What would you do?

[Primetime]

Find a club that has proven pathways and proven track record of player development.

Couple things HELP define those topics. First Does the club even have higher level teams or programs ? I.e. DA, ECNL, EGSL, CRL, EPL, Discovery, Premier, etc. If the Clubs highest level team at your kids age is Silver, Silver Elite
Or Flight 2 then obviously there's very little room for growth or a vey short pathway for them to travel going forward should they outgrow the other players on the team. Second, if they do indeed have those pathways to higher levels is there a history of players moving up the ranks within the club ? Example Can you see players that started perhaps on a flight 2 team in the club now are on the ECNL team. That would suggest player development. Is the club hosting internal player ID camps and practices or as someone mentioned are they just recruiting top players from outside? Obviously there's gonna be a percentage of both but to what extent. What's the opportunity for your player ? Is there an attainable goal or higher level team within their reach?. How did the higher level teams get there ? Were they built mostly within the club or a core of a team that's moved up together ? That would be a proven track record. Every club sells the Bull$#it of its top achievements which is for the very small select few. But the reality is and should be in a similar direction just on a smaller scale. Part of it is club size. Right or wrong it's what's happened to the landscape. when going to a club that might only have 1 team at an age group the opportunities for kids on that team are gonna be very limited. In both directions. Should that 1 team have a great coach and stay together and grow to achieve alot there will absolutely be players along the way that aren't capable of keeping up. Where do they go ? Opportunities for players means both ways. Not just up. And vice verse for the players that may out grow the team. Someone mentioned clubs that post about all the college commits. Yes there are clubs that place a lot of kids in college, that would also help define a proven track record or pathway. Now they could be right in that many kids may not have started there but at the end of the day they obviously ended up there, very likely for that specific reason of helping get into college. So I would argue that while yes they may not have been there all along (which may very well be impossible these days anyways, lol) players who are there earlier on share the same opportunities.

Obviously everything depends on goals and aspirations for every player and they're all different. Some kids goals are to make the varsity team at the local high school in which case the smaller community programs might serve great as that tool. And obviously I'm talking about slightly older 11v11 age groups. If we're talking about 7-10 year olds then relax. sit back and enjoy the fun years while they last. Keep em where they're at as long as it's a fun,safe and healthy Environment. If they need to improve get em a little training on the side. #imoutofhotair

 

[Eagle33]

Couple things HELP define those topics. First Does the club even have higher level teams or programs ? I.e. DA, ECNL, EGSL, CRL, EPL, Discovery, Premier, etc. If the Clubs highest level team at your kids age is Silver, Silver Elite
Or Flight 2 then obviously there's very little room for growth or a vey short pathway for them to travel going forward should they outgrow the other players on the team. Second, if they do indeed have those pathways to higher levels is there a history of players moving up the ranks within the club ? Example Can you see players that started perhaps on a flight 2 team in the club now are on the ECNL team. That would suggest player development. Is the club hosting internal player ID camps and practices or as someone mentioned are they just recruiting top players from outside? Obviously there's gonna be a percentage of both but to what extent. What's the opportunity for your player ? Is there an attainable goal or higher level team within their reach?. How did the higher level teams get there ? Were they built mostly within the club or a core of a team that's moved up together ? That would be a proven track record. Every club sells the Bull$#it of its top achievements which is for the very small select few. But the reality is and should be in a similar direction just on a smaller scale. Part of it is club size. Right or wrong it's what's happened to the landscape. when going to a club that might only have 1 team at an age group the opportunities for kids on that team are gonna be very limited. In both directions. Should that 1 team have a great coach and stay together and grow to achieve alot there will absolutely be players along the way that aren't capable of keeping up. Where do they go ? Opportunities for players means both ways. Not just up. And vice verse for the players that may out grow the team. Someone mentioned clubs that post about all the college commits. Yes there are clubs that place a lot of kids in college, that would also help define a proven track record or pathway. Now they could be right in that many kids may not have started there but at the end of the day they obviously ended up there, very likely for that specific reason of helping get into college. So I would argue that while yes they may not have been there all along (which may very well be impossible these days anyways, lol) players who are there earlier on share the same opportunities.

Obviously everything depends on goals and aspirations for every player and they're all different. Some kids goals are to make the varsity team at the local high school in which case the smaller community programs might serve great as that tool. And obviously I'm talking about slightly older 11v11 age groups. If we're talking about 7-10 year olds then relax. sit back and enjoy the fun years while they last. Keep em where they're at as long as it's a fun,safe and healthy Environment. If they need to improve get em a little training on the side. #imoutofhotair

You lost me at: "if they do indeed have those pathways to higher levels..." and I felt into sleep, sorry. What was this all about?

