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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid attended, while I sat in the car, sipping coffee and catching up on phone calls to family members, a pleasant 90 minutes. Thus, disclaimer: my information about the tryout itself is all second hand from a tween boy ...

It was mostly scrimmages; kid felt there was not enough space (11v11 on a space appropriate for 7v7) and that few players seemed to have very many touches on the ball; teams seemed unbalanced in terms of talent and in terms of the type of players on a team (e.g., a team with 11 boys and 8 who play defender for their club) and he had no idea how the teams were chosen; within a team, the way the 11 boys decided on positions and formation for the scrimmage was left completely up to them, with the results you'd expect from such an approach with 12/13 year old boys who don't know one another lol ...

But overall he said it was "fine" and that he had fun and is glad he went. So all's well that ends well. We aren't expecting much to come of it but it was an experience. [/quote]

You used the word teams quite a bit for something that had nothing to do with teams.
All individuals were in the same situation in the same environment it sounds like, so the individuals who adapted and stood out have better recruitment chances.[/quote]

Yes, you're right - thank you. I forgot soccer is an individual sport and the concept of a "team" or "teamwork" or any sort of organized approach from players thrown onto the pitch with the same pinny color is irrelevant. Done rightly, soccer is a really just a bunch of individuals all running around doing their own thing without regard to any "team" ... my mistake lol[/quote]

So, DC United U14's next year will be the 11 kids wearing team-orange pinnies [/quote]

Or maybe it will be the 11 kids from the 3 strong teams who dominated possession against the 6 weaker teams and therefore had far more opportunities to get noticed.[/quote]

Yes, because scouts look at team possession. Not individual skillsets. [/quote]

Yes, and playing a scrimmage where Team A is comprised of much more skilled players than Team B has no bearing on whether a skilled player on Team B will even be able to get the ball and have a chance to demonstrate skill. Soccer is an entirely individual sport and strong teammates---oops, sorry, there's that word again---I mean, "strong players wearing the same color pinny as you" have zero effect on your ability to show your skillset. [/quote]

If you can't touch the ball in a pick-up scrimmage and show skills with (even limited touches)  and without the ball, the highest level isn't for you.[/quote]

I shouldn't respond but alas, I cannot resist.

First, I'm not complaining and I really don't care one way or the other -- my kid liked going to the DCU tryout; I'm not even sure we'd allow him to join DCU if given the chance (logistics, schoolwork, etc.) and he likes his current club.

But you've picked an argument so here's the counterpoint: If I put you on an 11v11 scrimmage squad with ten second graders and put you up against 11 players from the Argentina international team, you would have zero chance to "touch the ball" and "show skills" because your team would be overwhelmed as they toyed with you.

While it's an extreme example, it makes the point that soccer is a team sport and clearly one's teammates in a scrimmage are not meaningless--the more balanced the teams are, the more opportunities you will have to receive the ball and demonstrate skills (both offensively and defensively).

Does that mean players on a weaker side have ZERO opportunities to get touches and demonstrate skills? No, not zero. And I never said zero chances. I was simply conveying what my kid had told me--that in his view (on which I put the secondhand info from a tween disclaimer) the teams were unbalanced, and therefore the opportunities to demonstrate skill were not even roughly equal for players on different scrimmage teams.

I don't know how the scrimmage teams were picked--maybe there was a method to it. I don't know if the scrimmage teams were mixed up in between each scrimmage (I frankly wasn't that interested and didn't even ask my kid). And as I said, this is all second-hand coming from my kid, so he may not have even been correct that the teams were unbalanced. I don't know one way or the other myself. But it's not irrelevant or I wouldn't have mentioned it. [/quote]

Strong player on the weak team will stand out more than strong players on team of strong players. [/quote]

I can't believe there are multiple posters arguing against the importance of having a strong team around you to help showcase your talent.  It's true of any team sport.  Maybe basketball is different.  And baseball.  The above statement is absurd.  [/quote]

That's because you don't understand the art, skill and expertise of soccer scouting.

Messi with 10 bums still looks like Messi[/quote]

Oh.  good example.  didn't think about that.  (because it doesn't apply to literally anyone else in the world).  I'm sure I don't understand team sports.  I'm tired of folks on here acting like soccer is some unknowable realm.  I hate to break it to all you posters who have coached, have played Div. 1, or are just from another country where you think your knowledge is superior, solely for that fact.

Team sports, and development within those sports, is not chemical engineering.  It's not quantum physics.  Just because you played a sport doesn't mean your knowledge is superior to anyone who has taken the time to try to understand it.  Or that you know the "right" answers on how to develop a player individually or develop players as a club.  This is easily demonstrated by the fact that coaches, and former players, and national football structures have different approaches to development and match play.  My son had a coach who refused to talk to parents about soccer development or strategy, unless they had a played at a high level.  He specifically exempted two parents.  :)  He said, you wouldn't talk to a surgeon about how they do their job, so don't talk to me about how I do mine.  It's a laughable comparison.     [/quote]

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