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Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss
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Anonymous
Correct -- "talked about." And yes, they have had some competitive teams. Yes--Unfortunately, this year (due to birth year changes, a bunch of players who went to Bethesda South and other clubs), the numbers were down overall for 08, 07, and 06. Thus the mid-year tryouts. |
Anonymous
I was at an indoor facility last week and there were people screaming like I have never heard before in my life. Yelling, screaming, pound on the plexiglass, basically going prison riot ape shit. I couldn't see what was going on because of the wall of people, I figured holy shit the redskins must be have some kind of training going on over there. Nope, it was a U7 flag football match. It basically was just a bunch of tiny kids running around in all directions and parents going fucking nuts. Club soccer is a serene paradise compared to that crap, zero chance my kid will ever be involved in any kind of football. |
Anonymous
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How do you know if your player is developing?
First of all you have to know what to look for. Your player's development has nothing to do with his/her team's game results. Soccer games are like music recitals - you're going to gain experience doing "the real thing" and will learn something from it... but the habits you develop in practice and individual training are what will show. First of all, how do you define "improvement"? There are 4 elements to the game that can be improved on, and a coach should be paying attention to ALL of these areas to develop their players: Technical (skill) Tactical (decision-making) Psychological (personality / attitude / motivation, etc) Physical (athletic qualities) Just because a player scores a goal, starts a game, or gets more playing time has nothing to do with actual improvement. Weekend games are OK for observing player improvement, but sometimes your team is over-matched (or under-challenged) so the level of competition is inconsistent. The first place to start is "what does the player do when they have the ball at their feet?" Here's a good experiment: While watching either a scrimmage in practice, do the following: Every time your player receives the ball, what happens? 1 - something with very high quality/precision/speed/skill/creativity (you'll know it when you see it) 2 - something good (hmm that was a good play actually) 3 - something expected (the "usual" that you would expect from your player) 4 - something that breaks the play down (can do better next time) 5 - oops (head in palm) Let's say that your player scrimmages for 30 minutes at the end of practice, which they should be doing. I think this is the best environment to look at for improvement over a longer period, because it is consistent (same players, same level of play from week to week). Every time your player receives the ball or has it at their feet, make a note, 1-5. Then total it up and average it out. It's unlikely that you will see any noticeable changes in anything less than a month. But, if you observe one scrimmage or small-sided game during practice per week for 2-3 months, you will see if your player is staying the same, improving, or regressing. |
Anonymous
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Looking for some feedback on how the Coaches communicate with the parents in other travel clubs. This is our first year of travel and we are in a new club. My son attended soccer academies prior so it was not parent driven. All communications came directly from the head coach. In our new travel club there is a team manager that handles all the logistics (uniforms, locations, purchasing equipment). However, in addition to that they serve as a proxy for the Coach regarding player placement and addressing parent behavior. Basically the coach does not directly communicate with the parents unless approached. Not saying one way is the right way. I feel the coach should communicate player information directly and the team logistics via the team manager.
Curious to hear others experience. |
Anonymous
Speaking as a team manager myself, you may or may not be aware of the extent of the discussions that go on between your team's coach and manager. In other words, you may think the manager is making those decisions but he or she is actually just relaying the coach's decisions. And for whatever reason (coach is not a good communicator; coach is crazy busy; the club has a preference or style), the communication simply goes out via the manager. |
Anonymous
Yeah, team manager here who has done this for 6 years under 5 different coaches - discussions about specific players are typically between the coach and parents. My role is communications and to facilitate logistics. Parents often come to me complaining about playing time, coaching style, roster decisions, tournament selections, etc., and I suggest they take those issues directly to the coach (who admittedly is not a great communicator, and doesn't really care what the parents think). If I'm hearing the same thing from multiple parents and it involves the team as a whole (recent example: parents complaining about the cost of participating in so many out of town tournaments), I'll relay those thoughts to him as the 'voice of the parents', but anything specific to one player are redirected back to the parents so they can address directly with the coach. In the past, some coaches have confided in me as to what they were doing relative to tryouts, roster movement, etc. , but I keep that confidential and don't share with parents that I have/had inside info. Most coaches I've worked with have been good with this arrangement. |
Anonymous
| 13:32 here again. As a team manager, dealing with parent behavior is trickier. I hate confrontation and don't enjoy having to tell a parent to stop coaching from the sidelines, or quit being a troublemaker by complaining/gossiping to all the other parents instead of addressing concerns with the coach. However, the coach often wants me to serve in this role. My feeling is I'm more than happy to volunteer my time to make things run smoothly for the team and to help keep us organized, but I don't want to be the enforcer when asshole parents want to act like jerks on the sidelines. Besides, the frequent offenders tend to be men (some from other countries/cultures) who don't take kindly to a 'soccer mom' telling them what they can or can't say or do on the sidelines. They all seem to think they're Pele or Maradona in their knowledge of the game, and know better than everyone what's good for the team/kids. The best I can hope for here is for the coach to set expectations early and often as to what's appropriate and what's not in terms of parent behavior/involvement. |
Anonymous
Frankly, now don't take this personally, you sound like the type of typical Dad manager I loathed at our former Club. Chum-buddy, brown-nosing. It was almost always a dad as team manager at that club and they were always the ones that used the role to either maintain their child on the current team or use the position for access to the coaches to try to grease him up the ladder. They were as gossipy as a bunch of High School girls--particularly about bashing other players. I am now a manager at a club where more moms than dads hold the position---and, yes--most of us are working moms. The difference is fantastic. It's a position that solely deals with logistics. If the coach tells me about a player moving teams or playing up or down it is only because I need to provide the player pass or update the roster, etc. I do not relay this information to everyone or gossip about it or 'provide my thoughts/analysis'. The coaches are also very communicative and available to all parents, friendly and helpful. There is not this "secret kiss-ass society" running. Thank god for that. |
Anonymous
I really don't think there's a gender difference here. Plenty of women take team-manager roles and get their kids pushed up a level or two, among other things. There was actually a serial being written by an anonymous youth soccer coach based on his experiences, and the team manager sounded like Joan Collins on Dynasty. I'm sure some men do it, too, and there are some women who really don't do anything bad, but I'd argue the gossipy/pushy team managers are evenly split along gender lines. |
JohnnyFutbol
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| Highly competitive U11 Boys team is in search of a dedicated goal keeper for Spring season. Player does not have to currently play travel soccer, but should have strong basic skill set (athleticism, ability to catch, etc.). PM me for more information. Team is based in Fairfax County. |
Anonymous
Bethesda South, right? |
Anonymous
They did indeed send out an email looking for a goalkeeper and field players. I have no idea how I wound up on their mailing list. |
Anonymous
Another email receiver here. Also not sure how they got our email address. Wondering why Bethesda South is 2006 boys are looking for so many players mid year. Had heard that there tons of kids at spring tryouts. |
Anonymous
| Rosters for both teams were set for 8v8 play in the fall. Both teams are moving to EDP for spring, which will be 9v9. The training is as good as you will find anywhere. |
Anonymous
I'm sure. It's also a pretty high level. I had to laugh when I get the email -- there's no way DS would make it there! |