Anonymous wrote:Don't waste your time arguing on this thread, any minor critic will be shot at by a small group of Barca zealots pretending to be admiring neutrals. The thread went in hibernation when people could not bear it any more, but it seems that one of the zealot decided it was time to revive it.

Yes, in reading through the thread you can see that sort of back and forth whenever someone makes a criticism. It’s also noteable how well informed the admirers seem to be as though they have been studying the club for awhile. I wish I had the time and energy to know so much about the parents and details of each prospective club we might consider! Too bad about the team color confusion, I imagine we will be able to figure out the colors better once there is a record in tournament and league play for each group.

Anonymous wrote:Don't waste your time arguing on this thread, any minor critic will be shot at by a small group of Barca zealots pretending to be admiring neutrals. The thread went in hibernation when people could not bear it any more, but it seems that one of the zealot decided it was time to revive it.

Zealots... what is this the inquisition?

Anonymous wrote:Don't waste your time arguing on this thread, any minor critic will be shot at by a small group of Barca zealots pretending to be admiring neutrals. The thread went in hibernation when people could not bear it any more, but it seems that one of the zealot decided it was time to revive it.

I am one of those admiring neutrals, no pretense involved, though I will most likely be moving one of my kids there next year so I guess then to you I'll be one of the "zealots".

Whatever. It's pretty clear to me they are doing some things completely different from any other soccer club in this area, and most of those differences are, in my opinion, for the better. However, that is not to say that it is some kind of soccer nirvana where everyone is happy about every single thing they are doing. There are definitely some gripes.

I've observed quite a few practices and games by now, and some of the complaints I hear are baffling to me. For example, I can't understand why anyone would pay $3000/year for their kid to be in a "Barca" Academy, and then complain every single time a player passes backwards, or the keeper plays the ball up the middle on a GK. It is shocking to me the number of parents who have obviously never even seen the 1st team play. They lose their minds every time the GK plays the exact same pass that Ter Stegen plays to Busquets 10-15 times a game, yet I know if I mentioned those names to them I'd be met with blank stares.

That ignorance doesn't stop them from opening their mouths on the sideline, but I will say at least they (mostly) stop short of shouting direct instructions at the players on the field, because they know that's not allowed. And that is one of the differences that I like. They are more successful than any other club I've seen in getting parents to STFU and let the players learn from the coaches.

On the team color thing though, I agree with the poster above. At best it's sort of silly, but I would go further and say it's borderline patronizing to the players. Kids aren't stupid. It's completely obvious to them which is the top, middle or lower group. Doesn't matter what you name them. Would be better to just be honest with the players. "You are being moved up/down for now because of X reason. ....." I've also heard some criticism of the competitive balance in the internal scrimmages (boys v girls, boys coach loudly and repeatedly shouting "10 passes before you can score", team as a whole counting each pass out loud, ... not very motivating for the girls, whose development that weekend consists of getting some fitness work in aimlessly chasing the ball around the field, because they obviously haven't been taught anything yet about how to press strategically as a unit).

So there you have it. I still like the club. I still think many of the things they do are radically different - and significantly better - than any other club around here. But there are other things they do that totally suck, and I'm not afraid to call them on that when I see it.

Label me how you want. Whatever makes your life simpler for you.

Don't waste your time arguing on this thread, any minor critic will be shot at by a small group of Barca zealots pretending to be admiring neutrals. The thread went in hibernation when people could not bear it any more, but it seems that one of the zealot decided it was time to revive it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the top teams are the "Blue" teams, but all the teams play a similar style.

No. Top teams are different colors depending on age group.

Top team could be yellow in one age group and blue in another, etc. It is not uniform. I have three kids —all different colors—and two are on the top teams in their perspective age group.

Really? My bad. That's clever. People get too focused on that anyways, and Barca does move players around between teams.

What is the concern/issue with having well known colors for ranking teams? That doesn't seem very transparent to me. Why is it a problem? I don't understand.

