Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have the sense thought that kids are never promoted from the C/D level once they get assigned there, I'd definitely be looking around for another club. It's nice that our area has a lot of options.

Or, you know, maybe the kid is a C/D-level player and should just enjoy playing with friends and townmates rather than schlepping across Northern Virginia trying to scrape onto a B team at all costs.

Sometimes, there's a nice opportunity with a neighboring club. But I just get the sense that a lot of parents are pushing their kids around to get them on an A or B team, not even thinking about whether it's better for the kid.

Remember -- tons of kids who want to play travel don't even make the cut at all. No B, C, D, E or Z team. Others can't afford the time or money commitment. So would it hurt to be grateful for what you have?

When a kid scores 4-6 goals every game of the season. The kid is not properly challenged. I'm not sure how playing with friends solves that problem.

My advice--get what you can out of your local club from U9-U-12. You'll have 4 years of practices near home. Big he/she is still a star and not being properly recognized/promoted then move. We found the opposing coaches made that very easy for us. They would recruit us right off the field. When every other coach- but your own recognizes talent--it's time to move.

I'm not sure "scoring 4-6 goals every game" is a typical problem. (Of course, at this age, I'd be more impressed with 4-6 assists.)

Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

That's assuming the player also doesn't have many of those. The two aren't mutually exclusive. If the player is earning/creating their own goals vs cherry-picking--that's somebody I put as my striker, definitely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have the sense thought that kids are never promoted from the C/D level once they get assigned there, I'd definitely be looking around for another club. It's nice that our area has a lot of options.

Or, you know, maybe the kid is a C/D-level player and should just enjoy playing with friends and townmates rather than schlepping across Northern Virginia trying to scrape onto a B team at all costs.

Sometimes, there's a nice opportunity with a neighboring club. But I just get the sense that a lot of parents are pushing their kids around to get them on an A or B team, not even thinking about whether it's better for the kid.

Remember -- tons of kids who want to play travel don't even make the cut at all. No B, C, D, E or Z team. Others can't afford the time or money commitment. So would it hurt to be grateful for what you have?

When a kid scores 4-6 goals every game of the season. The kid is not properly challenged. I'm not sure how playing with friends solves that problem.

My advice--get what you can out of your local club from U9-U-12. You'll have 4 years of practices near home. Big he/she is still a star and not being properly recognized/promoted then move. We found the opposing coaches made that very easy for us. They would recruit us right off the field. When every other coach- but your own recognizes talent--it's time to move.

I'm not sure "scoring 4-6 goals every game" is a typical problem. (Of course, at this age, I'd be more impressed with 4-6 assists.)

Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

Wrong on so many levels. Kids should not be forced to pass in the attacking 1/3 of the field at this early age. Home-grown Mia Hamm said it best in this article:

http://www.soccerwire.com/news/mia-hamm-carve-someone-up-and-see-what-happens/

We drill the creativity out of US soccer players at a young age. Mia is so right. This was a great article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

That's assuming the player also doesn't have many of those. The two aren't mutually exclusive. If the player is earning/creating their own goals vs cherry-picking--that's somebody I put as my striker, definitely.

OK, so once again -- this is not a typical situation. If your son has a hand in scoring or creating 6-10 goals per game and has no major attitude problems, then by all means, look for a more challenging environment. And maybe your club should bust up your team so it's not just clobbering everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have the sense thought that kids are never promoted from the C/D level once they get assigned there, I'd definitely be looking around for another club. It's nice that our area has a lot of options.

Or, you know, maybe the kid is a C/D-level player and should just enjoy playing with friends and townmates rather than schlepping across Northern Virginia trying to scrape onto a B team at all costs.

Sometimes, there's a nice opportunity with a neighboring club. But I just get the sense that a lot of parents are pushing their kids around to get them on an A or B team, not even thinking about whether it's better for the kid.

Remember -- tons of kids who want to play travel don't even make the cut at all. No B, C, D, E or Z team. Others can't afford the time or money commitment. So would it hurt to be grateful for what you have?

When a kid scores 4-6 goals every game of the season. The kid is not properly challenged. I'm not sure how playing with friends solves that problem.

