More Backroom Deals Than Tammany Hall - A Youth Soccer Tale

rass · Post by **rass** » Sun Feb 13, 2022 9:47 am

Winter indoor game tonight that isn’t scheduled to end until 6:20PM. And I don’t think we’re the last game of the night. WTF is wrong with that place?

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sun Feb 13, 2022 9:53 am

Foreigners

rass · Post by **rass** » Sun Feb 13, 2022 10:09 am

In a National Guard armory? Thanks Biden!

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sun Feb 13, 2022 2:08 pm

0-2 bad guys :-(

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:26 pm

Kid from our club just signed with G*I*F Sundsvall in Sweden. They are 22nd in the Allsvenskan table (cumulative records of all teams sine the league was founed int 1924).

rass · Post by **rass** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:56 am

Any of you other locals up early on this beautiful morning for the Union Co. Spring Kickoff tournament?

rass · Post by **rass** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:09 am

At least the refs eventually showed up. 5 minutes before game time.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:25 am

rass wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:56 am Any of you other locals up early on this beautiful morning for the Union Co. Spring Kickoff tournament?

Nope. Got an email last night that a travel team affiliated with my daughters club was desperate and needs 3 or 4. They are playing the team I coached 4 years ago, so my daughter was begging to play. She is playing with a random group of kids tomorrow at Soccer Coliseum, 5v5 indoors. Sounds much better than outdoors today.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:49 am

League games on. Hawk is out though. 35 and windy. Tomorrow am 25 and wind. Full apt search for disregarded winter gear.

rass · Post by **rass** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:11 am

Game two called on account of blinding snow. Not sure if they’re gonna try to squeeze it in tomorrow or not.

rass · Post by **rass** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 4:31 pm

And it snowed enough today that the turfs must be snow-covered so the balance of the tournament is canceled for tomorrow. Spring!

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:01 am

Just looking for some crowd sourcing of opinions on this one. Email went out from a parent on my daughter's team that he arranged for the girls to be "escorts" at a Gotham FC game (women's professional team), open to the first 10 who respond. Cool. Then he says each girl has to buy 10 tickets at $28/ticket. Damn, what a stupid scam. The assistant coach at Gotham FC is a coach in my daughter's club, she arranged a night last year for the club to go down to the field and get autographs after the game, which was pretty cool. We had to buy full price tickets in a more expensive section, so it was win-win for the club, playing in a 20,000+ stadium with 18,000 empty seats.

My first thought was we can use 3 or 4 tickets for the family (my son wouldn't want to go, but we might drag him). Do I eat 6 tickets? Doubt I could sell them secondary market, and also don't want my tickets going to randos sitting with my daughter's entire team and everyone else's 9 guests. She thinks it'll be cool, and 5 girls have already signed up. I don't want to be cheap, but charging $280 to walk on the field for the anthem just feels wrong.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:03 am

$280 for an escort seems high to me.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:16 am

We did this 5 years ago, when they were still the Sky Blue.

The team bought 50 tickets total, and team funds paid for the player tickets. The rest of the tickets were made available to team families for $15 each. I'm pretty sure we sold them all with no problem. That 50 tickets got them the option of on-field escort or hanging out on the bench during warm-ups.

Plus they had a free buffet setup in the parking lot that day from one of the more upscale Italian restaurant franchises (not OG).

I think the only sour note was that Christen Press had recently decided to no longer take pictures with fans or sign anything and kind of blew off one of the girls.

Not sure if I would have been in for $280. We definitely wouldn't have been able to sell the other 6 or 7 tickets.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:23 am

rass wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:16 am We did this 5 years ago, when they were still the Sky Blue.

The team bought 50 tickets total, and team funds paid for the player tickets. The rest of the tickets were made available to team families for $15 each. I'm pretty sure we sold them all with no problem. That 50 tickets got them the option of on-field escort or hanging out on the bench during warm-ups.

Plus they had a free buffet setup in the parking lot that day from one of the more upscale Italian restaurant franchises (not OG).

I think the only sour note was that Christen Press had recently decided to no longer take pictures with fans or sign anything and kind of blew off one of the girls.

Not sure if I would have been in for $280. We definitely wouldn't have been able to sell the other 6 or 7 tickets.

Talked to a friend who did this as a coach last year. He bought $30 and was able to sell them all to the girls and their family. I think this parent reached out as an individual, not through the team, so it's a different structure. I'd happily pay for 4 tickets, but this feels like a bringer show. I thought about inviting some of her friends and giving away those tickets, but if she is with her teammates, the friends will be left out. My wife went with the "aren't you too old to walk out holding hands with a player," approach, but she said not if her friends are all doing it. This soccer team is a never ending money pit with additional tournaments, events, camps, charity collections drives...

