Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.

Maybe you have 1or 2 travel teams and the remaining go into a development internal academy style with inter squad games. Even 2 weeks you select the 2 teams from the academy pool. In this scenario only the top kids represent for the club and kids have an incentive to continue to improve every week to make the team. I think it becomes more of a glorified rec game when we schedule games and set teams 1-4 for each age for a season. It just becomes a participation event to appease parents.

do you think at U10 anyone will be willing to pay for training and inter squad games?

That shows thats its more about the parents and not the development of the kids. All of these games being played every weekend by c and d level teams are terrible to watch and bring down the value of your top teams. Let the academy pool train together and let the best 30 players represent your clubs in 2 teams each week. Whats wrong with the idea of the best representing your club and everyone being able to train with each other to compete for those weekly spots.

B/c it doesn't develop any chemistry. Soccer isn't an individual sport. For the team and players to excel and grow, they need to know their teammates' tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. That comes from playing together (practice and games).

The goal is to play on the A team not be stuck on the C team. If you watch most C teams that play all year together most of them dont develop nearly as fast as the A team if at all. By being stuck with a team of lesser players your really stunting your players growth. To allow them to train in a true academy like environment they will improve at a faster rate and allow the kids who initially labeled as C team talent to move up at a faster rate . It will also prevent the bigger January birth date kid from being locked in to the A team for a full year simply because he is older.

you will teach them to all view each other as the competition not the team they are playing. That's fine for older kids, but not for the Ulittles

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.

Maybe you have 1or 2 travel teams and the remaining go into a development internal academy style with inter squad games. Even 2 weeks you select the 2 teams from the academy pool. In this scenario only the top kids represent for the club and kids have an incentive to continue to improve every week to make the team. I think it becomes more of a glorified rec game when we schedule games and set teams 1-4 for each age for a season. It just becomes a participation event to appease parents.

do you think at U10 anyone will be willing to pay for training and inter squad games?

That shows thats its more about the parents and not the development of the kids. All of these games being played every weekend by c and d level teams are terrible to watch and bring down the value of your top teams. Let the academy pool train together and let the best 30 players represent your clubs in 2 teams each week. Whats wrong with the idea of the best representing your club and everyone being able to train with each other to compete for those weekly spots.

B/c it doesn't develop any chemistry. Soccer isn't an individual sport. For the team and players to excel and grow, they need to know their teammates' tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. That comes from playing together (practice and games).

The goal is to play on the A team not be stuck on the C team. If you watch most C teams that play all year together most of them dont develop nearly as fast as the A team if at all. By being stuck with a team of lesser players your really stunting your players growth. To allow them to train in a true academy like environment they will improve at a faster rate and allow the kids who initially labeled as C team talent to move up at a faster rate . It will also prevent the bigger January birth date kid from being locked in to the A team for a full year simply because he is older.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.

Maybe you have 1or 2 travel teams and the remaining go into a development internal academy style with inter squad games. Even 2 weeks you select the 2 teams from the academy pool. In this scenario only the top kids represent for the club and kids have an incentive to continue to improve every week to make the team. I think it becomes more of a glorified rec game when we schedule games and set teams 1-4 for each age for a season. It just becomes a participation event to appease parents.

do you think at U10 anyone will be willing to pay for training and inter squad games?

That shows thats its more about the parents and not the development of the kids. All of these games being played every weekend by c and d level teams are terrible to watch and bring down the value of your top teams. Let the academy pool train together and let the best 30 players represent your clubs in 2 teams each week. Whats wrong with the idea of the best representing your club and everyone being able to train with each other to compete for those weekly spots.

B/c it doesn't develop any chemistry. Soccer isn't an individual sport. For the team and players to excel and grow, they need to know their teammates' tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. That comes from playing together (practice and games).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.

Maybe you have 1or 2 travel teams and the remaining go into a development internal academy style with inter squad games. Even 2 weeks you select the 2 teams from the academy pool. In this scenario only the top kids represent for the club and kids have an incentive to continue to improve every week to make the team. I think it becomes more of a glorified rec game when we schedule games and set teams 1-4 for each age for a season. It just becomes a participation event to appease parents.

do you think at U10 anyone will be willing to pay for training and inter squad games?

That shows thats its more about the parents and not the development of the kids. All of these games being played every weekend by c and d level teams are terrible to watch and bring down the value of your top teams. Let the academy pool train together and let the best 30 players represent your clubs in 2 teams each week. Whats wrong with the idea of the best representing your club and everyone being able to train with each other to compete for those weekly spots.

so you want kids to fight to earn a spot 15 person roster to play 7v7? You're training kids that they don't have team mates, they have people that they train with who stand between them and actually playing (I'm sure that's developmentally appropriate for a 9 year old). How long until little Jimmy learns that if he fouls hard enough in practice, little Timmy won't be able to play and he moves up the ladder? And you want parents to invest the $300 in kit that their kid may never use plus pay the club dues for a club their kid may or may not ever represent? Do these parents have to pay team fees for tournaments that their kids may or may not be invited to play in?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.

