# Your thoughts on youth soccer and social media



## timbuck (Aug 12, 2019)

I follow most local clubs on places like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (I'm not a snapchat user.  Maybe I should check that out too).

And maybe I'm hitting that "get off of my damn lawn" age now.

But the constant posting of wins is starting to be a little over the top.  Post your losses too.  Or post that your Flight 1/DPL team won Flight 3 in a tournament.  Or mention the guest players that you brought in.

I also think it's kinda crappy when a club posts "Our SD Smurf DA team beat the OC Purples ENCL team by 3-0".  Go ahead and post that you won.  But I don't think you need to mention the team that you beat.

Or tagging a player that scored a goal.  Congrats to "@lilMiaHamm" for the hat trick and game winner!!!!!  

Social Media can be great. But it seems like they grey haired guys running clubs think this is their new holy grail to recruit and retain players.  

Clubs should post about tryouts and general information.  But leave the bragging to the players.


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## JabroniBeater805 (Aug 12, 2019)

Social Media is tricky. I run my son’s team Facebook page. I will mention results when I include the game clips but I’m not posting only about results. Instead, I post things like team get togethers, out of the box training, birthday celebrations or to wish kids a speedy recovery from injury. I’ll also post tournament schedules and stuff like that. I try to make the social media account geared towards entertaining the kids on the team.


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## Dargle (Aug 12, 2019)

timbuck said:


> I follow most local clubs on places like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (I'm not a snapchat user.  Maybe I should check that out too).
> 
> And maybe I'm hitting that "get off of my damn lawn" age now.
> 
> ...


I tend to think that the odd thing is not that the club is "bragging" on social media, but that someone from another club is following them on social media.  Clubs used to do all the kudos in a newsletter or the website, but now they have to do it on social media.  That's where the other kids in the club will see it.  It makes it more like a club if everyone can share and like in each other's successes (if you can't brag to your family and friends, who can you brag to?).  Some clubs have players of the week too.  It's harmless.


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## 46n2 (Aug 12, 2019)

Whats the #1 thing in everyone hands from age 3 to 90, a cell phone.
Social media is just another beautiful form of marketing..and to some it is the holy grail.
to be able to reach far and wide for basically free
why not
and to congrats some by name, no problem with that...kinda like a pat on the back , no reason to hate because someone is performing...
its obviously my opinion but why wouldn't you say team A beat Team B?  what's the issue with that.....
are we supposed to be PC in everything now , even sports.  Honestly why would that be a issue is you say galaxy beat lafc by 10-1?


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## Messi>CR7 (Aug 12, 2019)

You were right the first time:

"And maybe I'm hitting that "get off of my damn lawn" age now."


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## ToonArmy (Aug 12, 2019)

What DPL team is playing flight 3 in a tournament?


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## Not_that_Serious (Aug 12, 2019)

SM is used to promote the clubs. I think most parents dont follow it. Mainly to attract NEW folks coming in. Branding/Image. Depends on the club and politics. My kid's team was on a team that use to win virtually every tournament, playoffs, etc and the club refused to post it on all the social media. No one really knew, since kids/parents/coaches didnt follow - or pay attention. We only found out because a kid who was looking to join the team was doing his Dick Tracy work and noticed the coach/team wasn't found on the club site or listed as tournament winners - to which he asked "Why don't you guys exist on the club site?". We thought it was funny, didnt really give a shit. I guess some parents care if their U8 club team arent posted on everything after winning Summer tourney #5


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## Not_that_Serious (Aug 12, 2019)

ToonArmy said:


> What DPL team is playing flight 3 in a tournament?


Last year OC surf playing still with WC shirts placed their B04 ECNL team in a Flight 3 tournament. #allstars


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## ToonArmy (Aug 12, 2019)

Not_that_Serious said:


> Last year OC surf playing still with WC shirts placed their B04 ECNL team in a Flight 3 tournament. #allstars


Funny that same team just won west coast classic and posted it on Instagram. I haven't looked at the tournament to see what flight they were playing just happened to notice that post


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## Not_that_Serious (Aug 12, 2019)

ToonArmy said:


> Funny that same team just won west coast classic and posted it on Instagram. I haven't looked at the tournament to see what flight they were playing just happened to notice that post


Haha. too funny. if I recall correctly it was Stringer. nothing going on at that club amazes me.


