Player Development vs Super Team Chasing?

For a u11 team...I haven't seen much better.

That's again how you measure it...for passing and for body checking? agree...for winning? o.k. but that's not very important at that age....for ball control, defensive skills, defensive tactics, backpass tactics and goalkeeping? I've seen plenty (including a few bronze teams, and particularly if you take 10 out of the equation) that actually do some of that better, including some teams from your own club (with the caveat that this is just one short video).
 
Yes it did not work out for her she didn't like it. That was my mistake for putting her in a rec team. The idea was to get extra practice and create some leadership skills but it back fired. Not saying that everything I'm doing is working but so far so good with the majority of stuff

Hope you didn't let her drop. That completely disbalances the team given the AYSO ranking system (or did she draw a 6 because she didn't play the previous year?) How is the team doing without her on it, or did you drop out as a coach too?

At least you can admit a mistake....growth....if you are wrong about that ask yourself, though, am I wrong about other things too?....particularly given the limited time horizon.
 
Hope you didn't let her drop. That completely disbalances the team given the AYSO ranking system (or did she draw a 6 because she didn't play the previous year?) How is the team doing without her on it, or did you drop out as a coach too?

She has not played ayso in 3 years. Everything is fine. Losing games, not worried about it. Kids playing, learning and trying is the important thing. Did not want to force her to stay just to win games. I believe I did the right thing.
 
I used to balance AYSO teams. If your kid can lead a top team roster, please don’t send him/her to AYSO. It takes the game away from all of their teammates. The other kids rarely touch the ball. When they do touch it, they feel useless.

Why? AYSO balances teams. One weak player can’t balance a superstar. To balance a superstar, you have to gut the whole team. When you’re done, almost every single player on the team is below average for the league. And they all know it, because they have a superstar next to them every practice and every game.
 
The coach you quote has lost his job, and currently license suspended from a history of bullying among other things. He's also yet to do it with more than this one super-talented group. If he does it with a new group, it'll mean a lot more.
And I am sure this is why Luis likes him...just like him LOL
 
She has not played ayso in 3 years. Everything is fine. Losing games, not worried about it. Kids playing, learning and trying is the important thing. Did not want to force her to stay just to win games. I believe I did the right thing.
@Grace T. I am so confused like you. He said she was signed up for AYSO for leadership skills LOL. Anything you read from this guy you cannot believe except for his original rants about an 8 year old being a liability to HIS team.
 
Hope you didn't let her drop. That completely disbalances the team given the AYSO ranking system (or did she draw a 6 because she didn't play the previous year?) How is the team doing without her on it, or did you drop out as a coach too?

At least you can admit a mistake....growth....if you are wrong about that ask yourself, though, am I wrong about other things too?....particularly given the limited time horizon.
He doesn’t care about the team, only himself.
 
I used to balance AYSO teams. If your kid can lead a top team roster, please don’t send him/her to AYSO. It takes the game away from all of their teammates. The other kids rarely touch the ball. When they do touch it, they feel useless.

Why? AYSO balances teams. One weak player can’t balance a superstar. To balance a superstar, you have to gut the whole team. When you’re done, almost every single player on the team is below average for the league. And they all know it, because they have a superstar next to them every practice and every game.

Great question and I definitely agree with you. The answer to this question however involves a little story of things that have happened within the last 14 months and in the successions of things which has led to the direction in the way she has developed as a player. I’ll get back to it a little later when I have more time to write. However there is a rationale for why I brought her back to AYSO.
 
Am I the only one following this thread to see Fact rate all of Luis Andres posts as "dumb"?

Nothing against either poster but that's some funny ish! Lol.
 
The coach you quote has lost his job, and currently license suspended from a history of bullying among other things. He's also yet to do it with more than this one super-talented group. If he does it with a new group, it'll mean a lot more.

Seems like he got fired for a conflict of interest. For having two top players go to Europe instead of staying local. I did not find anything about bullying. Can you post the link to that article that justifies your claim.?
 
