More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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The Sybian
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by The Sybian »

tennbengal wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 8:03 pm Flaco - has us soccer stepped away from the birth year thing now? That was what kinda ruined it for quinn three years ago when his Club went ahead and split teams immediately - was never same after that.
Our club switched to birth year the first year my daughter started, so it didn't affect her team, although more than half the girls on her 2009 team are late birthdays and a year back in school. The 2008 team doesn't have a single kid in a lower grade, other than the two playing up. Weird how that worked out. I thought the switch to birth year was mandatory nationwide. Was there a loophole, or did your club just refuse to follow?
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by tennbengal »

The Sybian wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 8:54 pm
tennbengal wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 8:03 pm Flaco - has us soccer stepped away from the birth year thing now? That was what kinda ruined it for quinn three years ago when his Club went ahead and split teams immediately - was never same after that.
Our club switched to birth year the first year my daughter started, so it didn't affect her team, although more than half the girls on her 2009 team are late birthdays and a year back in school. The 2008 team doesn't have a single kid in a lower grade, other than the two playing up. Weird how that worked out. I thought the switch to birth year was mandatory nationwide. Was there a loophole, or did your club just refuse to follow?
No , no loophole. My club didn’t delay implementation - so it negatively affected q right away three years ago. I couldn’t tell from flaco’s post if it had changed back to allowing a school year option. Guess not.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by Nonlinear FC »

I'm sure if I scrolled back I'd find it, but I'm SO GLAD we pretty much aged out of the birth year thing. I could see it coming and it would've gutted our already kind of complicated club within a club situation.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

We switched day 1 with US Soccer to birth year. Not a huge deal for our club. The kids who play travel and Development Academy/ECLN are so competitive that it was not a big leap. I

At the Rec, local travel we have some kids who really want to play with their friends from class and that means some play up, some don't. My son is the perfect victim of this. He has an 8/2 birthday. Old Cutoff would have made him the oldest player with kids in his grade (Perfect Gladwell age). Now he is right in the middle playing with kids in his grade and a grade above. My son basically skipped one age group but when I grew up age groups were 2 years anyway (u-11, u-13, etc.). Now we are single year for as long as we can (my club goes up to u-19 and some rec teams at the older ages are multi year).
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

tennbengal wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 8:03 pm Flaco - has us soccer stepped away from the birth year thing now? That was what kinda ruined it for quinn three years ago when his Club went ahead and split teams immediately - was never same after that.
they haven't -- not that i'm aware off.
some clubs/kids play up.
league doesn't have flights for U-something.. they have 06, 07, 08..

key point that some folks keeping coming back to --
if you play a straight birth year team -- some kids will NOT have a team to play on in 8th grade.
our 05B this year has 15 kids - all born in 2005.. 10 are eight graders who will go on to HS (and yes there will be 05 flights in the fall) - but the ther 5 are 7th graders.. and there aren't enough kids in town to replace the 10 nor are there enough 06s to break up that team and make two or add the 5 to the 06 team.

in short - playing birth year does result in kids losing out in 8th grade. playing up does as well - although not as prevalent.

it sucks.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

The Sybian wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 8:54 pm
tennbengal wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 8:03 pm Flaco - has us soccer stepped away from the birth year thing now? That was what kinda ruined it for quinn three years ago when his Club went ahead and split teams immediately - was never same after that.
Our club switched to birth year the first year my daughter started, so it didn't affect her team, although more than half the girls on her 2009 team are late birthdays and a year back in school. The 2008 team doesn't have a single kid in a lower grade, other than the two playing up. Weird how that worked out. I thought the switch to birth year was mandatory nationwide. Was there a loophole, or did your club just refuse to follow?
our club instituted in '16 by allowing all existing teams to remain as is and new teams to follow it -- that has proven to be dififcult as well -- we have 21 teams this year, including 3 intecounty and 2 hs spring teams ... 7 are girls teams, and 6 wouldn't exist if they were not grade year teams.

the switch ws mandatory as of 2017. but until u16, kids can play up one year -- after u16 they can play up two years.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

board meeting last night -
90 minutes of discussion around this.

we did nto come to a resolution.. although no matter what we decide, there will be a set of parents who are bound to be very pissed off.