My advice--get what you can out of your local club from U9-U-12. You'll have 4 years of practices near home. Big he/she is still a star and not being properly recognized/promoted then move. We found the opposing coaches made that very easy for us. They would recruit us right off the field. When every other coach- but your own recognizes talent--it's time to move.

I'm not sure "scoring 4-6 goals every game" is a typical problem. (Of course, at this age, I'd be more impressed with 4-6 assists.)

Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

Wrong on so many levels. Kids should not be forced to pass in the attacking 1/3 of the field at this early age. Home-grown Mia Hamm said it best in this article:

http://www.soccerwire.com/news/mia-hamm-carve-someone-up-and-see-what-happens/

We drill the creativity out of US soccer players at a young age. Mia is so right. This was a great article.

I'm not talking about forcing anything. I'm saying I'd be more impressed with the skill and field sense of someone who sets up 4-6 goals than someone who scores ... well, to be honest, that's a generalization. It depends how the goals were scored. Was the player looking up at his or her options? Did the player beat someone off the dribble? Or just hang around cherry-picking, taking advantage of a team whose left back was unfamiliar with the offside rule and kept leaving the strikers onside?

But to be even more honest, I'm deflating egos a bit here because I've heard this "my kid scores 4-6 goals and the coach doesn't like him" soooooo many times before, and 90 percent of the time, those 4-6 goals deserve 3-5 asterisks.

Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETP14z515Q

Hey, if the PP's DC really is the next Mia Hamm or Landon Donovan (or Marco Etcheverry or Lauren Holiday), great. I'm just a little skeptical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have the sense thought that kids are never promoted from the C/D level once they get assigned there, I'd definitely be looking around for another club. It's nice that our area has a lot of options.

Or, you know, maybe the kid is a C/D-level player and should just enjoy playing with friends and townmates rather than schlepping across Northern Virginia trying to scrape onto a B team at all costs.

Sometimes, there's a nice opportunity with a neighboring club. But I just get the sense that a lot of parents are pushing their kids around to get them on an A or B team, not even thinking about whether it's better for the kid.

Remember -- tons of kids who want to play travel don't even make the cut at all. No B, C, D, E or Z team. Others can't afford the time or money commitment. So would it hurt to be grateful for what you have?

When a kid scores 4-6 goals every game of the season. The kid is not properly challenged. I'm not sure how playing with friends solves that problem.

My advice--get what you can out of your local club from U9-U-12. You'll have 4 years of practices near home. Big he/she is still a star and not being properly recognized/promoted then move. We found the opposing coaches made that very easy for us. They would recruit us right off the field. When every other coach- but your own recognizes talent--it's time to move.

I'm not sure "scoring 4-6 goals every game" is a typical problem. (Of course, at this age, I'd be more impressed with 4-6 assists.)

Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

Wrong on so many levels. Kids should not be forced to pass in the attacking 1/3 of the field at this early age. Home-grown Mia Hamm said it best in this article:

http://www.soccerwire.com/news/mia-hamm-carve-someone-up-and-see-what-happens/

We drill the creativity out of US soccer players at a young age. Mia is so right. This was a great article.

Great article! As a parent that was a former Division I soccer player-- I also feel like there is way too much tactics forced down the kids throat these days at a young age. There's no room for anyone to grow into a creative player. We label kids ball hogs and scream pass the minute their foot touches the ball. We end up with teams of dolts.

[Anonymous]

What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else. Today what I see in girls travel is too much dribbling by too many ball hogs. While some players may not develop every last degree of individual technical flair when they're asked to pass, teams can fall apart almost before our eyes when the ball isn't shared. If only every player were a Mia Hamm!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else. Today what I see in girls travel is too much dribbling by too many ball hogs. While some players may not develop every last degree of individual technical flair when they're asked to pass, teams can fall apart almost before our eyes when the ball isn't shared. If only every player were a Mia Hamm!