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## Paul Spacey (Aug 12, 2019)

It is definitely used as a 'winning' marketing ploy. I can't pretend I've been completely immune to that the last couple years and have posted some 'tournament winners' photos but for the most part, we only really use IG and FB to post relevant info and photos/videos because the players like to see it, regardless of winning or losing.

One club I know post multiple times a day about being 'champions' and 'winning'. It is bordering on obsessive (the winning thing) but I genuinely think the poster(s) don't know any different and they are not doing it to annoy or upset anyone. At times I find it entertaining to be honest; it's very comical and I look forward to seeing what 'champions' posts they put up next. Bless them.

That's social media now unfortunately. The public only get to see the very best of individuals and organizations but the reality rarely reflects what is portrayed on social media. It's the age we live in. Perfection and winning sell. Imperfection and losing do not.


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## timbuck (Aug 18, 2019)

Amazing!!!


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## rainbow_unicorn (Aug 18, 2019)

That's gotta take the cake for dumbest club social media post.  I would be embarrassed if I were one of the OC Surf 09 parents.


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## Messi>CR7 (Aug 18, 2019)

timbuck said:


> Amazing!!!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 5235


It's a silly post, but why are you following a team of 9-year-old girls on social media?


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## timbuck (Aug 18, 2019)

I follow the club.  This was posted on their “story”.


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## 46n2 (Aug 19, 2019)

Hey Rainbow, Im curious why you think its a the dumbest post?  Im not affiliated with anyone or anything in regards to this post.
If you have a 10 yr old kid thats dedicated and their team accomplished some good things , why not celebrate little....


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## rainbow_unicorn (Aug 19, 2019)

46n2 said:


> Hey Rainbow, Im curious why you think its a the dumbest post?  Im not affiliated with anyone or anything in regards to this post.
> If you have a 10 yr old kid thats dedicated and their team accomplished some good things , why not celebrate little....


Because it's pretty common knowledge within that age group that they are not the best southern cal team.  And GotSoccer rankings are just dumb.


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## JackZ (Aug 19, 2019)

*


rainbow_unicorn said:



			GotSoccer rankings are just dumb.
		
Click to expand...

*Checked YSR out of curiosity since it's a much better "indicator" - #20 in SoCal and #52 in nation.


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## Justafan (Aug 19, 2019)

timbuck said:


> Amazing!!!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 5235


And that’s the PRE- academy team, imagine how good the real academy team is!


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## timbuck (Aug 19, 2019)

Here’s my take-   Rankings of youth soccer are all pretty silly.  The younger the age group- the sillier. 
But I know that parents love it.  So if a parent says “we are the #5 team in the nation”-  it’s silly, but I get it. 

A club should know that rankings for this age group is a bit of a stretch.  And a club shouldn’t be the one to post something like this on social media.  

Good luck to these girls. And anyone who plays them this year.


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## jpeter (Aug 19, 2019)

Looking for "one" impact more player to join this "fantastic" team that just won xyx and will be going to abc and playing in jgh  league seems to be a typical posts nowadays.

Either that or the weekly recap; lookie these 2-3 teams won a tournament this past week but no mention of the other 12 teams that played but didn't necessarily "win" the tournament played.

Would rather see 50/50 coverage where some teams could be making strides but would never no since they didn't win that given weekend. Spotlight more than just wins.

As far as rankings, well they don't play the games the kids do.  My kids have been fortunate to play on some very highly ranked ones, #1 is some cases but it's all realtive and there really is no good or accurate ones  so it's all just a folly IMO


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## redhood (Aug 19, 2019)

rainbow_unicorn said:


> That's gotta take the cake for dumbest club social media post. I would be embarrassed if I were one of the OC Surf 09 parents.





rainbow_unicorn said:


> Because it's pretty common knowledge within that age group that they are not the best southern cal team.  And GotSoccer rankings are just dumb.


Bitter much? HAHA


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## Stryprod (Aug 19, 2019)

Nothing wrong with posting about success so long as it is not at the direct expense of someone else.

An adult posting how much they make or who they got a promotion over is tacky at best, just as a club posting where they rank or who they beat is too. Posting you got a big promotion or went on a vacation is great, just as posting a team tournament win is also.

Nothing wrong with being excited and sharing good news. If it bothers you, you need to evaluate your jealousy or stop following other clubs if you cannot help yourself.


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