If you think your child may be moved down did your DD's coach talk to you or to her?

[Anonymous]

In my experience, kids are generally best off being on a huge club's A or B team, then a smaller club's A team, and then the bigger club's C teams. The bottom no cut teams are fine for what they are, but if the kid has a choice between a small club's B or a large club's C, they may be better at the large club

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is the major issue with most clubs. Dissatisfaction with being moved down a team isn't about crazy parents or kids who don't want to work. The problem is that clubs either can't field quality lower teams or they don't invest the attention to developing lower teams. It's fine to be an a B team made up of players who would be on the bubble of making the A team. It's not fun or worth the money, to pay the same amount for those bubble players to play on a B team that mostly made up of unskilled kids who should probably be playing rec. It's hard to get better on these teams, no matter how hard you work.

Completely agree with this. What advice would you give someone in this position?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is the major issue with most clubs. Dissatisfaction with being moved down a team isn't about crazy parents or kids who don't want to work. The problem is that clubs either can't field quality lower teams or they don't invest the attention to developing lower teams. It's fine to be an a B team made up of players who would be on the bubble of making the A team. It's not fun or worth the money, to pay the same amount for those bubble players to play on a B team that mostly made up of unskilled kids who should probably be playing rec. It's hard to get better on these teams, no matter how hard you work.

Completely agree with this. What advice would you give someone in this position?

leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is the major issue with most clubs. Dissatisfaction with being moved down a team isn't about crazy parents or kids who don't want to work. The problem is that clubs either can't field quality lower teams or they don't invest the attention to developing lower teams. It's fine to be an a B team made up of players who would be on the bubble of making the A team. It's not fun or worth the money, to pay the same amount for those bubble players to play on a B team that mostly made up of unskilled kids who should probably be playing rec. It's hard to get better on these teams, no matter how hard you work.

Completely agree with this. What advice would you give someone in this position?

leave

Or, meet the B team coach and get a sense (or just ask) about his/her coaching and training philosophy. Maybe also check out a session, or two, to verify what coach says is what coach does. Bonus, your player can experience the team's atmosphere, first hand.
Also, consider the league (and division) in which the B team participates, and how their performance rates against their competition.

It's completely asinine to assert the C team at any club is better than the B team at another without actually looking at the respective teams. But then, this is DCUM, so it's to be expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is the major issue with most clubs. Dissatisfaction with being moved down a team isn't about crazy parents or kids who don't want to work. The problem is that clubs either can't field quality lower teams or they don't invest the attention to developing lower teams. It's fine to be an a B team made up of players who would be on the bubble of making the A team. It's not fun or worth the money, to pay the same amount for those bubble players to play on a B team that mostly made up of unskilled kids who should probably be playing rec. It's hard to get better on these teams, no matter how hard you work.

Completely agree with this. What advice would you give someone in this position?

leave

Or, meet the B team coach and get a sense (or just ask) about his/her coaching and training philosophy. Maybe also check out a session, or two, to verify what coach says is what coach does. Bonus, your player can experience the team's atmosphere, first hand.
Also, consider the league (and division) in which the B team participates, and how their performance rates against their competition.

It's completely asinine to assert the C team at any club is better than the B team at another without actually looking at the respective teams. But then, this is DCUM, so it's to be expected.

All good advice. Also ask is the B team newly formed, and how many players from that team are returning. You might also consider watching the existing team play to see the coach in action and get a sense of the style and level of play.

The other thing to consider is what your child wants out of the experience and what his or her temperament is. One season, one of my kids was dropped from A to B team and we sold it as a chance to be a leader on the B team and get plenty of playing time. Unfortunately, it was a disaster, in part due to his personality, but also his style of play. The team had no skill and no concept of spacing, so no one was ever where he thought they should be when he tried to make play. Most of the time, everyone was bunched in the middle of the field, making it hard to do anything but kick and run.

I can tell you one thing you should not do, which is accept a B team offer with the hope that your kid will be promoted to the A team or get opportunities to play with the A team. I'm not saying it won't happen, but it's a bit of an ordeal to go into it with that expectation. Those A team invitations often come at the last minute, and are hard to turn down, even if it messes with your family schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Losing game time may not be the final answer but the child’s fate is determined by outside players coming in or bubble players below moving up. But either way, losing game minutes is a strong warning.


Coach here - stealing the words out of my mouth. There's no reason to act oblivious to what you've been seeing all season. It's not like we're rolling dice to pick players to cut.

Would that apply to mid to lower level teams, or just higher level ones? We are on a mid level team, and for some field positions, there is only one player that can perform them competently at all. No one else ever plays them.

All teams, although it's a little more cutthroat for the top teams. The whole point is to group kids together appropriately and play at the same level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is the major issue with most clubs. Dissatisfaction with being moved down a team isn't about crazy parents or kids who don't want to work. The problem is that clubs either can't field quality lower teams or they don't invest the attention to developing lower teams. It's fine to be an a B team made up of players who would be on the bubble of making the A team. It's not fun or worth the money, to pay the same amount for those bubble players to play on a B team that mostly made up of unskilled kids who should probably be playing rec. It's hard to get better on these teams, no matter how hard you work.

