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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So is it true that the clubs only care about the 3-4 top players on the top team? I know it’s true with the coach at our club. I do not think most of the parent see it. Too caught up about being on the top team. [/quote]

Have seen multiple sides of this with my kid.  Has been considered one of the strongest player on a few teams and a peripheral player on other teams.  Had coaches that treated all players fairly equally and coaches that clearly favored some players based on level of play and other factors.

So far my observation is that the coaches who strongly favor and only seem to care about some players create a bad team environment and a lot of dissatisfaction.  Right now my kid is probably one of the stronger players on a team where the coach treats all players fairly equally.  Every once in a while I catch myself thinking why isn't my kid getting this or that.  Then I remember what a crummy atmosphere that creates and trust the coach to figure it out.[/quote]

+100   We have had 2 kids in travel soccer, and other kids in other travel sports.  We have seen the spectrum - both from where our kids are (top or bottom) and where the coaches are (treat evenly, favor the strongest, favor the politics - you name it).    Some coaches are good at treating players fairly/equally and creating the right culture - with kids and parents.   Kids can thrive, and not solely from a sports sense.   It maybe rare, if reading these boards, but f you can find that environment, its a blessing.   Knowing what I know now, I would do more due diligence on the club/coach for that.   You can still end up with something that doesn't work - but it's worth a try.  [/quote]

We've been with big Clubs and fairly smaller ones.  I always see a few players completely lionized at age 8-9. They are the next great Messi.  This tends to be at the Big/medium Clubs.  The kids are treated differently by everyone in the Club.  Sometimes they have older siblings on top teams, sometimes their Nationality seems to grab the attention---I mean, isn't everyone that speaks Spanish a fantastic soccer player?

By U13, most of these kids are not around.  Some are fat and lazy by then.  Most get eclipsed by kids that are developing, changing over time---and, more importantly, have a very strong work ethic.

When my kids started out and I pointed out one so 'superstar' to my dad who coached Travel for decades, he told me he saw a million kids like that and they don't usually pan out.  Well, that one 'superstar' now at U13 isn't even playing anymore.

In my household, my younger Child was treated really special by his Coaches when he started at the travel Club.  They even used to call him 'little Pele'. The kid does have charisma. My other child, quiet, shy and modest, was basically ignored no matter how well he was doing and leading his, albeit, lower team.

Flash forward 6 years later, and guess which one of my kids is exceling?  My younger one really doesn't care much or put in time on his own.  Once kids started catching up to him, he kind of settled for status quo.  My older one was always in the backyard trying to improve.  He is determined to accomplish skills.  He spent one frustrating summer at age 9 trying to get 10 consistent juggles, but he never gave up and 6 months later he was doing 1,000.  He just mastered the 'around the World'---youtube after youtube video.  He is always playing 'wall ball'.  Sometimes it's time to leave for practice and I can't find him...he's out in the backyard practicing before he goes to practice.

Where is my younger one?  Snuck downstairs to play Fortnite on Xbox.

Coaches really need to be careful how they treat kids when developing.  But, sometimes, I think the overall shitty treatment my first one got is the reason he is so determined.  For instance, he would do everything asked of him to move up and then 10 times more and nothing would happen.  He would get played up and be the one that scored all the goals and nothing happened.  His Coaches would tell those in the Group that this kid needed to move up--dead ears.  He did have a few great mentors along the way, lower team Coaches that believed in him and kept his spirits up and we made sure to find places for him to train with Coaches that believed in him.  He's now surpassed all those kids in the Club he left that were the young stars.  But, he never thinks he's good enough and always wants to improve and his determination/passion which a lot of times was mistaken for 'mental weakness' by early coaches has been the biggest key to his improvement.  It's been a good lesson of perseverance and grit.

I am a big proponent of a developmental model that gives every kid a chance throughout U9-U12, the Iceland way.  When you sort and cut some kids off early and banish them to the lower teams and don't give them equal time, you just might have missed out on a kid that could have developed into something great. [/quote]

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