Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youth coach for last 10 years. Was w some bigger and more competitive clubs in Baltimore area.

Left for a club in DC area. Supposed to be giving more opportunities to kids/families who can’t afford traditional pay to play, scholarships etc.

Took over a 2005 team 3 seasons ago, I was told that the players tried to sabotage the past coach by not showing up and they barely tried.

Trying to get kids to come to practice was like pulling teeth. The kids who were good and took it serious left. We only trained twice a week and if I had 8 kids in a session is would have been a miracle. By their junior years they stopped caring bc they weren’t winning like when they were u12/u14.

Then I took an 06 team. I’ve lost probably 10-14 kids to ECNL or MLNext teams.

I’ve tried to reload w local DC kids w ability who say they wanna take it serious.

The problem is, we have given so many scholarships and opportunities to kids, and they just do what they want. They have no skin in the game, and they don’t commit.

It’s been really frustrating. Between the 05 and 06 teams I’ve had more kids just stop showing up and leave us hanging and all of them were on scholarship. I am having a hard time just fielding a full team for showcases.

It’s disappointing because…when the US failed to qualify for 2018 WC everyone obsessed over kids falling thru the cracks.

But kids are jumping through the cracks bc the current landscape is MLSNext/ECNL or bust. The kids look at our little NL team as a rec league team. Or they are scared to buy in.

Either way, it really sucks to go from competitive environments where kids show up every session and take it serious, you try to make a difference for kids who don’t have $5k a season to spend on youth soccer, you do it for 3 years and u end up moving backward. Yes there are the core group of 8-10 dedicated families, but you try to make a difference and give kids opps and they don’t even respect you enough to show up.

The parents quest for name-brand and Keeping up with the Jones's unfortunately filters down to the kids.
The substance of the sport and true development takes a backseat to bragging and IG, FB likes.

Once the love isn't for the sport, there won't be discipline and dedication.

On the flip side there is always the quest for "the best". Right now that seems to be promoted as MLSNext?ECNL, so I think it's natural for some folks to try and flock there, if they feel they have the talent ad desire to play at the "top" level. The other issue is there are so many leagues and tournaments that I feel sorry for the average travel parent trying to sort through it all.

When the coaches are tyrants and the club's MLS Next team(s) are bottom dwellers getting blown out every week, I doubt just jumping from wherever you are to there is automatically the best choice for all.
Especially if you're leaving behind a good coach and environment and you're developing well.

It depends on the goal. For a highs school aged boy who wants to play in college, they are better off with a tyrant coach and little development in an MLS academy than with an amazing coach at a club playing in the NCSL

Are you saying MLS Club Academy or MLS Next team?

Assuming you're saying MLS Next team. Why would a college coach scouting individual players be more interested on a player on a weak MLS Next team than the same quality player on a well coached 'other' team?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youth coach for last 10 years. Was w some bigger and more competitive clubs in Baltimore area.

Left for a club in DC area. Supposed to be giving more opportunities to kids/families who can’t afford traditional pay to play, scholarships etc.

Took over a 2005 team 3 seasons ago, I was told that the players tried to sabotage the past coach by not showing up and they barely tried.

Trying to get kids to come to practice was like pulling teeth. The kids who were good and took it serious left. We only trained twice a week and if I had 8 kids in a session is would have been a miracle. By their junior years they stopped caring bc they weren’t winning like when they were u12/u14.

Then I took an 06 team. I’ve lost probably 10-14 kids to ECNL or MLNext teams.

I’ve tried to reload w local DC kids w ability who say they wanna take it serious.

The problem is, we have given so many scholarships and opportunities to kids, and they just do what they want. They have no skin in the game, and they don’t commit.

It’s been really frustrating. Between the 05 and 06 teams I’ve had more kids just stop showing up and leave us hanging and all of them were on scholarship. I am having a hard time just fielding a full team for showcases.

It’s disappointing because…when the US failed to qualify for 2018 WC everyone obsessed over kids falling thru the cracks.

But kids are jumping through the cracks bc the current landscape is MLSNext/ECNL or bust. The kids look at our little NL team as a rec league team. Or they are scared to buy in.

Either way, it really sucks to go from competitive environments where kids show up every session and take it serious, you try to make a difference for kids who don’t have $5k a season to spend on youth soccer, you do it for 3 years and u end up moving backward. Yes there are the core group of 8-10 dedicated families, but you try to make a difference and give kids opps and they don’t even respect you enough to show up.

The parents quest for name-brand and Keeping up with the Jones's unfortunately filters down to the kids.
The substance of the sport and true development takes a backseat to bragging and IG, FB likes.

Once the love isn't for the sport, there won't be discipline and dedication.

