Anonymous wrote:Make no mistake, player evals aren't for the players. They are for the parents. The players know where they stand. Evals are so the parents aren't blindsided if little Jimmy gets demoted to the B team.

This is one reason for them, but not the only. They do help for younger players most I think. Older players should have a better relationship with the coach and investment in their own outcome. More than any bi-yearly evaluation could help. I do like the above poster talking about speaking with the coach, but it really depends on the coach and their willingness to be brutally honest. Some parents (including me) want that kind of honesty. Some don't, because they think they are paying a lot of money for their kid to get better and that's all on the coach.

I think a 10min conversation with the coach (if they come prepared) is valuable. Sideline coaching is very different than a one on one. I expect the coach to cover both strengths and weaknesses and make suggestions on how to make improvements in and outside of practice. I done expect a through write up but at least a way to ask questions and get feedback is helpful. Granted if the coach is just checking the boxes because they are required to do it then it adds no value. As a parent I don’t expect much but a 10min chat mid year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our club has yet to do them this year, despite having a full Fall season. Last year (2019-20) we had evaluations in the December/January timeframe, which were very helpful for individual development goals. Curious what most local ECNL/GAL/MLSNext clubs have done this year in terms of player evals.

We have never had them. Don’t need them. ECNL kids should know what they need to work on

Seems kind of weird to pooh pooh feedback. Everyone, no matter their level, can benefit from focused feedback, whether it be sports, school, work, etc.

Again... lots of coaches don’t teach the game. They just force on players how they played the game.

Isn’t this why coaches are paid to do what they do? It is called... I don’t know.... COACHING? If ECNL/GAL players knew their strengths and weaknesses so well, why have coaches at all? Let’s just have the players coach themselves!

My kid had a mid season evaluation. She did 95% of the talking and the coach didn’t add any value. Fortunately the coach is gone next fall, so that’s good. Personally, ‘evals’ should happen every practice and after every game in a natural way. Maybe once a year the coach provides a scorecard and suggested drills for kid to do for each scored factor. The kid can ask for clarity where needed. Other than that, keep the corporate performance management crap out of kids soccer. They’ll be enough of that once they join the workforce.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make no mistake, player evals aren't for the players. They are for the parents. The players know where they stand. Evals are so the parents aren't blindsided if little Jimmy gets demoted to the B team.

+1. Hard to imagine a player at the ECNL / GA level doesn’t know their own strengths and weaknesses.

I’ll take “what’s wrong with American soccer development for 100”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make no mistake, player evals aren't for the players. They are for the parents. The players know where they stand. Evals are so the parents aren't blindsided if little Jimmy gets demoted to the B team.

+1. Hard to imagine a player at the ECNL / GA level doesn’t know their own strengths and weaknesses.

Indeed coach, let’s trust teenagers to make the right choices while you slack off.

Anonymous wrote:Make no mistake, player evals aren't for the players. They are for the parents. The players know where they stand. Evals are so the parents aren't blindsided if little Jimmy gets demoted to the B team.

+1. Hard to imagine a player at the ECNL / GA level doesn’t know their own strengths and weaknesses.

Make no mistake, player evals aren't for the players. They are for the parents. The players know where they stand. Evals are so the parents aren't blindsided if little Jimmy gets demoted to the B team.

Anonymous wrote:Our club has yet to do them this year, despite having a full Fall season. Last year (2019-20) we had evaluations in the December/January timeframe, which were very helpful for individual development goals. Curious what most local ECNL/GAL/MLSNext clubs have done this year in terms of player evals.

We have never had them. Don’t need them. ECNL kids should know what they need to work on

We had them on our 09 team in McLean.

Our club has yet to do them this year, despite having a full Fall season. Last year (2019-20) we had evaluations in the December/January timeframe, which were very helpful for individual development goals. Curious what most local ECNL/GAL/MLSNext clubs have done this year in terms of player evals.