What's going on with FCBEscola NOVA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, RantingSoccerDad. Or should I say, Mr. Cordeiro?

I still would love to know his credentials that make him THE authority to advise parents. LMAOF.

Geez, go to his site, https://rantingsoccerdad.com/

Got it. A mom’s Blogger essentially (male version).

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:Wow -- so much defensive hostility here! You'd think this was the GDA vs. ECNL smackdown! (No, MY program that charges $5,000/year is better -- YOU'RE wasting your money!)

I'm not talking about U9 here. I'm talking kids at older age groups.

And GotSoccer or not, these FCB kids were in the bracket in which they belonged. They were even with, not better than, some teams that can't string together passes to save their lives and don't have the athleticism of an Arlington Red team.

At U9, OK. Still plenty of time to develop. Even at U12, you don't want to give up on individuals.

But if you're playing at this level at U12, there are a handful of possibilities:

1. Your kid just started soccer of any kind this year.

2. The coaching isn't that great.

3. The player just doesn't have the coordination or the athleticism to do any better, no matter how great the coaching is. (Bear in mind -- this could be because of a growth spurt, and the player's coordination or athleticism could improve.)

If it's 2 or 3, you may have a tough time justifying the cost.

That's certainly not just an FCB thing. Rec leagues at U14 and higher are full of kids who have come back from travel. They may be pretty good, but they may be better at something else, so training to play soccer isn't as high a priority any more.

And let's make no mistake -- there are a lot of coaches out there who will swear to you that their methods will help your kid catch up eventually. Oh, you might be NCSL Division 9 *now*, at U12, but by the time he's U16, he'll be Division 3. (Yeah. Because NCSL has fewer divisions at that age.)

*Some* of them are right. Some kids really might make a giant leap when they settle into their bodies. But then some coaches have a lot of rea$on$ not to tell you the truth about your kid's aptitude and ceiling.

I'm not telling you to quit FCB or any other program. Barcelona is one of my two favorite clubs in the world. (The other is Liverpool.) I hope this works. But I know Barcelona isn't above milking cash cows.

My goal in my work is just to help parents get information, at least to figure out the questions they should be asking.

If you've seen dozens of clubs training, and you have good reason to think FCB is doing something the other clubs aren't, great. I'd love to hear what they're doing, but I'd understand if it's proprietary.

And it's a new program. If we see U14s and U16s playing beautiful, effective soccer, well, there's your proof. If they're the same kids who are currently battling big, mediocre clubs' D teams with little success, then they're the best coaches in the world.

“I’m talking about kids at the OLDER age groups.”

*proceeds to talk about U12s*

Oh, the idiocy...

[Anonymous]

^ he seems to know absolutely nothing about the soccer scene or history of soccer in the area, but fancies himself an expert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ he seems to know absolutely nothing about the soccer scene or history of soccer in the area, but fancies himself an expert.

I dunno about that... look here... https://rantingsoccerdad.com/guide-to-youth-soccer/youth-soccer-area-guide-the-dmv-washington-d-c-plus-suburbs-and-exurbs/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ he seems to know absolutely nothing about the soccer scene or history of soccer in the area, but fancies himself an expert.

No he knows the game, the problem again is conflating values and authority. As a journalist he should know that he cannot speak authoritatively about something that he has not witnessed or has confirmed conflicting information. As an editorialist he is free to play a little more lose with facts and his opinion. But certainly, his experience does not grant him greater insight into how people should feel about a product. It is also disappointing that a journalist, one who fancies himself as trying to improve the game, isn't a bit more curious as to why people are actually satisfied at a new start club like FCB and why do people really believe it is different. Instead he gets bogged down by the price tag. Well, that people are happy enough to spend that kind of money should indicate that there might be something worth looking into here.

Anyhow, here is who he is:

"Ranting Soccer Dad is a blog and podcast by Beau Dure, who survived a journalism career (including 10 years at USA TODAY) and gave up newsroom life so he wouldn’t be gone every weekend and miss his kids’ activities, including soccer. He has coached more than 15 seasons of recreational soccer and survived that, too.

