No dogs, that was me being a joker....lol!! I think I will drop off and watch live stream at hotel.
I noticed not even a Pandemic could take down Pay to Play...
- Thread starter Franco2020
- Start date
AYSO is gaining a decent foothold in AZ. I watched an older boys team play last week - I thought they were good, good enough to compete at almost any level in AZ. What stood out to me was the diversity of the kids.
If she's playing on fields 11-18, you should be good from the sidewalks..
My AYSO region doesnt have united. If we did, my son probably would have played for united.
Daughter is a different question. She is a much higher skill player, so it is harder to find a team that fits. (Unicorn when viewed through parent goggles. I can't tell if she's a real unicorn, because I am the one with the dad goggles on.)
Anyway. Not really a story about my kid. It's more that she's having a great time, and I think we could do a better job opening it up to more kids like her. And the gaps in ECNL coverage hint that some high quality players are getting missed.
The olders teams are a good outlet for high level players who are on the academic track in high school and want to keep playing but don't want to/don't have the time to do practices/games 5-6x a week. I've had a few players in interviews to my Ivy that went AYSO United after deciding the top flight club thing wasn't for them.
It's gaining a decent foothold in UT too. But difference there is UT plays a very similar game....lots of run and shoot, not much by way of building out the back. (Not saying there aren't AYSO United teams that build from the back....every coach is unique...just the incentives are for that not to happen).
Goalie1310
SILVER
1. I agree with you that’s why I said we are not ready to be as good as them.
2. No parents exactly you can’t even imagine or understand. When I was 10 like many others in LA we had to take ourselves to practice on a bike or walk sometimes a coach would pick up multiple kids. I am from LA and never lived overseas and plenty of 10 year olds take buses or walk to school where are you from?
3. I get it your not ready for that type of commitment and for good reasons as you mentioned. Again that’s why I said we are not ready to be as good as them. But you better believe kids are doing that for other sports here , we played everyday and that’s probably why we are very good at other sports
4. Again I know you can’t even imagine parents staying pretty much quiet (By quiet I mean no coaching and yelling at referees) on the sidelines because of what you see here. Now I watched 6-7 games and that was my experience at that tournament. It was refreshing.
5. If you want the best players it can’t cost what it does now. I will say again we are not ready to be as good as them because of everything you pointed out and because soccer is not what it is over there.
I Think you are in a nice little bubble and because you grew up with a different experience it’s hard for you to imagine . You do realize that kids have to walk or take the train here in LA to get places and yes I mean 10 year olds I was one of them in the 80’s when RTD was known for Rough tough dangerous LOL you LA 80’s cats you hear me. I said it in the first post another reason we USA is not ready because they will send their kid to another country to live and train no parents on site. You won’t let your 10 year old walk down the street .
The AYSO club teams has been around for at least 10 years. They used to be called AYSO Challenge now they re-badged to AYSO United. It is a lower cost alternative but end of the day it is volunteer coaches. If you find a good coach and stay with them it works but once you start to get competitive and recruiting and parents start to get more difficult. A couple of pain in the ass parents and the coaches start to either drop or decide to hire on at a local club and get paid for their trouble.
Why would they do this? Pure charity? NFL does not want to promote rival sports or leagues. NFL teams while rich are a business why spend money to promote another sport that isn't related. Why NWSL? The could do Women's hockey, Softball or Volleyball. It just doesn't make sense.
Thanks for responding. Good point about including leagues other than NWSL in conversation. Just that on the girls side, soccer is the fastest growing sport and 10 years from now might become a new revenue stream for NFL owners. Certainly not competing with NFL in any significant way.
Unfortunately, you’re probably right that it doesn’t make sense. Girls soccer in the US will remain mostly a pay to play model - the expense justified by either getting a fractional sliver of scholarship money, or more commonly, as a way to get a leg up on equally qualified applicants to top Universities.
Unfortunately, you’re probably right that it doesn’t make sense. Girls soccer in the US will remain mostly a pay to play model - the expense justified by either getting a fractional sliver of scholarship money, or more commonly, as a way to get a leg up on equally qualified applicants to top Universities.
