Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:Geez, we need user IDs on here.

So anyway -- how good a player needs to be to make travel really varies. Some coaches will want to see legit ball skills. Some will just take athletes. But not paid professionals, of course.

Travel is a waste of time. Talented players should all go to MSI Classic, where the licensed parent coaches who played in college are. It’s totally not hit or miss.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:Geez, we need user IDs on here.

So anyway -- how good a player needs to be to make travel really varies. Some coaches will want to see legit ball skills. Some will just take athletes. But not paid professionals, of course.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Read what you just wrote. Yes it is. No one is disputing these coaches exist, as another poster said.

And yet I just read this ...

Almost all coaches in MSI Classic are parents and they are nice people but I haven't met a single one who is able to coach at the level of a paid professional.

THAT is anecdotal evidence, and the generalization has been refuted.

If you don't want to believe there are tons of parent coaches out there who are better qualified than the 24-year-old dude who just finished the grassroots courses, I don't know what to tell you.

Peeking now at a couple of clubs that I don't want to single out (in part because they're nice enough to list their coaches' credentials on their sites, which many clubs do NOT do):

- A club's girls travel director has a D license and topped out his playing career at PDL. (No college playing experience listed.)

- Same club has a coach with an E license, though he has an NSCAA goalkeeping diploma.

- Another coach is a D license "candidate"

- Moving to another club: Coach of two travel teams played at minor colleges and has an E license.

- Another has an E and also played minor-college soccer

- Another played college *club* soccer and has an E. Also plays over-40 soccer

- Another played college *intramurals* and has an E.

- Another club: E license

- Another club: Coach played at NOVA and got E license. Also served as *travel director* for a small club.

Of course, credentials don't mean everything. Some of these coaches may be terrific. The younger ones all have to start somewhere (though maybe they should try a rec team before they move up to travel?).

You do have to wonder, though, about people who say they've been coaching professionally for seven years and can't be bothered to get a D license. Yeah, coaching education should be more accessible in this country, but that's plenty of time.

If you just got out of a big-time college program AND have a good rapport with kids, great. Someone in my E license course a few years ago met that description. (She didn't stick in youth soccer very long, though -- she's now an assistant at Maryland.)

But do you really think there aren't coaches at MSI Classic who can't match up favorably with some of the coaches above? Or perhaps a coach who got a D license but just shouts nonsense at players all day? (We've all seen those coaches, haven't we? If not, I'd venture to say you've never seen fewer than three travel soccer games in your life.)

So ... shall we move on?

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks, This is not complicated.

Re: Classic/Select, go to the managers of the league and ask.

Re: Travel, go to the online ranking services and see who the top teams are. Then research the clubs or the coaches. For example, if you research U13, you will see that MRM Rush is the top club and can see how they have performed against ECNL teams. You will see that the same coach also coaches a U14 teams that is also highly ranked. Dig further and you will see that the same coach and co-coach have major experience and success sending players to the top DI programs. Then ask around.

I can't tell you who the best coach or team is for your kid but the process is not difficult. My kids have had classic/select coaches that were Argentine's who played professionally but now work in the area and others who played at the collegiate level and coached travel but have other priorities, i.e. kids. There are some coaches who have plans to move to travel after a year or two of classic.

Do you have anything new to say? You keep repeating. First of all MSI Classic is not the same thing as a professionally coached select team. Almost all coaches in MSI Classic are parents and they are nice people but I haven't met a single one who is able to coach at the level of a paid professional.

Shenanigans. Seriously.

I can't imagine there are no D license or even C license coaches in MSI Classic. Probably someone who played college soccer, too, and combines playing experience with coaching expertise. Geez -- I know a couple of people who meet that description from rec league.

Meanwhile, tons of "paid professionals" are just now getting their D licenses. And many of those who get that license are clueless people who get through that training and still think they can coach U10s the same way they were coached on their community-college teams but some dude who just screamed at them all the time.

On the WHOLE, OK, the average "paid professional" is going to be better than the average parent. But the top 20 percent of parent coaches will be better than half of the paid people. Many of the paid people have no clue how to deal with kids or how to teach, even if they played at a half-decent level. A lot of parents pick up those skills as they raise their kids and deal with other youth activities.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks, This is not complicated.

Re: Classic/Select, go to the managers of the league and ask.

Re: Travel, go to the online ranking services and see who the top teams are. Then research the clubs or the coaches. For example, if you research U13, you will see that MRM Rush is the top club and can see how they have performed against ECNL teams. You will see that the same coach also coaches a U14 teams that is also highly ranked. Dig further and you will see that the same coach and co-coach have major experience and success sending players to the top DI programs. Then ask around.

I can't tell you who the best coach or team is for your kid but the process is not difficult. My kids have had classic/select coaches that were Argentine's who played professionally but now work in the area and others who played at the collegiate level and coached travel but have other priorities, i.e. kids. There are some coaches who have plans to move to travel after a year or two of classic.

Do you have anything new to say? You keep repeating. First of all MSI Classic is not the same thing as a professionally coached select team. Almost all coaches in MSI Classic are parents and they are nice people but I haven't met a single one who is able to coach at the level of a paid professional.

Shenanigans. Seriously.

I can't imagine there are no D license or even C license coaches in MSI Classic. Probably someone who played college soccer, too, and combines playing experience with coaching expertise. Geez -- I know a couple of people who meet that description from rec league.

