Anonymous wrote:OP- that's disgusting and I 100% believe it.

I have not committed to anything for next year for my rising future U16 (current 14-year old 8th grader) or my rising U13 boys. They are on a first team now in a good league.

I have been disgusted by youth soccer since the oldest started travel at U9. Totally disgusted by what became of a sport I used to love.

My kids and I are playing a ton of soccer now. They are training on their own. They love their current coaches and are doing zoom meetings. Unfortunately, this club is too far away and we were looking to transition next year--but frankly there is no other club we like or staff we respect.

For now, with no guarantee of soccer, my husband and I that played college soccer will train our own kids. Once groups of players are allowed to meet together and compete we will reassess the situation.

Your description of private tryouts out kid's homes or fields is disturbing.

I also think the 'no tryout' thing and nothing based on actual MERIT is a huge disservice to youth soccer. It's a reason kids that progress rapidly and do not advance leave the sport entirely.

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:Hello everyone I am NOVASoccerCoach. Some of you may remember me a couple months ago, where I did a Q&A and shared my insight on a couple of threads. Obviously a lot has changed since I was last on this forum and I just wanted to share some of my frustrating opinions about the landscape of youth soccer as well as offer you some insight.

1. No Tryout BS
A lot of clubs seem to be guaranteeing spots to players and doing this "no tryouts" thing. All I'm going to say is that its total bs. Players are now getting placed on teams without tryouts and there's an ABSURD amount of behind-the-scenes recruiting going on. I've even heard some directors/coaches have conducted "Social Distancing Tryouts" where they go to the kids' house and they do a ball mastery tryout. It's absolutely ridiculous and sad. Kids who have spent years at the club are getting dropped without a proper tryout for these outside club players who just had an illegal "social distancing" tryout.

Clubs are just robbing people
First off, clubs should be refunding parents for the spring. It's absolutely ridiculous. The "virtual season" does not count as a season. It should not be awarded a % credit or stipend or anything. It's bs. I can really dive into this but clubs, tournaments, etc. are just robbing families that have been loyal to clubs for so long. It's f*cked up. I don't want to even get into how they are handling the fall season...


If you have a coach that you are fond of, really lean and tap into those coaches in this time. Ask them to be honest with you and they will. Coaches unfortunately are stuck in the middle right now between the bs upper leadership is doing and actually caring for what's best for the kid. Most of the time, I would hope the coach will tell you his/her honest opinion on what's best for your kid.

What is so wrong with a coach "recruiting" a player and dropping another without tryouts? The coach obviously knows the kid that he is dropping and, hopefully, saw the kid that he is recruiting in the Fall/Winter. I'm not so sure that a trainer/coach working with a player is illegal, so I don't think a 1 on 1 tryout is therefore illegal. Plus, there is no loyalty in youth soccer from either the parent or the club side. I don't see why you are so upset about all of this. I'm sure you've seen it all a million times before.

Imagine you are a kid. You just played a fall season on the 1st team. COVID happens. You get told there will be no tryouts. You get an email from your parents that you are being moved to the B team. Ok...who from the B team is taking my spot? No one. It's a player from the outside who had a tryout, after being told there are no tryouts. The kid doesn't even get a chance to fight for the spot. Even if there were actual tryouts and that kid would have been dropped anyways, at least that kid feels they had a chance and maybe looks at themselves saying, I need to improve, my tryout wasn't good enough.

Kids need to understand that he had an entire year to "try out" for next year. I understand that COVID happened and he lost Spring, but, if his work through the winter didn't cut it, then it didn't cut it. If a kid joined the club (regardless if he was recruited or just joined), he should be placed on the team that most suited to his ability. Let this be a lesson that kids need to treat every day like it's a try out....Ok maybe not every day but you get my point. The hypothetical kid that got cut had his chance. Hopefully, he uses this to to motivate him. I honestly do not see anything wrong with this...and my kid is only 12. The only problem I would have is if he got cut and had no where else to go, but if there is a B team, so be it. He drops to the B team.