for team make up decisions
  • Birth Year
    Ability
    Grade Year - (so that come 8th grade none are left behind)
we're workig through rankings this weekend - coaches meeting on tuesday night. we left an hour for the 07/08 boys teams alone (currently four teams) - biggest issue there is that the coaches went rogue and told the parents they weren't going to change anything.. two teams are intercounty - those ages are mixed anyway and few kids are liable to move up to travel --two 07 travel teams, the A team is all 07s same grade (so no issue with point3 above B team is 07/08s - two of their best 08s play club soccer (thus have secondary status w us) - and they are the coaches' sons - they want to move those two 08s to the all-07 team.. we disagree - move two of the best 07s to the 07 team, and then either make an 08 team and move remaining 07s to intercounty... coaches even recruited a 'great athlete non soccer player' and told him not to come to tryouts... what a shit show.. then a mom on the b team(who happens to be a good friend... and the newly appointed club treasurer) casually says... oh yeah.. they've been planning this for months - kept telling parents the club signed off on it...fuck that.
to top it off the club secretary, who's son plays on PDA academy .. asked me to help her figure out how to go outside the rules to let he son play in town.... i said no fucking way.

we aren't moving any 08s to an 07 A team -- they play elsewhere as their primary - they can play 08 in town of feck off.

my term is up this summer... if it was up this month i'd not run again.
then again last night, three coaches for some of hte youngest teams came to the public part of the meeting.. and eventually expressed their desire to volunteer (but not join the board).. so at least some folks are interested in keeping it going.
so fireworks to be had @9pm in Metuchen tuesday night.
i'll happily share the emails that are sure to come.

and fuck Reyna and US Soccer for fucking things up for non -academy clubs...it ain't going to help the US win a world cup anytime soon.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by The Sybian »

I don't know if it was my town travel team's rule, US Soccer, or a local governing body, but when I was a kid, all the area travel teams were birth year, not grade.

Our club President has a son on the 09 team. They have 4 teams. He coaches the A-team, placed his son on the B or C team. I respect the hell out of his decision to properly place his son, but find it a bit odd that he coaches the A team and not his son. His daughter plays at PDA, yet he constantly bitches about kids going to academies.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

there's a lot of that
the rec soccer president - wouldn't let any of his 4 kids play travel until they were in 5th
as part of discussions to merge, he fought to have travel start in u10 or u11
his stated goal is to put kids into the hs program -- meanwhile, the hs program has three teams, a fresh, a jv and a varsity. basically no on gets cut (pussyfication of america).. but focus first and foremost around kids with club experience.. not travel.
we have a hate/hate relationship with the athtletic director... they take over the town fields so as not to use thier grass fields (less maintenance that way) and will happily have their basebal lteams toss (yeah.. toss) the goals over the fence.. we end up spending on new nets every year..
i crafted a nice ltter.. sent to the middle and hs coaches, athletic director, principals and rec commission person --
re-introduced the club, spoke about our mutiple programs (from pre-k and buddy ball to travel teams), reminded them that our travel programs has teams in flight 1 and 2.. and that many kids don't play club soccer not because of ability but because of finances, commitment and other family reasons...and asked them to come out and meet us for tryouts, for games. especially for teams w kids going into 8th and 9th grade.

not.
a.
fucking.
peep.

well, two - rec commission making sure we're using the right fields and the hs varsity coach (played @loyola, also coaches CSA) who is also my son's math and homeroom teacher -- sent a short note thanking me for all i do for the club.

i reminded marco (rec soccer) that a) the hs team is not part of our club, b) they have no desire to work w us, c) our mission statement has nothing to do with the schools' programs, d) fuck the hs teams let them suck out.

addtionlal point - not sure where it goes - on avg, our town has graduating class around 175. on avg each year there are 2-3 club players - my son's graduating class of 2024.. has 9 including two academy players... high hopes (if he decides to play hs.. the boy is a pretty good runner and is making noise about focusing on that.. i'll leave that for another thread)

that's it.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

coaches meeting tonight...
all have the final tryout assessments

have received a multitude of emails and texts about the 07s and 08s..
i've told all.. i'm busy.. i have a daytime job that kind of takes a lot of my time - talk to me tonight..
we were told by one asst coach that we are running this like a chinese dictatorship - threatened to bring all sorts of documents tonight and if we dont' change our mind the board will be disbanded by midnight.
this coming from a guy who has never attended ONE meeting in his time in the club.