I agree that kids need to be able to think through strategy about whether it's best to keep the ball or pass, but this level of decision making is age-dependent. If we are talking about U9s, I agree with the Mia Hamm poster and others that it's far better to encourage kids at that age to take other players on and try to shoot and score if they think they have a chance (especially girls, but that's another topic). And I think it's fine for them to spend a ton of time dribbling while doing so.

The problem comes when the parents or coaches or kid are so dazzled by the kid's technical abilities that the kid fails to learn when passing, including give and goes, is a better option. By U12 or so, kids should understand that dribbling over long distances slows the game down and makes turnovers more likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

A lot of people seem to find recruiting distasteful, but I don't think it's bad in and of itself. It really depends on who is doing the recruiting and what their motivation is.

We are very grateful that our son was recruited as a U8 by an opposing coach. We were new to travel soccer and he was playing with friends on a team with a perfectly fine coach at an ok club. At the end of a 4v4 game, the opposing coach sought us out and told us that our son really needed to start working on his technical skills stat, because otherwise there was a strong chance that his potential as a soccer player would be limited. He explained that he'd seen a lot of kids like my son end up relying on their speed and strength to get by people and score, and that these kids would suffer as they got older when kids who had the fundamentals down caught up in strength. We told him we liked our current team and didn't have plans to switch, and he said that was fine, but that my son was welcome to train with his team if he wanted and at a minimum needed to start attending skills clinics and doing ball work at home. He said the U8-U12 years were critical for skill development, and that kids wouldn't be able to catch up if they started after that.

We stayed with the original team and club for a couple more years, but followed this coach's advice about skills and eventually played for that coach for a year. He would yell at my son any time he tried to use his speed when a good move or turn with the ball would have gotten the job done. He is now quite skillful, though probably not as much as kids who had to rely entirely on skills or smarts because of their size or speed. My son has had other very good coaches along the way, but the recruitment effort by that original coach definitely changed our whole family's understanding of soccer and had an extremely positive impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else. Today what I see in girls travel is too much dribbling by too many ball hogs. While some players may not develop every last degree of individual technical flair when they're asked to pass, teams can fall apart almost before our eyes when the ball isn't shared. If only every player were a Mia Hamm!

I agree that kids need to be able to think through strategy about whether it's best to keep the ball or pass, but this level of decision making is age-dependent. If we are talking about U9s, I agree with the Mia Hamm poster and others that it's far better to encourage kids at that age to take other players on and try to shoot and score if they think they have a chance (especially girls, but that's another topic). And I think it's fine for them to spend a ton of time dribbling while doing so.

The problem comes when the parents or coaches or kid are so dazzled by the kid's technical abilities that the kid fails to learn when passing, including give and goes, is a better option. By U12 or so, kids should understand that dribbling over long distances slows the game down and makes turnovers more likely.

Or worse, when parents are impressed that their big, early-birthdate kid can just boot it past everyone, outrun them, then blast it past the typically untrained keepers at U9-U11. That was more or less my point about not being overly impressed because someone is allegedly scoring 4-6 goals per game.

Which, to be honest, worked for Mia Hamm until she was in her mid-20s. But that's because women's soccer hadn't evolved at that point. Credit to Mia for continuing to develop her game as the world started to catch up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

A lot of people seem to find recruiting distasteful, but I don't think it's bad in and of itself. It really depends on who is doing the recruiting and what their motivation is.

We are very grateful that our son was recruited as a U8 by an opposing coach. We were new to travel soccer and he was playing with friends on a team with a perfectly fine coach at an ok club. At the end of a 4v4 game, the opposing coach sought us out and told us that our son really needed to start working on his technical skills stat, because otherwise there was a strong chance that his potential as a soccer player would be limited. He explained that he'd seen a lot of kids like my son end up relying on their speed and strength to get by people and score, and that these kids would suffer as they got older when kids who had the fundamentals down caught up in strength. We told him we liked our current team and didn't have plans to switch, and he said that was fine, but that my son was welcome to train with his team if he wanted and at a minimum needed to start attending skills clinics and doing ball work at home. He said the U8-U12 years were critical for skill development, and that kids wouldn't be able to catch up if they started after that.

