How’s the 2023-24 season going?

Carlsbad7 said:
Sounds like we're describing the same coach.

We never participated in the privates with coach sessions. I thought it was ethically wrong. But, for some of the newer players it did actually help them get up to speed more quickly.

When you're in the middle of all the drama + being manipulated by the coach sometimes it's hard to keep grounded. Parents of obviously lacking players are juicing the coach for minutes which is no big deal when you win but when you lose there's always a question about who should have been on the field. Also there's players on the B team who obviously should be on the A team but are being held back for whatever reason. (Usually $$$ via privates with coach)

In the end things tend to work themselves out. What I'm describing happened 4-5 years ago. The players who's parents were juicing the coach with privates grouped together and did a package deal + left for another club. All the talented B team players were moved up to the A team and the current team is better off than it ever would have been before. Just to make things even better the package deal group quickly fell apart at the new club and that team rarely wins now.
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Trojan_mule said:
It’s going to be interesting how the season shakes out.. @Surfer_dad and @Fieldsofgold how does Koge chances look after only 4 games?
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Hard to say. Coach is moving players around in a significant way, within the same game, so you can see some lack of quick play and confusion of what to do/where their teammates are. A lot of athleticism, but need to install and improve the overall club/team system of play. Very early in the season. Surf is clearly running on all cylinders right now and play a system of quick passes and established patterns that is very hard to beat and if you can’t stop it, they are a goal making machine.
 
SuperSoccerStar said:
Didn’t they get better pieces after playoffs last year?
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What I heard from one of the parents on that team is that they have 2 players out, one defender from last year and one attacker they just picked up.. he said that if the coach doesn’t like the player, he will not give them playing time and that they do not bring up players form the RL team either because the coach doesn’t want them or the RL coach won’t give them up and that the coach isn’t looking to add to the team either.
 
Keepitrealdad said:
What I heard from one of the parents on that team is that they have 2 players out, one defender from last year and one attacker they just picked up.. he said that if the coach doesn’t like the player, he will not give them playing time and that they do not bring up players form the RL team either because the coach doesn’t want them or the RL coach won’t give them up and that the coach isn’t looking to add to the team either.
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Sounds about right with every RL/NL team. The only way to get from RL to NL is to switch clubs.
 
SuperSoccerStar said:
Sounds about right with every RL/NL team. The only way to get from RL to NL is to switch clubs.
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Technically ECNL and ECRL players are in the same pool of players that are eligible to play for an ECNL game. The only asterisk is that players can only play one game per day ECNL or ECRL. ECNL set things up this way with the intention that clubs move players between teams as needed.

Problems come in because coaches are judged/graded on the performance of their team/players. The club gives bonuses + defines salary based on wins/losses. What this means is that if a clubs ECNL team is floundering, but the ECRL team is winning left and right there's no incentive for the ECRL coach to give players to the ECNL team.

GA + DPL has the same issue.

If your kid is on the ECRL or DPL team your best bet is to consider all 1st teams a different club. Get to know all the 1st team coaches + be willing to jump ship if a better offer comes up.
 
Carlsbad7 said:
Technically ECNL and ECRL players are in the same pool of players that are eligible to play for an ECNL game. The only asterisk is that players can only play one game per day ECNL or ECRL. ECNL set things up this way with the intention that clubs move players between teams as needed.

Problems come in because coaches are judged/graded on the performance of their team/players. The club gives bonuses + defines salary based on wins/losses. What this means is that if a clubs ECNL team is floundering, but the ECRL team is winning left and right there's no incentive for the ECRL coach to give players to the ECNL team.

GA + DPL has the same issue.

If your kid is on the ECRL or DPL team your best bet is to consider all 1st teams a different club. Get to know all the 1st team coaches + be willing to jump ship if a better offer comes up.
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:)
 
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crush said:
My buddy told me that his dd ECNL coach would use ECRL as punishment and manipulation on some of the players. "If you don't score some goals soon, I will bring up Susie from the ECRL team because she is scoring record goals." Their already stressed out about their grades, their looks, their SAT scores and all the Instagram photos they have to compete with. Now they have to deal with a coach and or Doc who allows this to go on. These girls just want to have fun and play on a team. No team when you throw 40 girls in a pool of players and then play head trips about which "team" they will play for on any given Sunday. One girl quit he said because the coach was a complete asshole and played so many head trips. It's truly sad, MOO!
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If Susie is outperforming her peers and the competition, hasn't she earned the right for a look at the higher level?

I suppose it really depends on how it's being presented by the coach, but the reality is that this is what it is in all sports at the higher levels: if a player is not performing well enough or the coach feels like he can get more from someone else at that position, then he will start looking, whether that's from the bench, promotion from another roster or outside the club.
 
VanMan said:
If Susie is outperforming her peers and the competition, hasn't she earned the right for a look at the higher level?

I suppose it really depends on how it's being presented by the coach, but the reality is that this is what it is in all sports at the higher levels: if a player is not performing well enough or the coach feels like he can get more from someone else at that position, then he will start looking, whether that's from the bench, promotion from another roster or outside the club.
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Beginning of last year daughter practiced with ECNL team. She knew some of the girls. Outplayed the other keepers(wasn't even close) and was offered ECRL spot, with a chance to play with ECNL. Was hearing noise that ECNL keepers parents were tight with coach, daughter wasn't completely thrilled with the offer, then she verbally committed to college so she stayed with her own club.

Really should be best players available, but as mentioned doesn't always work that way.
 
socalkdg said:
Beginning of last year daughter practiced with ECNL team. She knew some of the girls. Outplayed the other keepers(wasn't even close) and was offered ECRL spot, with a chance to play with ECNL. Was hearing noise that ECNL keepers parents were tight with coach, daughter wasn't completely thrilled with the offer, then she verbally committed to college so she stayed with her own club.

Really should be best players available, but as mentioned doesn't always work that way.
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crush said:
"Tight with coach" is big problem in socal. "Tight" can mean many things. I remember when my dd........nevermind......
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Don't worry your message has resonated with younger parents. ;-)

I don't want to say that things like "tight with coach" don't still occur but at least parents are better equipped on how to handle it.
 
Keepitrealdad said:
What I heard from one of the parents on that team is that they have 2 players out, one defender from last year and one attacker they just picked up.. he said that if the coach doesn’t like the player, he will not give them playing time and that they do not bring up players form the RL team either because the coach doesn’t want them or the RL coach won’t give them up and that the coach isn’t looking to add to the team either.
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Which team are you talking about? Sorry, I am having trouble following and want to keep up.
 
Surfer_dad said:
Hard to say. Coach is moving players around in a significant way, within the same game, so you can see some lack of quick play and confusion of what to do/where their teammates are. A lot of athleticism, but need to install and improve the overall club/team system of play. Very early in the season. Surf is clearly running on all cylinders right now and play a system of quick passes and established patterns that is very hard to beat and if you can’t stop it, they are a goal making machine.
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Individually skilled top end athletes versus team tactical and positional awareness, this sounds like the issue with USWNT right now, right?
 
Avocados said:
Individually skilled top end athletes versus team tactical and positional awareness, this sounds like the issue with USWNT right now, right?
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That’s a good point. We have 2 different clubs with 2 different approaches to playing the game. Question is what’s best for youth player development? Can we find the balance between solely playing & winning through athleticism versus playing with too much structure and players not knowing what to do later on when playing with another team that does not play with the same structure and set patterns. For me it’s all about finding that balance between both extremes.
 
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