Why can't clubs treat "money grab" lower teams better?

[Anonymous]

I mean, I get that my child is not going onto a career at Liverpool or even D1 soccer, but I don't understand why Steve Knapman (Potomac) or the Sal Caccavale (Achilles) or the Colton brothers (Bethesda) or any of the VA clubs can't get it together to have a decent playing experience for their second and third teams. I mean, how hard is it to find a decent coach, seed the team correctly, and pretend to care about the kids that they took so much money from? My DC and I would be perfectly happy to have him play against good players, a little above his level and have teammates who are at or a little above his skill level so he can develop as a player. We accepted an offer at a big club, but I'm wondering if the way to go next year isn't to find a decent team that's not part of a huge club playing at the higher levels of NCSL and get off the big club rat race. OK, rant over.

[Anonymous]

PS what the hell is Achilles and PPA thinking....their lower team plays SAM Select and their higher team plays EDP. How on earth can a kid go from playing against SAM Select players to EDP? It seems too big of a leap and sets those "second string" players up for failure if they ever want to leap to the next level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS what the hell is Achilles and PPA thinking....their lower team plays SAM Select and their higher team plays EDP. How on earth can a kid go from playing against SAM Select players to EDP? It seems too big of a leap and sets those "second string" players up for failure if they ever want to leap to the next level.

doesn't PPA play in the lowest possible EDP level?

[Anonymous]

Yeah but have you SEEN the competition in SAM Select? We were on a SAM select team at the U11 level and I didn't think it was any better than MSI Classics Div 1. Actually, I think the Classics competition was better.

[Anonymous]

Very happy with VYS’ mid- tier teams, and I played for European clubs as a teenager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah but have you SEEN the competition in SAM Select? We were on a SAM select team at the U11 level and I didn't think it was any better than MSI Classics Div 1. Actually, I think the Classics competition was better.

Uh SAM select is where the real international kids play, starting u9.

[Anonymous]

I think Sam Select has changed a lot in a few years. Lots of really good teams that are certainly much better than NCSL teams. Check the tournament results. Achilles and PPA do really well against the big clubs. It's a good match up. Achilles team 1 against McLean's top 1-2 teams. Achilles 2 against McLeans 2-3 teams. I know a number of players, mostly Spanish speaking players, who are opting for Sam Select teams when they have offers from "higher" level travel teams.

[Anonymous]

it is hard to get an experienced, highly rated coach to take on a B or C team. Why? Because they don't need to. You have to either luck out with an up and coming coach, or a younger guy/girl with playing experience who has the enthusiasm... or a parent who cares because their kid is on the team.

The only alternative is if you are with a larger club like Vienna, Arlington, or somewhere that has its staff coaches balance out their assignments by coaching an A team and a B team at the same time. A lot of coaches want to double up and coach 2 teams at once, some places are ok with them having two A teams and other clubs basically make them rotate between teams.

With Vienna, no coach ever (or rarely) has the same team two years in a row. Other clubs may be the exact opposite.

If you want to have a good B or C coach, you have to look at the larger clubs. Smaller ones just don't have a deep or talented staff beyond the top team coaches.

[Anonymous]

Plus, many clubs are run like businesses. It's better to hire a less expensive coach who might not be as experienced or licensed... or is just getting started in coaching, and pay them less... then you keep more of the fees that are being paid.

[Anonymous]

I've been very happy with BSC B and even C teams.
When you have 6, 7, 8 teams in an age group, that's not too low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it is hard to get an experienced, highly rated coach to take on a B or C team. Why? Because they don't need to. You have to either luck out with an up and coming coach, or a younger guy/girl with playing experience who has the enthusiasm... or a parent who cares because their kid is on the team.

The only alternative is if you are with a larger club like Vienna, Arlington, or somewhere that has its staff coaches balance out their assignments by coaching an A team and a B team at the same time. A lot of coaches want to double up and coach 2 teams at once, some places are ok with them having two A teams and other clubs basically make them rotate between teams.

With Vienna, no coach ever (or rarely) has the same team two years in a row. Other clubs may be the exact opposite.

If you want to have a good B or C coach, you have to look at the larger clubs. Smaller ones just don't have a deep or talented staff beyond the top team coaches.

Disagree. I would avoid Arlington lower teams. There is no advancement----just the false one when the upper team moves into Pre-academy or academy and parents get excited their kid 'moved up' when they really didn't. There is much less opportunity and as the kids advance they are playing lesser teams in non-top leagues. You would be better off putting your kid on a first team at a smaller club if they can make it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been very happy with BSC B and even C teams.
When you have 6, 7, 8 teams in an age group, that's not too low.

isnt it academy, then A-B-C? so like U9 has 5 teams but the A team is 3rd of 5? or is that wrong?

[Anonymous]

We love our small club experience. We've had players leave us for the big clubs ...and come crawling back. So nice not to have to deal with A v B v C, etc etc.

[Anonymous]

You are wondering why clubs don't spend more money on money grab teams? Really?

I don't think you have a good grasp of the purpose of a money grab team. It is to . . . wait for it . . . grab money. This means, in addition to collecting as much in fees as possible, controlling expenses as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Sam Select has changed a lot in a few years. Lots of really good teams that are certainly much better than NCSL teams. Check the tournament results. Achilles and PPA do really well against the big clubs. It's a good match up. Achilles team 1 against McLean's top 1-2 teams. Achilles 2 against McLeans 2-3 teams. I know a number of players, mostly Spanish speaking players, who are opting for Sam Select teams when they have offers from "higher" level travel teams.

Achilles is a small club. Only 2 teams in each age group. The top teams get almost all of the focus, especially by Sal. More practices, tournaments, better practice times. They play in EDP. 2nd teams play SAM, but will probably switch to EDP lower div in the fall. The competition in SAM is very good. But not for a second do I think it matters what league the lower teams play in because it seems they will always be less respected. It is far more likely for Achilles to recruit new A team players from outside the club than to promote from within. But what can you expect when the B team kids are not being developed as promised? Even the smaller clubs have money grab issues since winning is clearly tied to management’s ego and it’s far easier to focus on one or two (currently) winning teams than to think long term about developing every player to his/her potential.