The story goes back to Surf cup 2018, It was the team’s first major tournament and My DD had just come out of a 2 month summer camp where she got to practice and play lots of soccer. At that time I was the only one on the team taking their child to extra training outside of practice. That tournament she pretty much carried the team and proved herself as the leading scorer and commanded the middle very well. It was nice to see her dribble through players and use her faints and quickness to get through the defense and score. She had sold the coach through her merits on the field that she would be playing the central positions (cm/cb) on the team going forward.

Before that the team was struggling a bit because no one was able to play the cb position and allow the team to play competitively against the top teams. But we had to go back to the Eagles tournament to see how it unfolded. I had told coach to give her a shot in the middle as she was playing the left back position when she first joined the team. After the first 5 min of the game the current center back gave up goal and he decided to try her at the cb position and for the rest of the half the Eagles were not able to get through her defense. So we held them to 1-0 for the rest of the half. Second half he decides to go back to a different line up, not sure why but maybe he wanted try other things, but sure enough we gave up 4 more goals and lost 5-0 in the finals.

After Surf season started and I started to see a change in her game. She no longer was the leading scorer but her game turned to passing and defending. That season she was probably the third leading scorer next to the 2 girls that became the forwards for the team. Sure enough the 2 forwards were a very talented 2011 playing up a natural left foot striker and Olivia Moultrie’s little sister on the right. Both amazing little players.

After many talks with Olivia’s Father he had pulled me to the side one day and said. Your daughter is the best player on this team. She has some special abilities and he pointed them out to me. Things like speed, change of speed, timing to tackles, great passing and vision for the field. He kind of opened up my eyes. After we played Slammers at State cup and saw how she commanded the back field I knew there was something special about her ability to win balls, but I wanted to develop her as a forward because she was also the most technical and fastest dribbler. She’s young and can be molded into any type of player. In essence, I was trying to gear her development to play like Olivia Moultrie. I wanted her to be selfish with the ball, dribble through players and play like Messi.

I started taking her to striking classes and showed her lots of clips on Messi and how he would go through defenders and score. I also showed her clips of Olivia playing at her age. Sure enough non of it worked she still wouldn’t try to dribble through players. She told me she prefers to pass and create assists. She didn’t want to play like Olivia or Messi. I started to notice that her character to play the game was just very unselfish. I wanted her to be more selfish and be a ball hog to some degree cause I know she has the ability and quickness to do it. She’s done it before why can’t she continue to do so?

Talking to my friend who’s coached AYSO he suggested that I sign her up to practice playing like Messi. He said have her score a few goals, let her get comfortable and have her try all the new tricks she was learning at training. I thought I would give it a try but knew that it would be unfair to the rest of the girls. The idea was to have her do that for some small amount of time per half, have her score a few goals and then move her to a passing role in a 3-1-2 format. So she can teach the little girls how to play a passing game and develop some leader ship skills in the process by talking and instructing them. Sounded great in theory but it backfired because once she made the first pass she would never get the ball back and got bored of watching them scramble and told me she did not want to play with them anymore. The rest of the girls were playing the typical AYSO game were they bunch up and some ball hog. Nothing wrong with that. Just shows the different characters of these little players. It would be wrong for me to keep her around just to win games and give her and the rest of the little girls the wrong soccer experience.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and watching film and I started to notice that as young as she is, her game or way of playing is pretty naturally defined as it is or fair to say it’s starting to show how she may play when she is older. She thrives in defending, passing and counter attacks. Her style is of elegance and not aggression or selfish ball hogging. She’s smooth and calm and not a dirty player. Her game is classy.

The only time I see her dribble through players and take the ball is when she steals the ball and creates a counter attack. Maybe there is such a thing as a young kid’s game being naturally defined early on and just let her naturally develop into the player that she wants to be based on the attributes that make her shine and stand out. Not sure still debating it but I will just let her be. I shouldn’t force anything on her or try to turn her into a different player in the process. I have decided to stop trying to turn her into a forward and scorer. It’s just not her game. But after reviewing all the film I came to the realization that the ways she plays reminds me a lot of an old player that you guys have probably never heard of by the name of Elias Figueroa. I had seen some clips of him playing a while back and couldn’t help but notice the similarities to my DD’s game. He played between 1966-1980.

