New to club soccer and my DD recently completed her 1st year. She was "demoted" by her coach despite significant playing time - either starting or 1st off the bench. We are not blind to her weaknesses, but felt she had improved and was 3rd or 4th on her team in goals and the team had a very successful year as a 1st year team. The families and kids got along without any drama we are aware of. Trying to sort through what to do next - accept the demotion or find a new club despite tryouts being completed for most teams.
Player Demotion
- Thread starter S00CER1
- Start date
Demoted to what? Not every player can be a starter - bench players are just as important.
There is still plenty of time to try out for a new club. But if the goal is to have her become a starter on a brand new team, that might be unrealistic unless the new team is really hurting for players.
On the surface, it sounds bad but it may not be. It simply depends on how old and where your kid is, in terms of soccer abilities.
Recommend not thinking in terms of goals scored or minutes played. Think in terms of where best to improve her skills and soccer IQ.
Also the word "demotion" has a negative connotation to it and it reflects how you've interpreted the situation. Possibly two completely different motivation by the coach for taking this action:
1) The player does not show sufficient up side to continue-on, on the team and the coach is looking for different kind of player, or
2) the player can significantly benefit from being on a lower tier team, where she can build confidence and improve her skills better than being on the higher tier competition (where things are faster and require higher skills).
Of course it may not be either of those thought through things and simply that "I want a bigger and faster kid to win" mentality.
In any case, talk to the coach and understand why, if you haven't already. And if you already have and didn't like the answer, there are no shortage of clubs out there.
Good luck....
Recommend not thinking in terms of goals scored or minutes played. Think in terms of where best to improve her skills and soccer IQ.
Also the word "demotion" has a negative connotation to it and it reflects how you've interpreted the situation. Possibly two completely different motivation by the coach for taking this action:
1) The player does not show sufficient up side to continue-on, on the team and the coach is looking for different kind of player, or
2) the player can significantly benefit from being on a lower tier team, where she can build confidence and improve her skills better than being on the higher tier competition (where things are faster and require higher skills).
Of course it may not be either of those thought through things and simply that "I want a bigger and faster kid to win" mentality.
In any case, talk to the coach and understand why, if you haven't already. And if you already have and didn't like the answer, there are no shortage of clubs out there.
Good luck....
Dos Equis
GOLD
What do you think of the coach of the new team? What is the overall level of play? Does she like her new teammates? The normal reaction is to look for another "A" team, but make sure you find a good coach and a group of players who will be able to challenge your daughter and help her improve. A well-coached "B" team trumps a poorly coached "A" team, in my opinion.
Kudos to the prior coach for giving her playing time and working with her. Make sure you understand from him/her what your daughter needs to work on to improve, and then do it. Nine times out of ten, they actually know.
Invited to the lower tier team. We took a very hands off approach as we did not want to be " one of those parents " and let the coach do whatever he felt was best. We had no expectations to start, but thought she would at least be invited back as she genuinely liked her teammates and her coach. After talking with the coach it felt like typical coach speak about development etc.
younothat
PREMIER
Don't know what age your player is, but did she talking directly with her coach during the period where her playing minutes decreased? Did she enjoy playing with the team and for he coach?
Most important for the player is too continue to develop the love of the game. Coaches who help players learn to love the game are the ones to look for so players will continue to stive to get better and be involved.
Separate the team from the player because at the ulittle ages kids need to learn how to play for themselves not just the team. During the games or training they can be happy or not with their efforts and usually know the things they need to work on. The big question is will they work on those things and will the coach(s) help them? development is up to the individual.
Sometimes playing on a top team is not the best fit for a player, they rely on teammates too much and don't push themselves enough to keep getting better individually. Nothing really can take the place of work rate or effort and a change can be motivation to do so.
Development is getting better or improving at something. Not everybody develops at the same rate and there can be some stop, go, regression, progression, etc.
We need to learn new things and change to keep developing. Playing for the same coach or with the same players is comfortable but change can be good every once in a while
Most important for the player is too continue to develop the love of the game. Coaches who help players learn to love the game are the ones to look for so players will continue to stive to get better and be involved.
Separate the team from the player because at the ulittle ages kids need to learn how to play for themselves not just the team. During the games or training they can be happy or not with their efforts and usually know the things they need to work on. The big question is will they work on those things and will the coach(s) help them? development is up to the individual.
Sometimes playing on a top team is not the best fit for a player, they rely on teammates too much and don't push themselves enough to keep getting better individually. Nothing really can take the place of work rate or effort and a change can be motivation to do so.
Development is getting better or improving at something. Not everybody develops at the same rate and there can be some stop, go, regression, progression, etc.
We need to learn new things and change to keep developing. Playing for the same coach or with the same players is comfortable but change can be good every once in a while
bruinblue14
SILVER
Depending on her age, maybe take her to a trainer and get an independent opinion? Sometimes trainers too have insight in terms of coaches and clubs and can point you in the right direction. And unfortunately, even at the younger ages, I've found you can't rely exclusively on your club coach and 2 practices a week to truly develop your kid even if you have a great coach. They just don't have the time (and possibly the expertise) to fine tune whatever it is your DD might need to work on. If your DD is motivated, it's all about time on the ball, the more touches the better, in practice, at home, at school, at the park, wherever. And if your current coach won't be more specific about why he made the move, then maybe it's time to move on anyways. Good luck!