You would be fine if your kid got cut to the B team for an outside player who tried out when you were told there would be no tryouts?

Yes, I would. They don't even have to explain to me that they went to his house and gave him a tryout. All they would have to say is that the [insert a position that my kid plays] from [insert another club] decided to join our team and unfortunately he makes our team stronger than with your your kid, so we are bumping your kid down to the B team. I don't understand how that isn't understandable. What do you think should happen...should I say, but there wasn't a tryout? They watched my son play all year! Hopefully, my kid would understand and this would make him better. That's why I tell my kid he needs to play hard all the time and ALWAYS do his best, so there are no regrets. Plus, you never know who might be watching.

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:Hello everyone I am NOVASoccerCoach. Some of you may remember me a couple months ago, where I did a Q&A and shared my insight on a couple of threads. Obviously a lot has changed since I was last on this forum and I just wanted to share some of my frustrating opinions about the landscape of youth soccer as well as offer you some insight.

1. No Tryout BS
A lot of clubs seem to be guaranteeing spots to players and doing this "no tryouts" thing. All I'm going to say is that its total bs. Players are now getting placed on teams without tryouts and there's an ABSURD amount of behind-the-scenes recruiting going on. I've even heard some directors/coaches have conducted "Social Distancing Tryouts" where they go to the kids' house and they do a ball mastery tryout. It's absolutely ridiculous and sad. Kids who have spent years at the club are getting dropped without a proper tryout for these outside club players who just had an illegal "social distancing" tryout.

I have not seen this. Our club has told all travel players they will be guaranteed a spot on a team, but in some cases it will not be the same team. In those cases, the body of work in the fall season will be the basis for it. I would hope that coaches are doing proper evaluations of anyone coming in new.

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:
Clubs are just robbing people
First off, clubs should be refunding parents for the spring. It's absolutely ridiculous. The "virtual season" does not count as a season. It should not be awarded a % credit or stipend or anything. It's bs. I can really dive into this but clubs, tournaments, etc. are just robbing families that have been loyal to clubs for so long. It's f*cked up. I don't want to even get into how they are handling the fall season...

Our club has offered a partial refund in the form of a credit towards fees if returning, or a partial refund if not. I don't have any problems with that since they have done quite everything possible to keep the kids engaged thus far.

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:
If you have a coach that you are fond of, really lean and tap into those coaches in this time. Ask them to be honest with you and they will. Coaches unfortunately are stuck in the middle right now between the bs upper leadership is doing and actually caring for what's best for the kid. Most of the time, I would hope the coach will tell you his/her honest opinion on what's best for your kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:Hello everyone I am NOVASoccerCoach. Some of you may remember me a couple months ago, where I did a Q&A and shared my insight on a couple of threads. Obviously a lot has changed since I was last on this forum and I just wanted to share some of my frustrating opinions about the landscape of youth soccer as well as offer you some insight.

1. No Tryout BS
A lot of clubs seem to be guaranteeing spots to players and doing this "no tryouts" thing. All I'm going to say is that its total bs. Players are now getting placed on teams without tryouts and there's an ABSURD amount of behind-the-scenes recruiting going on. I've even heard some directors/coaches have conducted "Social Distancing Tryouts" where they go to the kids' house and they do a ball mastery tryout. It's absolutely ridiculous and sad. Kids who have spent years at the club are getting dropped without a proper tryout for these outside club players who just had an illegal "social distancing" tryout.

Clubs are just robbing people
First off, clubs should be refunding parents for the spring. It's absolutely ridiculous. The "virtual season" does not count as a season. It should not be awarded a % credit or stipend or anything. It's bs. I can really dive into this but clubs, tournaments, etc. are just robbing families that have been loyal to clubs for so long. It's f*cked up. I don't want to even get into how they are handling the fall season...


