Question: Do a and b squads train together?

[MyDaughtersAKeeper]

My thought was that at least once a month ALL the same age teams should work together. Have all the coaches present. All the forwards get to work together, midfielders, etc... This would accomplish a couple of things: all the coaches get to see all the players (no hiding a kid you want to keep from another coach); increases the chance a kid could move up down the line since the coaches have seen her; shuts the parents up from complaining about their kid never getting looked at by the top team coaches; allows the kids to see themselves against other players in the club (maybe a little more realistic understanding of where they fit in). Probably will never happen, but what I had hoped to see.

 

[LASTMAN14]

My thought was that at least once a month ALL the same age teams should work together. Have all the coaches present. All the forwards get to work together, midfielders, etc... This would accomplish a couple of things: all the coaches get to see all the players (no hiding a kid you want to keep from another coach); increases the chance a kid could move up down the line since the coaches have seen her; shuts the parents up from complaining about their kid never getting looked at by the top team coaches; allows the kids to see themselves against other players in the club (maybe a little more realistic understanding of where they fit in). Probably will never happen, but what I had hoped to see.

You pointed something very important out that I have heard from parents from other clubs, "no hiding a kid you want to keep from another coach". This is a terrible practice.

 

[bruinblue14]

We did it one year fairly successfully at u16, the B team was to be a feeder team to the A team. Rostered 15 players with A team and 18 with the B team. There were 5-6 players that moved back and forth weekly, just about all players got some game time with the A team, especially during summer tournaments. Summer training was together, multiple coaches, would separate defense, midfield, forwards for drills. Fitness and scrimmaging was mixed. Once the Fall season began the first third of practice was fitness and drills together, then individual team work players were told weekly which team they were playing on for the weekend. Tier 1 team finished middle of bracket and Tier 2 team won their bracket.

It was working pretty good until the parents started bitching. People complained at the top because they didn't win the bracket, people in the middle complained when they thought they should always be at the top and people on bottom complained because the top team always took their best players. Coaches got tired of the complaining went back to 2 teams, full rosters, practicing on different nights, very little movement between teams unless someone was short handed.

Maybe I liked it because my kid was a legitimate tweener and I was realistic about his ability. He could be on the bench with the A team or start on the B team. It was nice to do both. He decided he would rather be a starter with the B team when the experiment ended. Both teams played Tier 1 at u17/19. Neither ended up being especially successful, A team always above middle bracket and B always below the middle. Maybe I liked it because it was the only time in 10+ years I felt a club was legitimately working like a club and not a collection of individual teams.

My dd's team tried it last year and the exact same thing happened with the parents. Sad because there was a lot of benefit to training together; it worked as a great motivator for my dd.

 

[Frank]

There are usually great benefits to the B players and very few benefits to the A players. What good does it do the A player to work with less talented players? As for the club developing players I can see it, however that is at the expense of the A players training at their highest level.

 

[bruinblue14]

There are usually great benefits to the B players and very few benefits to the A players. What good does it do the A player to work with less talented players? As for the club developing players I can see it, however that is at the expense of the A players training at their highest level.

My kid was A team. I didn't see a problem with it. It motivated her to not become complacent and want to work harder to keep her spot.

 

[jrcaesar]

True. This is especially an issue in a promotion/relegation league like Coast. Typically, this means the A team coach is looking for athletes and it's pretty difficult for the B team kids to magically grow bigger or get faster enough to break through.

Indeed. I posted the story previously but at our club's age group change "tryouts" last spring, the B-team players (inc my son) just kept passing the ball right around the A-teamers in small-sided drills. No one changed teams.

 

[Distraction]

There are usually great benefits to the B players and very few benefits to the A players. What good does it do the A player to work with less talented players? As for the club developing players I can see it, however that is at the expense of the A players training at their highest level.

Truth! The A team should be training with the B team of the age above them. When I find out my DS's team will be training with the B team I take him to the training of the A team an age older instead.

 

[chargerfan]

Truth! The A team should be training with the B team of the age above them. When I find out my DS's team will be training with the B team I take him to the training of the A team an age older instead.

And your coach is ok with that? Our coach doesn't allow that kind of attitude. You do what the team does.

 

[JJP]

If you're asking that question from the standpoint of wanting to know if B teams should practice with the A teams so that the A team coach can call-up B teamers who compete and show well, there is another reason clubs don't do it. Internally, a B team is not viewed by the club as a viable "feeder" for the A team, although they would rarely admit as much to the B team parents. One out of 16 B team kids will get moved up to the A team (once about every other year), but each season the A team will poach at minimum 4 kids from other clubs' A teams. That's my cynical opinion, but it is based on years of first hand observation. One DoC told me that he'd rather take a top track athlete and teach her the game than bring up one of the B team players. "If a player is on the B team, that's probably where she belongs." And this was a club that had the word "development" plastered all over their website. If there are clubs that actually look at their B teams as "feeders" for the A teams or as place to develop A team players, I've not seen it personally.

This is pretty much what I've seen as well. When I asked coaches why not pull a B team kid up if he were playing well, I was told that kids on the B team lacked that combination of physical aggressiveness/athleticism combo they were looking for, it had nothing to do with skills.

The kids that got promoted from B team were usually great athletes that were learning to play soccer, and stashed on the B team to get them more playing time and touches.