HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TRYOUTS ARE A RIGGED SHITSTORM AND I'M PISSED ABOUT IT

Jamisfoes said:
You guys exaggerate. Don’t feed Franko’s rage. He sounds like someone who might shout up the school. A used Mercedes costs less than a used Toyota. Everyone driving a Mercedes in SoCal is not rich. The truth is a kid who is a 99 percentile player will make a team rich parents or poor.
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I don't quite relate which school Franko is referring to. At CUSD and IUSD and SVUSD, there are summer leagues for incoming freshman. You already know if you are going to make it in the tryout. Anyone playing sports should know 2-3 days tryout is useless to assess players.
There are not too many players nowadays. In my DD school, about 30 freshmen tryouts. There are about 5 players maybe that could make it to frosh team but was not selected due to space. The coach has to make the cut somehow, maybe connection, maybe pure luck, maybe position, maybe speed, maybe size. who knows. I did not see a situation when any of the top 15 players (out of 30 freshman) cut from high school team.

If you go to private school, they will create Frosh A&B so nobody got cut, at least until Sophomore years. In volleyball, there are even C teams :)
 
FrankoRunner99 said:
WHAT. THE. HELL !?!?!??! So that's the true nature of those "elite coaches", huh ? Coaches don't give a shit about skill or hardwork. It's only the freaking money. It's all business. Just stick to the parking lot league. It's free and I'm the only damn player.
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I wasn't very clear from your post what your level is. Here's the reality about soccer: it's a skills based sport. Most positions in gridiron football are different: if you have the right measurables you can get on a team freshman year with relatively little play time experience. There's a world of difference between an MLS Next Player v. a regular club player v. an AYSO player. I gather from your post you don't play club? If there are club players ahead of you, then it shouldn't surprise you, particularly since it seems you might go to a power soccer high school (as opposed to a school where they are begging for just athletic walk ons). Also there is something to being on the team before and being a senior? Is it fair? No, but it will always be a tie breaker. But yeah, your right...if they weren't clear about that in the tryouts they probably should have been....it's not about the "effort" you might show at tryouts....if the school coaches care about winning it's about the skills you bring to the table and unfortunately that's going to be the letter league players. Sorry you are discovering this. It sucks.

p.s. I get it. My son played both letter league and Latino sunday league. Some of those Latino league players are good. But the reality is they aren't as good as the MLS Next players (who BTW unless they are seniors shouldn't be playing for high school...it's against their rules).
 
Keep in mind A LOT of club players who play year-round also play High School soccer. If the coach is also a club coach then they know the talent pool they'll potentially be playing against during HS season and will make decisions based on who they feel will give them the best chance of performing well. They also have last HS season and the entire club year to assess club & last years players vs the walk-on tryout. The walk-on needs to really impress to stand out, not just be the same level as the others, since it is such a small window of opportunity to prove yourself. Not impossible, but also not an easy task. Then you layer over the politics and it gets messy.

My kid just had tryouts for middle school soccer where over 60 players tried out for 18 slots. Very few non-club players made the team and the difference in soccer skill was obvious. And the coach is a college assistant coach with no club affiliations so without really knowing them the selection seems as un-biased as possible.
 
Scrub It Kook said:
My kid just had tryouts for middle school soccer where over 60 players tried out for 18 slots. Very few non-club players made the team and the difference in soccer skill was obvious. And the coach is a college assistant coach with no club affiliations so without really knowing them the selection seems as un-biased as possible.
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I do sympathize with the fact that, now, at least for higher-end schools in urban areas, you will essentially need to be a club level player to make a school team, and the opportunity for more casual athletics isn't really there any more. This is a significant difference compared to, say, 30 years ago, and something I've talked with a number of other parents about. The harsh reality is that for many sports, the bar has been raised, and that bar no longer allows casual players to make the cut. That's not because of corruption, or picking rich kids, or friends, or anything like that (rant notwithstanding); it's just the reality of training year-round vs playing casually, and the level of talent competing for spots.
 
