Anonymous
Post 09/01/2025 10:48     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hahaha you think this is bad it gets worse.

My g2010 was playing at a tournament. They beat everyone and in the finals were playing the host club. At halftime 4 new players that were obviously bigger than all other players showed up on the host clubs bench. People were yelling about it but the refs had deaf ears likely from $100s stuffed in each one .

My kids team still won but later we found out the "guest" players were g2008s. If this was a friendly no big deal but this was a tournament with ranking points on the line.


Rankings points?

Yes....

Wins/losses affect rankings. And, wins/losses determine tournament winners.

Maybe your kids team doesn't win so it doesn't meant that much to you.


Dang... is this forum only filled with A$$Hats? This is yet another un-called for response.



You must be a parent of a U little. We had plenty of these experiences at that age and we just did an eye roll too. But if it happens when your kid is a sophomore or junior and it effects whether your child gets to play in a National tournament in front of college scouts, it matters.

So you roll your eyes when an adult tells a child i don't believe in you, your not worthy ect. For a meaningless child's game. This is not OK. As long as everyone just rolls their eyes and doesn't do anything about it, it will continue to be common practice.



Sorry. I meant when other clubs loaded up their rosters with kids from an older age group, we did an eye roll. This never happened (guest playing) on any of my DD’s teams. If it had, I would have moved ASAP. Sorry for the confusion.


Again - how do you know how old these kids are? You can't go by size FFS. The one thing soccer is actually good about is enforcing age groups. Don't say this was some "home cooking" unless you can prove they faked birth certificates or something crazy. No one is doing this at low level tournaments (and definitely not at high level tournaments because again they actually check).
Anonymous
Post 08/31/2025 23:43     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hahaha you think this is bad it gets worse.

My g2010 was playing at a tournament. They beat everyone and in the finals were playing the host club. At halftime 4 new players that were obviously bigger than all other players showed up on the host clubs bench. People were yelling about it but the refs had deaf ears likely from $100s stuffed in each one .

My kids team still won but later we found out the "guest" players were g2008s. If this was a friendly no big deal but this was a tournament with ranking points on the line.


Rankings points?

Yes....

Wins/losses affect rankings. And, wins/losses determine tournament winners.

Maybe your kids team doesn't win so it doesn't meant that much to you.


Dang... is this forum only filled with A$$Hats? This is yet another un-called for response.



You must be a parent of a U little. We had plenty of these experiences at that age and we just did an eye roll too. But if it happens when your kid is a sophomore or junior and it effects whether your child gets to play in a National tournament in front of college scouts, it matters.

So you roll your eyes when an adult tells a child i don't believe in you, your not worthy ect. For a meaningless child's game. This is not OK. As long as everyone just rolls their eyes and doesn't do anything about it, it will continue to be common practice.



Sorry. I meant when other clubs loaded up their rosters with kids from an older age group, we did an eye roll. This never happened (guest playing) on any of my DD’s teams. If it had, I would have moved ASAP. Sorry for the confusion.
Anonymous
Post 08/31/2025 23:36     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:We have full participation (all players RSVPd yes) for our first tournament of the season but the coach or club added players from the team above ours. Now these kids are taking up playing time and a significant amount (not like starting as subs to give a break). The kids they added aren't on the regular team so not sure how this helps anyone (guest players are playing down, current team members don't bond and play together while losing out on minutes, touches and important decision making opportunities).

Was this the Dulles Tournament? There was a team that introduced players out of nowhere to win it all. Just checking

Is this normal in a 9v9 setting?
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2025 15:00     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Y’all need to read the rules of the tournament and leagues. Guest players are allowed in most cases as long as: (1) all players are registered with the same sanctioning body (no mixing between US Youth Soccer and US Club soccer); (2) same age group or lower; (3) Girls can play in boys team (but not Vice Versa); and (4) the number of guest players are limited. This is the typical guest player eligibility requirement and a guest player being in a higher level team does not matter as long as they have the same card as the rest of the team.

You need to understand that no one is complaining about the practice violating the rules. It's about clubs treating their customers and children like garbage. Just because you technically can doesn't mean it's the correct thing to do. When this happened to my 8 year old I went to club director who agreed that guest players should only be used as support not primary. The coach and girls tech director would not commit to not bringing in out of club guest players in that capacity again. We left the club and were refunded our money. Girls tech director's contract was not renewed the following year. Coach didn't have a team to coach the following year. Things play out when people speak up.

So you're saying that your complaints got one person fired and another on the way out the door.

