Anonymous wrote:Not getting pushed off the ball by opposing teams that push in the back. Massive acceleration, which requires muscle. If your whole team plays like Spain, great. But if not, you can’t use quick passing skills everywhere and you lose the ball. Or lose 50/50 challenges. Kids like mine look great on a team that all plays the same way, but if not, it’s a hard road.

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Anonymous wrote:So tired of people always crying politics or favoritism when their kids dont get chosen. It bleeds down to the players and creates a culture of excuses as opposed to working harder to be better.

so tired of people who complain that all it takes is to "work harder" when there is clear favoritism at play. It wouldn't be such a trope if it wasn't at least a "bit" true. It sucks, but sometimes a decision is made early on and there is nothing the player can do to overcome it.

That is a poor attitude. There are plenty of ways to overcome it.

Explain. Do you mean by working hard to become so good it's undeniable? Or do you mean by deciding to play the political game too? Often the latter is far easier, imo.

How many times can your kid juggle in a row? Can they keep up the ball 50x in a row with laces, inside foot, outside foot, thighs, chest and head?

Are their 5-10-5 shuttle, 400m, 800m and 1,600m times in the top 10% percentile of your age group.

Can they win 25% of their 1v1’s?

Is your kid scanning at least every 10-15 seconds (which is a slow rate) and able to scan and turn with anticipation?

Are they proficient with shooting, passing and receiving with both their left foot and right foot?

How is their ankle flexion, hip mobility and CofD agility?

After all of that, can they play in a neutral field without their squad or support from Mommy and Daddy?

Everybody wants to talk a great game without acknowledging the work. If you don’t get picked, pick a question above and start doing the work to become undeniable.

Yes. Yea yes yes. Juggling record in the thousands. Makes opponents fall in 1v1. Equal shots and goals w both feet . Scans constantly. Second team. Why? Very late to grow and develop. Still growing at 16!

So her height and stature have her on 2nd team, not politics. You can be the best and most skilled 4’11” basketball player in the world but you are not playing in the NBA.

If she can win her 1v1’s more than 25% of the time, is in the top 10% of her age in speed and studies the game to know how to occupy space, you are sh-ting yourself. The 1st team level is not that great to keep out a kid with all of those attributes, sorry. You have parent 🥽 on.

Yes, some kids on the 1st team probably should not be there. Yes, you can’t be 101% better than a 1st teamer to supplant them. You need to be 110%+. This is no different than college admissions, job applications, office politics and real politics. You can either prepare your kid to compete against unfair advantages (like some portions of our population do daily) or make excuses. Your choice.

You misread. I am agreeing with you! Should not be first team without the physical attributes. It is more than skills for sure. It’s a very physical game.

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Anonymous wrote:So tired of people always crying politics or favoritism when their kids dont get chosen. It bleeds down to the players and creates a culture of excuses as opposed to working harder to be better.

so tired of people who complain that all it takes is to "work harder" when there is clear favoritism at play. It wouldn't be such a trope if it wasn't at least a "bit" true. It sucks, but sometimes a decision is made early on and there is nothing the player can do to overcome it.

That is a poor attitude. There are plenty of ways to overcome it.

Explain. Do you mean by working hard to become so good it's undeniable? Or do you mean by deciding to play the political game too? Often the latter is far easier, imo.

How many times can your kid juggle in a row? Can they keep up the ball 50x in a row with laces, inside foot, outside foot, thighs, chest and head?

Are their 5-10-5 shuttle, 400m, 800m and 1,600m times in the top 10% percentile of your age group.

Can they win 25% of their 1v1’s?

Is your kid scanning at least every 10-15 seconds (which is a slow rate) and able to scan and turn with anticipation?

Are they proficient with shooting, passing and receiving with both their left foot and right foot?

How is their ankle flexion, hip mobility and CofD agility?

After all of that, can they play in a neutral field without their squad or support from Mommy and Daddy?

Everybody wants to talk a great game without acknowledging the work. If you don’t get picked, pick a question above and start doing the work to become undeniable.

Yes. Yea yes yes. Juggling record in the thousands. Makes opponents fall in 1v1. Equal shots and goals w both feet . Scans constantly. Second team. Why? Very late to grow and develop. Still growing at 16!