If you have a coach that you are fond of, really lean and tap into those coaches in this time. Ask them to be honest with you and they will. Coaches unfortunately are stuck in the middle right now between the bs upper leadership is doing and actually caring for what's best for the kid. Most of the time, I would hope the coach will tell you his/her honest opinion on what's best for your kid.

What is so wrong with a coach "recruiting" a player and dropping another without tryouts? The coach obviously knows the kid that he is dropping and, hopefully, saw the kid that he is recruiting in the Fall/Winter. I'm not so sure that a trainer/coach working with a player is illegal, so I don't think a 1 on 1 tryout is therefore illegal. Plus, there is no loyalty in youth soccer from either the parent or the club side. I don't see why you are so upset about all of this. I'm sure you've seen it all a million times before.

Imagine you are a kid. You just played a fall season on the 1st team. COVID happens. You get told there will be no tryouts. You get an email from your parents that you are being moved to the B team. Ok...who from the B team is taking my spot? No one. It's a player from the outside who had a tryout, after being told there are no tryouts. The kid doesn't even get a chance to fight for the spot. Even if there were actual tryouts and that kid would have been dropped anyways, at least that kid feels they had a chance and maybe looks at themselves saying, I need to improve, my tryout wasn't good enough.

Kids need to understand that he had an entire year to "try out" for next year. I understand that COVID happened and he lost Spring, but, if his work through the winter didn't cut it, then it didn't cut it. If a kid joined the club (regardless if he was recruited or just joined), he should be placed on the team that most suited to his ability. Let this be a lesson that kids need to treat every day like it's a try out....Ok maybe not every day but you get my point. The hypothetical kid that got cut had his chance. Hopefully, he uses this to to motivate him. I honestly do not see anything wrong with this...and my kid is only 12. The only problem I would have is if he got cut and had no where else to go, but if there is a B team, so be it. He drops to the B team.

Agree completely. The reverse also sucks. Our club said everyone gets to keep their team placement no matter what, even though coach told individual players mid-season that they were on track to move up (maybe blowing smoke, who knows?). But guess what happened? After coach announced on a Zoom call that there would be no upward or downward movement between the A and B teams, all the A team players stopped doing the weekly team "challenges". Coach even called them out . . . and they're still doing nothing. This approach only breeds complacency and entitlement. Let the fall and winter season serve as the tryout-- if existing A team players are outmatched by B team players, let the pieces fall as they may! They had their chance and don't deserve to be "grandfathered" in to the top team because BIG SOCCER ORGANIZATION doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- that's disgusting and I 100% believe it.

I have not committed to anything for next year for my rising future U16 (current 14-year old 8th grader) or my rising U13 boys. They are on a first team now in a good league.

I have been disgusted by youth soccer since the oldest started travel at U9. Totally disgusted by what became of a sport I used to love.

My kids and I are playing a ton of soccer now. They are training on their own. They love their current coaches and are doing zoom meetings. Unfortunately, this club is too far away and we were looking to transition next year--but frankly there is no other club we like or staff we respect.

For now, with no guarantee of soccer, my husband and I that played college soccer will train our own kids. Once groups of players are allowed to meet together and compete we will reassess the situation.

Your description of private tryouts out kid's homes or fields is disturbing.

I also think the 'no tryout' thing and nothing based on actual MERIT is a huge disservice to youth soccer. It's a reason kids that progress rapidly and do not advance leave the sport entirely.

Glad we can relate here. 100% am with you and super saddening to hear what has transpired. It's all about the bottom line for these clubs and they forget we are dealing with kids. Best wishes to your kids in their soccer journey.

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:Hello everyone I am NOVASoccerCoach. Some of you may remember me a couple months ago, where I did a Q&A and shared my insight on a couple of threads. Obviously a lot has changed since I was last on this forum and I just wanted to share some of my frustrating opinions about the landscape of youth soccer as well as offer you some insight.