And icing on the cake is the club makes less money because they cant field a team.

Seems like a highly dubious story.


Usually if one parent is complaining about something or someone, and that parent is not crazy, then other people are complaining about the same thing.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2025 14:11     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Y’all need to read the rules of the tournament and leagues. Guest players are allowed in most cases as long as: (1) all players are registered with the same sanctioning body (no mixing between US Youth Soccer and US Club soccer); (2) same age group or lower; (3) Girls can play in boys team (but not Vice Versa); and (4) the number of guest players are limited. This is the typical guest player eligibility requirement and a guest player being in a higher level team does not matter as long as they have the same card as the rest of the team.

You need to understand that no one is complaining about the practice violating the rules. It's about clubs treating their customers and children like garbage. Just because you technically can doesn't mean it's the correct thing to do. When this happened to my 8 year old I went to club director who agreed that guest players should only be used as support not primary. The coach and girls tech director would not commit to not bringing in out of club guest players in that capacity again. We left the club and were refunded our money. Girls tech director's contract was not renewed the following year. Coach didn't have a team to coach the following year. Things play out when people speak up.

So you're saying that your complaints got one person fired and another on the way out the door.

And icing on the cake is the club makes less money because they cant field a team.

Seems like a highly dubious story.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2025 14:09     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Y’all need to read the rules of the tournament and leagues. Guest players are allowed in most cases as long as: (1) all players are registered with the same sanctioning body (no mixing between US Youth Soccer and US Club soccer); (2) same age group or lower; (3) Girls can play in boys team (but not Vice Versa); and (4) the number of guest players are limited. This is the typical guest player eligibility requirement and a guest player being in a higher level team does not matter as long as they have the same card as the rest of the team.

You need to understand that no one is complaining about the practice violating the rules. It's about clubs treating their customers and children like garbage. Just because you technically can doesn't mean it's the correct thing to do. When this happened to my 8 year old I went to club director who agreed that guest players should only be used as support not primary. The coach and girls tech director would not commit to not bringing in out of club guest players in that capacity again. We left the club and were refunded our money. Girls tech director's contract was not renewed the following year. Coach didn't have a team to coach the following year. Things play out when people speak up.


Are you reading the posts? The main complaint is players from the same age group (U11 or U12) but higher level team, guest playing for a lower level team. The parent for a player at the lower level team’s main complaint is that their kid is not getting enough playing time. Most of the other posts are conspiracy and speculation since OP did not give full details on the situation. I doubt coaches and clubs are purposely trying to hold their players back in development.

Tournaments typically have roster limits and at 9v9 it’s usually 16 max. At 10 or 11 years olds, I doubt the guest players were really any good or way advance to begin with. You guys should watch Eric Wynalda’s take on tournaments. Tournaments are fun but are bad at developing kids, bad for their body, and gameplay diminishes as the kids get tired playing 3-4 games. So, in this context, maxing a team roster for a tournament is a benefit and not a hindrance to a team.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2025 13:14     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:Y’all need to read the rules of the tournament and leagues. Guest players are allowed in most cases as long as: (1) all players are registered with the same sanctioning body (no mixing between US Youth Soccer and US Club soccer); (2) same age group or lower; (3) Girls can play in boys team (but not Vice Versa); and (4) the number of guest players are limited. This is the typical guest player eligibility requirement and a guest player being in a higher level team does not matter as long as they have the same card as the rest of the team.

You need to understand that no one is complaining about the practice violating the rules. It's about clubs treating their customers and children like garbage. Just because you technically can doesn't mean it's the correct thing to do. When this happened to my 8 year old I went to club director who agreed that guest players should only be used as support not primary. The coach and girls tech director would not commit to not bringing in out of club guest players in that capacity again. We left the club and were refunded our money. Girls tech director's contract was not renewed the following year. Coach didn't have a team to coach the following year. Things play out when people speak up.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2025 12:28     Subject: Guest player scam?

Y’all need to read the rules of the tournament and leagues. Guest players are allowed in most cases as long as: (1) all players are registered with the same sanctioning body (no mixing between US Youth Soccer and US Club soccer); (2) same age group or lower; (3) Girls can play in boys team (but not Vice Versa); and (4) the number of guest players are limited. This is the typical guest player eligibility requirement and a guest player being in a higher level team does not matter as long as they have the same card as the rest of the team.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2025 10:03     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hahaha you think this is bad it gets worse.

