Tryouts
- Thread starter tjinaz
- Start date
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
Youth soccer (youth sports in general) is so frustrating sometimes! I find myself just hoping that kid number 4 can make it through just 3 more years and I'll be done. No more having to worry about all the garbage that comes along with this. However I then realize what a sad and depressing thought that is. There is a lot of great stuff that happens too, just wish that the adults would stop screwing it all up!!!! Tryouts are a perfect example of this. I'll be at some all week and it's an endless rumor mill of who is going where and who is doing what and FOMO to the max. Everyone is looking for a non-existent perfect situation. Also from a coach's perspective tryouts are crazy for us, too. I try my best to give every player a fair shot (I do not stand in a clump of other coaches chatting away instead of watching), but we have 50+ players on a half field and its chaos for 90 minutes on 3 days. One day there will be a perfect pyramid of youth soccer awesomeness, and peace and harmony will reign supreme...not holding my breath...
Yup. How many nights of lost sleep wondering if they made the team... or hopping from tryout to tryout so you have a backup plan. Then seeing the same parents at all the tryouts because that is their backup plan too. Wondering if the coach will stay. Hoping that one bad pass didn't tank their chances... Its a hectic week.
... Or the texting back and forth about who got an offer and when.
Soccerfamaz
BRONZE
Is my phone working? I though they said they would start calls today.
I think one of the most frustrating things is how sometimes you have to leave just to be seen.
Is my phone working? I though they said they would start calls today.
I think one of the most frustrating things is how sometimes you have to leave just to be seen.
No doubt. In our experience, once you left, regardless of how much they did or didn't value you, you were dead to the club.
Wooder_Ice
BRONZE
That’s horrible. The players are just kids!
The loyalty values (or lack thererof) run both ways as clubs/teams cut kids all the time.
I can’t say I’ve experienced that (being dead to the club after leaving) but curious as to which club you’re referring.
Soccerfamaz
BRONZE
That’s awful. I’ve heard that but never experienced it. I have seen more of the opposite - a year or two later and they really want you back. Sure, I’ve seen some coaches that move kids up when they deserve it, but I’ve also seen some that refuse to look anywhere but outside the club. So when you leave, you get a fair shot and that stubborn coach is so excited to see you the next year at tryouts.
Wooder_Ice
BRONZE
I’ve seen this happen in comical fashion.That’s awful. I’ve heard that but never experienced it. I have seen more of the opposite - a year or two later and they really want you back. Sure, I’ve seen some coaches that move kids up when they deserve it, but I’ve also seen some that refuse to look anywhere but outside the club. So when you leave, you get a fair shot and that stubborn coach is so excited to see you the next year at tryouts.
There was a kid that got cut after the first year of playing ECNL with my son. His dad wrote an email to the coach (with the DOC copied) torching the bridge to the ground with a flamethrower.
The kid goes to play EA on another big club and due to a series of injuries and kids leaving, ends up on that club’s MLS team.
That team starts struggling and who does he reach out to? The original club MLS coach who takes the kid with open arms because he has MLS on his resume. The ECNL coach (who cut the kid and got the nastygram) was l long gone to warn the MLS coach.
BTW, you would be right to guess it didn’t end well for that player on the new MLS team. He left halfway through the season after his dad yelled at the MLS coach for not starting his kid and is back at the MLS team that he was on previously.
I would not be surprised if the club you are describing (that mostly looks outside) is the same one that took the player back after getting cut.
CarlitoAlvarez
BRONZE
I see they are now called 'placements' instead of tryouts. Since everyone gets an offer. Does anyone actually not get an offer?
azdefender
BRONZE
Yes, my DD has friends who were on a team last year and did not get a spot this year.
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
I coach APL and we only offered 10 of the 17. We had a successful season last year and 4 kids were offered letter league spots directly from the coaches at 2 different teams w/out tryout (and we are not a letter league club so these kids really made an impression). So in reality we cut 3 players. It was very tough. We had 52 come to tryouts and only offered 16 spots (cut down the roster by one). Tryouts can really suck sometimes for ALL involved. If I were a letter league coach I would be scouting all year round and make offers based on seeing the players in real situations. I would not have tryouts - it would all be invites. Maybe when I am retired and can have more "free time" for soccer....oh, wait there's the ever growing honey do list...
The higher letter league clubs don't really have to do tryouts. People come to them. In fact, for MLS Next there are kids whose families would be perfectly happy to have them sit on the bench the entire time rather than be the star for a flight 1 team. Know one kid commuting 2 1/2 hours through LA traffic to get to his MLS Next team. It matters less when they are younger since it's all just boot ball but for the highest letter league levels (MLS Next/ECNL on the boys side) there's a long line of kids wanting to play...and even in the second tier if you have winning teams. My kid is friends with a GK who was (with some justification) not content to sit on the bench for a second tier team but more content playing for a higher team in which he must have had all of maybe a half hour of actual non-scrimmage field time. The point of the tryouts is to fill up the B teams with a "promise" to get some time on the first team perhaps even with an MLS Futures designation. Scouting is more of an issue for the second and third tier letter leagues who are having to compete with the draw of the highest tiered clubs. Some clubs, like SoCal Elite who at least so far only has teams in the second tier, are particularly good at doing it (though I wonder if getting booted from SoCal League hurt their recruiting abilities at all especially at the younger ages....anyone know?)
good to get a coaches feedback. Most of the top teams have "tryouts" but they are for maybe 1 or 2 players. They may hold a spot or two if a unexpected player from out of town shows up. At that level everyone knows who the top players are its just a question of form, injury and drama including parental drama. Most of the negotiations for players to switch clubs are done before tryouts happen. Some kids peak fast then plateau and others pass them. It happens. There is a hierarchy and it does change. They scout at events and at High School games to see where kids are.
Soccerfamaz
BRONZE
It does sound like the same club.