So development is not linear and the players can improve by being mixed up(team, gender and age). The traditional color system has problems in terms of astratification of kids. The kids on the top team see the kids on the lower team as not good enough to play with them. God forbid a player from the top team is moved down to a lower team. It can destroy confidence and the top team players treat the player like a leper.

So this is to confuse the kids about which team they are on? Or the parents? Both? I usually find that my kids are pretty good at figuring out if they are on a better or worse team on their own. Also, why not standardize for the rest of the world, so they have an idea of which team they would face in a competition? For example, if my team is playing against Arlington Red, then I expect one level of play vs the Black team, which is completely different. From what you are saying, I could play Red or Black and have no clue what to expect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the top teams are the "Blue" teams, but all the teams play a similar style.

No. Top teams are different colors depending on age group.

Top team could be yellow in one age group and blue in another, etc. It is not uniform. I have three kids —all different colors—and two are on the top teams in their perspective age group.

Really? My bad. That's clever. People get too focused on that anyways, and Barca does move players around between teams.

What is the concern/issue with having well known colors for ranking teams? That doesn't seem very transparent to me. Why is it a problem? I don't understand.

So development is not linear and the players can improve by being mixed up(team, gender and age). The traditional color system has problems in terms of astratification of kids. The kids on the top team see the kids on the lower team as not good enough to play with them. God forbid a player from the top team is moved down to a lower team. It can destroy confidence and the top team players treat the player like a leper.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the top teams are the "Blue" teams, but all the teams play a similar style.

No. Top teams are different colors depending on age group.

Top team could be yellow in one age group and blue in another, etc. It is not uniform. I have three kids —all different colors—and two are on the top teams in their perspective age group.

Really? My bad. That's clever. People get too focused on that anyways, and Barca does move players around between teams.

What is the concern/issue with having well known colors for ranking teams? That doesn't seem very transparent to me. Why is it a problem? I don't understand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the top teams are the "Blue" teams, but all the teams play a similar style.

No. Top teams are different colors depending on age group.

Top team could be yellow in one age group and blue in another, etc. It is not uniform. I have three kids —all different colors—and two are on the top teams in their perspective age group.

Really? My bad. That's clever. People get too focused on that anyways, and Barca does move players around between teams.

Anonymous wrote:I think the top teams are the "Blue" teams, but all the teams play a similar style.

No. Top teams are different colors depending on age group.

Top team could be yellow in one age group and blue in another, etc. It is not uniform. I have three kids —all different colors—and two are on the top teams in their perspective age group.

Anonymous wrote:Not too worried about comparing alphabets, just wondering if anyone had any opinions on style of play. The 01s that were playing are clearly not at Garnet’s level, but they had some decent passages of play and the games were entertaining.

Every team I see consistently plays the same style. The age and talent levels vary, but the type of soccer they are playing is clearly the same brand.

Anonymous wrote:Were the A and B teams playing elsewhere?

Barca has different tournaments and different times for the teams. For example the 2001 Blue team went down to Florida for a tournament labor day weekend. I believe they are looking for which tournament is the right fit for each team, rather than take a one size fits all approach. The team that was at Battlefield held its own in the competition. It won and lost games. So maybe that tournament was a good fit for that team, but not for the other 2001 team.

Anonymous wrote:I think the top teams are the "Blue" teams, but all the teams play a similar style.

All teams play a similar style, but the name of top team depends upon the age group. Barca is trying to downplay any distinction between A and B and C teams so they have different colors for the top team depending on the age group. However, all teams are trained under the same curriculum so all players are taught the same concepts and do the same drills. The main difference between the teams is the skill level and the speed of play.

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify, FCBEscola is now Barca? Wasn’t there another Barca club?

FCBEscola is Barca Academy. There are also two "Barca" clubs that have not affiliation with FC Barcelona. One was recently renamed into Dorados, the other one is in MD and goes by name Barcelona USA Maryland or something like that.

Just to clarify, FCBEscola is now Barca? Wasn’t there another Barca club?

I think the top teams are the "Blue" teams, but all the teams play a similar style.