Can we please get this thread back on track and ignore personal insults or ad hominem attacks, or attacking another team, player or coach, or whining about information posted on non-academy teams, or the absurd schaudenfreude when some team loses or fails to play out the back or kickballs it. Some teams may just not have the personnel to play it out the back, some teams may be working on it in practice but are not yet ready to do it in game, some teams may be taking advantage of a favorable matchup of a speed forward vs slow back line. The reality is that there are several reasons why teams play the way they do, and a blanket statement that X team is not developing because they are kickballing it is just shallow and lazy analysis.
For example, the Strikers were criticized for kickballing it, but recently they have been playing out the back and they had a tough time of it. It turns out that they had a fantastic goalie who moved to the 02 team and a stud CB who moved on to Godinez Slammers and some other losses on their back line, so Ganey is now training the replacements. It makes sense that he didn't put too much pressure on the new D to move the ball around in the first few games, but now he is biting the bullet and making his D play out the back under game conditions to train them. To me, that's the sign of a coach who is balancing the team objective of winning with the development of individual skills.
Speaking only for myself here, I really respect the posters that make quality posts and manage not to feed or lash out at the trolls. We all know at this point who the trolls are. Please ignore them. They obviously don't care that they have made asses of themselves, and they are more than happy to drag you into the mud with them. Fighting an internet troll is like fighting a woman, you lower yourself just by being in a fight with them.
Not everyone's kid plays on an academy team. My son has played on several teams, and played with or against kids that are now playing in different leagues, so I personally enjoy reading posts that discuss how those teams or players are doing. And the reality is that from u12-u18 academy the turnover rate is ridiculously high, I read in one article that it's 92%. My son's coach said that as each age group moves up, expect cuts in the 50% rate. Kids are going to bounce into and out of academy teams in the next few years, and I'm sure some of the posters bitching about posts on non-academy teams will be changing their tune.