Maybe you have 1or 2 travel teams and the remaining go into a development internal academy style with inter squad games. Even 2 weeks you select the 2 teams from the academy pool. In this scenario only the top kids represent for the club and kids have an incentive to continue to improve every week to make the team. I think it becomes more of a glorified rec game when we schedule games and set teams 1-4 for each age for a season. It just becomes a participation event to appease parents.

do you think at U10 anyone will be willing to pay for training and inter squad games?

That shows thats its more about the parents and not the development of the kids. All of these games being played every weekend by c and d level teams are terrible to watch and bring down the value of your top teams. Let the academy pool train together and let the best 30 players represent your clubs in 2 teams each week. Whats wrong with the idea of the best representing your club and everyone being able to train with each other to compete for those weekly spots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clubs that offer 5 teams are offering a training opportunity for money. If your player is slow timid and untechnical yet welcomed and encouraged ... well there is a cause and effect but if you believe paying money will change that then you should be free to do so. False dreams and false hopes are an interesting delusion to buy for children.

Statements like this show some pretty fixed deterministic thinking and explain why people think okay for coaches to scream and shout rather than actually coach. Replace “paying money” for “coaching” in the above sentence and you understand the mindset that winners are bred not trained. Pretty un-American philosophy - and small thinking given that kids develop at different rates. The statement that Messi would not have made it through the US system is a fair criticism - and should encourage reflection on the whole dumpster fire of US youth soccer which is a business not a sport. Kids should play locally - with good coaching - and opportunity to “travel” if top tier (top 1%) - ie: 1 or 2 kids on most current A teams. The problem is not that parents pay for travel - it is that there isn’t other options for regular “quality” coaching.

Well stated. I almost wrote “coaching” instead of “paying money” as I wasn’t sure how well expressing. Coaching makes a difference. Athleticism makes a difference. And in the US money makes a difference disproportionately.
I think Messi makes it through the US system as people tend to overlook his raw speed and acceleration. Same with Ronaldo. Same with Pulisic.
I don’t know that Messi would have made it out of US into Europe though. Would he have received a chance if an American waiting till 18???

I think point is that even in Spain and Argentina - pay or no pay - there are players that develop and players that don’t.
Coaches and managers make judgments all the time.
Parents should too and be realistic about where their child is.

Reality is almost no NCSL or ECNL player will ever play professionally in top world leagues. And yelling at them now or later is unlikely to be the determinant that sparks any change to that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.

Maybe you have 1or 2 travel teams and the remaining go into a development internal academy style with inter squad games. Even 2 weeks you select the 2 teams from the academy pool. In this scenario only the top kids represent for the club and kids have an incentive to continue to improve every week to make the team. I think it becomes more of a glorified rec game when we schedule games and set teams 1-4 for each age for a season. It just becomes a participation event to appease parents.

do you think at U10 anyone will be willing to pay for training and inter squad games?

Anonymous wrote:Clubs that offer 5 teams are offering a training opportunity for money. If your player is slow timid and untechnical yet welcomed and encouraged ... well there is a cause and effect but if you believe paying money will change that then you should be free to do so. False dreams and false hopes are an interesting delusion to buy for children.

Statements like this show some pretty fixed deterministic thinking and explain why people think okay for coaches to scream and shout rather than actually coach. Replace “paying money” for “coaching” in the above sentence and you understand the mindset that winners are bred not trained. Pretty un-American philosophy - and small thinking given that kids develop at different rates. The statement that Messi would not have made it through the US system is a fair criticism - and should encourage reflection on the whole dumpster fire of US youth soccer which is a business not a sport. Kids should play locally - with good coaching - and opportunity to “travel” if top tier (top 1%) - ie: 1 or 2 kids on most current A teams. The problem is not that parents pay for travel - it is that there isn’t other options for regular “quality” coaching.

Since this thread has moved to development, I'll post this video. It touches on a few topics brought up, including academy structure and training. I queued the video to the section about coaching/parent instruction and game environments. Hopefully, some people get something out of it. It is a good video, but a little long. I would suggest you watch it from the beginning; it is very informative.
Player Development Philosophy - Georgia Soccer Coaching

Clubs that offer 5 teams are offering a training opportunity for money. If your player is slow timid and untechnical yet welcomed and encouraged ... well there is a cause and effect but if you believe paying money will change that then you should be free to do so. False dreams and false hopes are an interesting delusion to buy for children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.

Maybe you have 1or 2 travel teams and the remaining go into a development internal academy style with inter squad games. Even 2 weeks you select the 2 teams from the academy pool. In this scenario only the top kids represent for the club and kids have an incentive to continue to improve every week to make the team. I think it becomes more of a glorified rec game when we schedule games and set teams 1-4 for each age for a season. It just becomes a participation event to appease parents.

Anonymous wrote:Every club should have one and only one travel team for each age group all the ones who get cut should play in the clubs rec program comprised of B team thru D team.

This doesn't make any sense. Kids do travel at age 8, 9, 10, 11 to LEARN from the professional coaches. Are you pretending you can tell at U9 who will be the star at U15? Because you can't.