Bio: Figueroa was noted for his elegant style of play, his composure in the centre of defense and his ability to cut out opposition attacks and immediately launch counterattacks from the back with his passing. He was also praised throughout his career for being a gentleman on and off the pitch. This is how I would describe her game as well and she is such a gentle lady on and off the field. Very respectful and never complains. She just does what the coach wants her to do and never plays dirty.


"(Elias) Figueroa is the best Chilean player of all time, and probably the finest central defender in the history of football in the Americas." - Pele

“I’m the European Figueroa.” - Franz Beckenbauer

“If you asked me to compare 'Don Elias' to someone, I couldn’t give you an answer." - Rubens Minelli

I read his bio in Wikipedia and was stunned to see that the way he is described is the same way I would describe my DD’s game. Her natural attributes are very similar to Figueroa’s. I researched his highlights and to my surprise his movements and plays have striking similarities to the way my DD plays. I made a 15 second clip showing a side by side comparison and the similarities of some of his moves. So I guess for now I’m just gonna let her be and let her develop into the type of player that she is destined for.
 
Last edited:
The story goes back to Surf cup 2018, It was the team’s first major tournament and My DD had just come out of a 2 month summer camp where she got to practice and play lots of soccer. At that time I was the only one on the team taking their child to extra training outside of practice. That tournament she pretty much carried the team and proved herself as the leading scorer and commanded the middle very well. It was nice to see her dribble through players and use her faints and quickness to get through the defense and score. She had sold the coach through her merits on the field that she would be playing the central positions (cm/cb) on the team going forward.

Before that the team was struggling a bit because no one was able to play the cb position and allow the team to play competitively against the top teams. But we had to go back to the Eagles tournament to see how it unfolded. I had told coach to give her a shot in the middle as she was playing the left back position when she first joined the team. After the first 5 min of the game the current center back gave up goal and he decided to try her at the cb position and for the rest of the half the Eagles were not able to get through her defense. So we held them to 1-0 for the rest of the half. Second half he decides to go back to a different line up, not sure why but maybe he wanted try other things, but sure enough we gave up 4 more goals and lost 5-0 in the finals.

After Surf season started and I started to see a change in her game. She no longer was the leading scorer but her game turned to passing and defending. That season she was probably the third leading scorer next to the 2 girls that became the forwards for the team. Sure enough the 2 forwards were a very talented 2011 playing up a natural left foot striker and Olivia Moultrie’s little sister on the right. Both amazing little players.

After many talks with Olivia’s Father he had pulled me to the side one day and said. Your daughter is the best player on this team. She has some special abilities and he pointed them out to me. Things like speed, change of speed, timing to tackles, great passing and vision for the field. He kind of opened up my eyes. After we played Slammers at State cup and saw how she commanded the back field I knew there was something special about her ability to win balls, but I wanted to develop her as a forward because she was also the most technical and fastest dribbler. She’s young and can be molded into any type of player. In essence, I was trying to gear her development to play like Olivia Moultrie. I wanted her to be selfish with the ball, dribble through players and play like Messi.

I started taking her to striking classes and showed her lots of clips on Messi and how he would go through defenders and score. I also showed her clips of Olivia playing at her age. Sure enough non of it worked she still wouldn’t try to dribble through players. She told me she prefers to pass and create assists. She didn’t want to play like Olivia or Messi. I started to notice that her character to play the game was just very unselfish. I wanted her to be more selfish and be a ball hog to some degree cause I know she has the ability and quickness to do it. She’s done it before why can’t she continue to do so?

Talking to my friend who’s coached AYSO he suggested that I sign her up to practice playing like Messi. He said have her score a few goals, let her get comfortable and have her try all the new tricks she was learning at training. I thought I would give it a try but knew that it would be unfair to the rest of the girls. The idea was to have her do that for some small amount of time per half, have her score a few goals and then move her to a passing role in a 3-1-2 format. So she can teach the little girls how to play a passing game and develop some leader ship skills in the process by talking and instructing them. Sounded great in theory but it backfired because once she made the first pass she would never get the ball back and got bored of watching them scramble and told me she did not want to play with them anymore. The rest of the girls were playing the typical AYSO game were they bunch up and some ball hog. Nothing wrong with that. Just shows the different characters of these little players. It would be wrong for me to keep her around just to win games and give her and the rest of the little girls the wrong soccer experience.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and watching film and I started to notice that as young as she is, her game or way of playing is pretty naturally defined as it is or fair to say it’s starting to show how she may play when she is older. She thrives in defending, passing and counter attacks. Her style is of elegance and not aggression or selfish ball hogging. She’s smooth and calm and not a dirty player. Her game is classy.

