Do travel teams value team players?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. At the top levels of travel soccer, the parents, er, I mean, kids are obsessed with getting to commit to a college and thus justify the money otherwise wasted. There is no sense of team - the players are in it for themselves only. The clubs know this and cater to it, and most are focused on trumpeting all their college commitments (even D3 commits are celebrated). No one involved in travel soccer cares at all about a “team.” It’s a foreign concept. Parents move their kids like cattle between clubs.

Then why leagues like ECNL/GA exist at all. The argument of not everyone’s college material contradicts the ECNL mission. Soccer is a team sport not an individual sport that’s what many people tend to ignore cause they only care for their own benefit. For example a club need to select more than 11 players in order to exist/subsist/compete. However the same club tells the 12-18 player that they are average and they are not college material.

Surely you jest
You ever see a college scout recruit a team?
No. They recruit individuals.

Soccer teams are a group of individuals

Spend more time focused honestly on why your kid is in the 12-18 bench group and what they need to do better and differently to be in the 1-11 group
There's no entitlement past the kiddie stage.

If you're in ECNL, its more like kids #12 to #30 that are on the bench. If your club team has more than 18 kids, the answer is clear, they don't value team work, just top individuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert: all of the kids pertinent to this discussion are not going to be professional soccer players. The leap to compare teamwork emphasis at a local club soccer team with professional academies around the globe shows the level of delusion at work on this forum.

Spoiler alert: Like professional clubs, colleges recruit individuals too. At the ECNL/MLS Next level, clubs are ultimately judged by their respective customers on their ability to place individuals in college. If you think otherwise, you are part of the real delusion.

[Anonymous]

Most of them aren’t going to college to play D1 soccer - I know the D3 school “commitments” allow some of these clubs to save face, but I mean, come on. That’s just a commitment to pay out of your ass for a school the kid probably would have gotten into anyway.

[Anonymous]

My kids are like that--center mids that love the through balls and assists and making everyone else look good.

Only very tippy toppy coaches have noticed and recognized it--european or professional.

Let me tell you,,college--other than maybe 1 or 2 entire men's programs in the US---no they don't value it. Size, speed and little use of the midfield. My son has basically said his D1 team plays like high school. Went to watch 2 weeks ago--he's not wrong. Frustrating for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of them aren’t going to college to play D1 soccer - I know the D3 school “commitments” allow some of these clubs to save face, but I mean, come on. That’s just a commitment to pay out of your ass for a school the kid probably would have gotten into anyway.

Most professional club players don't make the first team either. It comes down to what is the end goal. For the youth clubs around here, it is to make money. They have the best chance of doing that by giving most customers what they want which is to get them to play college, whether they can achieve it or now. Until the customers change their mind or the entire system does, then you will continue to see clubs doing everything they can to make their teams the most successful at putting kids in college. A side effect of that is typically individual players matter more than "team" players. I don't like it either but it is the reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of them aren’t going to college to play D1 soccer - I know the D3 school “commitments” allow some of these clubs to save face, but I mean, come on. That’s just a commitment to pay out of your ass for a school the kid probably would have gotten into anyway.

Most professional club players don't make the first team either. It comes down to what is the end goal. For the youth clubs around here, it is to make money. They have the best chance of doing that by giving most customers what they want which is to get them to play college, whether they can achieve it or now. Until the customers change their mind or the entire system does, then you will continue to see clubs doing everything they can to make their teams the most successful at putting kids in college. A side effect of that is typically individual players matter more than "team" players. I don't like it either but it is the reality.

People advocating for teams over individuals have weaker players and want them to ride the coattails of strong teammates to the medal 🏅 and trophies stand.