simply put.. three 08s currently playing in an 07/08 team that we are looking to split into an 07 and an 08 team.. want to play UP in the all 07 team... despite that there are other 07s who could play in the 07 team. oh, and those 08s who want to play up -- make their primary club elsewhere. .. and all involved recognize they will be without a team in fall of their 8th grade...

our treasurer is also an attorney, so she has all the info.. unfortunately one of my failures as a president has been to get all of our documentation in order.. the bylaws are old and not updated in 20yrs... they do seem to agree w what we're doing.. but we're in the middle of merging with the rec club so new bylaws are being drafted.

i don't relish the fight....especially because if we stand on this principle, my son wont be able to play UP next season. character has to stand for something in this crazy age.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by rass »

Is the 07 team that much better than the newly age appropriate 08 team will be? 07 kids are going full field and full sided in the fall, so I would definitely take the opportunity to stay at 9v9 unless the kid is extraordinary* or the 08 team was sure to be awful.


*and if the kid is really that good, maybe the kid should be playing elsewhere anyway (no offense of course, but you know that's true)
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

the 07 is definitely the a team
the 08 team will be better as a 9v9 team
and the 'extraordinary' 08s.. they do play elsewhere - we're secondary.

theyre' good in that bigger-more-athletic-at-younger-age-good -- soccer sense? better than average. but why bring up 8s when there are 7s who should be on the a team anyway?

i'l be sure to update you guys.. at some point may upload emails and texts... especially the chinese dictatorhship.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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elflaco wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 11:20 am the 07 is definitely the a team
the 08 team will be better as a 9v9 team
and the 'extraordinary' 08s.. they do play elsewhere - we're secondary.

theyre' good in that bigger-more-athletic-at-younger-age-good -- soccer sense? better than average. but why bring up 8s when there are 7s who should be on the a team anyway?

i'l be sure to update you guys.. at some point may upload emails and texts... especially the chinese dictatorhship.
Why bring them up and cost kids spots when they play elsewhere and use your club as a secondary option?
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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I'm going to take this in another direction, away from tryouts for a more serious issue. A father and part-time assistant coach on the 09 team is clearly in a state of mental decline. Flaco, I was going to reach out to you, as you used to play on a team with him maybe 10 years prior, and I wanted to see if you had any observations of the behavior.

Anyways, I've known the guy for 3 years. He was always slightly odd, but a nice guy who got overly excited talking about things like BitCoin, or insisting we try extremely complicated drills years beyond what our girls are capable of, then sending Powerpoints to show us how simple the drills are. Super unreliable, as an asst coach, constantly showing up at the wrong time, wrong uniform, and pulling his daughter 10 minutes before game time for a sniffle. The past 2 months, he has really gone wacky. He keeps complaining that someone in a neighboring town is using a Ham radio, and the RFs are keeping his daughter awake. The head coach on that team is a commercial real estate attorney, and the guy keeps asking him for legal advice on suing. 2 weeks ago, his daughter asked to come off the field, and he took her to a corner and she sat the rest of the game. After the game, he went at the coach screaming, "what the fuck! Parents were texting during the game, and [daughter's] pancreatic implant gets set off by cell signals, and she can't play when the implant is activated. He went into explaining how his buddy in the CIA gave him information about the pancreatic implants the government is placing in children. Another assistant coach foolishly told him he was talking crazy, and he went off saying he is an electrical engineer, and he understands better than anyone.

I spoke to him for a few minutes after tryouts 3 weeks ago. The conversation was normal, but he had a crazy look in his eyes. Like an intense energy, his eyes were darting around, and his demeanor was just... different. It was a bit freaky talking to him seeing him like this. I actually mentioned it to the 09 coach, and then he filled me in on all the other stuff.