Also of note: due to CIF rules, and exclusion of club activities during the HS season, there's little downside for all club players to not play HS soccer. In middle school, this is basically ancillary/optional (eg: my son has done other sports than soccer in MS, while doing club soccer). In HS, the state regulations force HS players to not do club during that time anyway, so most coaches encourage playing for the HS team. This means that, in addition to the larger pool of talent, the state rules make it so that club players are strongly incentivized to always fill the slots on the HS teams, pushing out most non-club level players.
 
My son made JV as a freshman last year and only because he had done a few "camps" with the coach, this year he was supposed to make Varsity but didn't do any of the camps so he is staying in JV. The coach also uses the high school season as recruitment for his club team, if you don't agree to play for his club after the season then is the bench for you or 5 minutes of the game to give his club players a break
 
FrankoRunner99 said:
Alright, buckle the fuck up, cause I’ve been bottling this shit in for days, and I need to fucking SPEAK. High school soccer tryouts are the most miserable, brain-dead, soul-crushing experience ever invented by humanity. I don’t even know how to summarize the complete shitstorm I just lived through this beautiful month of November, but here we fucking go.


First off, TRYOUTS SUCK ASS.
Like, genuinely, what the actual fuck is the point of putting us through five goddamn days of HELL just to decide who gets cut? They make you run until you’re puking (love that SoCal heat, right?), yell at you like you’re some unpaid ball-shagging intern, and then casually post a shitty wrinkled piece of paper in the locker room, listing the chosen ones. Or worse, they put it on their fancy-ass Instagram account like they’re some fucking Real Madrid academy or some Premium shit. Bro, we’re not pros. We’re 15-year-olds with raging acne and bad attitudes.

Let me tell you what happened: I just got CUT. Not "Oh, maybe you’ll make JV" cut. I mean "Didn’t make it onto ANY team, not even the landfill-tier Fresh/Soph squad that exists just so the varsity coaches don’t feel bad about axing half the school." It’s like they looked at me, shrugged, and decided we were barely worth the paper they used to print the shitty, wrinkled tryout results. My name? Not on the paper. Not on the polished, Instagram post list with some edgy Kendrick Lamar soundtrack either. Not even on the “you suck but here’s JV or the freshman/sophomore trash team” roster. Nope. My ass got kicked out with the rest of the “plebs,” like we’re dogshit they stepped on. And the best part? No explanation. Don’t think you can ask for feedback. OH NO !!!!! That’s like pulling teeth. You have to go BEG the coach to tell you why you didn’t make it, like he’s doing YOU a favor. “Oh, we just felt like you didn’t stand out enough.” Yeah, no shit, Coach Clipboard, because your beloved Varsity Darlings™ didn't pass your precious Nike Flight Premier League Team Academy™ balls like they'd get straight up executed if they did.

The Varsity Boys™ Are Pre-Selected GODS.
Here’s the kicker: TRYOUTS DON’T EVEN MATTER. Yeah, you heard me. That Varsity squad? PRE-FUCKING-MADE. All those little darlings from last year? They automatically make Varsity again. It doesn’t matter if they were lazy or played like shit during tryouts—they’re in. Coach Clipboard literally said there's like 5 FUCKING SPOTS available on Varsity BEFORE FUCKING DAY 1 OF TRYOUTS STARTED. They automatically get a pass. Why? Oh, because they’re club kids or academy babies. The coach SOMEHOW, already knows them from those clubs. The system is rigged as shit, and we all fucking know it.

Meanwhile, us regular dudes? We’re treated like unpaid extras in a bad sports movie. We’re out here running suicides in 90-degree heat, praying the coach will notice us. Guess what? They fucking DON'T. They’re too busy joking around with their Varsity favorites, high-fiving them and clapping them on the back like they're gonna grab beers after practice or some shit.