We stayed with the original team and club for a couple more years, but followed this coach's advice about skills and eventually played for that coach for a year. He would yell at my son any time he tried to use his speed when a good move or turn with the ball would have gotten the job done. He is now quite skillful, though probably not as much as kids who had to rely entirely on skills or smarts because of their size or speed. My son has had other very good coaches along the way, but the recruitment effort by that original coach definitely changed our whole family's understanding of soccer and had an extremely positive impact.

That's a good conversation -- and good for you for not being all defensive when someone suggested your son could develop and wasn't absolutely perfect at age 7. Some parents don't want to hear it.

Have to ask, though -- U8 travel? Where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

A lot of people seem to find recruiting distasteful, but I don't think it's bad in and of itself. It really depends on who is doing the recruiting and what their motivation is.

We are very grateful that our son was recruited as a U8 by an opposing coach. We were new to travel soccer and he was playing with friends on a team with a perfectly fine coach at an ok club. At the end of a 4v4 game, the opposing coach sought us out and told us that our son really needed to start working on his technical skills stat, because otherwise there was a strong chance that his potential as a soccer player would be limited. He explained that he'd seen a lot of kids like my son end up relying on their speed and strength to get by people and score, and that these kids would suffer as they got older when kids who had the fundamentals down caught up in strength. We told him we liked our current team and didn't have plans to switch, and he said that was fine, but that my son was welcome to train with his team if he wanted and at a minimum needed to start attending skills clinics and doing ball work at home. He said the U8-U12 years were critical for skill development, and that kids wouldn't be able to catch up if they started after that.

We stayed with the original team and club for a couple more years, but followed this coach's advice about skills and eventually played for that coach for a year. He would yell at my son any time he tried to use his speed when a good move or turn with the ball would have gotten the job done. He is now quite skillful, though probably not as much as kids who had to rely entirely on skills or smarts because of their size or speed. My son has had other very good coaches along the way, but the recruitment effort by that original coach definitely changed our whole family's understanding of soccer and had an extremely positive impact.

That's a good conversation -- and good for you for not being all defensive when someone suggested your son could develop and wasn't absolutely perfect at age 7. Some parents don't want to hear it.

Have to ask, though -- U8 travel? Where?

We were playing in OBSL (Olney-Bethesda Soccer League). They offered a nice program where you would split your team in half and play two games of 4v4 side by side once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

A lot of people seem to find recruiting distasteful, but I don't think it's bad in and of itself. It really depends on who is doing the recruiting and what their motivation is.

We are very grateful that our son was recruited as a U8 by an opposing coach. We were new to travel soccer and he was playing with friends on a team with a perfectly fine coach at an ok club. At the end of a 4v4 game, the opposing coach sought us out and told us that our son really needed to start working on his technical skills stat, because otherwise there was a strong chance that his potential as a soccer player would be limited. He explained that he'd seen a lot of kids like my son end up relying on their speed and strength to get by people and score, and that these kids would suffer as they got older when kids who had the fundamentals down caught up in strength. We told him we liked our current team and didn't have plans to switch, and he said that was fine, but that my son was welcome to train with his team if he wanted and at a minimum needed to start attending skills clinics and doing ball work at home. He said the U8-U12 years were critical for skill development, and that kids wouldn't be able to catch up if they started after that.

We stayed with the original team and club for a couple more years, but followed this coach's advice about skills and eventually played for that coach for a year. He would yell at my son any time he tried to use his speed when a good move or turn with the ball would have gotten the job done. He is now quite skillful, though probably not as much as kids who had to rely entirely on skills or smarts because of their size or speed. My son has had other very good coaches along the way, but the recruitment effort by that original coach definitely changed our whole family's understanding of soccer and had an extremely positive impact.

That's a good conversation -- and good for you for not being all defensive when someone suggested your son could develop and wasn't absolutely perfect at age 7. Some parents don't want to hear it.

Have to ask, though -- U8 travel? Where?

We were playing in OBSL (Olney-Bethesda Soccer League). They offered a nice program where you would split your team in half and play two games of 4v4 side by side once a week.

Ah -- OK. That's sort of a "rec-plus" program to give kids a transition to upper-level travel. (Rec leagues usually will also play 4v4 at that age.)