So her height and stature have her on 2nd team, not politics. You can be the best and most skilled 4’11” basketball player in the world but you are not playing in the NBA.

If she can win her 1v1’s more than 25% of the time, is in the top 10% of her age in speed and studies the game to know how to occupy space, you are sh-ting yourself. The 1st team level is not that great to keep out a kid with all of those attributes, sorry. You have parent 🥽 on.

Yes, some kids on the 1st team probably should not be there. Yes, you can’t be 101% better than a 1st teamer to supplant them. You need to be 110%+. This is no different than college admissions, job applications, office politics and real politics. You can either prepare your kid to compete against unfair advantages (like some portions of our population do daily) or make excuses. Your choice.

You misread. I am agreeing with you! Should not be first team without the physical attributes. It is more than skills for sure. It’s a very physical game.

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Anonymous wrote:So tired of people always crying politics or favoritism when their kids dont get chosen. It bleeds down to the players and creates a culture of excuses as opposed to working harder to be better.

so tired of people who complain that all it takes is to "work harder" when there is clear favoritism at play. It wouldn't be such a trope if it wasn't at least a "bit" true. It sucks, but sometimes a decision is made early on and there is nothing the player can do to overcome it.

That is a poor attitude. There are plenty of ways to overcome it.

Explain. Do you mean by working hard to become so good it's undeniable? Or do you mean by deciding to play the political game too? Often the latter is far easier, imo.

How many times can your kid juggle in a row? Can they keep up the ball 50x in a row with laces, inside foot, outside foot, thighs, chest and head?

Are their 5-10-5 shuttle, 400m, 800m and 1,600m times in the top 10% percentile of your age group.

Can they win 25% of their 1v1’s?

Is your kid scanning at least every 10-15 seconds (which is a slow rate) and able to scan and turn with anticipation?

Are they proficient with shooting, passing and receiving with both their left foot and right foot?

How is their ankle flexion, hip mobility and CofD agility?

After all of that, can they play in a neutral field without their squad or support from Mommy and Daddy?

Everybody wants to talk a great game without acknowledging the work. If you don’t get picked, pick a question above and start doing the work to become undeniable.

Yes. Yea yes yes. Juggling record in the thousands. Makes opponents fall in 1v1. Equal shots and goals w both feet . Scans constantly. Second team. Why? Very late to grow and develop. Still growing at 16!

So her height and stature have her on 2nd team, not politics. You can be the best and most skilled 4’11” basketball player in the world but you are not playing in the NBA.

If she can win her 1v1’s more than 25% of the time, is in the top 10% of her age in speed and studies the game to know how to occupy space, you are sh-ting yourself. The 1st team level is not that great to keep out a kid with all of those attributes, sorry. You have parent 🥽 on.

Yes, some kids on the 1st team probably should not be there. Yes, you can’t be 101% better than a 1st teamer to supplant them. You need to be 110%+. This is no different than college admissions, job applications, office politics and real politics. You can either prepare your kid to compete against unfair advantages (like some portions of our population do daily) or make excuses. Your choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So tired of people always crying politics or favoritism when their kids dont get chosen. It bleeds down to the players and creates a culture of excuses as opposed to working harder to be better.

so tired of people who complain that all it takes is to "work harder" when there is clear favoritism at play. It wouldn't be such a trope if it wasn't at least a "bit" true. It sucks, but sometimes a decision is made early on and there is nothing the player can do to overcome it.

That is a poor attitude. There are plenty of ways to overcome it.

Explain. Do you mean by working hard to become so good it's undeniable? Or do you mean by deciding to play the political game too? Often the latter is far easier, imo.

How many times can your kid juggle in a row? Can they keep up the ball 50x in a row with laces, inside foot, outside foot, thighs, chest and head?

Are their 5-10-5 shuttle, 400m, 800m and 1,600m times in the top 10% percentile of your age group.

Can they win 25% of their 1v1’s?

Is your kid scanning at least every 10-15 seconds (which is a slow rate) and able to scan and turn with anticipation?

Are they proficient with shooting, passing and receiving with both their left foot and right foot?