Sure. Volunteer organizations have a harder time telling problem parents to take a hike. Professional organizations have a hard time extending services into lower income areas. Ultimately, you need both types of club.
But, if you want to serve low income areas, you’re going to make use of volunteers. When you look at the map, it’s pretty clear that pay to play isn’t reaching working class neighborhoods.
Do recruiters still go to state cup as kids get older, or did that die as ECNL grew?
Messi>CR7
GOLD
There are 26 MLS teams now and going to be 30 in a few years, and most consider MLS to be a second or third tier league in term of level of competition. That means there are plenty of investors for soccer if there is money to be made. If NWSL does not attract investors, that means there is no ROI in it.
Pro leagues are in the entertainment business and they need to provide enough value to sustain themselves. Any league that requires subsidy will always be in limbo and will most likely have terrible pay for the players.
My DD played on a Challenge team at U11 and it was great. Low cost, good team great parents. Team originally was rec but was really good so they jumped the fence into competitive. Coach was a dad but his family was from South America and was really into soccer, had a passion for it and it showed. Team did very well and started moving up leagues. Once they got near the top as the girls got older they started getting destroyed by the big club teams and this was a shock. They were used to winning all the time. Top clubs had resources AYSO didn't have. Camps, quality skill training, strength and agility, other quality coaches for backups and advice. Coach decided to take the entire team and join a competitive club. They still do pretty well to this day and of the original 11, 9 are still with the team. We left due to daddy ball. Volunteers usually start coaching their own kids, they develop a taste for it and keep going. Sure many know why daddy ball is a bad idea but when you are using volunteers you take what you can get. I think this scenario plays out a lot on AYSO United and illustrates the limitations of their system.
daddy ball? You mean parents joining in the team scrimmage? Or the coach keeps his dd in the game and other players on the bench?
Coach gave opportunities to his DD and her bestie (daughter of his best friend and team manager) others never got. Also he never really worked on making the players more rounded. He had the same players in the same role year after year. If he put you at center back you were always going to be center back. Doesn't sound bad but when you consider they started at U9 it is a long time. Players from that team would get fed up and have tried out for other clubs but would never make the equivalent team in the new club. Think this is a case of the sum being more than the parts. Players know their roles very very well and trust the others so while they are not as talented individually, as a team they are strong, but can never go anywhere else.
Eagle33
PREMIER
In my experience a dad coach (no matter how good of a coach he/she is) can never be objective or unbiased in a team setting and that is a huge issue.
Also another reason why most clubs have a 2 year limit on coaches. They can only coach the same team for 2 years then it goes to someone else. Kids change mentally and physically over the years and new eyes are much more objective as to current state and situation. Volunteer coaches would likely want to stay with the team and infrastructure they have created rather than having to start over and if you are not paying them... what leverage do you have?
Good info, We've only been in AZ for a few years. AYSO teams and coaches that I've seen play good soccer. Reminiscent of grassroots coaches/leagues/players back east.
Chalklines
GOLD
Pandemic will never stop parents of sub par players to open up their pockets to pay and have spots on top club and travel teams.
Dirtnap
SILVER
I got the same email from my local AYSO region.
Daddy ball is classic. Reminds of this one time when I had to help a coach dad in baseball. Coach Dave and his two sons. Both of his boys were really good players. This Coach Dave made it to the minors and he was determined to make sure one of his boys made it to the big leagues. I played little league when I was a young boy and we had no Pony. So I was watching my son grow ages 1-6 and saw lots of speed and he was coordinated and athletic. I loved baseball and hoops so those were the two places I was heading first. I was curious to see what kind of player I had so I enrolled him Mustang Pony. BTW, this was a big mistake on my part. I thought my son would just pick the game naturally up at his pace and play 2nd base like his old man. Nope, coach Dave had these boys all on one knee saying, "yes coach, no coach, hum buddy and all these baseball terms." This team was Daves team and they already started travel ball the summer before and you said nothing when he spoke. He made boys cry every practice. My son and this other kid were regulated to the bench and right field. It was horrible and to this day my son thinks baseball is boring.
And parents of above-par players won’t? From your statement, you must think your player is above-par.