Anyways, the 09 coach is leaving the club, and concerned that this guy will put in for the head coach position, and we are all concerning putting him in charge of a group of kids if there is some mental illness issue. He discussed with the other 2 asst coaches, and they all agreed they need to let the coaching committee know. I'm debating if that is enough. I'm really concerned for his daughter. I don't feel like it's my place to get involved, but I feel guilty standing by while he feeds his delusions into his daughter. His wife used to come to an occasional game, but I haven't seen her in over a year. Rumors were going around that they were divorced last year, but one of the other asst coaches lives across the street and said he still lives there. Not sure if someone should reach out to the wife, but fuck, what do you say?
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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JFC
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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I am never stepping foot in New Jersey again.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

The Sybian wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 12:59 pm
elflaco wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 11:20 am the 07 is definitely the a team
the 08 team will be better as a 9v9 team
and the 'extraordinary' 08s.. they do play elsewhere - we're secondary.

theyre' good in that bigger-more-athletic-at-younger-age-good -- soccer sense? better than average. but why bring up 8s when there are 7s who should be on the a team anyway?

i'l be sure to update you guys.. at some point may upload emails and texts... especially the chinese dictatorhship.
Why bring them up and cost kids spots when they play elsewhere and use your club as a secondary option?
THAT is our point exactly. but the parents are adamant they deserve it.. problem is two of them are either hc or ahc -- one is the hc at st peter's prep out in jc

the 07 a coach isnt happy but he isnt making it personal. the others are.
bottom line, for me... it isn't going to change the number of people i hang out with around town .. i'l continue to have beers with the same 4-5 guys at the pub.. and if i get voted out in sept.. so be it.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

The Sybian wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 1:21 pm I'm going to take this in another direction, away from tryouts for a more serious issue. A father and part-time assistant coach on the 09 team is clearly in a state of mental decline. Flaco, I was going to reach out to you, as you used to play on a team with him maybe 10 years prior, and I wanted to see if you had any observations of the behavior.
syb, who we talking about here?
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

This thread makes me feel a whole lot better about having to replace a kid from my rec all star team because he tried out and then disappeared during Ramadan (apparently his dad is the number 2 in the Qatari embassy). Bummer because the kid can play but can't put him on the roster if his parents don't sign up.

Also bummed that my star midfielder (Tokyo) and solid center back (Denmark) are moving home (kids of diplomats). I have asked their parents to try and get me some ringers from the folks moving in....I think the parents thought I was only half joking.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by Nonlinear FC »

I don't talk about my son's team much, because they were mostly a nightmare (Drunk Monkeys).

Anyways, the best team we had (2nd place) was the year we had an Indian, Japanese and French kid on the team. We were already pretty OK, but those guys put us over the top. Of course, all three got poached by clubs after that year, but it sure made coaching fun.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

Nonlinear FC wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 2:13 pm I don't talk about my son's team much, because they were mostly a nightmare (Drunk Monkeys).

Anyways, the best team we had (2nd place) was the year we had an Indian, Japanese and French kid on the team. We were already pretty OK, but those guys put us over the top. Of course, all three got poached by clubs after that year, but it sure made coaching fun.
As I admit, I am a much better coach when I have much better players or we play much worse teams.

but actually the best part of coaching my rec team (without the ringers) has been seeing our progression over the last 3 years. We have gone from losing nearly every game to actually being considered for promotion to the higher division, come to practice and games ready to focus and work, and seeing kids who I would try to hide on the field become my foundation for hard tackling, high pressure, and quick passing style of play. Actually will probably lose a good chunk of my squad to our travel teams next year.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by Nonlinear FC »

I mean, I've said it here a lot, especially with the girl's team, we weren't a win at all cost coaching duo. It was all about the progression and focusing on each kid's potential and areas of strength/weakness.

That boys team... Of the 12 kids, at one point, 7 of them had an IEP thing going. And of the dozen kids, I'd say on any given day 4-8 didn't want to be there. Our best player was so disruptive at practice I had to literally kick him off the team, twice, to get him to not come in and put a flamethrower to my practices. Because of work, my co-coach at the time and I had to run things solo, which made it even harder to manage.

So, yeah, that one year where we were just a little more focused... And this came when we made the jump to MSI Classic, so some of the kids that were pretty bad AND had terrible attitudes were gone, it was like "ahhhhh this is what coaching can be like" was a pretty remarkable change.

