of it is normal as it is better to attend a teams practice versus waiting for tryouts. But clubs are likely as anxious as parents are to see how some of their holes will be filled.

They could start by actually looking at the talent already there.

It seems the take home is for players in this club is to start shopping around too.

Really - next year is going to be a bit chaotic. That said, for a club that has teams at all ages, it's pretty easy to know what they have - figure out who's moving up 2 notches (Aug-Dec kids) and who's moving up one notch (Jan-July). Should have a pretty good idea of the pool you've got. Guessing for most the pool is pretty similar to what they currently have.

Who says they don't know? But no club, especially a large one, is going to turn away players that are interested in joining. A large club will easily find a team that matches their talent. At U11, which I believe you are heading into, is a year clubs add players because the rules go up from 7v7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those players going to other team's practices, aren't you a bit worried your Club will find out and screw your kid because of it?

Soccer is a small world. Most of the coaches at the Clubs in the area know one another and talk.

We are planning to tryout a few new places to check things out, but I wouldn't go as far to contact other coaches because I'm afraid it would get back to our club and they'd screw my kid over when we aren't yet 100% certain we are leaving.

No I am not afraid. Here is little known secret about travel soccer. Clubs never cut kids. Kids may get moved up or down but once in the club they don't get cut. So, going to other teams practices is the best way to see how the other coach is and how your kids gets along with their actual team. This way you make the tryout period less stressful. If you determine the other team is not for you, no need to waste time at their tryouts.

[Anonymous]

^my club cuts kids all the time. generally in the lower age groups but sometimes in the older ones, too.

Frankly, moving a kid from an A to a B team once they are U15 or older is effectively cutting them. It's social suicide for the kids. Most of the kids are smart enough to see it coming, though, and move themselves to another club.

[Anonymous]

DCU Academy is decent. Look at where the kids from there are going to be next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^my club cuts kids all the time. generally in the lower age groups but sometimes in the older ones, too.

Frankly, moving a kid from an A to a B team once they are U15 or older is effectively cutting them. It's social suicide for the kids. Most of the kids are smart enough to see it coming, though, and move themselves to another club.

It might be passive aggressive or it might be an honest assessment, but I said "Clubs" don't cut kids. Teams? Yes, but clubs don't. I also said large clubs. Small clubs may not have a choice if they just don't have enough kids to make another team. But that is a rare problem for larger clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^my club cuts kids all the time. generally in the lower age groups but sometimes in the older ones, too.

Frankly, moving a kid from an A to a B team once they are U15 or older is effectively cutting them. It's social suicide for the kids. Most of the kids are smart enough to see it coming, though, and move themselves to another club.

Really? Most of the "kids"? The only frenzied moving I've seen happening from our club by kids whose fortunes are waning is being steered by the parents.

[Anonymous]

^i can only speak for my club. I've seen plenty of kids in the older age groups (u15 and up) move clubs. 16 year olds know when they are getting 10 min of playing time per game that it isn't a good fit and they don't want to move to the B team so they switch clubs.

But your point is also a good one. the parents are also completely batshit in most cases and are constantly on the lookout for a better club for little lionel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It might be passive aggressive or it might be an honest assessment, but I said "Clubs" don't cut kids. Teams? Yes, but clubs don't. I also said large clubs. Small clubs may not have a choice if they just don't have enough kids to make another team. But that is a rare problem for larger clubs.

large clubs definitely do. Maybe they just dont publicize it. The parents are probably embarrassed and the club doesn't want that kind of publicity.

I agree clubs are all about the $, but if they can get the spot filled by someone else, they will do it. At some point, no matter how big your club is, you run out of roster space.

I also have seen clubs in recent years cut kids (and parents) with attitude problem. Last year, came right out at tryouts, told the kid they didn't like their attitude and said there was no place for them in the club. (kid had been with the club for years, but the coach hadn't been)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It might be passive aggressive or it might be an honest assessment, but I said "Clubs" don't cut kids. Teams? Yes, but clubs don't. I also said large clubs. Small clubs may not have a choice if they just don't have enough kids to make another team. But that is a rare problem for larger clubs.

large clubs definitely do. Maybe they just dont publicize it. The parents are probably embarrassed and the club doesn't want that kind of publicity.

I agree clubs are all about the $, but if they can get the spot filled by someone else, they will do it. At some point, no matter how big your club is, you run out of roster space.

I also have seen clubs in recent years cut kids (and parents) with attitude problem. Last year, came right out at tryouts, told the kid they didn't like their attitude and said there was no place for them in the club. (kid had been with the club for years, but the coach hadn't been)

I'm gonna lawyer up a bit on my point. Clubs still don't cut kids, but they will cut the parents.

I jest a bit here, but parents don't quite understand the negative role that they play in their kids future. At a certain point your kids talent may not be enough to overcome obnoxious parents. And, with the apple not falling far from the tree it is more likely that the kid themselves will turn into a problem as well.

And this doesn't just play out on the soccer field either, teachers don't really have patience for it, and I have even seen parents contact their kids employer.

[Anonymous]

^agreed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those players going to other team's practices, aren't you a bit worried your Club will find out and screw your kid because of it?

