Pipeline

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The top 2009 girls team has rotated 31 different players in practices and games. No joke. I watch it every Monday and Wednesday. The posts about the tournament this weekend are 100% accurate as we are watching. Doug Prior is coach of both teams. It is his 2010 top team playing in the 2009 bottom bracket which is perfectly fine. Bringing 5...yes 5 top 2009 players is absurd. Winning every game 7-0 is classless.

So 2009 players are playing in a 2009 bracket for a 2010 team that is playing up? Original post claimed 2009 girls playing in a 2010 bracket, so actually first post not accurate at all.

I have no direct knowledge of any of this. But what if those 2009 players are actually 2010s who usually play up a year, and what if the coach wanted his 2010 team to play in a higher bracket but the tournament said "no - your kids are younger we're going to put them in the lowest bracket"?

What should the coach do?

He may have decided that he needed to show the tournament directors that they had made a mistake this year in order to ensure that his team gets placed appropriately in future tournaments and years.

I think that this would be a possible explanation for what happened.

I thought the point of having players carded was so the coaches couldn't play kids that were older and not on their team? I am confused how older kids can play on younger teams if they show cards.

All the kids were proper age as it was a 2009 bracket. Pop’s complaint is that kids from top 2009 team playing on a team in bottom bracket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

Dp, but literally read the thread. It was girls, 2009 bracket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

Dp, but literally read the thread. It was girls, 2009 bracket.

No, I was referring to the comments they made about the boys groups where he observed the bad behavior from a coach in scrimmages. We are considering the program for our kids and was curious about the boys side. This turned into a fight about 2009 girls like every other argument on this forum with crazy parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

Dp, but literally read the thread. It was girls, 2009 bracket.

No, I was referring to the comments they made about the boys groups where he observed the bad behavior from a coach in scrimmages. We are considering the program for our kids and was curious about the boys side. This turned into a fight about 2009 girls like every other argument on this forum with crazy parents.

I am literally sitting on a zoom call with my child’s pipeline coach who is telling his team that they are “about winning” and will be pulling kids from higher teams to win at the president and state’s cup. Additionally, your child could be cut from the team (as tryouts are prior to the tournament) prior to these tournament and replaced but you are expected to show up and travel but not promised any playing time. Yes, if you cut my kid, I am not traveling to east bumf’ck Midwest to support your team. Wtf.
Sorry pipeline, not happening.

[Anonymous]

Quote of the day from pipeline coach: pipeline is a business and we don’t want to put out a crappy product. First and foremost.
Good times. That should say it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

Dp, but literally read the thread. It was girls, 2009 bracket.

No, I was referring to the comments they made about the boys groups where he observed the bad behavior from a coach in scrimmages. We are considering the program for our kids and was curious about the boys side. This turned into a fight about 2009 girls like every other argument on this forum with crazy parents.

I am literally sitting on a zoom call with my child’s pipeline coach who is telling his team that they are “about winning” and will be pulling kids from higher teams to win at the president and state’s cup. Additionally, your child could be cut from the team (as tryouts are prior to the tournament) prior to these tournament and replaced but you are expected to show up and travel but not promised any playing time. Yes, if you cut my kid, I am not traveling to east bumf’ck Midwest to support your team. Wtf.
Sorry pipeline, not happening.

If your kid is old enough for president’s cup, I think you will find most Baltimore clubs are focused on winning, playing time is unequal, etc. . . That said, if you plan on leaving Pipeline, I don’t think anyone really expects your son to continue playing after tryouts unless he wants to. There are always people who leave and the kids who are joining the team usually are available to sub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

Dp, but literally read the thread. It was girls, 2009 bracket.

No, I was referring to the comments they made about the boys groups where he observed the bad behavior from a coach in scrimmages. We are considering the program for our kids and was curious about the boys side. This turned into a fight about 2009 girls like every other argument on this forum with crazy parents.

I am literally sitting on a zoom call with my child’s pipeline coach who is telling his team that they are “about winning” and will be pulling kids from higher teams to win at the president and state’s cup. Additionally, your child could be cut from the team (as tryouts are prior to the tournament) prior to these tournament and replaced but you are expected to show up and travel but not promised any playing time. Yes, if you cut my kid, I am not traveling to east bumf’ck Midwest to support your team. Wtf.
Sorry pipeline, not happening.

If your kid is old enough for president’s cup, I think you will find most Baltimore clubs are focused on winning, playing time is unequal, etc. . . That said, if you plan on leaving Pipeline, I don’t think anyone really expects your son to continue playing after tryouts unless he wants to. There are always people who leave and the kids who are joining the team usually are available to sub.