It's why I love all the girls that we took up to WAGS and then split off into EDP. They all wanted to be there, they all wanted to learn. The "worst" of them was one of my goalies, because she could be a little subversive, but Hell, she was a goalie... I understood.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by Giff »

Our team went from worst to first (gave up 4 goals all season in 8 games) and my wife wants to bang one of the dads. Good season, if you ask me.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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Giff wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 3:46 pm Our team went from worst to first (gave up 4 goals all season in 8 games) and my wife wants to bang one of the dads. Good season, if you ask me.
Did a double take on this one...and the looked closely at the poster and thought...oh...okay.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by elflaco »

no rant this week.. although i do have an update to my travails as club president and the fall out from this season's past tryouts as well as the merger..

went to the league meeting last night.. within the first ten minutes i was told i had to leave because i was being disruptive (alright, so i failed to raise my hand when i spoke but i didn't yell raise my voice or use any inappropriate language). Seems the league meeting is only to hear what they've decided but all dissent needs to be sent as emails. lots of grumblings from the sparse audience.
Eventually did get the league pres to admit that,
allowing flight 1 teams to score 11goals in a playoff game vs lower flight teams does not lead to any sort of development or sportsmanship and maybe the board would reconsider their stance to remove the 'mercy' rule from the handbook (some ijiot did bring up WNT scoreline as a valid argument)

allowing secondary players throughout the season and then banning them from championship games at the last minute was short sighted and if it stands should also apply to club passes and guest players

despite the loud dissent around playoff schedules, the format will continue

oh and the guy that threaten to throw me out... i did apologize at the end of the meeting for interrupting and not following procedure.. he however continued this holier-than-thou attitude and wouldn't look me straight. so fuck that guy. he wants emails? maybe he wants a camaro.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

My U-13 regular season team just had a great season. We lost 2 and then won the rest including an amazing come from behind 2-1 win for the league title against another team from our club (which had a bunch of kids from the all star team I coach). Felt good.

All star tournament...not so bueno. 1-3 on the weekend. Should have done much better. Hope the kids took it as a learning opportunity. You show up and F'around (have no focus and screw around on the bench and warm ups..carrys over) and just shitty attitudes (both when we got behind and just to their teammates)...you are going to get your butt kicked.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

Not youth soccer, but despite a 4-1 loss, my corporate team gave rave review of nonlinear's net-minding last night.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by A_B »

wlu_lax6 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:28 am Not youth soccer, but despite a 4-1 loss, my corporate team gave rave review of nonlinear's net-minding last night.
If it weren't for him we might have given up 5 or even 6 goals!
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by A_B »

A_B wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:30 am
wlu_lax6 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:28 am Not youth soccer, but despite a 4-1 loss, my corporate team gave rave review of nonlinear's net-minding last night.
If it weren't for him we might have given up 5 or even 6 goals!
Now I want to make a championship manager team and rename all the players to swampers and do a Carwash style rundown.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

A_B wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:31 am
A_B wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:30 am
wlu_lax6 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:28 am Not youth soccer, but despite a 4-1 loss, my corporate team gave rave review of nonlinear's net-minding last night.
If it weren't for him we might have given up 5 or even 6 goals!
Now I want to make a championship manager team and rename all the players to swampers and do a Carwash style rundown.
Our league is cross field, no offsides, 7 aside (6 + a goalie) cross field. We play in the open division because of a few young guys but most of our team is 40+ and out of shape (running around with 20 year olds). More like indoor soccer outdoor so 4-1 goals against is actually pretty low scoring.

Scores form last few nights in our league were 0-4, 4-1, 6-3, 2-7, 3-6, 4-11, 2-1 (our game last week), 6-7, 9-4, 3-2, 5-4, 4-3

Team in first place has 45 GF and 18GA (we lost to them 12-7)
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by HaulCitgo »

Just impressed he got out there regardless of scorelines. One thing to type on a keyboard quite another to strap on some boots and back it up.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

HaulCitgo wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:25 pm Just impressed he got out there regardless of scorelines. One thing to type on a keyboard quite another to strap on some boots and back it up.
Further conversations are pointing to an aggressive former russian unsuccessfully dribbling out of the back too much as part of our challenge in the score line.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by Nonlinear FC »

wlu_lax6 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:28 am Not youth soccer, but despite a 4-1 loss, my corporate team gave rave review of nonlinear's net-minding last night.
Oh, shoot, I was at an off-site all day Wed and took yesterday off.

