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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have so say it's fascinating to watch at u13 the players whose primary claim to fame was aggressiveness and size no longer being as valuable if they have no speed and no touch. One of our 'star' players from last season is no longer a starter because their main skill was 'overly' aggressive. My kid is a small and fast one with decent foot skills and is finally being given a chance. At u12, the bigger kids took up more space on the smaller field so it didn't matter if they couldn't pass and didn't have speed; that's no longer true and it's delightful to watch.[/quote]

Why is it delightful to watch though?[/quote]

oh gosh... for so many reasons. mainly karma though. Going way back, my DS was the only one out of his u8 cohort to go straight to the third team. He was a 'starter' (for whatever that means at that age) on that u8 team but somehow got overlooked when making decisions for u9. The tall u8 players, many who weren't starters at u8,  went straight to the top team. U10 year, DS moves up to second team and some of the tall kids were dropped from the top team to second team. Those tall kids were starters for first part of the season, my DS not so much. By end of season, my DS was a starter, the other kids were not. Some of those tall kids that had been moved down from first team quit soccer because they were 'unfairly' being moved down according to the parents. Going into u11 year, i'm thinking that with my kid being a starter on a very good second team, he'll have a decent chance at top team. Nope, they brought in a bunch of external kids (not overly a surprise) that were tall and aggressive (not a surprise) for the tall team. Then the second team got a last minute new coach and a couple more kids came down from the top team (from that original cohort) and we repeat the u10 year again.. my kid doesn't start because they're too small.. the kids moving down from the top team start at the beginning of the season but not at the end. Some of them quit because their families liked being on the top team but hate being on the second team. Then its u12 tryouts and we have a new TD who's watching practice. They see my kid and they make a note to the coach along the lines of 'this kid is technically better than most of your top team players, move them onto the top team'. So DS finally gets moved up to top team. The only remaining kids from that u8 cohort are moved down from the top team and suddenly they can't talk to my family anymore. They were happy to be friends with our family while their kids were on the top team, but once my kid moves to the top team, they want nothing to do with us and we're relegated to the passive aggressive head nod and move on greeting. Shockingly, at u12, my kid is not a starter at beginning of the season. Then, by the end of the season, they're starting despite being small. Even then, coach is like, "u13 is different, i can't have short kids that get pushed around on the team, regardless of how good they are. And btw, i'm bringing in some tall and aggressive kids from another team that I used to coach." U13 season starts and suddenly those tall and aggressive kids (the new ones and the ones from last year) aren't adapting too well to the big field- its too much running, they never learned positioning, and they can't make easy passes on the field. Suddenly, after being told my kid wasn't good enough because they're too small for years... and now they're a starter because the big & tall kids never learned technical skills. I mean, coach rewarded them with playing time just for being big and aggressive, so I can see why they'd be pissed now. But we've been dealing with our kid getting overlooked for more than 4 years, and no one else cared. So yeah, it's hard to shed a tear when someone else's son isn't getting playing time when they wouldn't talk to us because my kid wasn't a starter. And yet now, all the other families of starters want to be friends with us since my DS is a starter, while the parents of the newly non-starters just glare at us. All this is such soccer bs at the end of the day and i hate all of that. I get why everyone wants their kid to be a starter, i just don't have much sympathy for those who treated us poorly while we were slowly moving up the soccer ladder and while my son was told by each coach that they couldn't be a good player because they were small.

So yeah, i'm delighted because no coach ever gave my kid special treatment and no parent ever thought my kid was good enough for the top team, and "suddenly" they're a starter on a great team despite being small. I imagine my kid isn't the only small kid on that journey, but no one has ever given my kid a fair chance. For all the other parents of small & good kids, just remember that it takes longer to move up the ladder along with some luck, but it is so much more meaningful at each step because you know your kid had to earn that spot, despite their poor genetics.[/quote]

This was so long I didn’t read it all, but geez, you sound bitter and paranoid. I have a kid who is very fast and tall and aggressive. That must really make you mad! Not every kid who is tall is slow and lumbering, and not every small kid is fast.[/quote]  Not PP, but your kid better gain some skills or he will be riding the bench. [/quote]

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