1. No Tryout BS
A lot of clubs seem to be guaranteeing spots to players and doing this "no tryouts" thing. All I'm going to say is that its total bs. Players are now getting placed on teams without tryouts and there's an ABSURD amount of behind-the-scenes recruiting going on. I've even heard some directors/coaches have conducted "Social Distancing Tryouts" where they go to the kids' house and they do a ball mastery tryout. It's absolutely ridiculous and sad. Kids who have spent years at the club are getting dropped without a proper tryout for these outside club players who just had an illegal "social distancing" tryout.

Clubs are just robbing people
First off, clubs should be refunding parents for the spring. It's absolutely ridiculous. The "virtual season" does not count as a season. It should not be awarded a % credit or stipend or anything. It's bs. I can really dive into this but clubs, tournaments, etc. are just robbing families that have been loyal to clubs for so long. It's f*cked up. I don't want to even get into how they are handling the fall season...


If you have a coach that you are fond of, really lean and tap into those coaches in this time. Ask them to be honest with you and they will. Coaches unfortunately are stuck in the middle right now between the bs upper leadership is doing and actually caring for what's best for the kid. Most of the time, I would hope the coach will tell you his/her honest opinion on what's best for your kid.

What is so wrong with a coach "recruiting" a player and dropping another without tryouts? The coach obviously knows the kid that he is dropping and, hopefully, saw the kid that he is recruiting in the Fall/Winter. I'm not so sure that a trainer/coach working with a player is illegal, so I don't think a 1 on 1 tryout is therefore illegal. Plus, there is no loyalty in youth soccer from either the parent or the club side. I don't see why you are so upset about all of this. I'm sure you've seen it all a million times before.

Imagine you are a kid. You just played a fall season on the 1st team. COVID happens. You get told there will be no tryouts. You get an email from your parents that you are being moved to the B team. Ok...who from the B team is taking my spot? No one. It's a player from the outside who had a tryout, after being told there are no tryouts. The kid doesn't even get a chance to fight for the spot. Even if there were actual tryouts and that kid would have been dropped anyways, at least that kid feels they had a chance and maybe looks at themselves saying, I need to improve, my tryout wasn't good enough.

Kids need to understand that he had an entire year to "try out" for next year. I understand that COVID happened and he lost Spring, but, if his work through the winter didn't cut it, then it didn't cut it. If a kid joined the club (regardless if he was recruited or just joined), he should be placed on the team that most suited to his ability. Let this be a lesson that kids need to treat every day like it's a try out....Ok maybe not every day but you get my point. The hypothetical kid that got cut had his chance. Hopefully, he uses this to to motivate him. I honestly do not see anything wrong with this...and my kid is only 12. The only problem I would have is if he got cut and had no where else to go, but if there is a B team, so be it. He drops to the B team.

You would be fine if your kid got cut to the B team for an outside player who tried out when you were told there would be no tryouts?

Yes, I would. They don't even have to explain to me that they went to his house and gave him a tryout. All they would have to say is that the [insert a position that my kid plays] from [insert another club] decided to join our team and unfortunately he makes our team stronger than with your your kid, so we are bumping your kid down to the B team. I don't understand how that isn't understandable. What do you think should happen...should I say, but there wasn't a tryout? They watched my son play all year! Hopefully, my kid would understand and this would make him better. That's why I tell my kid he needs to play hard all the time and ALWAYS do his best, so there are no regrets. Plus, you never know who might be watching.

I agree with your points here, but as a counterargument- your player has been scrutinzed every single training session, game and for a whole fall season. No youth player is perfect. You would still be ok with your kid getting replaced from an individual ball mastery evaluation? That kid could easily not be as good as your kid and has only been evaluated by that ball mastery tryout and maybe they had one good game where some director was watching. Not every youth player is going to have 10 good games in a row.