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:42 am

No way in Hell I'm paying close to $300 for a professional soccer experience.

But I'm really cheap/jaded when it comes to this stuff, as I've posted about numerous times.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:43 am

You know what you got into. How much are those fees again? Hell how much are the Nike home away unis and warmups and bag? Tournament fees? Absurd of course and better if the team paid and raised funds but yours doesn't seem like that kind of club. Just have a good time and bring her friends so long as your $280 is everyone else's $2.80.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:41 am

Anybody else losing keepers? New huge kid (that doesn't catch it so good or distribute or come off his line) has gone up 4 levels in 3 months and is all the sudden the MLS keeper due to injuries. Goalie from the year under did ok yesterday but pulled a Steffen. Next time he just fired it into the parents and that was that for playing out the back. Old keeper (who I think they ran off) was a serious liability on free kicks but did a lot in possession and let them push a lot higher. It's not all shot stopping but you wouldn't think that by these kids experiences.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Apr 19, 2022 10:52 am

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:41 am Anybody else losing keepers? New huge kid (that doesn't catch it so good or distribute or come off his line) has gone up 4 levels in 3 months and is all the sudden the MLS keeper due to injuries. Goalie from the year under did ok yesterday but pulled a Steffen. Next time he just fired it into the parents and that was that for playing out the back. Old keeper (who I think they ran off) was a serious liability on free kicks but did a lot in possession and let them push a lot higher. It's not all shot stopping but you wouldn't think that by these kids experiences.

For girls' teams, goalies are always an issue. There are so few girls willing to play goal and much fewer who are good. Academies are constantly recruiting goalies, offering "scholarships" which I guess just means waiving the club fees. I've seen a lot of movement from club to club with goalies. I was really concerned with my daughter's team, as they have two girls who split time in goal and both play the field. One is absolutely tiny. She is 13, could pass for 10. It's unfortunate, as she is really good. Great hands, insanely aggressive, just too small. They moved from 9v9 to 11v11 this year, so I think she could get away with it last year playing in a smaller goal. The other goalie is getting much better. Girl is huge, probably around 5'8" and built like a linebacker. Little goalie said she only wants to play field now, big goalie's mother is a royal bitch and insists she split time. Little goalie missed a couple games last year, and big goalie's mother threw a fit that her daughter was stuck in goal 2 games in a row. If she was smart, she'd play full time in goal, because she isn't good enough in the field to stay on the team, and she is much better in goal that field. We just had tryouts, 10 goalies showed up, which was promising. One has come to a couple of my daughter's practices and I heard she got an offer for my daughter's team for next year. Really hoping she takes it, still worried about this year.

elflaco2 · Post by **elflaco2** » Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:09 pm

i'm free.

At the end of this call, i will have nominated my replacement. Nine years after i agreed to be an asst coach... 6 years after joining the board.. i'm done.
got a new gig (along w all other stuff that happened in '21) in January - i've zero time and have been telling my fellow board members its no fair to them to try and depend on me.

so they finally got together and figured out how to run it without me.

so i'm free of that obligation - still coaching the u19 team this season, but there's another parent coach and a trainer so i can sort of get away with only doing the scheduling.

does that mean i can't post here anymore?

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:35 pm

As the OC and someone that's been out of the game for 5 years...

NOPE!!

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:47 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:35 pm As the OC and someone that's been out of the game for 5 years...

NOPE!!

I was gonna say nonlinear still sticks his nose in here but didn't want to be misinterpreted.

And that's great flaco, you gotta let them fly. I think the guy who runs our club generally enjoys it, but his kids aged out at least 5 years ago at this point and sometimes I wonder why he takes on the bullshit he takes.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Apr 29, 2022 8:28 pm

rass wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:47 pm
Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:35 pm As the OC and someone that's been out of the game for 5 years...

NOPE!!
I was gonna say nonlinear still sticks his nose in here but didn't want to be misinterpreted.

And that's great flaco, you gotta let them fly. I think the guy who runs our club generally enjoys it, but his kids aged out at least 5 years ago at this point and sometimes I wonder why he takes on the bullshit he takes.

