Playing Down in Youth Soccer...what's legal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was the A team playing in the tournament? If not, then I don't see how it would be illegal, and I don't see why it would be bad sportsmanship to add one kid to the roster. Tournaments are a great time to experiment with different formations and lineups, and the spring is when clubs start making assessments about which kids should be moved up or down. If one of the B team players had to sit the whole tournament or lost significant playing time due to the guest player, that's uncool though.

Did you even read the thread?
One of the best players from the A team...this obviously wasn't about assessments, it was about winning.
And obviously, if there's an A team player playing all game, it means at least one B teamer lost out.

Yes, I read all the posts in the thread. Nowhere did you say whether the A team that the donated player came from played in the tournament. Did they? If not, and the player was the right age, why did you think it would be "illegal" for him to play if he was on-age? Are you new to travel soccer? Never heard of a guest player?

And I doubt you have any idea why this kid was there. If the team only cared about winning, they'd bring more than one guest player. It should be a relatively easy matter for a team to contain one superior kid, unless he's a nation team level player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So at a tournament this past weekend I saw a player that I know is on the top team of a local club playing on the second team.
The player helped the team win the championship in the second division.

Against the rules, or just bad sportsmanship?

How about just fun. My “A” team star son recently played a tournament with his “B” team best friends because they weren’t used to winning and he was and he wanted to play with his friends and make the game fun for them. While I felt slightly bad for the teams they beat, I know for a fact that at least one of the teams they faced had “A” team players from another team, so not so imbalanced. Fact is, his friends’ “B” team scraped out a couple close wins, but my sons skills really helped his friends play better. In the end, they had a great time, long time friends played together, and everyone got great close games out of it.

And I believe this was the right call because 1) these are kids and they should be having fun, and 2) there’s no way the “A” coach was going to take four “B” players to his “A” tournament and play them.

Don’t be so cynical people. Ask next time and maybe you’ll realize there’s a good reason X kid is playing with Y team. And you might even approve?

[Anonymous]

Guest players within a club often play up or down during tournament season. If club has three teams and the elite plays in a tournament one week and the lower teams play in another tournament the following weekend, it is not uncommon for strong players to guest up and down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So at a tournament this past weekend I saw a player that I know is on the top team of a local club playing on the second team.
The player helped the team win the championship in the second division.

Against the rules, or just bad sportsmanship?

How about just fun. My “A” team star son recently played a tournament with his “B” team best friends because they weren’t used to winning and he was and he wanted to play with his friends and make the game fun for them. While I felt slightly bad for the teams they beat, I know for a fact that at least one of the teams they faced had “A” team players from another team, so not so imbalanced. Fact is, his friends’ “B” team scraped out a couple close wins, but my sons skills really helped his friends play better. In the end, they had a great time, long time friends played together, and everyone got great close games out of it.

And I believe this was the right call because 1) these are kids and they should be having fun, and 2) there’s no way the “A” coach was going to take four “B” players to his “A” tournament and play them.

Don’t be so cynical people. Ask next time and maybe you’ll realize there’s a good reason X kid is playing with Y team. And you might even approve?

It was really so generous of your amazing star of a son to win the game for them and 'make it fun' for the poor little B team players. And so nice that you felt slightly bad for the teams they beat. <gag> Seriously??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So at a tournament this past weekend I saw a player that I know is on the top team of a local club playing on the second team.
The player helped the team win the championship in the second division.

Against the rules, or just bad sportsmanship?

How about just fun. My “A” team star son recently played a tournament with his “B” team best friends because they weren’t used to winning and he was and he wanted to play with his friends and make the game fun for them. While I felt slightly bad for the teams they beat, I know for a fact that at least one of the teams they faced had “A” team players from another team, so not so imbalanced. Fact is, his friends’ “B” team scraped out a couple close wins, but my sons skills really helped his friends play better. In the end, they had a great time, long time friends played together, and everyone got great close games out of it.

And I believe this was the right call because 1) these are kids and they should be having fun, and 2) there’s no way the “A” coach was going to take four “B” players to his “A” tournament and play them.

Don’t be so cynical people. Ask next time and maybe you’ll realize there’s a good reason X kid is playing with Y team. And you might even approve?

It was really so generous of your amazing star of a son to win the game for them and 'make it fun' for the poor little B team players. And so nice that you felt slightly bad for the teams they beat. <gag> Seriously??