Somewhere along the way, he wrote three books about soccer:

Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer
Enduring Spirit: Restoring Professional Women’s Soccer to Washington
Single-Digit Soccer: Keeping Sanity in the Earliest Ages of the Beautiful Game"

https://rantingsoccerdad.com/about/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The NY Barca Academy seems to be doing well enough in NPL for their first year:
http://www.nyclubsoccerleague.com/html/npl/current/standing-list.asp

It is early to use this to gauge their effectiveness of course, any maybe it's different in NY, but NPL is not exactly a high level league here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The NY Barca Academy seems to be doing well enough in NPL for their first year:
http://www.nyclubsoccerleague.com/html/npl/current/standing-list.asp

It is early to use this to gauge their effectiveness of course, any maybe it's different in NY, but NPL is not exactly a high level league here.

Isn't that moving the goal posts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The NY Barca Academy seems to be doing well enough in NPL for their first year:
http://www.nyclubsoccerleague.com/html/npl/current/standing-list.asp

It is early to use this to gauge their effectiveness of course, any maybe it's different in NY, but NPL is not exactly a high level league here.

It’s also too early to say they suck and are a scam. Any teams that have done well you respond they came that way and any that haven’t had success you use as a barometer to say they suck.

Go out and watch training, learn a little more before you throw down blanket statements. And, if it’s not right for your kid, there are plenty of other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The NY Barca Academy seems to be doing well enough in NPL for their first year:
http://www.nyclubsoccerleague.com/html/npl/current/standing-list.asp

It is early to use this to gauge their effectiveness of course, any maybe it's different in NY, but NPL is not exactly a high level league here.

Isn't that moving the goal posts?

Of course it is!

[Anonymous]

So a rec Coach is bashing the methods of professional coaches at FCB? Ummm...

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

No doubt -- Barca's style is terrific. Rondos are great teaching tools, no matter what a U.S. Soccer bureaucrat says. But keep expectations reasonable. A so-so athlete or someone with mediocre coordination can do 10,000 hours of rondos and still not be an effective soccer player.

U.S. Soccer is negative about Rondos? I had not heard that. Please give more background on this. I thought everyone had bought into Rondos and was surprised that they were not utilized much by our team this past year.

[Anonymous]

I’ve seen their teams play at the true older ages, not the U12 phalia measuring contest you suggest, and the level is very high and you can tell the methods have improved their players. Again, U12 is your measuring stick? LOL most of the players on my team were playing NCSL D7 or ODSL at U12, and they turned out just fine. You’re acting offended because someone is questioning your passing a verdict on U12s? Come on now... you’re not asking the question, you’re repeating the same stuff over and over again, which shows you’re either afraid of things which are different from the norm, or have personal reasons to discredit the club. You have people who ARE a part of the program citing their experiences, but you, who have NEVER BEEN a part of the program, is asking the important questions? Just stop, you don’t help people in that way.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

No doubt -- Barca's style is terrific. Rondos are great teaching tools, no matter what a U.S. Soccer bureaucrat says. But keep expectations reasonable. A so-so athlete or someone with mediocre coordination can do 10,000 hours of rondos and still not be an effective soccer player.

U.S. Soccer is negative about Rondos? I had not heard that. Please give more background on this. I thought everyone had bought into Rondos and was surprised that they were not utilized much by our team this past year.

DC's own Charles Boehm has done a lot of reporting on this:

https://ussoccerplayers.com/2018/05/us-soccer-coaching-education-and-the-strange-case-of-the-war-on-rondos.html

https://www.soccerwire.com/news/other/coaching/soccerwire-qa-going-deep-on-coaching-ed-with-ussfs-tschan-russell/

The issue is that rondos are not "directional" and therefore aren't "reality-based."

I'm not an expert on coaching technique, but I think the USSF position flunks the "duh" test ...

1. Players need to develop a first touch and learn to receive passes. Duh. No coaching expertise needed to know that.

2. Effective passes may go backwards as well as forwards. Duh, again.

And the USMNT have won how many World Cups by not doing rondos?

[Anonymous]

Rondos are a great, simple, passing activation warm-up. Any coach that doesn’t see their value is just antiquated.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of a post someone made the other day where they said “the older age groups are set and done.” Like, are you stupid, or just pretending?