# How do you deal with the higher level club(A team) taking kids from your team (B team)



## socalkdg (Feb 17, 2017)

As a parent, how do you deal with the higher level club(A team) taking kids from your team (B team) just before State Cup?   Your kids have played with them all year, the team is playing well together,  your poised to do well in President's Cup/Governer's Cup, and your star sweeper/keeper/striker etc. is taken from our team just before cup play?  

I understand it is good for the individual, but not for the rest of the team.   Girls are disappointed, with the whole season almost feeling like a waste.   Yes, the most important thing is development, but I know if we bailed on our team, there would have been a lot of unhappy kids/parents.

We are with a smaller club and expect all the girls back for next year, with a number of tournaments being played in the next few months, thus haven't experienced this yet.  We did have one girl go on vacation and that hurt our depth and there was some disappointment with that, and a friend on another team lost their star striker to the A team just before tourney and they ended up getting knocked out pool play after not losing very often during the season.

First year in club and it has been fun.  Almost no disappointments.   Interested in hearing about life with the bigger clubs.


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## MyDaughtersAKeeper (Feb 17, 2017)

Are the kids leaving the club to play with another club in state/national cup, or is the club pulling up B team players to fill needs at the A team?  Both can be difficult, but different scenarios.


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## Sped (Feb 17, 2017)

you're happy for the kids who get pulled up because it's a good opportunity and every club tells you up front that their strategy is club, not team, first?


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## Overlap (Feb 17, 2017)

socalkdg said:


> As a parent, how do you deal with the higher level club(A team) taking kids from your team (B team) just before State Cup?   Your kids have played with them all year, the team is playing well together,  your poised to do well in President's Cup/Governer's Cup, and your star sweeper/keeper/striker etc. is taken from our team just before cup play?
> 
> I understand it is good for the individual, but not for the rest of the team.   Girls are disappointed, with the whole season almost feeling like a waste.   Yes, the most important thing is development, but I know if we bailed on our team, there would have been a lot of unhappy kids/parents.
> 
> ...


get used to it, there will always be (parents) players leaving this time of year, all the way through until the team ages out. You need to come to grips with the fact that some (parents) players will always be looking for what they think will be the best opportunity for their kid. Hopefully your team is actively looking to add additional players to fill the spots of those that have left your team or you will be looking for a new team for your kid as well. My oldest plays with a small club, on a very good team, they won League at U15 and lost 11 players, it was a pretty big shocker. 2 left for ECNL, several moved to other teams, (some to get more playing time) and a few just stopped playing. I must admit, I was almost in a panic, thinking I'd have to move my DD to another club. U16 was a struggle, U17, more recruiting and they were back at the Premier level to really compete, they were lucky enough to win League Cup at their age group, 9 kids have signed to play on  at the college level and it all worked out for those core players that stuck it out. Be patient, if your kid likes their coach, they're still learning and the team is competing, they'll be fine. I'm assuming this team is under U14 or I may be more concerned if it's an older team.....


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## socalkdg (Feb 17, 2017)

MyDaughtersAKeeper said:


> Are the kids leaving the club to play with another club in state/national cup, or is the club pulling up B team players to fill needs at the A team?  Both can be difficult, but different scenarios.


Kids filling in for A team from the B team.   I agree it is good for the kid, but maybe not always for the team.


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## GKDad65 (Feb 17, 2017)

Put "Elite", "Academy", or a powerful color in your team name.  Don't forget "Premier", and for the youngers anything with "Pre" in the title.


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## socalkdg (Feb 17, 2017)

Currently U12 team.   As mentioned every kid is expected back for our team.  May add 1 or 2 kids.  Love our coach, love the development.  Allows her to still play basketball, plus guest play with other teams so she gets field work.  Also working on getting a 2nd keeper so she can play half her club games in the field.

Just didn't like seeing another club that had a set roster all year lose a player a couple weeks before State Cup. The Premier team wanted the player, the Gold team lost the player, and that team lost early in the cup during pool play.    Should be a safe period up through Feb. that kids don't jump ship or move around.  Also understand though that when clubs have 2-4 teams at the same age with different degrees of talent, players will get moved around.


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## MyDaughtersAKeeper (Feb 17, 2017)

The club is going to do what is right for the club without regard to whether it is the right thing for the kid.  In my humble opinion.


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## zebrafish (Feb 19, 2017)

How do you deal with this? Bite your tongue, I guess.

The problem with team sports is that you must rely on other parents'/kids' participation to generate a team. They don't completely share your values, priorities, feelings or perspectives. It can be really frustrating. But at the end of the day, you can only control what you do and (to some degree) what your kid does. The team environment can be spoiled by others.

Ultimately, the kid pulled "up" a tier (presumably) could have said no-- that they want to finish what they started on a team they played for all year. But they didn't.

Given the insanity with recruitment and tryouts and resigning starting at Thanksgiving, State Cup is as much the beginning of a season as it is the end (or past the end) for some teams. I no longer will build it up as anything special in my mind or my kid's. Because so many teams aren't the teams that have played together all year. It is crazy.