The Tryout Experience is Straight-Up TORTURE. It’s 2 hours of hell every day for a week. I got treated like garbage after five days of killing myself out there. Wanna touch the ball? Ha, good luck with that. Those Varsity assholes won’t pass to you because “who the fuck is this kid?”
You can scream “BALL, BALL, BALL” all you want. You can yell “SEND ME” till your throat bleeds. No one gives a shit. And when you finally get the ball? Oh, sorry, the coach didn’t see that play because he was too busy licking the cleats of some MLS Next Academy bastard.

The thing is, yeah, these club kids are good. I’ll give them that. You’d be good too if your parents shelled out $1,000 a month for you to get coached by some mysterious "Elite Coach" who "almost made it pro" in Spain. It actually costs a FUCKING BALLSACK to play on those "Elite" clubs. But the system is RIGGED. The coaches KNOW these kids from clubs because they’re in this weird little soccer mafia together—some shady Illuminati shit in the area where the Varsity coaches keep their precious weird ass connections with the club coaches all tight and buddy-buddy, trading players like they're fucking slaves in the Confederate states 160 years ago.

"You know Eduardo from Premier West Coast LASC Gold League ECNL Tier 1 MLS Next !? He's definitely VARSITY MATERIAL !!!!"
You’re not in a club? Guess what? You’re invisible. You don’t exist. You play AYSO or, God forbid, you’re just a kid who loves soccer and practices at the park? LOL. You’re a joke to this team ! They give you those dead blank stares like you're a fucking leper. It’s not about skill; it’s about politics.

Let me tell you something about these Varsity assholes. They act like they’re hot shit because they made the team last year. Newsflash, you arrogant little pieces of shit: YOU ARE NOT GOING PRO. You’re not even going D1. You’re gonna play at some NAIA school in Nebraska, blow out your ACL sophomore year, and end up selling congealed pizza at Albertsons. Fucking NONE of us are going pro. We're just a bunch of awkward teenagers, and maybe two of us MAX will play D3 soccer in college and warm the fucking bench before we blow up our ACLs and realize we peaked in high school. No one's getting scouted here. But hey, keep posting your stupid goal clips from LASC scrimmages on Instagram like you’re fucking Cavan Sullivan (don't get me started on that overrated bastard with an ego bigger than R9's stomach).

And don’t think I forgot about JV and the Freshman/Sophomore teams. JV is the undershit reserve filler fat just in case one of the Varsity Princes™ blows up his ankle on their pristine turf field during a game. And Fresh/Soph is just a daycare with soccer balls. It’s where dreams go to die on the shit grass field that smells like regret and dogshit piles. “But they're developmental teams!” Shut the fuck up. They're pity teams.


Final Thoughts (or Whatever):
FUCK TRYOUTS. Fuck this perverted gate-keeping darwinistic system. Fuck the Varsity-Club-Academy circle-jerk. And fuck those OVERPRICED, douchebag clubs that force you to PAY the GDP of a FUCKING MICRONATION to play in their fancy ass "PREMIUM !!!" league for a 3 months season. I’m not salty—I’m fucking FURIOUS. High school soccer is a corrupt, rigged, elitist, flaming pile of spirit-crushing SHITSHOW that sucks all the joy out of the game. And you know what? I’m done. I'm FUCKING DONE. I’ll stick to Sunday league games where the only drama is who brings the orange slices.

If you read this whole rant, congrats. You probably just wasted 10 minutes of your life, but hey, at least I feel better now. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
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It is very possible that the selection process was unfair, but you do not give any specifics as to why you should have made a team. You obviously have the desire, but do you have the skills? Did you score any goals during tryouts or stop any promising attacks as a defender? How many good passes did you complete (passes that helped the team retain possession and build and attack)? Many people will say that juggling is useless, but if you can juggle the ball more than 100 times and are always juggling before tryouts start for the coaches to see it could make a good impression. Finally there is attitude, communication and off the ball movement, do you encourage your teammates and help them with off the ball movement and communication? Good luck.
 