The only time I see her dribble through players and take the ball is when she steals the ball and creates a counter attack. Maybe there is such a thing as a young kid’s game being naturally defined early on and just let her naturally develop into the player that she wants to be based on the attributes that make her shine and stand out. Not sure still debating it but I will just let her be. I shouldn’t force anything on her or try to turn her into a different player in the process. I have decided to stop trying to turn her into a forward and scorer. It’s just not her game. But after reviewing all the film I came to the realization that the ways she plays reminds me a lot of an old player that you guys have probably never heard of by the name of Elias Figueroa. I had seen some clips of him playing a while back and couldn’t help but notice the similarities to my DD’s game. He played between 1966-1980.

Bio: Figueroa was noted for his elegant style of play, his composure in the centre of defense and his ability to cut out opposition attacks and immediately launch counterattacks from the back with his passing. He was also praised throughout his career for being a gentleman on and off the pitch. This is how I would describe her game as well and she is such a gentle lady on and off the field. Very respectful and never complains. She just does what the coach wants her to do and never plays dirty.


"(Elias) Figueroa is the best Chilean player of all time, and probably the finest central defender in the history of football in the Americas." - Pele

“I’m the European Figueroa.” - Franz Beckenbauer

“If you asked me to compare 'Don Elias' to someone, I couldn’t give you an answer." - Rubens Minelli

I read his bio in Wikipedia and was stunned to see that the way he is described is the same way I would describe my DD’s game. Her natural attributes are very similar to Figueroa’s. I researched his highlights and to my surprise his movements and plays have striking similarities to the way my DD plays. I made a 15 second clip showing a side by side comparison and the similarities of some of his moves. So I guess for now I’m just gonna let her be and let her develop into the type of player that she is destined for.
I am speechless. Who has time and or cares to read this dribble. More importantly why does he think anyone gives a damn. We should look into Luis and EJ getting a group rate on ECT.
 
93811ED1-E4C8-46D6-BB10-0BF2A46E4F91.jpeg
I am speechless. Who has time and or cares to read this dribble. More importantly why does he think anyone gives a damn. We should look into Luis and EJ getting a group rate on ECT.

Lol and you’re the one that came to read it and reply on it. That’s the story on why I put her in AYSO. And the direction path for her future development. Don’t care to read it. Just move on. Simple as that.
 
Last edited:
@Luis Andres - You gotta let go of worrying about other kids on the team. There is no such thing as a balanced team where all of the players are equal...every team has that player that is better and that player that's worse...that will never change. Instead focus on the opportunity and challenge that will help your kid get better. I think it's better to play on a team where your kid is challenged and has to do a little more versus playing on a stacked team where they end up relying on others and just coast through games.
 
@Luis Andres - You gotta let go of worrying about other kids on the team. There is no such thing as a balanced team where all of the players are equal...every team has that player that is better and that player that's worse...that will never change. Instead focus on the opportunity and challenge that will help your kid get better. I think it's better to play on a team where your kid is challenged and has to do a little more versus playing on a stacked team where they end up relying on others and just coast through games.

With all due respect as far as that aspect mentioned you could be right and I could be wrong. This is my second season doing club soccer and I’m just the type of person to question the status quo and debate things. I’ve learned a lot from you veterans and have shifted some of my views on things. I’m not perfect and I make mistakes but I’m smart to recognize them and correct them right away. Thank you all for expressing your views and opinions. I appreciate everyone’s honesty.
 
Seems like he got fired for a conflict of interest. For having two top players go to Europe instead of staying local. I did not find anything about bullying. Can you post the link to that article that justifies your claim.?

Ask around town........it's easy to find out about but of course it's not being publicized
 
Funny just checked out the views on this thread and it has gone up over 5000 views since sat. I wonder if people are tuning in to read the content or watch the Luis and Fact show. lol. #smh
 
Last edited:
Back
Top