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:Hello everyone I am NOVASoccerCoach. Some of you may remember me a couple months ago, where I did a Q&A and shared my insight on a couple of threads. Obviously a lot has changed since I was last on this forum and I just wanted to share some of my frustrating opinions about the landscape of youth soccer as well as offer you some insight.

1. No Tryout BS
A lot of clubs seem to be guaranteeing spots to players and doing this "no tryouts" thing. All I'm going to say is that its total bs. Players are now getting placed on teams without tryouts and there's an ABSURD amount of behind-the-scenes recruiting going on. I've even heard some directors/coaches have conducted "Social Distancing Tryouts" where they go to the kids' house and they do a ball mastery tryout. It's absolutely ridiculous and sad. Kids who have spent years at the club are getting dropped without a proper tryout for these outside club players who just had an illegal "social distancing" tryout.

Clubs are just robbing people
First off, clubs should be refunding parents for the spring. It's absolutely ridiculous. The "virtual season" does not count as a season. It should not be awarded a % credit or stipend or anything. It's bs. I can really dive into this but clubs, tournaments, etc. are just robbing families that have been loyal to clubs for so long. It's f*cked up. I don't want to even get into how they are handling the fall season...


If you have a coach that you are fond of, really lean and tap into those coaches in this time. Ask them to be honest with you and they will. Coaches unfortunately are stuck in the middle right now between the bs upper leadership is doing and actually caring for what's best for the kid. Most of the time, I would hope the coach will tell you his/her honest opinion on what's best for your kid.

What is so wrong with a coach "recruiting" a player and dropping another without tryouts? The coach obviously knows the kid that he is dropping and, hopefully, saw the kid that he is recruiting in the Fall/Winter. I'm not so sure that a trainer/coach working with a player is illegal, so I don't think a 1 on 1 tryout is therefore illegal. Plus, there is no loyalty in youth soccer from either the parent or the club side. I don't see why you are so upset about all of this. I'm sure you've seen it all a million times before.

Imagine you are a kid. You just played a fall season on the 1st team. COVID happens. You get told there will be no tryouts. You get an email from your parents that you are being moved to the B team. Ok...who from the B team is taking my spot? No one. It's a player from the outside who had a tryout, after being told there are no tryouts. The kid doesn't even get a chance to fight for the spot. Even if there were actual tryouts and that kid would have been dropped anyways, at least that kid feels they had a chance and maybe looks at themselves saying, I need to improve, my tryout wasn't good enough.

Kids need to understand that he had an entire year to "try out" for next year. I understand that COVID happened and he lost Spring, but, if his work through the winter didn't cut it, then it didn't cut it. If a kid joined the club (regardless if he was recruited or just joined), he should be placed on the team that most suited to his ability. Let this be a lesson that kids need to treat every day like it's a try out....Ok maybe not every day but you get my point. The hypothetical kid that got cut had his chance. Hopefully, he uses this to to motivate him. I honestly do not see anything wrong with this...and my kid is only 12. The only problem I would have is if he got cut and had no where else to go, but if there is a B team, so be it. He drops to the B team.

You would be fine if your kid got cut to the B team for an outside player who tried out when you were told there would be no tryouts?

Yes, I would. They don't even have to explain to me that they went to his house and gave him a tryout. All they would have to say is that the [insert a position that my kid plays] from [insert another club] decided to join our team and unfortunately he makes our team stronger than with your your kid, so we are bumping your kid down to the B team. I don't understand how that isn't understandable. What do you think should happen...should I say, but there wasn't a tryout? They watched my son play all year! Hopefully, my kid would understand and this would make him better. That's why I tell my kid he needs to play hard all the time and ALWAYS do his best, so there are no regrets. Plus, you never know who might be watching.

I agree with your points here, but as a counterargument- your player has been scrutinzed every single training session, game and for a whole fall season. No youth player is perfect. You would still be ok with your kid getting replaced from an individual ball mastery evaluation? That kid could easily not be as good as your kid and has only been evaluated by that ball mastery tryout and maybe they had one good game where some director was watching. Not every youth player is going to have 10 good games in a row.