Slobodan said:
Your 2nd paragraph hits the point. 2-3 available slots because the team was formed weeks ahead of time. Disappointing to hear the high school experience has become a parallel process. To be expected, I suppose, once the DA died.

Having said that, in my experience, most high school coaches know less about the game than 2/3 of the players at the varsity level. Same thing happened to my kid freshman year. Some really good players just don't tryout well, either, and too many times you're at the mercy of who you scrimmage or 2 v 2 and 3 v 3 with. Ridiculous.
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On the boys side at least, it depends on the high school. There are soccer high schools that go out for championships and serve like magnets (for example, Cathedral is (or at least was) one. But yes, even the middling program have gotten there.

The kids still at my kid's second and longest serving club team (now playing SoCal flight 1) for example every year get checked out before the high school season by the local public high school coach who comes to games and practices. Those flight 1 players are fighting for their varsity and JV slots (depending on their age more flexibility to upperclass men on varsity) but kids who commute to letter league are almost always a shoe in once it gets known to the coaches which letter league they play for...the flight 1 players are on the cusp, probably only make JV unless they are upperclassmen, and no rec/sunday league/flight 3 players make it onto either team beyond fresh/sophomore team.

At my son's lower middling private high school, all the varsity players are club players. And there were cuts the last two years running so it's not question that even at a lower level private school you can just play. Even at my kid's lower middling private high school, the coaches are all higher ranking club coaches including 2 currently playing semi pros.

Several of my kid's Latino league teammates struggled or did not make JV. Those Latino league kids are ballers. A handful were tapped by their Mexican pro sponsor along with my son to go to a trial in Mexico (none of them got it...the residency requirements are too severe unless you are a sure thing). But they lack the technical skills and sophistication to be guaranteed even a bench slot at the larger high schools were practically half the Latino boys played some form of the sport. All their coaches are club coaches.

My alma matter is a Catholic second league high school. My son would not play varsity there until senior year. Best he could hope for is being the second GK in the alternate varsity slot, with maybe 1/2 the time junior year. All letter league coaches with very high letters.

There are plenty of high schools with lower level coaches in SoCal...they tend to be the smaller public high schools in white areas (all the Latino areas take their football VERY seriously even in low flights) and academically focused (other than Harvard Westlake and a handful of others), religious (other than exceptions like Mater Dei or Cathedral), or ethic private schools Those high schools you can also still walk onto JV as a rec player or hobbiest. But we're seeing the repercussions of the club-soccer boom of the 2000s trickle into the more competitive high schools. The differential between the competitive high schools and the we-don't-care about soccer high schools (meaning the school has to be outside of a Latino area) is going to get worse with the post-COVID drop off in rec programs.
 
I think 50%, maybe a little higher we have good coaches who are fair and don't play pay for play but it's getting lower and lower. Cuts happen as well but cuts need to be with grace and kindness. Big money to be made in soccer. I truly had no idea until I lived it. For example, I knew of a elite coach that coached elite private HS and also ran a few elite club teams. If he liked you and you could ball and take his verbal abuse, you would make his club team and then he could offer the full ride at the private school because. It's truly a win win win for everyone except those players who don't play for his cub team. Coach gets paid for club dues, extra privates and then the player gets admitted into the private school for free (some places cost $50K a year) and then the cherry on top is he would help his players with their college deals. The kicker is you have to STFU, don't question all the yelling and abuse, do his privates and kiss his ass. That is not how soccer should be played but this guy found a way to make money, make most players happy and make mom and dad happy. The access and connections is big time with some top HS and club coaches. Now my question is what kind of kickbacks does a coach like this really get?
 