 

[coachsamy]

So what does a "club" in the US mean?

The perceived club "prestige" is one of the main drivers in the Ulittle scene. It's all part of having that social status in which I can tell [with swagger] my "friends" that my kid plays for the biggest Kool-Aid brand there is and if you are not part of it, you are missing out on the biggest thing happening now!

A "club" in the US is a socioeconomical robbery conducted by tracksuits wearing used car salesmen that gives parents a false sense of great self worth.

 

[Definitelynotanotherref]

I like the advice I get on here and i have another “what would you do question?”

DD is age 10, she was at the same club for 4 years playing flight 2. One of the top players on the team. She was having fun and very comfortable.

This year a flight 1 team from another club wanted her. I mean they really tried hard to recruit her. So we made the jump. She wasn’t getting the same opportunity to play up at her club of 4 Years. So we figured let’s try it and see what she can do. I knew this would take her out of her comfort level and challenge her.

Things are great. It’s a lot more competitive. The tournaments we play are really good tournaments like Blues, Manchester etc. I see her doing good and she seems happy, but then again she’s always happy. She can make the worst situation into a positive one.

So what’s the problem? The coach! He’s mean, negative and never has anything nice to say. He loses his shit at every practice and game. It takes everything in me not to get up and pull her out and never go back. Plus I see him trying to build a strong team and not focus on individual Player development. He doesn’t encourage dribbling, skills and creative play. It’s “pass, pass,pass!!” All day long. My DD trains outside of practice a lot.
It sucks that she’s not encouraged to use her skills.

So what would you do?

Stick it out and hope they change the coach or go back to her old club and play a lower flight? Btw her old club is all about player devolpment. They encourage skills, dribbling and creative play.

Yelling hurts some players, helps others. It's all about knowing your child and what will light a fight under her vs burn her out. Remember that you shouldn't try too hard to put yourself in her shoes, she will be different from you. It sounds like she doesn't mind it and doesn't take it personally.

If you just want to have fun, then being the best player on a team does that. But if you want to improve: neither be the best, nor worst player on the team. Seen a lot of wasted potential because the "best" player just enjoys being relied upon and styling on the other team instead of learning the game.

Creative play is overrated. Look at the last World Cup. The Latin American countries pride themselves in having better foot skills than other countries, and they do (*cough* Croatia). However, not a single one made it into the semi-finals. Passing, high press, strength, set pieces, and headers are the game now.
I've also seen many younger undisciplined teams stomp their opponents at the younger age levels, and that same team blows up and never wins as they get older. My younger brother just reffed a team that won a U8 7v7 final with 4 right forwards (because none of the kids wanted to play left forward and the coach caved. Don't get me started on their "defense")(Obviously, an extreme example, but it serves my point via microcosm). These kids were all skilled creative players, but I think unless they change clubs fast, they will put a ceiling on their soccer career.

Meanwhile the more disciplined teams learning to properly pass and play out of the back when they are little; they constantly lose because of the inevitable mistakes (to coaches that abuse the build out line rules), but then they start winning as they get older because they have started learning the system sooner. Every new thing will have growing pains, and the disciplined team can get through them and bear the losses for longer term benefits.

That all being said, creative play is not bad in itself, she should continue to train on her own, it will giver her a leg up in the future. But she needs the team play "pass, pass" not for a leg up, but just to be on the same starting line as the other girls.

 

[focomoso]

He doesn’t encourage dribbling, skills and creative play. It’s “pass, pass,pass!!” All day long.

Watch any high level team play. Watch the DA's practice. What do they do all day? "Pass, pass, pass." Because 45% of soccer is passing (with another 45% being defending and 5% for dribbling and another 5% for finishing). It used to be that defenders defended, midfielders passed and strikers/wingers finished, but that's not the game anymore. Now everyone (including center backs and goalies and strikers) has to be able to pass. Great passing is what makes players great.

 

[GKDad65]

The perceived club "prestige" is one of the main drivers in the Ulittle scene. It's all part of having that social status in which I can tell [with swagger] my "friends" that my kid plays for the biggest Kool-Aid brand there is and if you are not part of it, you are missing out on the biggest thing happening now!

A "club" in the US is a socioeconomical robbery conducted by tracksuits wearing used car salesmen that gives parents a false sense of great self worth.

My club is the "best" because they told me so!!

...and they use words like, "Academy", and "Elite", and "PDA", and "ABC", "DEF",...........