The funny thing is all I ever hear from B team parents is how their kid should be on the A team and it is all "political", coaches kid, managers kid etc. Just nothing but how undeserving those A team players are and things like half the B team could replace the A team. This is said constantly throughout these threads. Then when ONE, ONE! A team player joins the B team it is "illegal" and cheating, and poor sportsmanship and unfair etc...

You cannot have it both ways. It was one kid, not 2, 3 or 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With spring break many teams struggled to fill rosters this weekend.

This happens a lot during the 3 week span when the various spring breaks fall. My kid's been asked to play for another team in a guest spot, but we always decline if the team isn't the same caliber as the team he plays for as we see it as a 'ringer' situation. Many kids on his team don't feel this way and do play down. It's all about scoring more medals, trophies, and wins for their athletic resumes.

[Anonymous]

Who care as long as he is not too old!!! I hate when I hear A team B team etc. if any of the those A teams kids were worlds above the B team they would play up an age group up. So it the kid is 12 let him play with any other other 12 year old team and stop complaining. I could see if it were a 11 year old team sneaking in 14 year olds on their roster which ive seen a lot especially with Hispanic coached teams. buy really if they are all the same age let them compete against each other trust me there are no landon donavans or leo messis in these local tournaments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With spring break many teams struggled to fill rosters this weekend.

This happens a lot during the 3 week span when the various spring breaks fall. My kid's been asked to play for another team in a guest spot, but we always decline if the team isn't the same caliber as the team he plays for as we see it as a 'ringer' situation. Many kids on his team don't feel this way and do play down. It's all about scoring more medals, trophies, and wins for their athletic resumes.

Maybe they just like to play more soccer or just to help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With spring break many teams struggled to fill rosters this weekend.

This happens a lot during the 3 week span when the various spring breaks fall. My kid's been asked to play for another team in a guest spot, but we always decline if the team isn't the same caliber as the team he plays for as we see it as a 'ringer' situation. Many kids on his team don't feel this way and do play down. It's all about scoring more medals, trophies, and wins for their athletic resumes.

Maybe they just like to play more soccer or just to help.

Yeah, my kid used to guest for all levels of teams in his age group/club who were looking for extra players, and occasionally he'd play for other clubs' teams as well. He would would have played soccer for 8 hours a day if that had been a possibility, and loved playing with and against different kids. It definitely helped him develop, and he ended up with a lot more friends (including kids from other teams who he later encountered at camps) than he otherwise would have.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the details. Some league rules allow this.
I know in some rec leagues like MSI don't allow carded players to play down in rec. There are some coaches that use them anyway but it's really bad sportsmanship and unfair to the rest of the teams.

[Anonymous]

In our club, we had A-F teams and it was pretty common for girls to play up or down if another team needed bodies and their usual team wasn't playing in the same tournament. So a couple of our E team girls would be asked to play with the C or D team, and then we'd have holes in our roster so we'd get a couple of girls from the A or B team who felt like playing that weekend. We played a little better with 2 better girls, but it's not like they could carry the whole 11-girl roster.

Sometimes you just need bodies. It's hard to play 3-4 games in a weekend when you're short a couple of girls and you only have 2 subs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our club, we had A-F teams and it was pretty common for girls to play up or down if another team needed bodies and their usual team wasn't playing in the same tournament. So a couple of our E team girls would be asked to play with the C or D team, and then we'd have holes in our roster so we'd get a couple of girls from the A or B team who felt like playing that weekend. We played a little better with 2 better girls, but it's not like they could carry the whole 11-girl roster.

Sometimes you just need bodies. It's hard to play 3-4 games in a weekend when you're short a couple of girls and you only have 2 subs.

Soccer is 11v11 game, 1 or 2 players can't change much unless they are best of best.

[Anonymous]

CAN everyone agree now that this was all a nothing burger?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CAN everyone agree now that this was all a nothing burger?!

Yes, if OP wasn't a travel soccer novice he/she never would have posted the OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CAN everyone agree now that this was all a nothing burger?!

Yes, if OP wasn't a travel soccer novice he/she never would have posted the OP.

It amazes me that so many people seem perfectly OK with this.
I guess "winning is everything" trumps sportsmanship and development for most of the parents are around here.