A bit underwhelmed by her new teammates. I have always felt she should never be the best or the worst and somewhere in the middle in terms of talent. She was somewhere in the middle to upper tier on her prior team and now is clearly the best on the new team. Just trying to figure how to approach things as my DD was hurt by this whole thing.
I am a club coach for a Tier 3 Girls 06 and Tier 2 Girls 03. I am also the director for the Tier 3 teams at our club. I do not believe any player should sit on the bench and not play. Sitting and not playing is a waste of time. I only carry players that can contribute and will play. I have spoken with parents and given an honest assessment at the end of the season if their daughter needs to move to a lower level team. It seems like your daughter is doing everything right and "starting" is not the issue. From an outsider it appears there might be some type of other issue the coach is not telling you. Parents need to find the club that fits all of their kids needs. It is not unusual for kids to switch teams at this stage.
She is an 06. She never really had her playing time diminish through the year and played usually 50% of the game at her forward position. Her coach felt comfortable enough to play her in other positions in front of other players due to injury at State Cup and other end of the year tournaments. I am starting to think she may have been used as a wake up call for the other players as they had planned to move up a Tier and this has caused some whispers with the parents of her old team as new players have been brought in.
S
Sped
Guest
with respect, and not knowing your kid at all, are you sure she was in the middle to upper tier? The bump down seems to indicate otherwise.
I've seen this happen all the time. A kid that starts at State Cup is cut from the team the very next week at tryouts. Your mistake (although I consider it a positive thing) is that you are hands-off., probably not smooshing with the other parents? I bet she is being replaced by a friend of another player on the team or someone that is getting privates by the coach.
The best thing to do is find a team where your daughter is the middle of the pack, work hard and show this team what they are missing.
The best thing to do is find a team where your daughter is the middle of the pack, work hard and show this team what they are missing.
Kicknit22
GOLD
Come on Sped! Don't dismiss the inevitable politics that always come into play. Soccer1 doesn't sound boastful or as if they are looking through parental goggles. Sounds like they are getting a raw deal. Soccer1 should talk to Coach directly and get the answers, if they can.
We are very honest about our DD and where her talent level is. Pros and cons. We had some privates and feedback, all taken with a grain of salt, had very positive things to say and areas to improve from a boys coach affiliated with the club. Realized something was going on late in the season whenever she made a mistake was taken out and other players got a much longer leash for "development purposes"
During last year's tryouts we let our daughter (05) handle everything. We were very hands off; that was the worst thing that we could have done. She was a kid dealing with adults. She was "demoted" from the 1st team to the 2nd team. We HIGHLY disagreed with the move, but committed to stay due to the coach that she got. She had a great year developmentally this year; I believe she made more progress this year than last year. The coach believed in her, and she worked her tail off. This year whenever someone wanted to talk to her about plans for the upcoming year the answer has been "go talk to my dad." Good luck to you and your daughter.
TangoCity
GOLD
Yes. Take her somewhere else where she is wanted. Will be one of the better players on the team but not the best. Find a coach that works on technical skills like first touch, passing and ball mastery. Not one that just comes to practice sets up cones and picks them up and moves them every 25 minutes. Also make sure she is practicing on her own, I recommend juggling. Set a goal of a 100 juggles using both feet and thighs. Play soccer tennis with her. Improve and then come back and beat her old team three times in one season.
Thanks for the reply. It looks like we have/had a similar situation.
Just trying to figure out if staying is best only to improve trying to get back on the team she was just on or to start fresh with a new team and go from there.
It seems a bit premature to start placing middle of the pack kids on to a, b or c teams yet.
Here's how the conversation would go in a perfect world:
"Hey parent, I wanted to talk to about next year. Your daughter has been a very important part of our team. I'm still trying to determine which team she will be playing on through the summer tournament and fall season. I want to see her improve her skills and gain a lot of confidence. Currently she is one of our players that I'm on the fence with regard to the a or b team. She'll neee to show me x,y,z to get a lot of playing time on the A team. I believe that players get better by playing in games. So, she might be better off playing 80% of the game on the b team, than she would playing 30% (or maybe less) on the A team. I hope she'll stick with our club. How would you feel about her training with the b team for a few weeks? This is an age where some kids start to mature faster than others, so this could play a factor too."
Here's how the conversation would go in a perfect world:
"Hey parent, I wanted to talk to about next year. Your daughter has been a very important part of our team. I'm still trying to determine which team she will be playing on through the summer tournament and fall season. I want to see her improve her skills and gain a lot of confidence. Currently she is one of our players that I'm on the fence with regard to the a or b team. She'll neee to show me x,y,z to get a lot of playing time on the A team. I believe that players get better by playing in games. So, she might be better off playing 80% of the game on the b team, than she would playing 30% (or maybe less) on the A team. I hope she'll stick with our club. How would you feel about her training with the b team for a few weeks? This is an age where some kids start to mature faster than others, so this could play a factor too."