My g2010 was playing at a tournament. They beat everyone and in the finals were playing the host club. At halftime 4 new players that were obviously bigger than all other players showed up on the host clubs bench. People were yelling about it but the refs had deaf ears likely from $100s stuffed in each one .

My kids team still won but later we found out the "guest" players were g2008s. If this was a friendly no big deal but this was a tournament with ranking points on the line.


Rankings points?

Yes....

Wins/losses affect rankings. And, wins/losses determine tournament winners.

Maybe your kids team doesn't win so it doesn't meant that much to you.


Dang... is this forum only filled with A$$Hats? This is yet another un-called for response.

Not really, the post they responded to said "Rankings points? With an eyes rolling emoji". Whoever wrote that was trying to say that rankings and tournament points dont mean anything.

This kind of attitude is fine for town/rec soccer. But once you start playing competitive its not how things work anymore.


News flash: Rankings and tournament points don't mean anything for 90%+ of travel soccer players/teams.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2025 08:36     Subject: Guest player scam?

It always matters. U Littles deserve playing time just like U Bigs. The parents that are paying to be on the team and the kids who were selected to be on the team are on the team. Guests, when you have a full roster, are not acceptable and it's shameful that clubs do this.

But agree- I keep quiet and do an eyeroll too because upsetting the coach results in bad news for your kid and since that's why we all do this - for the kids - it's not worth it.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2025 07:33     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hahaha you think this is bad it gets worse.

My g2010 was playing at a tournament. They beat everyone and in the finals were playing the host club. At halftime 4 new players that were obviously bigger than all other players showed up on the host clubs bench. People were yelling about it but the refs had deaf ears likely from $100s stuffed in each one .

My kids team still won but later we found out the "guest" players were g2008s. If this was a friendly no big deal but this was a tournament with ranking points on the line.


Rankings points?

Yes....

Wins/losses affect rankings. And, wins/losses determine tournament winners.

Maybe your kids team doesn't win so it doesn't meant that much to you.


Dang... is this forum only filled with A$$Hats? This is yet another un-called for response.



You must be a parent of a U little. We had plenty of these experiences at that age and we just did an eye roll too. But if it happens when your kid is a sophomore or junior and it effects whether your child gets to play in a National tournament in front of college scouts, it matters.

So you roll your eyes when an adult tells a child i don't believe in you, your not worthy ect. For a meaningless child's game. This is not OK. As long as everyone just rolls their eyes and doesn't do anything about it, it will continue to be common practice.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2025 00:18     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hahaha you think this is bad it gets worse.

My g2010 was playing at a tournament. They beat everyone and in the finals were playing the host club. At halftime 4 new players that were obviously bigger than all other players showed up on the host clubs bench. People were yelling about it but the refs had deaf ears likely from $100s stuffed in each one .

My kids team still won but later we found out the "guest" players were g2008s. If this was a friendly no big deal but this was a tournament with ranking points on the line.


Rankings points?

Yes....

Wins/losses affect rankings. And, wins/losses determine tournament winners.

Maybe your kids team doesn't win so it doesn't meant that much to you.


Dang... is this forum only filled with A$$Hats? This is yet another un-called for response.



You must be a parent of a U little. We had plenty of these experiences at that age and we just did an eye roll too. But if it happens when your kid is a sophomore or junior and it effects whether your child gets to play in a National tournament in front of college scouts, it matters.
Anonymous
Post 08/27/2025 08:24     Subject: Guest player scam?

Maybe I’ve missed it but OP, did you ask the coach why this happened? If you feel like you can’t talk to the coach, that’s the real problem. You are the paying customer. You should feel comfortable at least being able to talk to the coach and ask what the reason was.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 20:54     Subject: Guest player scam?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hahaha you think this is bad it gets worse.

My g2010 was playing at a tournament. They beat everyone and in the finals were playing the host club. At halftime 4 new players that were obviously bigger than all other players showed up on the host clubs bench. People were yelling about it but the refs had deaf ears likely from $100s stuffed in each one .

My kids team still won but later we found out the "guest" players were g2008s. If this was a friendly no big deal but this was a tournament with ranking points on the line.


Rankings points?

Yes....

Wins/losses affect rankings. And, wins/losses determine tournament winners.

Maybe your kids team doesn't win so it doesn't meant that much to you.


Dang... is this forum only filled with A$$Hats? This is yet another un-called for response.

Not really, the post they responded to said "Rankings points? With an eyes rolling emoji". Whoever wrote that was trying to say that rankings and tournament points dont mean anything.

This kind of attitude is fine for town/rec soccer. But once you start playing competitive its not how things work anymore.