How’s the 2023-24 season going?
- Thread starter CharlieMurfee
- Start date
MVLA game?
Heard MVLA missing 3 defenders and brought RL players with them. I did notice they only have like 3 on the bench.
RobbieNorwood
BRONZE
Why do all the top teams out here stockpile other teams talent this time a year? Are parents that insecure that riding the bench on a team of 25's a better option than grinding for a playoff spot with the roster you signed up for before the season even started? We didn't see this type of movement up North at this rate and it seems most of its from this 2010 age group out here. Most of what any coach can offer a player right now is a bag of lies and a spot on the bench to make their teams path easier the following season.
Stockpiling other teams talents how do you know that? What if they trying out prospects for next season.
I would say so the way Mvla dismantled the top team of Mojave sure they are looking like the top prospect. 5-0 is a beat down.
@crush maybe onto something for next season. Legends with players that have never played together before hung well vs mvla. Wait until the legends offense can build some chemistry. They will be interesting to watch.
My wife's young neice saw up close and personal and is happy to play up with the 2011s. 2010s 24/25 is just to powerful to compete. Good luck to everyone for next season.
JustaSpectator
SILVER
Stockpiling is right with certain teams right now & I can't understand as a parent how the bench works meaning leaving a team with a great amount of playing time to half or less playing time. I see and hear that a lot of these parents are all about "getting noticed" at this young age. Where is the fun for them? If they got it, they got it.
It's the same players and parents doing the same things (chasing wins) that they've been doing since the girls were young. Some people just go crazy when competition is availabe.
I wish there was an Academy program like MLSN Academys but for girls. If this was available you'd see much less of the club / team hopping.
That score surprises me. Impressive win for MVLA. Did non-HBK Slammers have their full team? What did Surf and HBKS do this weekend?
On the stockpiling talent issue, it’s coaches and the parents of the free agents who are driving the process. Decent players on teams that don’t make it who are then looking to upgrade and coaches trying to figure out how to… beat MVLA. ECNL parents tend to be cold whenever anyone new tries out that threatens their kids’ PT. But when your team earns a spot in Seattle and the vultures start swooping in for cubs’ playoff PT, mama and papa bears’ teeth and claws come out in full force.
You can be on a winning team, and develop
Mama & Papa Bear will also smile at you and then claw you in da back. I have 8 avo trees bro. July is harvest time
Seattle is amazing this time of the year. Make sure you bring a lawnmower. Grass is super thick up there and plays VERY slow. Seriously, good luck and go SoCal
SurfSupDude
SILVER
This is what Surf did this weekend. It doesn’t look like Koge played.
Attachments
Like a lot of things, it’s complicated. I think the first observation is that players are chasing teams that just win. For truly elite players, it is more than that. It includes who the team plays and is competitive against. The learning experience on the field isn’t the winning, but the combination of playing with the best players against the best players. Winning isn’t controllable. There are so many things outside of ones control that effect winning. Being in the competitive hunt is desired. However, the burning desire to win and developing that in players is also desired and achievable. Not coaching the game to win is reasonable in cases, but telling the players you’re not coaching to win is a huge mistake by some coaches today. Regarding team hopping, as long as parents are footing the bill, it will continue. It is just part of youth soccer. Some is justified, and some isn’t. I can think of a parent that thought their daughter was the best player in California. Now that they have been on 5 teams in 5 years, you would think reality might set in, but alas, probably not.
I suspect MLSN Academies are in the future if the women’s professional game continue to make $. I just am not sure there is that much player hopping at the elite level at the elite clubs. If MLSN Academies open, there will be a lot of movement initially and cause a problem for Surf and similar clubs.
I believe a lot of the team/club hopping is an effort to be on "the best" team. If there was an Academy option for girls "the best" team would be the Academy team/teams. In general you don't see parents driving 1+ hour each way so their kid can play on a DPL/ECRL (2nd tier) team. In fact you rarely hear ECRL/DPL parents going crazy about which team won/lost against who. A local Academy option would diffuse a lot of the GA/ECNL back and forth girls parents post online. The boys have MLS Acadamies, below that MLSN and ECNL are roughly the same. Because Acadamies are the top tier MLSN and ECNL boys parents don't care as much about wins and losses or which league is better or worse.
We just need to let the players/parents that think their kid is the best actually find out if this is really the case in an Academy setting. If they are the best great, have fun playing professionally. If they're not the best that's fine to, have fun playing on a regular team + hopefully you won't be as crazy this time playing on a normal team.
When my little one was 11-14, we hopped to the best coach hands down. The best coach usually attracks players that want to get better. If good players follow, you will have a good team. This one avatar @Fact accussed me of reçruiting 5 players to make a Natty Team. Yes, we did win and play the best possession in the country, but I never tried to poach. That was the Docs job and he did a good job.
That's my point.
A "Natty" doesn't matter when Acadamies options are available + churning out Pro Players through a homegrown rule.
Basically while winning a "Natty" would be nice because there's potentially better Academy teams the win wouldn't be as satisfying.
If parents can't prove their kid is the best player on the best team they'll eventually try to get on the Academy team. Once on an Academy team players will be groomed for playing professionally. In this world Nattys mean nothing.
Some kids want to win a Natty and chase medals. When Surf Cup was only about the best of the best, it was a competitors dream. When expansion came and the non competitive GDA league came, real competition was tossed out the window. Like so many have said, SoCal/NoCal needs a top league. We could compete with Spain, no joke.