I'm still sore from Tuesday night, but I had a blast!
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by Nonlinear FC »

wlu_lax6 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:57 pm
HaulCitgo wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:25 pm Just impressed he got out there regardless of scorelines. One thing to type on a keyboard quite another to strap on some boots and back it up.
Further conversations are pointing to an aggressive former russian unsuccessfully dribbling out of the back too much as part of our challenge in the score line.
Yeah, they had a guy in the middle of the park that was probably D1 level of skill and speed. If you made a mistake, this guy was going to score. I think he scored 3, and 2 were on situations where it was just me and him and he was too good to stop like that.

I realized driving up that while I've been coaching/training, I hadn't actually played in a real game for over 5 years. My hands were OK, but I haven't really flung myself around for a loooong time.

Felt really good and hoping I can get back out there on a more regular basis. I'm not THAT old (yet.)

(And, yeah, the back-breaker was the CB getting pick-pocketed at midfield with the score at 2-1... Their really good guy basically jogged at me with 30 yards of clear space. I almost did the thing where you lay on the ground and then pounce, but I was too tired at that point.)
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

Just learned that on Saturday one of my players from indoor and the spring season (and classmate with my son) was walking home from the pool with his mom when he and his mom were hit by a stolen car/guy under influence/hit and run then tried to carjack another vehicle to get away. My player had minor physical injuries but mom passed away. Mom was awesome lady who could always be heard just cheering for our all of our kids (not just her son). One of those parents who is a pleasure because she did not care about the wins/losses and just wanted a good experience for her son. Apparently she was also a pretty badass state department officer (desk officer in Pakistan during 9/11).
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

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Question for those with much more knowledge about the beautiful game, coaching it and reffing it.

I was told at the end of our game had I addressed the younger ref (mid 20s) by his first name he would have carded me. Is that really a thing? How else am to get their attention all the way across the field when the other team was a yard offsides?
To quote both Bruce Prichard and Tony Schiavone, "Fuck Duff Meltzer."
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by wlu_lax6 »

duff wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:47 pm Question for those with much more knowledge about the beautiful game, coaching it and reffing it.

I was told at the end of our game had I addressed the younger ref (mid 20s) by his first name he would have carded me. Is that really a thing? How else am to get their attention all the way across the field when the other team was a yard offsides?
Bad form but not cardable. Primarily is just looks bad. Even when I know the ref I always go "sir", "maam", or "ref". I try not to yell across the field at them except for subs. I find I can generally talk to the linesmen who is on my side of the field if I have a question or don't like a call. But I treat that more as a conversation.

Each sport is a bit different, in lacrosse first names are okay if they know my name when I am officiating. But I always call the coach, coach or coach <last name>. I don't want to come off too chummy or casual with them.
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by rass »

"REF!"


The only time I've ever known a ref's first name is when officials from our club have reffed some oddly timed home game, so I never wanted to call too much attention to the fact that I knew the ref.

As for the situation you described, whether you're right or wrong they're not really obligated to listen to you complain about missed calls, and I've definitely seen coaches get penalized for going overboard in that regard. Are you sure it wasn't that situation and not just saying the first name that was the issue?
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Re: More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

Post by duff »

rass wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 6:21 am "REF!"


The only time I've ever known a ref's first name is when officials from our club have reffed some oddly timed home game, so I never wanted to call too much attention to the fact that I knew the ref.

As for the situation you described, whether you're right or wrong they're not really obligated to listen to you complain about missed calls, and I've definitely seen coaches get penalized for going overboard in that regard. Are you sure it wasn't that situation and not just saying the first name that was the issue?
Nope, he said if I had used his first name I would have been carded. He actually red carded the other coach last night for constant bitching about calls. And I didn't feel like I was overboard by using the gentleman's first name. There are only two refs on the field for our games and they patrol only one half of the field and on one sideline. I was just trying to get his attention and an explanation on a call/missed call.

I just found it odd that he would have carded me had I called him by his first name. Especially since I have heard others address him that way during games this season.
To quote both Bruce Prichard and Tony Schiavone, "Fuck Duff Meltzer."
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