Anonymous wrote:^ Wanted to highlight this "Oh - and by the way - the other team is playing its weaker players. If you lose because of your weaker players, you lost because you were the weaker team. If you don't play your weaker players and win you prove nothing except that you didn't believe you could win as a team. And pretty soon you won't have a team."

So very true. The players with most minutes leaves for ECNL/GA and the ones that are marked ok or poor will leave. FACT. How about believing in and coaching the players that are given roster spots? Oh right, roster spots needed to be filled.

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Some kids play futsal during the winter and then come back in the spring even better.

Yes, playing futsal over the winter helps with some things. However, I have found that it doesn't really help with others (like handling shouldering and avoiding getting pushed off).

Some kids play futsal during the winter and then come back in the spring even better.

No what Im saying is the bench player hast to worker harder to make up for less talent. I think thats just common sense. Again too many want to give playing time as a participation trophy in a sense and not understand it must be earned. As for coaches being up front. I think the parent needs to be more honest with their child and themselves. More than not parents think their child is better than they are. Their view of where their child ranks on the team is usually a clouded ranking. This is true for the better players as well. If your a bench player I would recommend showing up early for practice be the first one there the last to leave.

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Anonymous wrote:What some of you are not getting is this is competitive soccer no recreational. You chose to tryout and accept a roster spot on a competitive team. Its performance based as it should be. Is it about your kid and their team ? Or the parents and their embarrassment that their kid isn't good enough to win playing time. Our culture has gotten delusional as to what competing is. Too many want to have equal everything basically nullifying hard work and talent. Too many parents are telling their kids good job when losing 6-0. If your kid is usually a bench player with limited minutes. You should instill itin them to make the most of their minutes whether it is in games or in training. Give 110% effort and nothing less. Parents are quick to complain about the coach not playing kids but would never complain about another parent not sending their kid to training, all games, on time for both, knowing their position, giving effort. Many parents will blame and be angry with a coach "we drove 2 hrs and had family come just to see little Johnny sit on the bench". How about being angry at little Johnny for only giving a 50% effort, Not knowing their position, taking training as a social event instead getting better.

So playing time is a reflection of the players who put in the most efforts? I don’t see that being the case at all. The better players get more playing time regardless of their efforts. The good player who doesn’t come to all the practices or doesn’t run back to play any defense is being rewarded with more playing time. Happens all the time. I just wish coaches were up front and honest about a players role on the team so parents can make an informed decision

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Anonymous wrote:How about the coach who give the most minutes to players who skip practice for play dates and watch movies with friends?

We have a situation like this on our team. Not sure why the kid skips practice but is a pretty talented player and starts every game. Missed every single winter practice.

Again Talent is the overall objective. If the bench player was talented they wouldn't be bench players.

Anonymous wrote:What some of you are not getting is this is competitive soccer no recreational. You chose to tryout and accept a roster spot on a competitive team. Its performance based as it should be. Is it about your kid and their team ? Or the parents and their embarrassment that their kid isn't good enough to win playing time. Our culture has gotten delusional as to what competing is. Too many want to have equal everything basically nullifying hard work and talent. Too many parents are telling their kids good job when losing 6-0. If your kid is usually a bench player with limited minutes. You should instill itin them to make the most of their minutes whether it is in games or in training. Give 110% effort and nothing less. Parents are quick to complain about the coach not playing kids but would never complain about another parent not sending their kid to training, all games, on time for both, knowing their position, giving effort. Many parents will blame and be angry with a coach "we drove 2 hrs and had family come just to see little Johnny sit on the bench". How about being angry at little Johnny for only giving a 50% effort, Not knowing their position, taking training as a social event instead getting better.

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Anonymous wrote:How about the coach who give the most minutes to players who skip practice for play dates and watch movies with friends?

We have a situation like this on our team. Not sure why the kid skips practice but is a pretty talented player and starts every game. Missed every single winter practice.

Anonymous wrote:How about the coach who give the most minutes to players who skip practice for play dates and watch movies with friends?

Anonymous wrote:Who selects the rosters and who decides on the weak benched players? Be careful with the club you aim for and don’t get distracted by their propaganda.

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Anonymous wrote:Similar to my DS' club/team: Regular season each kid plays at least half the game, but in tournaments all are told that playing time will not be equal, and some will play a lot and others not very much.

Do you mind sharing which club this is? I've been disappointed with clubs that follow the "equal playing time for all" routine even during tournaments. I get the idea that you can't completely bench a player, or have routinely unbalanced playing times, or parents (and their $) will walk. But at least some tactical player/formation would be good for a tournament. So I'm trying to gauge which clubs are a little more ... competitive ... when it comes to playing time.

My dd’s team lost 3 girls because coach didn’t play them a minute in the final at mclean cup. This was a couple of weeks ago.

Dumb assumptions from a club expecting that parents want to drive out of town to watch their children sit them bench, but keep on with your dirty business and losing players.

They were out of shape and suffering asthma like issues. As soon as they go in the team’s level tanks and goes from predator to prey. How do you justify that to other kids and families that we lose a championship over... irrelevant feelings in travel soccer?

The fault lies with the club for offering roster spots to these kids. The club needs to resolve the situation in a way that is fair to all its paying customers - and simply not playing these kids for even one minute is not a reasonable resolution.

Adding to this a little more:

1. Wanting to win the championship is not a reasonable excuse for giving a kid zero minutes. All teams have weakest players and clearly those players "hurt the team's chances" when they are on the field instead of better players. But they are a part of the team and their net contribution to the team is (or should be) positive when weighing up financial contribution, bodies required for practices, injury and absence coverage etc. etc. In return for making such a contribution they expect, and should receive, a reasonable amount of playing time.

2. If a player is sufficiently weak that his or her net contribution is negative then the club needs to deal with that player fairly by (a) explaining the situation and giving them a chance to improve their performance over a specified period of time, (b) offering them a spot on a lower team or finding another club for them, and/or (c) offering them a refund.

Continuing to accept the player's money and giving them zero minutes is BS. And any parent who thinks that their kid is entitled to have his coach and tournament entry fee etc. subsidized by another kid who will not play at all is a parasite.

Oh - and by the way - the other team is playing its weaker players. If you lose because of your weaker players, you lost because you were the weaker team. If you don't play your weaker players and win you prove nothing except that you didn't believe you could win as a team. And pretty soon you won't have a team.

And no - I'm not saying everyone should get equal playing time. But everybody needs to feel that the deal is working for them - not that some other folks are just taking advantage of them. That is what "team" sports are about. And learning that is the point of playing a team sport in the first place.

If you just want to win at all costs and don't give a darn about your teammates - then go play tennis. Or golf. Or run track. Or shoot pool. Don't play a team sport.

I don’t really understand how parents allow this happening. Sue the club and make this be a precedent.