AYSO santa clarita cracks

Cracks? This seems like a recurring theme.

Every season there is at least one thread about some AYSO region or coaches going in a different direction, I cant even recall all the different permutations AYSO has been trying each year; was there plus+, signature, extra, and now united?

I dunno if its fragmentation or lack of focus but AYSO seems to going to all these different directions but some what forgetting about there "core" players. Some of the non-sanctioned or Latin leagues in different metro areas now have as many or closer to same amount of players as AYSO. Why mess with a good thing? Will AYSO will go back to its roots and start focusing on the core players again and stem the exodus?
 
Grace T. said:
England is organized very differently than we are. They have a very small academy program...DA and level 1 equivalent and that's pretty much it...no B, C D or E team...this is reserved for boys that want to go pro and not kids that aspire to getting into college. Then there's a small middle ban of pay to play development clubs for kids hoping to break into the academies...
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In Poland (the only European system I have experience with) there are only the pro academy side and "play in the park with friends" side. I talked to an academy coach about this and he said that if the kid is talented enough, he'll learn the game well enough by playing everyday with friends rather than in some structured un-fun system. Talent will sort itself out and then it's up to the academies to turn the talented kids into pros. One interesting thing about a country where everyone knows soccer so well is that there are fewer illusions about a kid's potential. If you know soccer, and you know your kid, you know pretty early on whether they're a special talent. In Poland, parents of regular kids don't kid themselves into believing that their kid will ever play pro (and college soccer isn't a thing) so they focus on other things - like school.

This is starting to change as Poland's economy grows. There are now summer camps associated with Bayern and Barcelona and other name clubs that are happy to take kids money based on a dream, but the pro academies pay them no attention. They really are only interested in top talent.
 
focomoso said:
(and college soccer isn't a thing)
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But that's the difference isn't it? And if they had been serious about only taking people who had the potential for the pros into the DA program, they would have much more severely limited it.

Having levels is a good thing for all kids involved. Suzie striker sitting up top isn't going to get a whole lot play if her teammates can't pass her the ball. And Billy playing out in the wings doesn't feel great about himself if his teammates never pass him the ball because they know he'll lose it. If Johnny rockstar is a superstar keeper and no one can get anything in no one is having a good time. If Sally is playing kids with big legs and is letting everything in and is scared about stopping balls with speed that's not good for her.

p.s. the mexican leagues have an advantage that at least the parents played rec...it's usually in the Mexican or Central style, though, which means it can be a bit rough.
 
Grace T. said:
United parents in most regions are expected to perform service (coaching/ref/team parents/field monitor/snack booth) on top of paying the fee so it's actually a way to keep volunteers in, rather than have them leave for club.
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This is the same at virtually all Cal South soccer clubs - volunteer hours come into play somewhere. The difference is that in AYSO once they leave Core these family volunteers no longer contribute to the overall region in the way that once kept AYSO strong: Figure of 12-14 players on an Extra roster, 7 or 8 of those parents might have been coaching a Core team instead. And now those Extra kids are going to United, so those coaches are also out. We don't see Little League(R) Baseball branching off to create travel ball teams.

I'm not really an AYSO supporter per se (we moved son to club at U10), but I do support my region and friends/families who are in it (and the ref friends I've made) and still volunteer hours for those people.
 
jrcaesar said:
TThe difference is that in AYSO once they leave Core these family volunteers no longer contribute to the overall region in the way that has kept AYSO strong: Figure of 12-14 players on an Extra roster, 7 or 8 of those parents might have been coaching a Core team instead. And now those Extra kids are going to United, so those coaches are also out. .
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United families are still expected to coach a core team, referee the core, be the United Team manager, or man the snack shack for the core program.
 
Grace T. said:
United families are still expected to coach a core team, referee the core, be the United Team manager, or man the snack shack for the core program.
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Could be. I don't see that at United Pacific, but I might not be looking closely enough at it.
 
I saw this email as well. It was from an ayso employee?/volunteer? who used the ayso email list (hundreds? thousands of addresses?) who appeared to be disgruntled with the direction ayso is going. He then recommended parents to go check out another club-FFSC. Crazy. Maybe a little financial incentive for this guy? I think the "crack" in the ayso system and their philosophy or direction is a side bar to what appears to be a pretty questionable and possibly corrupt move by this individual. I wonder what would happen if a club representative/board member of Club A emailed all the club families and recommended they go check out competitor Club C... Probably wouldn't be employed much longer. Oh well, more nonsense and just another day in paradise.
 
AYSO took a bad turn IMO when they tried to become something in opposite of their original principles. Instead of reinvesting in what they do well and working to build that up they decided to become exactly what they have criticized and demeaned from a moral stance for years. It is sad and misleading to the communities they are in.
 
Soccer43 said:
AYSO took a bad turn IMO when they tried to become something in opposite of their original principles. Instead of reinvesting in what they do well and working to build that up they decided to become exactly what they have criticized and demeaned from a moral stance for years. It is sad and misleading to the communities they are in.
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Being successful in a niche is often a very good approach (AYSO have always done this very well in the rec soccer scene) but trying to do everything and take over the world (sure, not quite that but you get my point) is something that could be their downfall.

Be great at something; don’t just be average at a bunch of things.
 
Paul Spacey said:
Being successful in a niche is often a very good approach (AYSO have always done this very well in the rec soccer scene) but trying to do everything and take over the world (sure, not quite that but you get my point) is something that could be their downfall.

