Reply to Achilles - how hard to make a U10 team?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When I read this, I had to laugh. Whoever wrote this is being totally and completely disingenuous. I wouldn't even be surprised if the author is working for the club.  I will try to cut through the bs and shed some light on the truth. The current 09 team (rising 10 team) is very good. No child trying out should expect to make that team (or the #1 team if there are 2) unless they are an incredibly strong player. I don't know if the current 09s (rising 10s) have a second team. However, if they do, it will be a SAM Select team---meaning, there is pretty much no comparison between the two teams. The EDP team will get all of the focus and best practice times and the SAM team will receive good training, but not much else despite paying the same amount. [b]There is barely any movement between #1 team and #2 team ever. The head coach tells parents that to placate them. From the get go, he has pretty much determined who is on the #1 team and who will never be[/b]. And, yes, it is completely true that the rosters are too big that and several kids are not likely to get any play time, particularly if it is a competitive game. Trust me--there might not be a "red, white or blue team" but unless kids are oblivious, they "know their place". [/quote]

New soccer parents here.  What do you mean by "From the get go, he has pretty much determined who is on the #1 team and who will never be"?  How does the coach determine if player A is better than player B?  Is a fair system if the coach is the final arbiter?

Sorry I have to ask because I swam in HS and the coach determines the roster and starting spot is the time trial.[/quote]    
As for comparing to swimming, rostering in soccer is always a challenge. Achilles coaches, like most coaches in the world, choose rosters that set their teams up best to be successful at their style of play.  Even professional coaches at the highest levels make decisions that most wonder about. People still wonder why Klinsman dropped Landon Donovan from the World Cup roster years ago, and the same happens weekly in every league from youth to pro. Achilles coaches do their best at every level and agonize about who will improve each team.[/quote]

There’s a lot of confusing talk on here. Achilles coaches will select their best available rosters for each team and each age. It’s hard to imagine why any coach would do it differently. The only big difference is that rosters are rearranged throughout the year based in kids’ performance in practices and games, rather than the standard model of only adjusting once a year or season.  Also incredibly important is that Achilles training is excellent.

Yes, it is to be expected that most coaches would select their best available roster for each team and each age. However, Achilles portrayed itself as a true development club, which it is not. There is also the promise that " that rosters are rearranged throughout the year based in kids’ performance in practices and games, rather than the standard model of only adjusting once a year or season." Practically speaking, [b]very[/b][u] few kids move between the A team and B/C team, unless of course, they need to fill a roster. For the most part, Sal is the one making the decisions, despite the other coaches having a lot to offer. Sal is very difficult to deal with and parents are afraid to confront him for fear that he will take it out on their kids. 
[/quote]

Another parent here - I agree with this last statement 100%. The most movement has been in U-13 group but that’s only bc there aren’t enough kids to fill the A team roster. And even then, the kids that play A team games (other than a handful of permanently rostered kids) are usually U12 A team kids asked to play up rather than B team U-13 kids asked to move up for a particular game.  Sal is the only one making roster decisions from week to week with little or no input from the other coaches (who are very good and frankly IMO better coaches from a overall development standpoint) as PP noted.  And also as another PP said, Sal does not attend B team practices or games, so there’s no way he would have a solid idea of how the B team players are doing. It is the opinion of more than one parent that he doesn’t really care - evidenced also by the fact that the B team kids are only getting training 2x per week as opposed to 3x for A teams. The icing on the cake for U13 kids is that half the fall A team (EDP) was relegated to SAM Select for the spring season with no warning or explanation or any communication from Sal at all. Their weekly practices dropped from 3 to 2. I can only imagine how those kids feel. Certainly not “nurtured.”  Even on the A teams there are favorites who play every game and kids who sit out for entire matches. Young kids sitting out for entire matches. They don’t feel too nurtured either. We are leaving. [/quote]

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