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Soccerfan2 said:
What in the next level of living through your kid have I just read 🫢
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I remember coming back to the forum in 2018 with my rants and complaints about High School Soccer and club. I came to ask questions ad MAPs helped me out. My dd was told under no circumstances would any female soccer player be allowed to even set foot on a high school soccer field because it's horrible soccer and dangerous and gets in the way for full time club soccer. Of course, the rich elite parents got a waiver to play high school soccer and were also allowed to play in that failed GDA league that had liars running their Training Camps, Docs banging moms for their kids play time. What I witnessed was insane!!! I don't have time to chat about the past and frankly, it's just bringing up my PTSD from dealing with liars in this youth pay for play soccer arena. I didn't drop the word "fuck" on here until later. I didn't say the F word in over 30 years until soccer ruled my life, and I blame soccer for my relapses 100%.
 
crush said:
The access and connections is big time with some top HS and club coaches. Now my question is what kind of kickbacks does a coach like this really get?
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This is accurate in my experience as well; connections are a big thing. My kid's club just had a meeting to discuss "college pathways", and the largest point of emphasis was that the club coaches have connections, and that's generally the best way to get noticed. That won't land you a spot on a team or a scholarship (for example) by itself, but it could be the difference between a college coach seriously considering your potential, and you getting lost in a crowd.

Once again I find myself glad that my kid's future potential is in no way contingent on success in soccer, or any other sport.
 
My kid’s school is pretty competitive. 3 teams, freshman, JV and Varsity. The top players on the freshman team all play club, some for ECNL. No freshman gets put on Varsity from what I can see. Whereas I commonly see other parents posting that their freshman kid at the local public school was put on varsity. Sometimes, it just depends on how competitive the school is in the sport. In the other sports like baseball and basketball, it’s even more competitive. I have not witnessed any upsets or surprises from tryouts. Also, the coaches are pretty upfront with the bench players (which tended to be non-club players but had athletic ability) that they will not get much minutes, if any, so it’s up to them if they want to join. Maybe you were close to making a team but there were just too many at tryouts? It is true that high school tryouts seem to emphasize a ton of running and conditioning.

Try another sport! I know of kids who were cut from soccer but went on to join lacrosse, volleyball, track.
 
sigmabody said:
This is accurate in my experience as well; connections are a big thing. My kid's club just had a meeting to discuss "college pathways", and the largest point of emphasis was that the club coaches have connections, and that's generally the best way to get noticed. That won't land you a spot on a team or a scholarship (for example) by itself, but it could be the difference between a college coach seriously considering your potential, and you getting lost in a crowd.

Once again I find myself glad that my kid's future potential is in no way contingent on success in soccer, or any other sport.
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Sorta like job searching, most get the position because of connections.
 
sigmabody said:
This is accurate in my experience as well; connections are a big thing. My kid's club just had a meeting to discuss "college pathways", and the largest point of emphasis was that the club coaches have connections, and that's generally the best way to get noticed. That won't land you a spot on a team or a scholarship (for example) by itself, but it could be the difference between a college coach seriously considering your potential, and you getting lost in a crowd.

Once again I find myself glad that my kid's future potential is in no way contingent on success in soccer, or any other sport.
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I went to my first "college night" when my kid was 13. The club Doc and some coaches in many places is the connection 100%. I have two stories to tell about how this system is so rigged only those who obey, STFU, pay to play and kiss so much ass up the coach's ass that, well look at this (see meme). I had to wipe shit off my pal's nose every week because all he did was pay extra, volunteer at snack shop, all so his kid would start and get the access he wanted for his dd by Mr. Access. If two players are equal let's say, who is coach going to play and share about to the college coaches? The one who pays the most and the one who is obedient and the one who puts in extra paid privates.

Example 1- My dd was balling folks. Not to brag, but at 14 she was playing elite soccer with the elites. My dd got recruited by "the man" with access and boy did he. After her incredible Surf Cup final performance, Mr. Access came running over to my kid and asked, "where do you want to play in college? I know everyone." My kid said and I quote, "I'm not sure I want to go to college." Then dumb foolish and stupid coach with all the access said and I quote, "why are you here then?" It was so sad to hear this loser talk out of his ass. This guy is a fraud yet he's Mr. Access. My kid went from starter to not even being on the roster in her first ever showcase, to showcase her talents to the scouts. Anyway, this guy is getting major Karma right now so I will let the Universe deal with him. Oh ya, also she was being highly recruited by his buddy at a Big U and then all of sudden, no more interest. The player who took her spot did his privates and skipped over another player that was behind my kid that didn't have the time or money for his privates.