How is their ankle flexion, hip mobility and CofD agility?

After all of that, can they play in a neutral field without their squad or support from Mommy and Daddy?

Everybody wants to talk a great game without acknowledging the work. If you don’t get picked, pick a question above and start doing the work to become undeniable.

This is less things to do than a list of attributes/results which may define a player good enough to overcome politics. So in essence, the advice is "get good." These questions are: does your kid have good touch; is your kid good; is your kid fast; is your kid a smart player; is your kid self-motivated? All these points may define parts of a good player, and are worth working towards. But the complaint people are making stands - after becoming better than kids ahead, in all the ways mentioned, unless you are *sufficiently* better than those competing for spots, politics will matter.

My kid has gone from B to A, switched to a higher-caliber club, and again went from B to A. She worked hard on all these things. But the real push over the edge, in both cases, when she was in that B/A overlap range, was that the coaches really liked her work ethic at practices, while on teams with attitude-problem players. She became a coach's favorite both times through a good attitude in practices (and games) more so than getting good enough to immediately be top half of A. I consider that a form of coach-favorite politics, but I find it less offensive than some other types of politics because it's somewhat earned.

In my observation, most of the bottom half of A teams are: early developers who made the A track at 8-9 years old and just keep hanging on to the spot, kids with all-star siblings in the club, kids who do lots of private training with a coach at the club (not outside), kids with parents who threaten to leave, or kids who were stolen from the club's biggest rival. These kids are hard to displace unless your politics are stronger or you are undeniably better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a dumb thread

This has to be from the USYNT camp invite announcements. Its always the invites that sets the people off.

Anonymous wrote:This is a dumb thread

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Anonymous wrote:So tired of people always crying politics or favoritism when their kids dont get chosen. It bleeds down to the players and creates a culture of excuses as opposed to working harder to be better.

so tired of people who complain that all it takes is to "work harder" when there is clear favoritism at play. It wouldn't be such a trope if it wasn't at least a "bit" true. It sucks, but sometimes a decision is made early on and there is nothing the player can do to overcome it.

That is a poor attitude. There are plenty of ways to overcome it.

Explain. Do you mean by working hard to become so good it's undeniable? Or do you mean by deciding to play the political game too? Often the latter is far easier, imo.

How many times can your kid juggle in a row? Can they keep up the ball 50x in a row with laces, inside foot, outside foot, thighs, chest and head?

Are their 5-10-5 shuttle, 400m, 800m and 1,600m times in the top 10% percentile of your age group.

Can they win 25% of their 1v1’s?

Is your kid scanning at least every 10-15 seconds (which is a slow rate) and able to scan and turn with anticipation?

Are they proficient with shooting, passing and receiving with both their left foot and right foot?

How is their ankle flexion, hip mobility and CofD agility?

After all of that, can they play in a neutral field without their squad or support from Mommy and Daddy?

Everybody wants to talk a great game without acknowledging the work. If you don’t get picked, pick a question above and start doing the work to become undeniable.

Yes. Yea yes yes. Juggling record in the thousands. Makes opponents fall in 1v1. Equal shots and goals w both feet . Scans constantly. Second team. Why? Very late to grow and develop. Still growing at 16!

Anonymous wrote:Back to the original post, Coaches can and do naturally develop favorites.

It is more than just starting them or rarely subbing them out at U12 and below. It can be frustrating when they use them for 'examples' on how to do the drill correctly, always call on them, always put them in the middle, always use them as the 'neutral player,' and when their favorite player makes a mistake, they stop the play to let them do it over until they get it correct! -All while the other kids are on the periphery and have to watch over and over.

A kid who is treated so well, will 100% pay attention and identify with the Coach far more then the other kids.

Then, there are the parents who talk to the Coach before or after a lot of practices. So much so, you have to wonder what is going on.

We have had to put on feed back for the Coach to rotate the 'neutral players' more and mix the kids up more as they are still developing.

Its shocking to me a Coach doesn't know to do this. The Coach has very young kids, so its obvious he doesn't know how to deal with older kids.

Favoritism can easily occur after spending so much time together, the Coach must work on developing a skill to not let perceived favoritism ruin the Esprit d Corps of the team.