Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will acknowledge that HS sports are a great way to engage with your community and school friends. My rant is solely focused on the coaches and style of play I've seen over the last 4 years. My son has been on a high-level team for a reputable club in the area and will be moving onto college soccer this fall. I come to every game to support him and the school, but I find myself biting my tongue every game watching what appears to be a foot volley game. The build-up is virtually the same with every school they have played.

CB gets the ball at the 15-yard line, takes a touch, and punts it 30 yards to a forward guarded by 2 defenders. The opposing team wins the ball, and makes a pass to the outside back, 2 touches later he sends the pass 30 yards to a sprinting winger who beats the back line and dribbles 20 yards where he's met with endline. Goal kick, rinse and repeat.

If it wasn't bad enough, I hear the coaches congratulate the players for a good run. WHAT! They didn't look up, they didn't serve the ball to the 2 open players in the box, and lost possession of the ball. I use to laugh at the club coaches who complained about HS soccer and their attempts to convince kids not to do it. I'm with them, it's hard to watch and it teaches too many bad habits. I get it, it's just for fun...but can't fun be doing it right. I don't see the AAU BBall players changing their style of play in HS.

Parents! Stop promoting this garbage. Good kick!...um no it wasn't. He just booted it to the other defender and loss possession because he doesn't know how to build or at least be on target with the long ball. Good shot! Nope, it was 10 feet wide and 40 ft high which means his technique was bad. Foul! Nope again, that was called a tackle. The opponent did fall down, but that does not mean it was a foul!

Thank god I'm done with HS sports now that he's graduating.

Foosball with real people. Pfffft..

YES!! Ball ricochets off the side of a kid's head and parents go nuts for a beautiful header. Flat defense punts it up field to the goalie playing high up ... parents go nuts because the ball went far and sounded great on impact. It's killing me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will acknowledge that HS sports are a great way to engage with your community and school friends. My rant is solely focused on the coaches and style of play I've seen over the last 4 years. My son has been on a high-level team for a reputable club in the area and will be moving onto college soccer this fall. I come to every game to support him and the school, but I find myself biting my tongue every game watching what appears to be a foot volley game. The build-up is virtually the same with every school they have played.

CB gets the ball at the 15-yard line, takes a touch, and punts it 30 yards to a forward guarded by 2 defenders. The opposing team wins the ball, and makes a pass to the outside back, 2 touches later he sends the pass 30 yards to a sprinting winger who beats the back line and dribbles 20 yards where he's met with endline. Goal kick, rinse and repeat.

If it wasn't bad enough, I hear the coaches congratulate the players for a good run. WHAT! They didn't look up, they didn't serve the ball to the 2 open players in the box, and lost possession of the ball. I use to laugh at the club coaches who complained about HS soccer and their attempts to convince kids not to do it. I'm with them, it's hard to watch and it teaches too many bad habits. I get it, it's just for fun...but can't fun be doing it right. I don't see the AAU BBall players changing their style of play in HS.

Parents! Stop promoting this garbage. Good kick!...um no it wasn't. He just booted it to the other defender and loss possession because he doesn't know how to build or at least be on target with the long ball. Good shot! Nope, it was 10 feet wide and 40 ft high which means his technique was bad. Foul! Nope again, that was called a tackle. The opponent did fall down, but that does not mean it was a foul!

Thank god I'm done with HS sports now that he's graduating.

Foosball with real people. Pfffft..

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is convinced that HS soccer has made her lose skill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

???

Anonymous wrote:[
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Anonymous wrote:I will acknowledge that HS sports are a great way to engage with your community and school friends. My rant is solely focused on the coaches and style of play I've seen over the last 4 years. My son has been on a high-level team for a reputable club in the area and will be moving onto college soccer this fall. I come to every game to support him and the school, but I find myself biting my tongue every game watching what appears to be a foot volley game. The build-up is virtually the same with every school they have played.

CB gets the ball at the 15-yard line, takes a touch, and punts it 30 yards to a forward guarded by 2 defenders. The opposing team wins the ball, and makes a pass to the outside back, 2 touches later he sends the pass 30 yards to a sprinting winger who beats the back line and dribbles 20 yards where he's met with endline. Goal kick, rinse and repeat.

If it wasn't bad enough, I hear the coaches congratulate the players for a good run. WHAT! They didn't look up, they didn't serve the ball to the 2 open players in the box, and lost possession of the ball. I use to laugh at the club coaches who complained about HS soccer and their attempts to convince kids not to do it. I'm with them, it's hard to watch and it teaches too many bad habits. I get it, it's just for fun...but can't fun be doing it right. I don't see the AAU BBall players changing their style of play in HS.

Parents! Stop promoting this garbage. Good kick!...um no it wasn't. He just booted it to the other defender and loss possession because he doesn't know how to build or at least be on target with the long ball. Good shot! Nope, it was 10 feet wide and 40 ft high which means his technique was bad. Foul! Nope again, that was called a tackle. The opponent did fall down, but that does not mean it was a foul!

Thank god I'm done with HS sports now that he's graduating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My kids play travel soccer because they are fortunate that we can afford the cost and can get them to/from practices and games. As a kid growing up on the outskirts of Philadelpha (not some irrelevant "small town") I was able to play competitive middle school sports without any extra cost to my family; we had practice after school, at school; and the school took us by bus to/from away games. My parents would try to make it to a game here or there if they could get off work but if they couldn't I could still fully participate in the program.

.

I grew up in the panhandle of Florida where we had a full sports programs in Middle School. I recall about 100 kids trying out for about 22 positions on our soccer team. (We had practice every day after school and the busses would take us to play other middle school teams weekly in the county; great program with no cost to the families.) The kids who didn't make it, just went on to play rec soccer or not play soccer at all. I think that is appropriate. Not every kid's parents needs to be told they will achieve great things by playing travel soccer. We had a robust rec soccer program and the kids that did play rec soccer, were probably happier playing rec regardless. It's unfortunate that if you want to play serious soccer here, pay to play travel soccer is the only option. Hopefully, bringing back sports to middle schools continues and soccer returns as well.