Parents of diverse kid: does diversity on a team matter to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Asian Americans and my DD has been the only 1 or 2 Asian players on her predominately white teams for the past two teams in different clubs in MoCo. I wish there were more diversity. But it seems that MoCo travel teams are mostly white.

I’m not sure why but maybe Asian girls prefer to play other sports or activities???

We are also Asian American and we also barely see any Asian families. The ones I’ve seen are pretty good though so it maybe it’s a sport Asian families will only do if they notice that their kid has potential.

+1. I agree. I noticed my DD really enjoyed soccer and had potential so we pursued travel. She’s U14 right now. BTW, are you in MoCo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is black and plays Rec on a diverse team. I wouldn’t want her on an all white team.

My kid is white and I wouldn’t want him on an all white team!

Dad of my kids is adamant about this as well. He says he can tell how good a team is by how diverse their team is.

[Anonymous]

Alexandria teams have always been very diverse in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is black and plays Rec on a diverse team. I wouldn’t want her on an all white team.

My kid is white and I wouldn’t want him on an all white team!

Dad of my kids is adamant about this as well. He says he can tell how good a team is by how diverse their team is.

How can he do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Asian Americans and my DD has been the only 1 or 2 Asian players on her predominately white teams for the past two teams in different clubs in MoCo. I wish there were more diversity. But it seems that MoCo travel teams are mostly white.

I’m not sure why but maybe Asian girls prefer to play other sports or activities???

We are also Asian American and we also barely see any Asian families. The ones I’ve seen are pretty good though so it maybe it’s a sport Asian families will only do if they notice that their kid has potential.

+1. I agree. I noticed my DD really enjoyed soccer and had potential so we pursued travel. She’s U14 right now. BTW, are you in MoCo?

We are in PG county so even less Asians here I think. But same, we have one child who has the interest and drive and the talent. His sibs play too but talented child is the reason we play travel level. I’m surprised that that is not the primary reason you put your kids in travel to be honest. I can understand a strong interest but I feel that there are rec levels where an interested child can play at their level and still have fun. We see tons of mediocre kids and crazy parents.

But I guess everyone thinks their kid is talented? Or can get better with consistency? I don’t believe the latter is possible though without the initial drive and talent though.

[Anonymous]

The truth is that travel soccer prices out a lot of families of color even in this area.

If we chose based on diversity of the team our DC would not be able to play competitively. The few times there was one other "diverse" family, they didn't talk to us or DC much anyway. As long as all of the families and coaches are nice, its not a problem. We have only run into one racist coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is bias even when they want to cover with one or two color players. We experienced bias in several Ulittle years old club. I counted more than five players always Hispanic ones, first one to be cut for next level through the different years. I was well aware because we knew the families since U9 Rec times. If add all them together is about 5 families I know that could confirm this fact.

What happened to the kids who got cut? Do they move to a smaller club or a similar club?

Some did, other stayed. It was a clear pattern and very noticeable. Some of these boys were not cut they left because they were unhappy with coach decision. Look when daddy of blonde boy wanted more playing time or a new position for his kiddo, coach first looked at the vulnerable players. For some reason these all had a diverse background. Our talented midfielder left, our goalkeeper cut, other became frustrated of this crap.. Before that yes always the player with Hispanic background was first on the list for the cuts. IMO these parents would keep quiet.

This happens at our club. The squeeky wheel gets the grease and some dads are incessant while the most I've said is Hello, and we've been there more years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my older DD was the only AA, she was “the Black girl”. The other kids didn’t really bother to learn her name until the ne t year when two more Black girls joined.

Sorry about that. That must have tough for her. You stuck it out though so I guess the positive outweighed the negatives?

In a way, it prepared her at a young age to be “the only” in a lot of settings both as a child and now as a young woman. It wasn’t the last time that happened either. Her first week working at a state agency, a coworker told her that another coworker was calling her “the Black girl”. After that, she made a point of reintroducing herself to him every day until he stopped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Asian Americans and my DD has been the only 1 or 2 Asian players on her predominately white teams for the past two teams in different clubs in MoCo. I wish there were more diversity. But it seems that MoCo travel teams are mostly white.

I’m not sure why but maybe Asian girls prefer to play other sports or activities???

We are also Asian American and we also barely see any Asian families. The ones I’ve seen are pretty good though so it maybe it’s a sport Asian families will only do if they notice that their kid has potential.

+1. I agree. I noticed my DD really enjoyed soccer and had potential so we pursued travel. She’s U14 right now. BTW, are you in MoCo?

We are in PG county so even less Asians here I think. But same, we have one child who has the interest and drive and the talent. His sibs play too but talented child is the reason we play travel level. I’m surprised that that is not the primary reason you put your kids in travel to be honest. I can understand a strong interest but I feel that there are rec levels where an interested child can play at their level and still have fun. We see tons of mediocre kids and crazy parents.