A little surprising, though, in the sense that the Bethesda-Olney Academy program is about as good as it gets. I saw their top U11 team play this fall. They're amazing.

So I'm not sure who managed to recruit you away from that. Or was it just within that organization?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Recruiting right off the field? Wow. No wonder people hate soccer coaches.

A lot of people seem to find recruiting distasteful, but I don't think it's bad in and of itself. It really depends on who is doing the recruiting and what their motivation is.

We are very grateful that our son was recruited as a U8 by an opposing coach. We were new to travel soccer and he was playing with friends on a team with a perfectly fine coach at an ok club. At the end of a 4v4 game, the opposing coach sought us out and told us that our son really needed to start working on his technical skills stat, because otherwise there was a strong chance that his potential as a soccer player would be limited. He explained that he'd seen a lot of kids like my son end up relying on their speed and strength to get by people and score, and that these kids would suffer as they got older when kids who had the fundamentals down caught up in strength. We told him we liked our current team and didn't have plans to switch, and he said that was fine, but that my son was welcome to train with his team if he wanted and at a minimum needed to start attending skills clinics and doing ball work at home. He said the U8-U12 years were critical for skill development, and that kids wouldn't be able to catch up if they started after that.

We stayed with the original team and club for a couple more years, but followed this coach's advice about skills and eventually played for that coach for a year. He would yell at my son any time he tried to use his speed when a good move or turn with the ball would have gotten the job done. He is now quite skillful, though probably not as much as kids who had to rely entirely on skills or smarts because of their size or speed. My son has had other very good coaches along the way, but the recruitment effort by that original coach definitely changed our whole family's understanding of soccer and had an extremely positive impact.

That's a good conversation -- and good for you for not being all defensive when someone suggested your son could develop and wasn't absolutely perfect at age 7. Some parents don't want to hear it.

Have to ask, though -- U8 travel? Where?

We were playing in OBSL (Olney-Bethesda Soccer League). They offered a nice program where you would split your team in half and play two games of 4v4 side by side once a week.

Ah -- OK. That's sort of a "rec-plus" program to give kids a transition to upper-level travel. (Rec leagues usually will also play 4v4 at that age.)

A little surprising, though, in the sense that the Bethesda-Olney Academy program is about as good as it gets. I saw their top U11 team play this fall. They're amazing.

So I'm not sure who managed to recruit you away from that. Or was it just within that organization?

We weren't playing with Bethesda or OBGC at the time. I don't know if it's changed, but back then a bunch of other clubs also would send teams to play in OBSL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else.

This. It is about learning to make good decisions, good plays - frankly as in any sport. I have seen bad stuff both ways - the shouts to "pass, pass, pass" irrespective of the situation and the kids who dribble, dribble, dribble till they turn it over and apparently some people encourage that.

You hear the weirdest things in soccer. I have never heard anyone in basketball or lacrosse saying that it is good for kids to dribble, dribble, dribble (or cradle, cradle, cradle) till they shoot or loose the ball. Guess every kid who wants to "develop" would have to find their own team since it would be difficult for more than one or two players to develop on each team implementing this development approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we should do is teach players to make the right decision in the moment, whether it's to take the defender on with the dribble or to pass directly to a teammate or to play the ball into space or something else.

This. It is about learning to make good decisions, good plays - frankly as in any sport. I have seen bad stuff both ways - the shouts to "pass, pass, pass" irrespective of the situation and the kids who dribble, dribble, dribble till they turn it over and apparently some people encourage that.

You hear the weirdest things in soccer. I have never heard anyone in basketball or lacrosse saying that it is good for kids to dribble, dribble, dribble (or cradle, cradle, cradle) till they shoot or loose the ball. Guess every kid who wants to "develop" would have to find their own team since it would be difficult for more than one or two players to develop on each team implementing this development approach.

Maybe everybody on the sidelines should just shut the hell up and let them play. Nothing more annoying than parents shouting directions to the players on the field. Keep your traps shut. Feel free to offer 'great job', 'way to go'...after the play is completed. But- that's it.