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## Daniel Miller (Feb 19, 2017)

The correct answer is, "*don't put you're kid on the B team, but if she is already there, then jump ship now*." 

The A team coach will routinely take your top players, and your B team will never have a chance to play well or develop.  No players will be loyal to the B team; they are all biding their time there while waiting for "the call."  And when the next year's tryouts come, the A team coach will stock his team with lateral recruits - not your kid.


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## Eusebio (Feb 20, 2017)

I don't think the answer is, "don't put your kid on a the B team." But I pretty much agree with everything else. 

I'd say at least 50-70% of B team players are on the team to "move up" to the "A" team. If the club is doing their job, they should be pulling players up from the B teams who they developed, instead of constantly recruiting from the outside. But even if the club doesn't promote from within, you'll still see a lot of B team players jumping ship trying to find an environment where they can move up.

I will say that if you're looking for a stable team all the way through State Cup, then a B team is probably the worst type of team to be on. For the reasons mentioned above, B teams are notorious for being unstable and having a high turnover. They're essentially transition teams. If you want to have a little more stability in the post-season, then you can try a local team that just has a single team in an age group. But you still won't be completely immune from outside clubs plucking away your top players at "winter camps".

Until CalSouth puts a try-out freeze until after State Cup, the post-season circus will continue.


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## SoccerLA (Feb 20, 2017)

Daniel Miller said:


> The correct answer is, "*don't put you're kid on the B team, but if she is already there, then jump ship now*."


I strongly agree with this.. B or lower team coaching, training, priority for the club, will always be less than A team - A team will have more training options, more scrimmages etc - in some cases, you will quickly realize that the B team is the cash cow for the A team.

For this reason alone, I would not place my daughter on a B team in any club. Find an A team for your daughter where she fits in and has potential to develop.  If you can't find a fit for her on an A team that plays flight 1, go with the A team even if they play flight 2.  At least you know that coach and club will work hard to develop that team into flight one players.

But make sure it's A team regardless of flight played - choose the coach first, team second, club last


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## mirage (Feb 20, 2017)

Daniel Miller said:


> The correct answer is, "*don't put you're kid on the B team, but if she is already there, then jump ship now*."
> 
> The A team coach will routinely take your top players, and your B team will never have a chance to play well or develop.  No players will be loyal to the B team; they are all biding their time there while waiting for "the call."  And when the next year's tryouts come, the A team coach will stock his team with lateral recruits - not your kid.


Wow, this statement is over generalized and needs caution.

While its true that A team does have priority over B team in every club, there are multiple factors beyond that need to be considered, such as:

Club's business perspective: A team has more scholarship players than B team (typically), and B teams are needed for funding purposes.  Treating B teams poorly will guarantee loss of paying players.

Players perspective: May sounds great to be on an A team, but if you are in the bottom 1/3 of the team, then playing time and exposure to opportunities are very limited to nonexistent.  Unless the training that great that you're willing to sacrifice playing time (I have never seen training so good that sacrificing field time is worth it), much better off playing on a B team than sitting on an A team.

These are two that popped into my head when I read the post.  There are list of other issues that go along with those two.

Keep in mind that club sports is a business first.  One of the key reasons for placing priority on the A team is so that it has a better chance of winning.  Winning=good marketing for recruiting paying players.  Clearly, some clubs do this better than others and have a long history of winning teams, as reputation and success feeds itself.

Last, there is a pecking order on A teams too, if the club has multiple A teams per age group.  You all know that large clubs have multiple areas and each area has different DOC with his/her A team.  At the club level, there really is only one A team and other A teams are raided too, for some national/international tournaments and showcases that only accept one team per club.  

I've seen kids left off the roster on an A team and replaced with other players from different A teams on the club for these types of events.  What do parents tell their kids that he/she wasn't invited to go with the rest of the team because the club took other players in their spots....


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## TangoCity (Feb 20, 2017)

If it bothers you (OR YOUR KID) that much then don't play on a 'B' team.  I've seen worse.  I've been part of Clubs that pulled players off of the 'B' team to the 'A' team during the fall league season (CSL which has promotion if you do well).  Most clubs do not care about their 'B' or 'C' teams.  If you play on one of them you have to accept the fate that your best players will get pulled.  Part of player development is team development and team development comes from a certain amount of consistency.  You do not get this at the big clubs where every single year you have new teammates and a new coach (AYSO core has the same model).  On B teams you likely don't get much of this.  If you don't mind your team getting picked apart every year and treated as a less important entity then B teams are fine.  People that play on B teams, especially the ones who do it year after year are usually playing for the jersey.


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## dreambig (Feb 20, 2017)

socalkdg said:


> As a parent, how do you deal with the higher level club(A team) taking kids from your team (B team) just before State Cup?   Your kids have played with them all year, the team is playing well together,  your poised to do well in President's Cup/Governer's Cup, and your star sweeper/keeper/striker etc. is taken from our team just before cup play?
> 
> I understand it is good for the individual, but not for the rest of the team.   Girls are disappointed, with the whole season almost feeling like a waste.   Yes, the most important thing is development, but I know if we bailed on our team, there would have been a lot of unhappy kids/parents.
> 
> ...