But I guess everyone thinks their kid is talented? Or can get better with consistency? I don’t believe the latter is possible though without the initial drive and talent though.

It might be stereotypical, but most Asian parents push academics and instrument playing (piano, violin, etc.) over sports. (I am Asian so I’m not being racist.)

The reason why my DD started playing soccer 7/8 years ago was because her friends/classmates begged her to join. She didn’t realize she love soccer until she started playing. She wanted to play travel as her Rec teammates were not serious/focused on soccer.

I am not hoping/expecting a soccer scholarship at all but rather something to pad her college application. The father/daughter bonding because of soccer is a huge plus though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my older DD was the only AA, she was “the Black girl”. The other kids didn’t really bother to learn her name until the ne t year when two more Black girls joined.

Sorry about that. That must have tough for her. You stuck it out though so I guess the positive outweighed the negatives?

In a way, it prepared her at a young age to be “the only” in a lot of settings both as a child and now as a young woman. It wasn’t the last time that happened either. Her first week working at a state agency, a coworker told her that another coworker was calling her “the Black girl”. After that, she made a point of reintroducing herself to him every day until he stopped.

Oh wow. I’m Asian and I definitely was naive and surprised about being constantly mistaken for other Asian coworkers early on in my career. It blew my mind because we don’t even look alike and we weren’t the same type of Asian! That was a predominantly white field. I work in a different field now which is significantly more diverse and it’s been a breath of fresh air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is bias even when they want to cover with one or two color players. We experienced bias in several Ulittle years old club. I counted more than five players always Hispanic ones, first one to be cut for next level through the different years. I was well aware because we knew the families since U9 Rec times. If add all them together is about 5 families I know that could confirm this fact.

What happened to the kids who got cut? Do they move to a smaller club or a similar club?

Some did, other stayed. It was a clear pattern and very noticeable. Some of these boys were not cut they left because they were unhappy with coach decision. Look when daddy of blonde boy wanted more playing time or a new position for his kiddo, coach first looked at the vulnerable players. For some reason these all had a diverse background. Our talented midfielder left, our goalkeeper cut, other became frustrated of this crap.. Before that yes always the player with Hispanic background was first on the list for the cuts. IMO these parents would keep quiet.

We have seen the same. Asian/Asian American parents are grouped into the same no complaining/not making waves/would keep quiet bucket and we see it in starting and playing time in the younger ages. I noticed in a picture of an opposing team where all the blond players were starting on the field and if you Zoomed in on the bench it was all players of color, mostly Hispanic.

[Anonymous]

It matters to me. I don't mind my child being the "only" but it tells you something about the club/team/coach's reputation or actions when a team is not diverse but in a diverse area like in D.C. I don't mean many different races and ethnicities have to be represented but if a team is all white that does tell me something. I would be fine if there were a handful of kids from other races or backgrounds even if not our own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is black and plays Rec on a diverse team. I wouldn’t want her on an all white team.

My kid is white and I wouldn’t want him on an all white team!

Dad of my kids is adamant about this as well. He says he can tell how good a team is by how diverse their team is.

How can he do that?

I think he bases it on the assumption that kids from diverse backgrounds have been much more entrenched in soccer from a young age, whether playing it with friends and family from the community, watching it and being passionate about it. And maybe it evens out as the kids get older and everyone gets the same coaching but many of those kids have played soccer informally before coming to an organized team. He thinks kids and their families being this diversity into a team to the benefit of the team either by a different style of play or by questioning standard coaching, etc.

We are almost halfway through the season playing in EDP premier levels and so far he’s been right. The most competitive match we played was an all Latino team. One other team we have not played yet but is on top of the standing is likely diverse (based on the families I know who still play on that team).

It’s obviously a fairly loose theory based on his anecdotal experience but it’s been a running “joke” for us this season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our white club’s top teams are 95% Latino.

Whoa. Have they been there their entire soccer career or do they come from smaller clubs?

Not PP, but our club is the same way now. Top teams are full of Latino players and yes, they all pretty much have come from other smaller clubs.

Now that we have MLS Next even more have arrived and the rest of the club players have become 2nd and 3rd tier teams. Really odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our white club’s top teams are 95% Latino.

Whoa. Have they been there their entire soccer career or do they come from smaller clubs?

Not PP, but our club is the same way now. Top teams are full of Latino players and yes, they all pretty much have come from other smaller clubs.

Now that we have MLS Next even more have arrived and the rest of the club players have become 2nd and 3rd tier teams. Really odd.

So how is this diverse? 99 percent of anything is not diverse.

Virtue signaling