Example 2- This loser Doc and coach with ALL the access and a serial liar also pulled a similar stunt on another person I know. Dad had two dds. First dd got a scholy to a very nice college with the help of Mr. Access. Great kid with great grades. His younger dd was better player and Mr. Access lied to Papa and it was a big lie. Dad pulled his dd from Mr. Access and the next thing he knows, his older dd with the verbal deal at Big U got her deal pulled.

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Grace T. said:
There are plenty of high schools with lower level coaches in SoCal...they tend to be the smaller public high schools in white areas (all the Latino areas take their football VERY seriously even in low flights) and academically focused (other than Ha rvard Westlake and a handful of others), religious (other than exceptions like Mater Dei or Cathedral), or ethic private schools Those high schools you can also still walk onto JV as a rec player or hobbiest. But we're seeing the repercussions of the club-soccer boom of the 2000s trickle into the more competitive high schools. The differential between the competitive high schools and the we-don't-care about soccer high schools (meaning the school has to be outside of a Latino area) is going to get worse with the post-COVID drop off in rec programs.
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I don't know how you got reports from these schools :) but your assessment is correct for my public high school. (small, white area).
2 Socal F1 girls were cut from Freshman team tryout this year, must be worst at other school. Our school was possibly the lowest rank in the region.
I feel like if it is a private school, the school would just include them, put them on the bench and cut next year as a sophomore. Playing F1 means the parents have been paying club soccer for at least 4-5 years
 
aong cangkol said:
I don't know how you got reports from these schools :) but your assessment is correct for my public high school. (small, white area).
2 Socal F1 girls were cut from Freshman team tryout this year, must be worst at other school. Our school was possibly the lowest rank in the region.
I feel like if it is a private school, the school would just include them, put them on the bench and cut next year as a sophomore. Playing F1 means the parents have been paying club soccer for at least 4-5 years
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I was actually talking about the boys side given that the OP's post was about boys soccer. I don't know as much about the girls teams (niece isn't there yet until next year)-- I know at his private high school most of the varsity girls players are ECNL or ECRL players, while the varsity boys are merely club soccer players. Yes, private schools tend to make way for players (but again even my son's lower middling private school had cuts for both boys and girls) and not all private schools are equal (on the west side, Oaks, Chaminade, Sierra Canyon, Harvard Westlake all have great teams, and some I know give out scholarships of varying size). The variable I'm most curious about is how it goes in the Latino heavy high schools of the city-- there are plenty of boys for example that still play Latino league rec into high school but not as many girls and ECNL opportunities are a dearth in the downtown triangle. But I wouldn't be surprised, especially in white areas, if the girl's side was more competitive than even the boys have become. The girls also don't have the MLS Next prohibition against high school, right?

It's a bit ridiculous we've gotten to the point that even at middling high schools kids need to be letter leaguers in order to make varsity, let alone the freshman team.
 
I roll my eyes whenever anybody says selections are political and rigged. Sure there may be the exception here and there. But for the most part coaches are trying to select the best players based on limited information/tryouts and it is a subjective, far-from-perfect process.

Imagine yourself in the coach's shoes at tryouts and you are looking at many of the players for the first time (I'm doing this right now for a middle school team). It's easy to spot the handful of players who are just better and will make the team. It's easy to weed out the bottom players who are not good enough. But then you have this big swath of players in the middle that you will need to choose from to round out the roster. That is the tough part and the selections will always be debatable. That's competitive soccer.

I tell my kids that if you want to make a certain team that it's not good enough to be at the same level. You have to be heads-and-shoulders above the others if you want to ensure a spot on that team.
 
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