100% true. It's not even the kids', but the parents' egos that can't handle a demotion. They almost always leave. Those kids quit playing when they're sitting on the bench as the 18th player on a top team somewhere. And heaven forbid a second team player gets promoted and takes away their minutes.
I bring my truth through experience as a parent, coach. Together, coach & parents can make youth soccer great again. It is from my lens as father, so take with a grain of salt and your favorite shot of tequila, on me. I knew a coach that had the A Team and B Team. He had a healthy way of coaching for the most part and his training was top notch. He basically had the same idea as you. If done right, with respect and transparency, then coach, parents and players on both A Team and B team can make it a win, win, win for all. It's like having the varsity coach who is also coaching JV or working together to give those on the JV a chance to win a spot over one of the lazy varsity players or underperforming players. It happens all the time and a good coach will know this to be true. Good old competition is the key for the future of sport, that's based on merit, hard work and ganas with results. It's the only way to coach. Mom and dad go sit in the stands and watch, cheer and ENCOURAGE your child to work hard and most importantly, have fun. On paper this is the best, moo. Let's be honest parents, kids slack off or some think mommy will just pay extra to make sure her play time is not taken away from not working hard. For me personally, it's A team or I find another A Team down the street to seek my revenge. No B Team for crush unless I'm on JV. I was never on JV. Freshman basketball and then the call up in 10th grade varsity. I saw firsthand I was not D1, D2 or D3 for that matter. I was NAIA because that was the truth. I love this stuff.
I was going to add this on my last post, but it is my opinion and advice as a coach having worked on both top national teams and second teams that if your player is far better (like top 3 on second team) it's definitely to their advantage to move up or at least seek moving up. Or find a situation with a stronger second team. If you are outside the starting XI on a top team and playing minutes are slim, you have to weigh whether the benefits of the training environment on a top team are better than the training environment on a second team but where you get max playing time. That decision will be different in every situation. It's always the parent who played some football in college or elsewhere who's kid is a glorified second team talent demanding their kid play on a national team. The kids hate it, and rarely do they care to keep slogging through a national team training and travel schedule just to sit on the bench and watch.
Is there another A team in the area where he can show the other A team coach was wrong for not playing him or do you see him more as a B team player? My son was recruited by a top A team coach because of his speed and dominance in a co-ed league when he was 9. Coach invited him to A team practice, and I saw firsthand, as did my boy and coach that my son had no business playing on the A Team let alone the B team. Coach did offer a spot on the B Team, but my kid would have been last one to play. I saw it all, so I put him in AYSO again and he almost made some select team but missed the cut. Great kid, super-fast and actually turned out to be a very good football player and first team all-league as senior. He grew, lifted weights and was a beast as a slot receiver. Kids have more fun when they play and get minutes, not sit and watch and wonder when coach will call your number for a chance to shine on the pitch.
I know a player that was on the B team for a long time. Got pulled up to the A team because of an injury. Put in a ton of hours, private training, etc, and now plays for Ohio State. That's how you give them the middle finger.
I suspect this depends quite a bit on the specific club.
The challenges we've been facing seem to follow a consistent pattern. We join an top team, the coach likes my kid, and he’s selected over others trying out. We’re thrilled, and initially, he plays a lot during scrimmages and the first few games. However, after a month or so, his minutes are reduced to the point where we end up finding a second team to make up for the lack of playing time. By the end of the season, we leave and start the whole process over again.
Yes, but most of the other A teams are already rounded out with a full roster. Right now, my son hasn’t quite grown enough to compete with the mentality that coaches often value size over technical ability. He's a late birth year, and when he's played on higher-level teams, the kids were 8-11 months older than him and in a higher grade. Really looking forward to leagues that implement the grade year for 2026. That's why I’ve felt more comfortable letting him play full games with F2 or lower F1 teams, I know there’s still plenty of time for him to grow.
No real difference for my boy's club in term of treament. Same field, same 3x training sessions per week starting from U11.
The bad news is because of the academies mls next and the now expanded mls 2 are unlikely to go grade year. So this might benefit the girls where ecnl dominates but not the boys (at least in SoCal where mls dominates)
In my experience the b team tends to be more unstable. You have the better players looking to leave for better opportunities. You have the weaker players being blamed by coaches and parents for losses, under threat of cut or upgrade and usually upset by play time minutes (I’ll sit on the bench and pay $1000s for an mls next team but not for the b team). If the team is under a higher letter league team that integrates, playing time and success may be variable depending on who comes down any given Sunday. The better players on the b team may be locked and looked over for promotion not just because they have a stigma of being b teamers, but coaches want to prevent a stampede out and losing your best players will get you that stampede while bringing in new a team players laterally just grows the club.
They have announced an mls 2 for which ea and ndl are supposed to get integrated with. On the east coast, mls next clubs formed ndl as their own league under their control to allow them to have more fluidity in moving people up and down and to give benchers future and reserve players a place to play. Otherwise no…clubs have only 1 mls next team.
I meant an MLSN club has multiple teams. The A team (MLSN) coach usually has a higher level of license.
It depends on the club and coaches for sure. LA Premier (now LA Surf) was pretty terrible about this back in the day. B Teams always, ALWAYS got the shaft when it came to practice times, locations, field quality, etc. The DoC's will visit the A team practices and be on a first name basis with A team parents. B teams? Never. The other problem is that generally the club would stick the B team coaches with multiple teams and seemed to struggle to cover the B team coach when scheduling conflicts arose. The worst is if your particular B team coach also happens to coach an A team in another age group. Guess who he/she is going to prioritize when it comes to schedule conficts. So, yes, B teams, especially at big clubs, will sometimes get treated like second class citizens.
Lets reply to the original question.
