Flight 1

[crush]

Another source of instability that I see is recruiting of out of area scholarship players. A team is always better off with local players. Out of area players jump around for better deals. Some of them don't even come to practice.

I would say "some" out of area players look for better deals. Some out of area players go for the top coach, who happens to be out of the local area. I know a few coaches that had DP players and some who were too far for the commute but they were the best so when they came to the game, they played and the girl went to practice all week sat on the bench and watched. Parents ((customer)) does not like that. I was labelled on here for 4 years as a club hopper and medal chaser and some even think I was going around to ALL the Docs in Socal trying to get a full ride and even a per diem for each month. It was not true at all. They called me and asked me to come to their HQs and listen to all their offers.

 

[Grace T.]

Fligjht is definitely more important. Recently my daughter played up a year at flight 2 and she went from being average on flight 1 to the best player on a flight 2 team even though it was 1 year older. The way socal allows teams to move up with no requirements, flight 2 is more like fligjt 3 at the older age groups.

In a working flight system that’s what should be happening: the teams that have been together longest should be improving and moving up.

among the olders, for the boys, flight 1 isn’t really flight one but flight 5. It comes after the mls academies, mls next/ecnl, ea/ernl, npl/elite 64/premiere/ea2.

Another source of instability that I see is recruiting of out of area scholarship players. A team is always better off with local players. Out of area players jump around for better deals. Some of them don't even come to practice.

this really shouldn’t even be allowed but I don’t know what way you could police it. It does a great disservice to the other players and not just complaining about the playtime of kids that show up to practice v those that don’t. The kids that in instances are allowed to do this are generally key impact players. But the other kids are missing out by having those players not be at practice: goalkeepers not learning against the best shooters, a defensive line trying to work with a star cb, team missing shooting against the lead goalkeeper, the teammates not learning to build out with the key defenders.

 

[Jamisfoes]

This is really shouldn’t even be allowed but I don’t know what way you could police it. It does a great disservice to the other players and not just complaining about the playtime of kids that show up to practice v those that don’t. The kids that in instances are allowed to do this are generally key impact players. But the other kids are missing out by having those players not be at practice: goalkeepers not learning against the best shooters, a defensive line trying to work with a star cb, team missing shooting against the lead goalkeeper, the teammates not learning to build out with the key defenders.

I don't have a problem with out of area players who come to practice. However, these players are often first to leave if another club closer to home becomes available.

 

[jojon]

I don't have a problem with out of area players who come to practice. However, these players are often first to leave if another club closer to home becomes available.

Prioritizing players who come to practice more regularly is difficult for any coach if the other player is clearly better.
My neighbor's son is a goalkeeper and also a basketball/football player. The dad told me he almost never goes practice (due to schedule) but plays 100% all the time because he is much better than his backup. He is still in middle school and only plays in ECRL so it may not work at higher level but I can see the dilemma for the coach.

 

[jojon]

In a working flight system that’s what should be happening: the teams that have been together longest should be improving and moving up.
among the olders, for the boys, flight 1 isn’t really flight one but flight 5. It comes after the mls academies, mls next/ecnl, ea/ernl, npl/elite 64/premiere/ea2.

It is difficult to believe that we have that much talent, even in so cal. Let's take the second level only (NPL/elite64/premier/ea/ea2/ecrl).
6 leagues, approximately 16kids/team. 10 teams/league.
So for example in LA/OC area, there are approximately 960 boys better than flight 1 in one particular age group?
I would say either Flight 1 is just recreational or the "elites" are not really special (except for MLS Academies).

 

[lafalafa]

It is difficult to believe that we have that much talent, even in so cal. Let's take the second level only (NPL/elite64/premier/ea/ea2/ecrl).
6 leagues, approximately 16kids/team. 10 teams/league.
So for example in LA/OC area, there are approximately 960 boys better than flight 1 in one particular age group?
I would say either Flight 1 is just recreational or the "elites" are not really special (except for MLS Academies).

Thousands of players in those leagues and you could group all of them + flight 1 or whatever and the stats would say almost all are playing for recreation.

The pseudo labels on leagues is for marketing not necessarily skill level or anything despite some selling the so-called soccer youth pyramid which is flaky at best.

There is a huge drop out rate starting about age 13 for youth sports and the pandemic just accelerated that. The latest study I read says youth soccer numbers are down and only like 6% play soccer from 13-17 of the total youth sports participants while basketball is at 17% for example.

HIgh school players are about out the only metric we have to compare who continuers on. The high majority of them also play club soccer in our area and that's the end of their sports participation.

With only about About 8% of high school men's soccer players go on to play in college, and only about 1% go on to play for a Division 1 school you could say that club stats would be a bit higher but not by much overall.

8 Out of 100 players and 1 at the highest level just for college and Whereas it is less than 1 percent of soccer players who go to a club, normally by the age of nine, will actually make it to the professional ranks.

Not as bad as lottery odds but it's gambling nonetheless unless you just view it as fun recreational activities that are worth experience and learning from. Some spends thousands at Disney so at least your getting the kids some exercise and fitness this way.

 

[Socal-Soccer-Dad]

8 Out of 100 players and 1 at the highest level just for college and Whereas it is less than 1 percent of soccer players who go to a club, normally by the age of nine, will actually make it to the professional ranks.

There was a stat about kids in soccer in England. Less than 1% of the kids who play in academies at age 9 make a living in any level of soccer. And in terms of making the EPL, it's 180 out of 1.5 million kids - 0.012%.

 

[crush]

Thousands of players in those leagues and you could group all of them + flight 1 or whatever and the stats would say almost all are playing for recreation.

The pseudo labels on leagues is for marketing not necessarily skill level or anything despite some selling the so-called soccer youth pyramid which is flaky at best.

There is a huge drop out rate starting about age 13 for youth sports and the pandemic just accelerated that. The latest study I read says youth soccer numbers are down and only like 6% play soccer from 13-17 of the total youth sports participants while basketball is at 17% for example.

HIgh school players are about out the only metric we have to compare who continuers on. The high majority of them also play club soccer in our area and that's the end of their sports participation.

With only about About 8% of high school men's soccer players go on to play in college, and only about 1% go on to play for a Division 1 school you could say that club stats would be a bit higher but not by much overall.

8 Out of 100 players and 1 at the highest level just for college and Whereas it is less than 1 percent of soccer players who go to a club, normally by the age of nine, will actually make it to the professional ranks.

Not as bad as lottery odds but it's gambling nonetheless unless you just view it as fun recreational activities that are worth experience and learning from. Some spends thousands at Disney so at least your getting the kids some exercise and fitness this way.

Every player is a soccer player. Only a few find the top. The rest of the girls have fun and find happiness in the game again. This flight stuff is for the birds and for marketing purpose to make more teams=$$$

 

[Jamisfoes]

It's a natural progression for people to seek out better competition. I think majority of club parents have the disposable income and enjoy watching their kids' soccer on Saturday.