Tournament Strategy?

[timbuck]

Does your team enter tournaments at:
1. Their same level/flight
2. A level above their flight
3. A level below their flight

I've seen some head scratchers this summer. Team moving to Flight 1 but playing in the 2nd or 3rd tier of a tournament. Team in Flight 2 for Fall being placed in the top flight of a tournament.

I know it's not always up to the team to get put in the right spot. Tournaments can do some funky stuff to try and make the number$ work out.

My opinion is that if you are going to play down to "work on some stuff" (IE - win a trophy) then why not schedule friendlies? Save your team the money. Save your families from having to sit at the Great Park/Silverlakes/patch of grass in a neighborhood for 4 games. Save your opponents from spending the money to get their ass kicked by a team that is in the wrong bracket.

 

[Dominic]

Sometimes played up a year and won. We didn't care about winning small tourneys only National cup(semis) and Surf Cup (finalist)

 

[jpeter]

Sometimes I hate to say it teams are playing to accumulate wins or points at easier tournaments so they have a better shot at the higher profile one like Dallas cup, Disney, etc. When a team is not in the top 10 with gotsoccer or what they use to determine who gets accepted it can be a really uphill battle unless you know somebodies or have the high profile club backing a team.

Playing different tournaments instead of the same old ones repeatedly is something that helps players develop but that might result in additional travel up north or out of state for example.

Some of the smaller club tournaments with mainly Affiliated teams is a opportunity to play up or mix rosters but you know how territorial coaches can be but it's good for the players IMO once in a while.

Knowing when to play up can be tricky since some won't accommodate that request if the tournament is popular but at least always play your highest level possible, no need to play down just find a different tournament if possible.

 

[Grace T.]

Same ? guesting. You can bring up people from lower level teams to give them an opportunity to play with higher caliber players, or you can bring down people from higher level teams and/or from other teams not in your club to secure the win. Some motivations I've heard about coaches going for the win: recruitment (need the picture for the soccer announcement board with the kids with the medals around their neck to show "impact" players your team is winning), win/loss records for coaches looking either to retain jobs or promote within their own club, keep the parents happy.

 

[outside!]

It is also possible the tournament put the team in a different flight than they wanted.

 

[NickName]

It is also possible the tournament put the team in a different flight than they wanted.

This.

We always request either equal or higher flight. This past weekend at an unnamed tournament we were placed in flight 2. At the time there were a couple other flight 1 teams in the group which kept us from making a stink. Unfortunately the other teams either dropped out.
The tournament was fairly well put together and the fields were great but being flight 2, we got (what I believe to be) the reminent referees that were either too old to keep up or too new to understand some of the rules.

The teams we played were all good. Excellent coaching and kept fighting from the first to the last whistle.

I think our takeway this time is to make sure that we are playing at the right level. One game in particular was uncomfortable after a while

 

[LBCTrojan]

Does your team enter tournaments at:
1. Their same level/flight
2. A level above their flight
3. A level below their flight

I've seen some head scratchers this summer. Team moving to Flight 1 but playing in the 2nd or 3rd tier of a tournament. Team in Flight 2 for Fall being placed in the top flight of a tournament.

I know it's not always up to the team to get put in the right spot. Tournaments can do some funky stuff to try and make the number$ work out.

My opinion is that if you are going to play down to "work on some stuff" (IE - win a trophy) then why not schedule friendlies? Save your team the money. Save your families from having to sit at the Great Park/Silverlakes/patch of grass in a neighborhood for 4 games. Save your opponents from spending the money to get their ass kicked by a team that is in the wrong bracket.

Depends on a lot of different factors. Some tournaments that use Got Soccer only use Got Soccer rankings when creating their Flights. Some teams, including some teams going Flight 1, have a very low Got Soccer ranking as a result in playing in non Got Soccer tournaments and not getting credit for wins. Some tourney directors use a number of different methods in creating flights - Got Soccer rankings, YSR rankings, league record, HTH wins vs other teams in tournament, and key wins vs top 100 teams in age group. Tournament directors that take the time to balance a number of different factors are set up to have a more successful tournament for all parties involved - players, coaches, parents, officials, etc.

What tournament are you having an issue with?

 

[justneededaname]

Does your team enter tournaments at:
1. Their same level/flight
2. A level above their flight
3. A level below their flight

All of thee above. My DD's team has their selected tournament schedule and in those they try to play at their level. But the team and coach like to jump in additional tournaments when the opportunity arises. Tournament has an open slot, they are offering a discount, the team jumps in. Have ended up playing above their level and below their level. They are just trying to get games. And really, a couple hundred bucks to have someone else rent the field, schedule the teams, and hire the refs is totally worth it. So much easier then putting in the effort to schedule friendlies ourselves.