Hey Coach, I'm the poster who you replied to here. I just cannot honestly image that this coach would cut a kid (is this on a top team) and replace him with someone he knew NOTHING about other than one ball mastery session. However, you are bringing a director into the picture now. Are you saying this wasn't the coach's decision and this was all done by a director that popped in and watched one game? If this is the case, then, yes, I'd have a very big problem with it and I would hope every parent on the team would have a big problem with it. But if it's as I described and the team coach who sees the kid every session and game cut him and replaced him with no tryout with a kid that was known to the coach (I'm thinking a player that played on a team they played against. Maybe a neighboring club, something like that and he was solid) then I don't have a problem with that, but if a director stepped in and made these changes, I'd be upset for sure.

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:Hello everyone I am NOVASoccerCoach. Some of you may remember me a couple months ago, where I did a Q&A and shared my insight on a couple of threads. Obviously a lot has changed since I was last on this forum and I just wanted to share some of my frustrating opinions about the landscape of youth soccer as well as offer you some insight.

...

a partial refund in the form of a credit towards fees if returning, or a partial refund if not. I don't have any problems with that since they have done quite everything possible to keep the kids engaged thus far.

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:
If you have a coach that you are fond of, really lean and tap into those coaches in this time. Ask them to be honest with you and they will. Coaches unfortunately are stuck in the middle right now between the bs upper leadership is doing and actually caring for what's best for the kid. Most of the time, I would hope the coach will tell you his/her honest opinion on what's best for your kid.

This is kind of a naive take. Your club is doing a great job in presenting themselves. I'm telling you as an insider. I'm glad you do find trust in your club though.

What club are you an insider at? Am I supposed to believe you know what all the clubs are doing?

NOVASoccerCoach wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- that's disgusting and I 100% believe it.

I have not committed to anything for next year for my rising future U16 (current 14-year old 8th grader) or my rising U13 boys. They are on a first team now in a good league.

I have been disgusted by youth soccer since the oldest started travel at U9. Totally disgusted by what became of a sport I used to love.

My kids and I are playing a ton of soccer now. They are training on their own. They love their current coaches and are doing zoom meetings. Unfortunately, this club is too far away and we were looking to transition next year--but frankly there is no other club we like or staff we respect.

For now, with no guarantee of soccer, my husband and I that played college soccer will train our own kids. Once groups of players are allowed to meet together and compete we will reassess the situation.

Your description of private tryouts out kid's homes or fields is disturbing.

I also think the 'no tryout' thing and nothing based on actual MERIT is a huge disservice to youth soccer. It's a reason kids that progress rapidly and do not advance leave the sport entirely.

Glad we can relate here. 100% am with you and super saddening to hear what has transpired. It's all about the bottom line for these clubs and they forget we are dealing with kids. Best wishes to your kids in their soccer journey.

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps a tad off topic but our club has now moved a 3rd kid off our U9 team up to a select U10 team. The reason given is for the benefit of the kids moving up that they need to be challenged more. I have been in coaching for years and have never experienced this. The detriment to our team losing 3 terrific kids has been to make us very uncompetitive with A teams from other clubs. We’ve had to backfill with B players who just aren’t ready for the faster pace of play. I’ve posed the question to our club this effect of this is very demoralizing to our players and parents and we’ve already lost players who want to play sports on teams that are more competitive with the teams they play. The question I have is if the older select teams are so “select” why do they need younger kids to fill their rosters? I’ve contacted other clubs (large clubs) and they all say they highly discourage moving up. I am suspect that our club is short players on the older teams and they are poaching better younger kids to fill rosters. My observation is smaller clubs have difficulty finding enough kids for select teams so bring up younger better kids but the effect on the younger teams is they are short of quality players and become uncompetitive.