On the flip side there is always the quest for "the best". Right now that seems to be promoted as MLSNext?ECNL, so I think it's natural for some folks to try and flock there, if they feel they have the talent ad desire to play at the "top" level. The other issue is there are so many leagues and tournaments that I feel sorry for the average travel parent trying to sort through it all.

When the coaches are tyrants and the club's MLS Next team(s) are bottom dwellers getting blown out every week, I doubt just jumping from wherever you are to there is automatically the best choice for all.
Especially if you're leaving behind a good coach and environment and you're developing well.

It depends on the goal. For a highs school aged boy who wants to play in college, they are better off with a tyrant coach and little development in an MLS academy than with an amazing coach at a club playing in the NCSL

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youth coach for last 10 years. Was w some bigger and more competitive clubs in Baltimore area.

Left for a club in DC area. Supposed to be giving more opportunities to kids/families who can’t afford traditional pay to play, scholarships etc.

Took over a 2005 team 3 seasons ago, I was told that the players tried to sabotage the past coach by not showing up and they barely tried.

Trying to get kids to come to practice was like pulling teeth. The kids who were good and took it serious left. We only trained twice a week and if I had 8 kids in a session is would have been a miracle. By their junior years they stopped caring bc they weren’t winning like when they were u12/u14.

Then I took an 06 team. I’ve lost probably 10-14 kids to ECNL or MLNext teams.

I’ve tried to reload w local DC kids w ability who say they wanna take it serious.

The problem is, we have given so many scholarships and opportunities to kids, and they just do what they want. They have no skin in the game, and they don’t commit.

It’s been really frustrating. Between the 05 and 06 teams I’ve had more kids just stop showing up and leave us hanging and all of them were on scholarship. I am having a hard time just fielding a full team for showcases.

It’s disappointing because…when the US failed to qualify for 2018 WC everyone obsessed over kids falling thru the cracks.

But kids are jumping through the cracks bc the current landscape is MLSNext/ECNL or bust. The kids look at our little NL team as a rec league team. Or they are scared to buy in.

Either way, it really sucks to go from competitive environments where kids show up every session and take it serious, you try to make a difference for kids who don’t have $5k a season to spend on youth soccer, you do it for 3 years and u end up moving backward. Yes there are the core group of 8-10 dedicated families, but you try to make a difference and give kids opps and they don’t even respect you enough to show up.

The parents quest for name-brand and Keeping up with the Jones's unfortunately filters down to the kids.
The substance of the sport and true development takes a backseat to bragging and IG, FB likes.

Once the love isn't for the sport, there won't be discipline and dedication.

On the flip side there is always the quest for "the best". Right now that seems to be promoted as MLSNext?ECNL, so I think it's natural for some folks to try and flock there, if they feel they have the talent ad desire to play at the "top" level. The other issue is there are so many leagues and tournaments that I feel sorry for the average travel parent trying to sort through it all.

When the coaches are tyrants and the club's MLS Next team(s) are bottom dwellers getting blown out every week, I doubt just jumping from wherever you are to there is automatically the best choice for all.
Especially if you're leaving behind a good coach and environment and you're developing well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youth coach for last 10 years. Was w some bigger and more competitive clubs in Baltimore area.

Left for a club in DC area. Supposed to be giving more opportunities to kids/families who can’t afford traditional pay to play, scholarships etc.

Took over a 2005 team 3 seasons ago, I was told that the players tried to sabotage the past coach by not showing up and they barely tried.

Trying to get kids to come to practice was like pulling teeth. The kids who were good and took it serious left. We only trained twice a week and if I had 8 kids in a session is would have been a miracle. By their junior years they stopped caring bc they weren’t winning like when they were u12/u14.

Then I took an 06 team. I’ve lost probably 10-14 kids to ECNL or MLNext teams.

I’ve tried to reload w local DC kids w ability who say they wanna take it serious.

The problem is, we have given so many scholarships and opportunities to kids, and they just do what they want. They have no skin in the game, and they don’t commit.

It’s been really frustrating. Between the 05 and 06 teams I’ve had more kids just stop showing up and leave us hanging and all of them were on scholarship. I am having a hard time just fielding a full team for showcases.

It’s disappointing because…when the US failed to qualify for 2018 WC everyone obsessed over kids falling thru the cracks.

But kids are jumping through the cracks bc the current landscape is MLSNext/ECNL or bust. The kids look at our little NL team as a rec league team. Or they are scared to buy in.

Either way, it really sucks to go from competitive environments where kids show up every session and take it serious, you try to make a difference for kids who don’t have $5k a season to spend on youth soccer, you do it for 3 years and u end up moving backward. Yes there are the core group of 8-10 dedicated families, but you try to make a difference and give kids opps and they don’t even respect you enough to show up.

The parents quest for name-brand and Keeping up with the Jones's unfortunately filters down to the kids.
The substance of the sport and true development takes a backseat to bragging and IG, FB likes.