I move my kid from the A team to the B when he was 9. (Bench player) so he can have more playing time and touches on the ball.
Yes we lost almost all the games during season but my son will play hard (he will stop forwards at least 20-30 times per game) and believe or not he became one of the best defenders.
A lot of coaches wanted him and now he plays for an Academy team


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## MakeAPlay (Feb 20, 2017)

dreambig said:


> I move my kid from the A team to the B when he was 9. (Bench player) so he can have more playing time and touches on the ball.
> Yes we lost almost all the games during season but my son will play hard (he will stop forwards at least 20-30 times per game) and believe or not he became one of the best defenders.
> A lot of coaches wanted him and now he plays for an Academy team


A top 1v1 defender is worth their weight in gold!


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## Daniel Miller (Feb 20, 2017)

MakeAPlay said:


> A top 1v1 defender is worth their weight in gold!


Let's see...  If Dreambig's daughter weighs 100 pounds, then her weight in gold comes to $1,983,680 at today's prices.  That is nearly enough to cover her annual fee for LA Premier's new DA team.


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## MakeAPlay (Feb 20, 2017)

Daniel Miller said:


> Let's see...  If Dreambig's daughter weighs 100 pounds, then her weight in gold comes to $1,983,680 at today's prices.  That is nearly enough to cover her annual fee for LA Premier's new DA team.


I think that he said that he had a son.  Point taken though.


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## dreambig (Feb 20, 2017)

MakeAPlay said:


> I think that he said that he had a son.  Point taken though.


I forgot to mention I don't pay to play!


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## MrXor (Feb 20, 2017)

We had a B team kid move up this year. I think it sends two messages: 
1. A team kids, you can be replaced if you do not work hard enough.
2. B team kids, work hard enough and you can join the A team. 
Carrot stick. Stick carrot. Hope and fear are powerful motivators. 
If I were not such a believer of the goodness of people, I would think it was done on purpose
to whip the troops into shape and to stay in line.


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## Bdobyns (Feb 21, 2017)

My experience is that most clubs highest level teams get players from other clubs' higher level teams, that is, they want "A" players regardless of their last club.  "B" players, are for the most part, "B" players.  Those very few that find themselves in a situation of being promoted from within should count themselves lucky as they are the exception and not the norm.  This is probably the biggest fallacy of "developmental" leagues/clubs/teams.


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## Bananacorner (Feb 21, 2017)

GKDad65 said:


> Put "Elite", "Academy", or a powerful color in your team name.  Don't forget "Premier", and for the youngers anything with "Pre" in the title.


Yes, agree, love the Pre-ECNL, Pre-NPL, Pre-Academy, and my favorite, Pre-WNT.


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## espola (Feb 21, 2017)

An interesting situation came up in our neighborhood club a few years ago.  The A team was pretty well set from the previous year and was set to contest for promotion into the top Presidio level.  A big-for-his-age former rec player tried out for the team, but couldn't crack the A roster as a starter.  The coaches offered the parents and player a deal - play on the B team, or play a year for the A team a year up (in Presidio AA-C, the lowest level) where he could be a starting defender against kids more his size.   They took the deal, and he came back to tryouts the next year with some good game-play experience and made the A team.


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## chargerfan (Feb 21, 2017)

Bdobyns said:


> My experience is that most clubs highest level teams get players from other clubs' higher level teams, that is, they want "A" players regardless of their last club.  "B" players, are for the most part, "B" players.  Those very few that find themselves in a situation of being promoted from within should count themselves lucky as they are the exception and not the norm.  This is probably the biggest fallacy of "developmental" leagues/clubs/teams.


I have only seen girls moved up a


Bdobyns said:


> My experience is that most clubs highest level teams get players from other clubs' higher level teams, that is, they want "A" players regardless of their last club.  "B" players, are for the most part, "B" players.  Those very few that find themselves in a situation of being promoted from within should count themselves lucky as they are the exception and not the norm.  This is probably the biggest fallacy of "developmental" leagues/clubs/teams.


At many clubs the talent difference is too great between the A and B team to really recruit from within. But even if there is a girl or two who could be moved up, coaches always want girls from other clubs instead. If you have a B team player that you think is ready for the next level, I would look around at other clubs for a coach that will give her a chance.


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## MakeAPlay (Feb 22, 2017)

chargerfan said:


> I have only seen girls moved up a
> 
> 
> At many clubs the talent difference is too great between the A and B team to really recruit from within. But even if there is a girl or two who could be moved up, coaches always want girls from other clubs instead. If you have a B team player that you think is ready for the next level, I would look around at other clubs for a coach that will give her a chance.


In some cases this is 100% correct.  Sometimes the "A" team coach can't see the talent right in front of their face.  There are some clubs that do.  At the end of the day if a coach has 40+ players tryout for 18-22 roster spots and some girls from outside the club show better you can't really fault a coach.  You can fault them when there are "B" team players that are better than the "A" team talent.  I have seen both scenarios.


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