Be great at something; don’t just be average at a bunch of things.
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Given the huge drop offs they were having at u12 and moving even younger, they had a choice of adapt or die. The choices were to tier up their programs and compete with club, or become an organization devoted primarily to introduce kids to soccer at young ages. I’m not sure what the right choice is, but given clubs are now competing in the introduction space with their own programs I understand the rationale for the decision.
 
The problem with what AYSO is attempting to do ... compete with US Club and US Youth is that their philosophical model and reputation are ill equipped to do it right. Of the 3 youth affiliates (AYSO, US Club and US Youth), AYSO owns the recreational soccer space in most of the US, which is valuable. What we really need is for US Soccer to dictate to its youth affiliates members and say:

Recreational Soccer is the domain of AYSO.
Club/Competitive Soccer is for US Youth and US Club to battle it out ... stay out of AYSO's territory.
USSDA was a bad idea ... oops ... MLS, take it over and work with US Club and/or US Youth and create a 2 tiered academy structure ... MLS fully-funded academies and unaffiliated Pay to Play academies that have a relationship with the MLS academies.
 
MWN said:
The problem with what AYSO is attempting to do ... compete with US Club and US Youth is that their philosophical model and reputation are ill equipped to do it right. Of the 3 youth affiliates (AYSO, US Club and US Youth), AYSO owns the recreational soccer space in most of the US, which is valuable. What we really need is for US Soccer to dictate to its youth affiliates members and say:

Recreational Soccer is the domain of AYSO.
Club/Competitive Soccer is for US Youth and US Club to battle it out ... stay out of AYSO's territory.
USSDA was a bad idea ... oops ... MLS, take it over and work with US Club and/or US Youth and create a 2 tiered academy structure ... MLS fully-funded academies and unaffiliated Pay to Play academies that have a relationship with the MLS academies.
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You are a smart man. That’s exactly how it should look.
 
During olders State Cup this past year I was an AR on a girls game between AYSO United and Slammers. Before the game I overheard several Slammers parents and players saying how this was going to be an easy win against the AYSO ref team. Well United easily won 6-1. During the game it was funny to hear the Slammers parents make excuses as to why their team was losing, “they always play bad at these 8am games”, “they are tired from the late game yesterday”, “the girls had trouble sleeping in those bad hotel beds.” I wanted to turn around and say, “No, your team is just not as good as that “rec” team” then laugh at them. But, of course I stayed professional and just laughed my ass off in my mind.
 
One team I saw, for example, built a team around 4 superfast kids that could belt it into the corner of the goal from almost the half. They swept various tournaments and were only stopped by the TFA flight 1 pre DA team. But it was some ugly soccer without possession control and largely run and beat the other side after goalkeeper punts.
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Ha! And you don't think that happens at every club around? Tis the game in America.
 
MWN said:
ECNL was doing a fine job before the USSDA. The DA added nothing.
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I was referring to the part about MLS. Perhaps that acronym could be replaced with MLS/NWSL. Women's soccer has done at least as much as the men's game to popularize the game in the USA. It should always be included in any conversation about the future of soccer in this country.

ECNL offered a great product, but ECNL was under serving the SD county market, and other markets like North LA and IE in order to protect certain clubs monopolies. If it had not been, GDA would have had a hard time gaining traction. I will agree that USSDA and GDA have multiple problems.
 
My kid is in the pilot program for ID64. It's extra playing time and coaching with good coaches and an even better pool of players (fully funded). They will go to some higher profile tournaments. From what I can tell it's not too dissimilar from what all the other mega clubs do. They're trying to help create a healthy part of the pyramid that is the petri dish of youth soccer in the US. There are some growing pains and some ruffling of feathers. (most likely those feathers need ruffling)

Same thing for United as a whole. Some of the coaches are amazing, and some are average. Some play beautiful possession soccer and some play ugly kickball. They the have their amazing, professional coaches creating curriculums for the larger national program to use in each club. Some people care more about the letters on the jersey than finding the best program in their area for their kid's development. In some places and age groups that's a different club. In some places United is the best option. I'd say the # of clubs that can claim they are the best option for all age groups and all tiers is zero. We got one the awesome of ones for my kid. YMMV.


Grace T. said:
No idea. All I know is part of the long term plan is to have a DA or a DA equivalent at the top of the AYSO pyramid. It's a few years away, but the point of ID 64 is to lay the ground work by IDing potential players and giving them a pathway to be seen by colleges. Beyond that: phase 1) steal underpants, phase 2) ?, phase 3) profit!

Like I said, I'm not a proponent....there's a lot that I like in what I see...there's some bad stuff too...and there's some bad stuff that just doubles down on the other bad stuff throughout US soccer.
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Grace T. said:
Meh. Other clubs have done it like Simi Premiere and Real So Cal. The rec program gives them a base from which they can mine players. The Ole club which has had much success recently starts with futsal leagues for the younger ones from which they can select players internally.
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With all do respect to Ole SC, their futsal is not a rec program for kids, majority kids that play friday futsal already play on various local clubs like Real So Cal, Extreme, Eagles etc. They advertised it as "free play" no coaching, no refs, so its more of pick up game venue...
 
Zvezdas said:
With all do respect to Ole SC, their futsal is not a rec program for kids, majority kids that play friday futsal already play on various local clubs like Real So Cal, Extreme, Eagles etc. They advertised it as "free play" no coaching, no refs, so its more of pick up game venue...
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Wasn't referring to Friday futsal (which is great BTW). Was referring to their fall/winter futsal league (targeted for under '09s). They also have some (really great) summer camps they use to spot young kids.
 
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