Yes, the organization wants to win and has that reputation like many other higher level clubs. If that is something you are not interested in, or your child is not interested in, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that concept. There are plenty of decent clubs that may be a better fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

I would rather not share details. It's just one data point - and on the other occasions nothing untoward occurred. Plenty of coaches get bent out of shape from time to time - and in this case the ref was at least partly to blame as well. This incident was not enough for me to put this coach or his club on a blacklist - if the same thing happened once or twice more I would be more concerned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arguing about a 4th tiered tourney lol.

The tournament is a distraction. This is just one small example of who Pipeline is. Buyer beware.

Well except I don't see that they did anything wrong. It appears they stepped in, probably at the tournament's request, to cover a late cancellation. They pulled togthere a team of mostly 2010 kids to play in a 2009 tournament and added a few of their own 2009 kids. They misjudged the strength of the tournament and won their group games too easily and then withdrew to ensure that they didn't win the final.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. And no - I am in no way affiliated with Pipeline. Personally I'm not excited about the way they develop kids - I don't think they do a great job - but that's a whole different discussion. I've also observed poor behavior by a pipeline coach on one occasion out of the three or four times my DS' team has scrimmaged them. But it's hard to see that they did anything terribly wrong here.

Most of the accusations appear to be that they have a number of players who usually "play up" a year and that sometimes in tournaments they play those players back down a year which makes their teams stronger. It's probably not the way I would do things were I running a club - but it appears they don't make any secret of it - and I can't see anything unethical about it.

Some parents of other clubs no doubt don't like it when their kids get beaten by strong teams who are playing multiple players who usually play a year up and are dominant when playing in their own age group. But any parent with a kid who has played on a strong team knows that you sometimes encounter parents on opposing teams who get angry and claim that something or other is unfair.

Can you share what kind of behavior and the age group for the boys you observed this?

Dp, but literally read the thread. It was girls, 2009 bracket.

No, I was referring to the comments they made about the boys groups where he observed the bad behavior from a coach in scrimmages. We are considering the program for our kids and was curious about the boys side. This turned into a fight about 2009 girls like every other argument on this forum with crazy parents.

I am literally sitting on a zoom call with my child’s pipeline coach who is telling his team that they are “about winning” and will be pulling kids from higher teams to win at the president and state’s cup. Additionally, your child could be cut from the team (as tryouts are prior to the tournament) prior to these tournament and replaced but you are expected to show up and travel but not promised any playing time. Yes, if you cut my kid, I am not traveling to east bumf’ck Midwest to support your team. Wtf.
Sorry pipeline, not happening.

If your kid is old enough for president’s cup, I think you will find most Baltimore clubs are focused on winning, playing time is unequal, etc.

I would hope that most clubs don't pull players down from stronger or older teams though - just to win. My DS plays for a very competitive club which could do this, but does not. The 200x team is the 200x team and those players play for that team rain or shine. Just because a couple of them are actually 200(x-1) birth year and could be used to make the 200(x-1) team virtually unbeatable doesn't mean they are used that way. They aren't. For various reasons - it wouldn't be fair to the kids on the 2000(x-1) team. It's not even fair to the kids on the older team who are there because that is what the coaches decided was best for their development.

Clubs which consistently put themselves ahead of their customers are - in my view - making a big mistake. In the end those clubs will struggle to attract and retain those customers.

All that said - I have no direct knowledge that Pipeline does this - only the rumors on this thread, and certainly no idea to what extent they do it, nor whether this is the only way that they put club before player or whether there are other questionable behaviors too.

So all in all - while this thread is interesting - it's just one thread. And I doubt there's a club in existence which hasn't upset at least some parents with some piece of behavior which is less than perfect.

[Anonymous]

For what it's worth, if the OP is still monitoring, we have really enjoyed being a part of Pipeline for the last 3 years. I truly believe that my son has developed into a better player and I have been very impressed with the coaching and club so far. We don't know anyone on the girls side so I can't say anything there, but the boys side has been a great fit for us. Are they perfect? No, but no club is perfect and I think like most teams, it depends on the coach. You can have a great club, but a bad coach who ruins the experience. We have been very fortunate there too. The biggest issue I had with Pipeline was that they didn't have an avenue to higher level leagues, which now they do, so I think the older teams will only get better instead of losing their top talent chasing showcases for recruitment. Best of luck in your search.

[Anonymous]

Woohooo! Beat PDA Blue in both the 2008 and 2009 divisions yesterday!!! Just wanted to let you haters know this morning.

Glad you left! Obviously we didn't need you, haha.

[Anonymous]

^Dad literally living through his kids life. Congrats to the players on winning this weekend, Dad not so much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Woohooo! Beat PDA Blue in both the 2008 and 2009 divisions yesterday!!! Just wanted to let you haters know this morning.

Glad you left! Obviously we didn't need you, haha.

How did that feel writing that? 2008s and 2009s!!!! Wow! That solidifies Pipeline as an elite 'players' club. Case closed!