Once the love isn't for the sport, there won't be discipline and dedication.

On the flip side there is always the quest for "the best". Right now that seems to be promoted as MLSNext?ECNL, so I think it's natural for some folks to try and flock there, if they feel they have the talent ad desire to play at the "top" level. The other issue is there are so many leagues and tournaments that I feel sorry for the average travel parent trying to sort through it all.

When the coaches are tyrants and the club's MLS Next team(s) are bottom dwellers getting blown out every week, I doubt just jumping from wherever you are to there is automatically the best choice for all.
Especially if you're leaving behind a good coach and environment and you're developing well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would expect a sizeable discount if my child's team was always scheduled to practice with another team.

No discount and our coach misses about 1/4 of our games to be with their other team.

I would be requesting a partial refund, as you are not getting what you paid for: team practices on dedicated field space and a paid coach at practices and games.

Total nonsense for Coach to no show 25% of games. That shows they are just in it for the $$ and have no interest in development or really even winning.

I think the lack of interest also has to do with making varsity or not. If they play varsity, they will stick with travel year round. If not (and it’s hard to make varsity at some high schools), they will leave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youth coach for last 10 years. Was w some bigger and more competitive clubs in Baltimore area.

Left for a club in DC area. Supposed to be giving more opportunities to kids/families who can’t afford traditional pay to play, scholarships etc.

Took over a 2005 team 3 seasons ago, I was told that the players tried to sabotage the past coach by not showing up and they barely tried.

Trying to get kids to come to practice was like pulling teeth. The kids who were good and took it serious left. We only trained twice a week and if I had 8 kids in a session is would have been a miracle. By their junior years they stopped caring bc they weren’t winning like when they were u12/u14.

Then I took an 06 team. I’ve lost probably 10-14 kids to ECNL or MLNext teams.

I’ve tried to reload w local DC kids w ability who say they wanna take it serious.

The problem is, we have given so many scholarships and opportunities to kids, and they just do what they want. They have no skin in the game, and they don’t commit.

It’s been really frustrating. Between the 05 and 06 teams I’ve had more kids just stop showing up and leave us hanging and all of them were on scholarship. I am having a hard time just fielding a full team for showcases.

It’s disappointing because…when the US failed to qualify for 2018 WC everyone obsessed over kids falling thru the cracks.

But kids are jumping through the cracks bc the current landscape is MLSNext/ECNL or bust. The kids look at our little NL team as a rec league team. Or they are scared to buy in.

Either way, it really sucks to go from competitive environments where kids show up every session and take it serious, you try to make a difference for kids who don’t have $5k a season to spend on youth soccer, you do it for 3 years and u end up moving backward. Yes there are the core group of 8-10 dedicated families, but you try to make a difference and give kids opps and they don’t even respect you enough to show up.

The parents quest for name-brand and Keeping up with the Jones's unfortunately filters down to the kids.
The substance of the sport and true development takes a backseat to bragging and IG, FB likes.

Once the love isn't for the sport, there won't be discipline and dedication.

On the flip side there is always the quest for "the best". Right now that seems to be promoted as MLSNext?ECNL, so I think it's natural for some folks to try and flock there, if they feel they have the talent ad desire to play at the "top" level. The other issue is there are so many leagues and tournaments that I feel sorry for the average travel parent trying to sort through it all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would expect a sizeable discount if my child's team was always scheduled to practice with another team.

No discount and our coach misses about 1/4 of our games to be with their other team.

I would be requesting a partial refund, as you are not getting what you paid for: team practices on dedicated field space and a paid coach at practices and games.

Anonymous wrote:I've been coaching in the area for 13 years.

Part of me wants to congratulate you for working with kids who eventually move on to ECNL or MLSNext Teams. There are a lot of coaches who would like to work with that sort of talent, and hopefully some of that development was because of you.

The grass is always greener, and it's tough for smaller clubs who aren't at least 2 teams deep in each age group to field good teams consistently. The best you can hope for is that you're creating an environment and reputation that makes the prospect of leaving the team a very difficult decision. You will still lose players to what others perceive as better opportunities, but it is, what it is.

Coming from a poor family myself, families w/ low resources face more challenges than just the ability to pay for soccer. Are any of your players having transportation issues? Sometimes all it takes is to have that one or two families willing to make sure everyone gets to where they need to, to make a huge difference.

I don't know what club you are with, but it can also be a mentality people have with the club itself, especially if it's not their first choice. How the club presents itself matters.

I wish you luck! Been there, done that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would expect a sizeable discount if my child's team was always scheduled to practice with another team.

No discount and our coach misses about 1/4 of our games to be with their other team.

Curious, how many teams does your coach have? Was this communicated ahead of time as a possibility?

