Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, would you rather your kids get their asses kicked in high leagues/tournament brackets or be competitive in lower leagues/brackets? Honest question.

As a parent, I hate the feeling of watching my kids' teams lose big.

DP. Our coach specifically looks for tournaments where they will end up competing against teams beyond their current level. We always get our asses locked in tournaments. But in his view, we spend most of the season competing in a division where we are competitive, so tournaments are a good opportunity to to play against much better teams and learn from them. Sure, it’s a bummer to watch your kid’s team get blown out, but it’s also really exciting when you see them play unexpectedly close because they’ve really risen to the challenge.

Bonus, we always know we can make plans for Sunday afternoon of a tournament weekend. 😆

PP, I think that's a great strategy and works well--as long as there's buy-in from the kids AND their parents.

I think it's a very selfish strategy. The teams you are playing against are paying for and traveling to the tournament too. They don't want their time wasted by administering an ass kicking to an inferior team - they want good competition on their own level. Enter the bracket you are suited for.

Anonymous wrote:do you ever get the sense that coaches don't put in the effort they should into coaching their teams?

For example coaches who coach 3+ teams at the club and the teams they work with don't improve that significantly over time.

Some of these types of coaches just make sure their teams stay in lower league divisions or at the bottom tournament brackets to keep clear of better teams that will expose their team's many weak points.

does anyone have experience with this?

Every team has a coach. Why should a team improve relative to other teams which also have coaches? Surely only above average coaches should expect their teams to improve?

So are you asking if some coaches are average?

Yes. Some coaches are average. Some coaches are below average and their teams actually get worse compared to other teams. Some coaches are above average and their teams do improve.

That is the nature of bell curves, distributions, and averages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, would you rather your kids get their asses kicked in high leagues/tournament brackets or be competitive in lower leagues/brackets? Honest question.

As a parent, I hate the feeling of watching my kids' teams lose big.

DP. Our coach specifically looks for tournaments where they will end up competing against teams beyond their current level. We always get our asses locked in tournaments. But in his view, we spend most of the season competing in a division where we are competitive, so tournaments are a good opportunity to to play against much better teams and learn from them. Sure, it’s a bummer to watch your kid’s team get blown out, but it’s also really exciting when you see them play unexpectedly close because they’ve really risen to the challenge.

Bonus, we always know we can make plans for Sunday afternoon of a tournament weekend. 😆

PP, I think that's a great strategy and works well--as long as there's buy-in from the kids AND their parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do you ever get the sense that coaches don't put in the effort they should into coaching their teams?

For example coaches who coach 3+ teams at the club and the teams they work with don't improve that significantly over time.

Some of these types of coaches just make sure their teams stay in lower league divisions or at the bottom tournament brackets to keep clear of better teams that will expose their team's many weak points.

does anyone have experience with this?

I get the sense the player pool just might not be that good or committed either such that no amount or quality of coaching could overcome it. If they are already in low level league divisions they are probably ODSL level/barely above rec level to begin with.

Player pool is more of an issue than anything. For a small club, it's hard to get a whole team that can compete at a high level. That same core at a larger club may have a better 8-15 just because there are more kids to choose from and may end up being much better

Player pool is an impact to a degree - you won’t get a team of athletes from most small clubs that will be able to compete at the top level with the big clubs - but that absolutely does not mean that they can’t learn and improve over the course of the season and find a good competition level in league and tournament play.

I will absolutely say there are un-invested coaches. Some of them coach full time, some have “real” jobs and coach on the side. They are just there to do the minimum and get paid - throw out some discs, run some activities, send the kids home. No real development plan for the season, no thought out session plan to break something down, explain it, teach techniques, discuss application in a match, and increase pressure to get to game situations, then follow through in the matches. Little instruction, little coaching, just showing up and doing some babysitting thinly disguised as soccer. Now, I don’t know if it is all a lack of caring, some of them may just not know how to connect/coach certain ages, some are just incompetent - that falls on the technical leadership of the club for not properly training the coaches or putting them in the right spots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do you ever get the sense that coaches don't put in the effort they should into coaching their teams?

For example coaches who coach 3+ teams at the club and the teams they work with don't improve that significantly over time.