Soccer is a small world. Most of the coaches at the Clubs in the area know one another and talk.

We are planning to tryout a few new places to check things out, but I wouldn't go as far to contact other coaches because I'm afraid it would get back to our club and they'd screw my kid over when we aren't yet 100% certain we are leaving.

No I am not afraid. Here is little known secret about travel soccer. Clubs never cut kids. Kids may get moved up or down but once in the club they don't get cut. So, going to other teams practices is the best way to see how the other coach is and how your kids gets along with their actual team. This way you make the tryout period less stressful. If you determine the other team is not for you, no need to waste time at their tryouts.

I dont think you can make the blanket statement that clubs don't cut kids. Big clubs with 6 or 7 teams in the younger age groups will make cuts to ensure that they have no more than 2 or 3 strong teams at the 11v11 age groups. I've also frequently seen kids cut at smaller clubs when a second team implodes and the coach wants to bring in a few of those players, or players from outside the club, and drop kids from the first team they see as underperforming.

Generally speaking, a well run club is not going to punish kids for trying out elsewhere, and rarely will any club cut a top player even if the people in charge are vindictive. We certainly have run across clubs with vindictive coaches and technical directors though. My son left one club for another 4 years ago (at the end of a season, in a very civil fashion), and we gather that the board and TD are still talking trash about our family to this day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those players going to other team's practices, aren't you a bit worried your Club will find out and screw your kid because of it?

Soccer is a small world. Most of the coaches at the Clubs in the area know one another and talk.

We are planning to tryout a few new places to check things out, but I wouldn't go as far to contact other coaches because I'm afraid it would get back to our club and they'd screw my kid over when we aren't yet 100% certain we are leaving.

No I am not afraid. Here is little known secret about travel soccer. Clubs never cut kids. Kids may get moved up or down but once in the club they don't get cut. So, going to other teams practices is the best way to see how the other coach is and how your kids gets along with their actual team. This way you make the tryout period less stressful. If you determine the other team is not for you, no need to waste time at their tryouts.

I dont think you can make the blanket statement that clubs don't cut kids. Big clubs with 6 or 7 teams in the younger age groups will make cuts to ensure that they have no more than 2 or 3 strong teams at the 11v11 age groups. I've also frequently seen kids cut at smaller clubs when a second team implodes and the coach wants to bring in a few of those players, or players from outside the club, and drop kids from the first team they see as underperforming.

Generally speaking, a well run club is not going to punish kids for trying out elsewhere, and rarely will any club cut a top player even if the people in charge are vindictive. We certainly have run across clubs with vindictive coaches and technical directors though. My son left one club for another 4 years ago (at the end of a season, in a very civil fashion), and we gather that the board and TD are still talking trash about our family to this day.

At the younger ages kids are added because the game grows from 7v7>8v8>9v9>11v11. That timeline will change now due to US Soccer mandates but generally, no, kids at young ages are not cut from the club simply because roster sizes have to grow. They may be assigned a different team, and if as a parent, you feel that is a "cut", well, that is on you but a "demotion" during a development phase is not a "cut", not even close. And, if a club does cut kids at U9-U12, you should run, not walk from that club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As to our U9 McLean Gold coach who went ballistic over a throw in. I was pissed. We are trying to teach the kids to respect referees and understand that everyone makes mistakes and you need to bounce back from a bad call, let it go, and refocus on the next play. That a-hole wouldn't let it go. That ref should have sent him off.

For some reason, the score of the Mclean Gold v Great Falls game wasn't posted on the website. I asked the site official and they said they weren't sure what they were going to do because, in all their years of running tournaments, they NEVER saw such a verbal attack on the 14 year old referee of that game by McLean.

Keep in mind that these games were in the lowest division of the tournament. These are clubs' 3rd and 4th teams maybe.

I am not sure why your last statement matters. These are 8 and 9-year olds. This type of behavior should not be happening. Their parents pay the same amount of $ for coaches and training. They are 8 and 9 many could be on the green team by 14. That's how it usually works.

NP here. I have a son on the Great Falls side of that game. That 14 year old ref had no idea what he was doing. They never should have put him out there without more training. We paid a lot of money to go to that tournament, and not so some inexperienced child could learn the ropes. If anyone yelled at that kid, they were only expressing what everyone else was thinking. It was bad call after bad call, and many more things not called out at all.

There is no excuse for ripping into a 14 year old kid over a U9 tournament. None. Your coach and parents should stay away from the games and kids.

Exactly ! The only things that matter at u9 should be getting touches on the ball and learning to love the game, no matter what "level" they are. That kind of behavior is going to make kids want to quit in the long run. Soccer is barely popular enough to get mls highlights on sportscenter and your going to go ballistic over u9 bad calls ? And then we wonder why most kids no longer care about soccer by the time they are in high school and would rather watch football and basketball

Exactly. During this McLean game, I heard one of the McLean players actually say 'Why can't we just have one normal game?" Think about that. A 9-year-old boy frustrated with his own adult coach's behavior. I would pull my kid from that team/club in a heartbeat.