Meanwhile, tons of "paid professionals" are just now getting their D licenses. And many of those who get that license are clueless people who get through that training and still think they can coach U10s the same way they were coached on their community-college teams but some dude who just screamed at them all the time.

On the WHOLE, OK, the average "paid professional" is going to be better than the average parent. But the top 20 percent of parent coaches will be better than half of the paid people. Many of the paid people have no clue how to deal with kids or how to teach, even if they played at a half-decent level. A lot of parents pick up those skills as they raise their kids and deal with other youth activities.

This is anecdotal at best

No, it's not.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks, This is not complicated.

Re: Classic/Select, go to the managers of the league and ask.

Re: Travel, go to the online ranking services and see who the top teams are. Then research the clubs or the coaches. For example, if you research U13, you will see that MRM Rush is the top club and can see how they have performed against ECNL teams. You will see that the same coach also coaches a U14 teams that is also highly ranked. Dig further and you will see that the same coach and co-coach have major experience and success sending players to the top DI programs. Then ask around.

I can't tell you who the best coach or team is for your kid but the process is not difficult. My kids have had classic/select coaches that were Argentine's who played professionally but now work in the area and others who played at the collegiate level and coached travel but have other priorities, i.e. kids. There are some coaches who have plans to move to travel after a year or two of classic.

Do you have anything new to say? You keep repeating. First of all MSI Classic is not the same thing as a professionally coached select team. Almost all coaches in MSI Classic are parents and they are nice people but I haven't met a single one who is able to coach at the level of a paid professional.

Shenanigans. Seriously.

I can't imagine there are no D license or even C license coaches in MSI Classic. Probably someone who played college soccer, too, and combines playing experience with coaching expertise. Geez -- I know a couple of people who meet that description from rec league.

Meanwhile, tons of "paid professionals" are just now getting their D licenses. And many of those who get that license are clueless people who get through that training and still think they can coach U10s the same way they were coached on their community-college teams but some dude who just screamed at them all the time.

On the WHOLE, OK, the average "paid professional" is going to be better than the average parent. But the top 20 percent of parent coaches will be better than half of the paid people. Many of the paid people have no clue how to deal with kids or how to teach, even if they played at a half-decent level. A lot of parents pick up those skills as they raise their kids and deal with other youth activities.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks, This is not complicated.

Re: Classic/Select, go to the managers of the league and ask.

Re: Travel, go to the online ranking services and see who the top teams are. Then research the clubs or the coaches. For example, if you research U13, you will see that MRM Rush is the top club and can see how they have performed against ECNL teams. You will see that the same coach also coaches a U14 teams that is also highly ranked. Dig further and you will see that the same coach and co-coach have major experience and success sending players to the top DI programs. Then ask around.

I can't tell you who the best coach or team is for your kid but the process is not difficult. My kids have had classic/select coaches that were Argentine's who played professionally but now work in the area and others who played at the collegiate level and coached travel but have other priorities, i.e. kids. There are some coaches who have plans to move to travel after a year or two of classic.

Do you have anything new to say? You keep repeating. First of all MSI Classic is not the same thing as a professionally coached select team. Almost all coaches in MSI Classic are parents and they are nice people but I haven't met a single one who is able to coach at the level of a paid professional.

Shenanigans. Seriously.

I can't imagine there are no D license or even C license coaches in MSI Classic. Probably someone who played college soccer, too, and combines playing experience with coaching expertise. Geez -- I know a couple of people who meet that description from rec league.

Meanwhile, tons of "paid professionals" are just now getting their D licenses. And many of those who get that license are clueless people who get through that training and still think they can coach U10s the same way they were coached on their community-college teams but some dude who just screamed at them all the time.

On the WHOLE, OK, the average "paid professional" is going to be better than the average parent. But the top 20 percent of parent coaches will be better than half of the paid people. Many of the paid people have no clue how to deal with kids or how to teach, even if they played at a half-decent level. A lot of parents pick up those skills as they raise their kids and deal with other youth activities.

Anonymous wrote:Folks, This is not complicated.

Re: Classic/Select, go to the managers of the league and ask.

Re: Travel, go to the online ranking services and see who the top teams are. Then research the clubs or the coaches. For example, if you research U13, you will see that MRM Rush is the top club and can see how they have performed against ECNL teams. You will see that the same coach also coaches a U14 teams that is also highly ranked. Dig further and you will see that the same coach and co-coach have major experience and success sending players to the top DI programs. Then ask around.

I can't tell you who the best coach or team is for your kid but the process is not difficult. My kids have had classic/select coaches that were Argentine's who played professionally but now work in the area and others who played at the collegiate level and coached travel but have other priorities, i.e. kids. There are some coaches who have plans to move to travel after a year or two of classic.

Anonymous wrote:Do you own research?

Anonymous wrote:Folks, This is not complicated.

Re: Classic/Select, go to the managers of the league and ask.

Re: Travel, go to the online ranking services and see who the top teams are. Then research the clubs or the coaches. For example, if you research U13, you will see that MRM Rush is the top club and can see how they have performed against ECNL teams. You will see that the same coach also coaches a U14 teams that is also highly ranked. Dig further and you will see that the same coach and co-coach have major experience and success sending players to the top DI programs. Then ask around.

I can't tell you who the best coach or team is for your kid but the process is not difficult. My kids have had classic/select coaches that were Argentine's who played professionally but now work in the area and others who played at the collegiate level and coached travel but have other priorities, i.e. kids. There are some coaches who have plans to move to travel after a year or two of classic.