Some of these types of coaches just make sure their teams stay in lower league divisions or at the bottom tournament brackets to keep clear of better teams that will expose their team's many weak points.

does anyone have experience with this?

I get the sense the player pool just might not be that good or committed either such that no amount or quality of coaching could overcome it. If they are already in low level league divisions they are probably ODSL level/barely above rec level to begin with.

Player pool is more of an issue than anything. For a small club, it's hard to get a whole team that can compete at a high level. That same core at a larger club may have a better 8-15 just because there are more kids to choose from and may end up being much better

Anonymous wrote:OP, would you rather your kids get their asses kicked in high leagues/tournament brackets or be competitive in lower leagues/brackets? Honest question.

As a parent, I hate the feeling of watching my kids' teams lose big.

DP. Our coach specifically looks for tournaments where they will end up competing against teams beyond their current level. We always get our asses locked in tournaments. But in his view, we spend most of the season competing in a division where we are competitive, so tournaments are a good opportunity to to play against much better teams and learn from them. Sure, it’s a bummer to watch your kid’s team get blown out, but it’s also really exciting when you see them play unexpectedly close because they’ve really risen to the challenge.

Bonus, we always know we can make plans for Sunday afternoon of a tournament weekend. 😆

We have had non-invested coaches, but not for the reasons you say. Most of them had other jobs besides coaching, it was not their primary gig (e.g., teaching, their own business of some sort). I get it - coaching doesn't pay well, and they need something else. The teams weren't that good, and I got the sense they just determined they could not improve them and phoned it in.

Anonymous wrote:OP, would you rather your kids get their asses kicked in high leagues/tournament brackets or be competitive in lower leagues/brackets? Honest question.

As a parent, I hate the feeling of watching my kids' teams lose big.

Me too. I like to watch my kids play games where they are evenly matched the most time. Of if they’re winning all the time, that the games have been close and competitive.

If you look at scores, there is sometimes a team or two who is in a division where they should not be and getting their butts whooped really bad. Kudos to those teams though for showing up and seeing the season through to the end.

OP, would you rather your kids get their asses kicked in high leagues/tournament brackets or be competitive in lower leagues/brackets? Honest question.

As a parent, I hate the feeling of watching my kids' teams lose big.

1) There are many good coaches but definitely not enough due to the large number of soccer clubs/teams in the DMV.

2) Due to the large number of youth players that joined travel teams because of their parents and not because of their love/passion of the game. Some of them even lack athleticism.

3) Due to parents equating wins with development, clubs and coaches push for immediate wins. (I am sure there are many exceptions). I’ve also seen parents regularly moving their DC to different clubs every year.

All of this is nothing new.

We have the opposite. Coach really pushes the kids and put them in high divisions for tournaments. It’s surprising how well they’ve done considering. Coach asks way more of them than other coaches and seems to be paying off.

Anonymous wrote:do you ever get the sense that coaches don't put in the effort they should into coaching their teams?

For example coaches who coach 3+ teams at the club and the teams they work with don't improve that significantly over time.

Some of these types of coaches just make sure their teams stay in lower league divisions or at the bottom tournament brackets to keep clear of better teams that will expose their team's many weak points.

does anyone have experience with this?

I get the sense the player pool just might not be that good or committed either such that no amount or quality of coaching could overcome it. If they are already in low level league divisions they are probably ODSL level/barely above rec level to begin with.

Anonymous wrote:do you ever get the sense that coaches don't put in the effort they should into coaching their teams?

For example coaches who coach 3+ teams at the club and the teams they work with don't improve that significantly over time.

Some of these types of coaches just make sure their teams stay in lower league divisions or at the bottom tournament brackets to keep clear of better teams that will expose their team's many weak points.

does anyone have experience with this?

Yes! All coaches do this!

Steve Baldwin did.

do you ever get the sense that coaches don't put in the effort they should into coaching their teams?

For example coaches who coach 3+ teams at the club and the teams they work with don't improve that significantly over time.

Some of these types of coaches just make sure their teams stay in lower league divisions or at the bottom tournament brackets to keep clear of better teams that will expose their team's many weak points.

does anyone have experience with this?