Completely agree with this. What advice would you give someone in this position?

leave

Or, meet the B team coach and get a sense (or just ask) about his/her coaching and training philosophy. Maybe also check out a session, or two, to verify what coach says is what coach does. Bonus, your player can experience the team's atmosphere, first hand.
Also, consider the league (and division) in which the B team participates, and how their performance rates against their competition.

It's completely asinine to assert the C team at any club is better than the B team at another without actually looking at the respective teams. But then, this is DCUM, so it's to be expected.

All good advice. Also ask is the B team newly formed, and how many players from that team are returning. You might also consider watching the existing team play to see the coach in action and get a sense of the style and level of play.

The other thing to consider is what your child wants out of the experience and what his or her temperament is. One season, one of my kids was dropped from A to B team and we sold it as a chance to be a leader on the B team and get plenty of playing time. Unfortunately, it was a disaster, in part due to his personality, but also his style of play. The team had no skill and no concept of spacing, so no one was ever where he thought they should be when he tried to make play. Most of the time, everyone was bunched in the middle of the field, making it hard to do anything but kick and run.

I can tell you one thing you should not do, which is accept a B team offer with the hope that your kid will be promoted to the A team or get opportunities to play with the A team. I'm not saying it won't happen, but it's a bit of an ordeal to go into it with that expectation. Those A team invitations often come at the last minute, and are hard to turn down, even if it messes with your family schedule.

easier than asking is just looking them up. What league do they play in and at what level, what bracket do they play in in tournaments and how do they do. At out club, the A team for DS's age group plays EDP and plays in high brackets in big tournaments. The B team plays NCSL division 4 and plays bottom bracket tournaments without much competition

[Anonymous]

Our coach let us know DS was on the bubble for selection several weeks out from tryouts. We tried out elsewhere but ultimately made the cut. The heads up was appreciated.

[Anonymous]

To coach at 8:41: can you explain to us clueless parents at the U10 and U11 ages what should happen with smaller and weaker kids who may be good technically but need to grow? What I see is the bigger kids getting more playing time immediately; which gives them more confidence and more game awareness; and then the gap just increases. It is almost like we say if you are young and small for that year, don’t bother, even if you have good potential. Because by the time DS is 12 or 13, they have lost so many chances to grow they will never catch up. Is this accurate or am I imagining it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To coach at 8:41: can you explain to us clueless parents at the U10 and U11 ages what should happen with smaller and weaker kids who may be good technically but need to grow? What I see is the bigger kids getting more playing time immediately; which gives them more confidence and more game awareness; and then the gap just increases. It is almost like we say if you are young and small for that year, don’t bother, even if you have good potential. Because by the time DS is 12 or 13, they have lost so many chances to grow they will never catch up. Is this accurate or am I imagining it?

Sounds like you either need to do a lot more research on clubs or not worry about this at all. Clubs, teams and coaches Vary immensely in how they select and position players of varying size and technical ability.

[Anonymous]

PP I am not asking about selection. I’m asking about playing time. And I would really like a coach to weigh in on trends, not just a single team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP I am not asking about selection. I’m asking about playing time. And I would really like a coach to weigh in on trends, not just a single team.

Same thing. And asking only one coach is a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP I am not asking about selection. I’m asking about playing time. And I would really like a coach to weigh in on trends, not just a single team.

Our U11 coach believes in equal playing time. I know of others who think it should be earned even at that age. Coaches vary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To coach at 8:41: can you explain to us clueless parents at the U10 and U11 ages what should happen with smaller and weaker kids who may be good technically but need to grow? What I see is the bigger kids getting more playing time immediately; which gives them more confidence and more game awareness; and then the gap just increases. It is almost like we say if you are young and small for that year, don’t bother, even if you have good potential. Because by the time DS is 12 or 13, they have lost so many chances to grow they will never catch up. Is this accurate or am I imagining it?

If a coach is doing that it’s because they are playing to win, not to develop. Big now isn’t necessarily biggest later. It’s theirs job and they need to stay employed so they focus on winning. The kids that can get better with that focus keep the paychecks coming. The smaller kid has to work harder to make it, because it’s all about the Coach. Those are tea leaves you’re seeing.
Having coached elementary school age kids, and having had my own kids play and still playing, the focus should be on development, not games, not clubs, not cliques, just training and development. In this country it’s a paid business and therefore you’re going to have a lot of emphasis on winning, and playing the most physically developed child at that age. When I look at premier league players, I don’t see those players all over the pitch. I see varying physiques. They were all developed. It’s definitely negatively impacting youth development.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, PP. That is what I am thinking as well. When a U11 team is up 8:1 and the coach still doesn’t switch out the starting striker, that to me is a problem. I see a lot of that at the 9, 10, 11 ages. It is why we have left a large club.