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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My $0.02:  take the better team

* practice &gt;&gt; games at this age:  you're talking about 180 minutes a week -- thousands of touches -- in practice vs. 30 (maybe) minutes on Saturday  
* whatever issue they had with your boy likely won't change...

And while I don't think you want to make a habit out of changing clubs, I don't think it's a big deal either.  You might be a dad with unrealistic perception of his son's abilities, but you also may have a coach who doesn't get your son.  They're people, too, and they have their own biases toward or against:  big/little/gringo/foreign/young/old/skilled/physical/etc., players.  I was in the same spot as you last spring -- only thing was we were told too late to try out elsewhere.  My son was devastated, but he dedicated himself to getting promoted, busted his butt practicing outside of his team, and did make it back to the B-team this season.  But despite the fact that he's fought really hard, learned a lot being &quot;the man&quot; in the C team, and emerged as a much better player, his coaches and teammates are still the same group that didn't really get the best out of him (or see the best in him) last time around.

good luck[/quote]

Absolutely.  Sometimes coaches get it wrong; sometimes more training and development is required; sometimes a player may be happier at a lower level with more free time and less travel.[/quote]

Yes-to the above.  I also agree with the pp who said it's good for kids to not get what they want all of the time at the beginning.  Adversity can lead to great improvement.  It can make a kid train harder and harder.

I also have an issue with the way people write off 'club hoppers'.  I know many stand-out U17 kids that had to go to several different Clubs during their development.  It's just not true that it is always unrealistic parents just looking for a coach to say good things about their kid or just trying to get on an A team. Not at all.

A lot of times, a kid maxes out on what that Club can provide.  Sometimes they are looking for better or even just different training.  The player might see that things really don't differ year after year at current Club.  They feel stuck in a rut.  Or, they are with one of those Clubs that rarely makes roster changes year after year.

There are often several coaches in a single age group in most big/medium size Clubs.  You can often get an unbiased and completely blind eval about your kid by from that Coach.  We had an instance where lower team Coaches were really pushing TD and staff to move my kid far up the chain as early as U9/U10.   It kept falling on deaf ears.  My kid was not being challenged and it was hard playing with a team that didn't understand the game as well or have the same level of skill.  Yes, the kid would dominate in games, etc.  BUT--and this is a big BUT--if year after year your kid is playing with kids below his level in a lower league--he is never going to get that 'speed of play'.  The more this goes on in development, the more detrimental it becomes.

We did switch 2 Clubs early on ==which was advised by 2 coach/mentors that just really loved my kid and thought his potential was being wasted.  They had nothing in it for themselves.  We weren't buying training from them. One had left the Club.  So there was zero reason to lie and we weren't 'asking' them this---they were "telling" us this.  So- we left.

My kid is a rising U14 and it was the best route for him.  He also got to experience having to fit in with new teammates and Coaches and earning the spot as team leader.  He is now playing with kids that are far more skilled then the prior Clubs.  He is playing against better kids.  The first few months it was a struggle because he wasn't used to having to play that fast.  Make decisions that quickly, etc.  But, he adapted very quickly.  So much so that they did begin playing him up.  They commented at how fast he progressed.

Now, granted, during those years of being overlooked or demoted---he did work very hard on his own.  He did improve a lot.  But one of the things that we had noticed about him and the TD told us at the new place was that my kid 'rises to the level of play'.  The TD told us that our kid actually looks better and plays better when surrounded by better kids.  His style of play is much better with kids around him that play the same style.

I do hear so much frustration from parents and kids are our original/first Club.  They are very unhappy, but keep going back for more.  Yet, they judge those that actually do something about it and leave.  I get that some of them don't want a commute to practice, etc. But, I don't get why they bad mouth others that make that choice.

We are now at a place with top U14 players and I can tell you almost every kid there has been at more than one Club in their development thus far.  It was worth it for us.  [/quote]

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