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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I learned all about development vs. winning -- or so I thought. It took many years for it to truly sink in. Maybe it was around the time I realized I'd seen kids lose games by 10 or 20 goals at U9 and then go on to play D1 college soccer.

Like all good ideas, the emphasis on development over winning can go to extremes. A lot of travel coaches refuse to [b]teach their kids proper technique for throw-ins or efficient, effective ways to take goal kicks[/b], which means we lose about half the time of a short U9 game just trying to get the ball back in play. I once saw a college coach gripe about losing to a team that used long throw-ins, because *he* was developing *his* players for a higher level. The next day, I turned on my TV and watched a Premier League team use long throw-ins.

But to take this back to rankings -- the old youthsoccerrankings site that was purchased and then shut down by a corporate entity of some kind (can't remember which) was useful in a sense because it showed which teams were in which leagues and what sort of level of play was offered in each. With a bit of digging, you could find that clubs in a so-called "elite" league tended to lose all their tournament games to clubs in other leagues, and you could do what you will with that information.

If you really want team rankings, though, check out Top Drawer Soccer. I'd suggest focusing mostly on U17 and maybe U16. It's still too early to tell at U13. Then U18 is always an oddball because players have often moved on to U19 -- and because the very best U18s and U19s are signing pro contracts. Or graduating from high school.

What I'd really love to see, though, is a ranking based on which clubs have produced the most players for the pros and college. [/quote]

Amazingly, the kids who watch high level soccer on tv which gives them some soccer IQ don't need much coaching on this[/quote]

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