2 teams and we knew once they were assigned, but not before we accepted the offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youth coach for last 10 years. Was w some bigger and more competitive clubs in Baltimore area.

Left for a club in DC area. Supposed to be giving more opportunities to kids/families who can’t afford traditional pay to play, scholarships etc.

Took over a 2005 team 3 seasons ago, I was told that the players tried to sabotage the past coach by not showing up and they barely tried.

Trying to get kids to come to practice was like pulling teeth. The kids who were good and took it serious left. We only trained twice a week and if I had 8 kids in a session is would have been a miracle. By their junior years they stopped caring bc they weren’t winning like when they were u12/u14.

Then I took an 06 team. I’ve lost probably 10-14 kids to ECNL or MLNext teams.

I’ve tried to reload w local DC kids w ability who say they wanna take it serious.

The problem is, we have given so many scholarships and opportunities to kids, and they just do what they want. They have no skin in the game, and they don’t commit.

It’s been really frustrating. Between the 05 and 06 teams I’ve had more kids just stop showing up and leave us hanging and all of them were on scholarship. I am having a hard time just fielding a full team for showcases.

It’s disappointing because…when the US failed to qualify for 2018 WC everyone obsessed over kids falling thru the cracks.

But kids are jumping through the cracks bc the current landscape is MLSNext/ECNL or bust. The kids look at our little NL team as a rec league team. Or they are scared to buy in.

Either way, it really sucks to go from competitive environments where kids show up every session and take it serious, you try to make a difference for kids who don’t have $5k a season to spend on youth soccer, you do it for 3 years and u end up moving backward. Yes there are the core group of 8-10 dedicated families, but you try to make a difference and give kids opps and they don’t even respect you enough to show up.

The parents quest for name-brand and Keeping up with the Jones's unfortunately filters down to the kids.
The substance of the sport and true development takes a backseat to bragging and IG, FB likes.

Once the love isn't for the sport, there won't be discipline and dedication.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would expect a sizeable discount if my child's team was always scheduled to practice with another team.

No discount and our coach misses about 1/4 of our games to be with their other team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is why girls on our team skip practice (U15):
Homework demands are increasing once they hit 9th grade. Coach does not demand attendance
We aren't the top team and are treated as such meaning... we get late practice times, combined practices with other teams that does not help the team gel and there's some bullying from older girls (all of this leads to a toxic envt plus tired frustrated players)
Coaches try to be "cool"/"nice" and say playing another sport is ok but then we don't have the whole team at practices regularly

As of coach of older girls, I feel like I've been here. It sounds like you would like your DDs coach to be more demanding am I right? Do you think the team/other parents would support this move? What sort of expectations were set out at the beggining? Is this something new or something you were expecting when joining the team?

Sorry, but I always try to get more of the parents view of things where I can, and I see this sort of thing a lot, especially with lower teams.

I do wish the coach would be more demanding, or more specifically hold the girls accountable for their attendance. What are we teaching kids when they can "just skip" practice with no repercussions? I make my daughter go no matter what because she needs to learn to manage her time. If she has a night with "too much homework" that means she didn't plan ahead and/or use her time wisely. She feels that is unfair because she get the impression the coach doesn't care if they are there.

Anonymous wrote:Youth coach for last 10 years. Was w some bigger and more competitive clubs in Baltimore area.

Left for a club in DC area. Supposed to be giving more opportunities to kids/families who can’t afford traditional pay to play, scholarships etc.

Took over a 2005 team 3 seasons ago, I was told that the players tried to sabotage the past coach by not showing up and they barely tried.

Trying to get kids to come to practice was like pulling teeth. The kids who were good and took it serious left. We only trained twice a week and if I had 8 kids in a session is would have been a miracle. By their junior years they stopped caring bc they weren’t winning like when they were u12/u14.

Then I took an 06 team. I’ve lost probably 10-14 kids to ECNL or MLNext teams.

I’ve tried to reload w local DC kids w ability who say they wanna take it serious.

The problem is, we have given so many scholarships and opportunities to kids, and they just do what they want. They have no skin in the game, and they don’t commit.

It’s been really frustrating. Between the 05 and 06 teams I’ve had more kids just stop showing up and leave us hanging and all of them were on scholarship. I am having a hard time just fielding a full team for showcases.

It’s disappointing because…when the US failed to qualify for 2018 WC everyone obsessed over kids falling thru the cracks.

But kids are jumping through the cracks bc the current landscape is MLSNext/ECNL or bust. The kids look at our little NL team as a rec league team. Or they are scared to buy in.

Either way, it really sucks to go from competitive environments where kids show up every session and take it serious, you try to make a difference for kids who don’t have $5k a season to spend on youth soccer, you do it for 3 years and u end up moving backward. Yes there are the core group of 8-10 dedicated families, but you try to make a difference and give kids opps and they don’t even respect you enough to show up.