Thoughts on SAM Select U10

[Anonymous]

How do the three divisions compare to rec and top travel?

[Anonymous]

Will let you know after this weekend.

[Anonymous]

Bump.

[Anonymous]

There is no division that is on par w top travel teams. The top division might have a team that could compete in low level travel but I would think that is rare. The bottom division might have some teams that are more rec level but the kids are more committed. There can be players on any team who are standouts and could play travel but choose not to either for financial reasons or due to scheduling conflicts or simply because of burn out. Or maybe even do play travel and are double carded. This is something some travel players on my son’s team do for extra practice. But looking at an entire team, SAM select is not travel level.

My older son played Div1 Classic and the team was always in the top of the standings in that division. They had a paid coach and practiced year round. The strongest players on that team went on to low level travel teams in late middle school when the team decided to split. They did play against travel teams in some tournaments but they didn’t win any of those games.

My younger child was playing for a large travel clubs B team at the time and no doubt even his younger B team would have been able to beat the Div 1 team. At u10 his team did get an influx of select/classic players who caught up pretty quickly. But by middle school the gap is wide.

[Anonymous]

My DD played Sam Select up through U12 before joining a travel team. The Sam team was basically her school friends with a few girls being able to move on to travel. She was behind on the foot skills once joining the travel team, so we had to get extra 1:1 training. If I had to do it over again, I would start the 1:1 training earlier or move to travel at u11 or u12. We did ODP and Super Y, but the 1:1 training is what got her caught up skills wise.

[Anonymous]

So 8:41, you are commenting on SAM Select U10 in general, not the particular teams currently playing, correct?

[Anonymous]

About 1-2 kids on the U10 teams I saw are travel level, but there clearly are players who are no different then rec players on these teams. They don't even look like soccer players when they dribble or trap. But, there are a couple kids on these teams that clearly could be doing travel but for some reason are doing SAM. These kids have footskills, etc. and understand where to go on the field and don't ever just kick it.

[Anonymous]

If it's like rec, then who plays in the SAM Rec division?

[Anonymous]

Not sure, but if anything like other rec leagues then it is pure kickball and players have no touch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 1-2 kids on the U10 teams I saw are travel level, but there clearly are players who are no different then rec players on these teams. They don't even look like soccer players when they dribble or trap. But, there are a couple kids on these teams that clearly could be doing travel but for some reason are doing SAM. These kids have footskills, etc. and understand where to go on the field and don't ever just kick it.

People on here love to criticize. I've been around SAM enough to know that teams near the top in the top division at U10 can and do very well against "high level" teams in the area. It's not uncommon for the one or two top SAM teams to beat "elite" clubs B teams, in fact I'd be surprised if the B team could beat the SAM team in many cases. I also know of kids who played SAM Select who've moved to DC United, so try not to be so judgmental people.

As with youth soccer at this age, there are standout players and there are slacker players. But there's no team with a full roster of superstars. On the flip side, the level drops quickly. The bottom of the top division can be weak. And the lower divisions are much weaker still.

So the truth is that the best non-travel player on a rec team could easily be a significantly better player than the players on the lower half of the roster of a bottom level second or third division SMA team.

So, if you're assessing honestly, the top games are much better than average rec. And the top teams are much better! But there's not a consistent depth of skilled players or teams at the top. Bottom line is that if you're kid is playing in SAM and not the star of the team that's winning every game by a huge margin, then your kid is probably in a great place for his/her development because the fields are nice and open in all kinds of weather.

[Anonymous]

DS1 did MSI Classic last year and is now on a travel club team (B level team) and DS2 is in Sam Select U10 year in the second division and did a MSI Rec team last year.

The difference between Sam Select and MSI Rec is night and day. In rec there are many kids who barely know how to dribble the ball and kick them out of bounds when no one's near them.

in the game we saw every kid had strong basic skills. But I would agree with PPs that there are probably not full rosters with superstars. Each team does seems to have a handful travel-level players. I would say 2-3 on the opposing team, maybe 4 on DS's team (not DS.) Level of play is higher than Classic not quite on par with older DS's travel club.

In Classic, we saw 2-3 travel type players the whole season. I think that's because many of the higher level players skip Classic at U10 and go straight to a travel team but DS1 doesn't really feel "behind" for having done a Classic team but then again he's not a superstar.