When I first started coaching my daughter, the guy who ran the club's kids were 5-10 years past playing and he kept going. Said it was his last year at least 3 times, then finally quit. His replacement was phenomenal. Englishman with 4 kids playing, and he is obsessed. He is friends with all of the English coaches in the area, so he brought the best coach from PDA (best program in NJ by far) as the Director of Coaching, so now he runs all of his private clinics on a field walking distance to my house. Kids drive 2+ hours each way to go to his clinics, and I can walk. It's been fantastic. His oldest daughter is legit on the USYNT radar. Two of her teammates were called into camp for the U-15 team. But I digress... Yeah, no idea why guys stick with it after their kids are gone. Hell, the father who was manager for my travel team as a kid ran my hometown club when we went to college, and he ran it up until a few years ago. My coaching partner took his daughter to an academy this year and decided to take over as the field scheduler for the club. Fuck. That. Nothing but fighting with the guys who run the other sports for limited field space.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sun May 01, 2022 6:43 pm

Waxed all weekend at the tournament formerly known as state cup. Team hung out together between games for the first time ever. Good teammates mostly just not friends. 4 guest players from the team above and top 2 went on road with NPL. Tryouts coming cause it's clear they've made cuts and ID call ups. Half full... they keep getting better... Half empty... they might do it without you.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon May 02, 2022 8:13 am

I'm at the point now where I'd consider doing some volunteer coaching again. I really do miss it. But it took at least 3 or 4 years for me to not feel anything other than relief and bliss to be out of it. It's such a massive time suck... while you're in it and committed it doesn't bother you, but when you start to pick your head up... Hoo boy those free weekends are fantastic.

(It didn't help that for the final 2.5 years, I was also having to get The Girl to softball games and practice. That shit was insane on top of coaching.)

elflaco2 · Post by **elflaco2** » Thu May 05, 2022 1:56 pm

official meeting is set for next thurday, so i'm still here bitches!

unsure if this should go here or in the proud parent thread.
fuck it. here it goes.

a few years ago we changed clubs -- went from cedar stars to Sporting -- due to covid CS cut a bunch of teams due to lack of players. choice was stay on a team with over 24 players or go find something else.
Sporting was a small club - but the 06 had an excellent coach. yelled a lot, but excellent coach. had a friend who's kid played in the same HS as my kid, so we checked it out. He was invited to join.
Kid got very little playing time early on but eventually became a starter.
as the coach starts talking about retiring, Sporting gets bought by Santos Rush (Rush is also partners with CS and has affiliates all over the US and Europe)
team changes, loses players (to PDA and injury) coach changes system to fit the players, now a 3-5-2 - kid remains starting wingback
in the fall the kid plays HS, scores a ton of goals. plays tournaments with Rush. all's good. Kid runs winter track. Makes insane improvements on his time. Third fastest sophomore at the meet of Champs. Soccer takes a back seat. wants to quit. Track coach tells him he should only run track or he'll never improve. kid buys it. we tell him he made a commitment and must see it through.
soccer preseason includes trip to texas (hey Giff!) for college showcase. no bites. spring season starts in earnest, kid starts missing practices due to track meets, can't perform 100% in practice as he's coming directly from track practice. soccer coach tells him to quit track. Soccer coach asks al players if they really want to play d1 or d2, most raise their hands. kid doesn't. tells the coach later he is putting track ahead of soccer.
coach starts riding him in games. little mistakes or difference of opinion (no matter what we see from the sideline as parents or coaches, it is not what is seen from the field) get him pulled earlier in the halves. still starting. kid walks off the field after games pissed off wanting to quit. says he hates the coach. i talk to the coach - rare as coach doesn't want to talk to parents (says he follows the pda model, parents are good for the fees and driving the kids) but he listened(i actually liked him, had good talks while in texas while having drinks) and said he would shift his approach.

last night the kid runs the second day of the GMC relays - track coach says he shouldn't go to soccer practice, needs to recover. we go as it would not be good to bail out 30mins before. after find out the team came in 2nd overall at the relays and 1st in the section - boys is crushed. he has hsi medals and the group medals but not in the picture (which is all over in social media) and knows the win is partly his and his times.

is the commitment to the club enough to keep him in it through june? already we didn't register for 'tryouts' - does anyone care about breaking your word?
he will miss more practices with track meets on the same days.
he has a chance based on times at running in d1 - is soccer really ruining his track performance?
team is playing in semi finals for state cup -- imagine running in meet of champs, winning GMC and playing in the state cup all in the same 4 months?

i'm leaning towards telling his coach after this weekend (state cup, league game).. no more. he'll come when he can but he wont' do double duty of meets and practices (of course, no practice means lot less playing time).. he may just tell us to go away
(in talking to the team's parents, at least the ones i trust, many are looking to leave at end of season... coach has changed focus and approach and many kids are tuning him out)
this past weekend we played the USYS tourney at tuckahoe -- team didnt' do well. coach sent an email saying these showcase tournaments are all about individual play and scores don't matter... how do you train a team to play together and for each other and then say, no, not this weekend. play for you? wTF?

i'm sure they'll want their extra payment-- it would also mean we aren't going to boston burbs for memorial day weekend.
i know what my real life friends have said, interested in the swampthoughts

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu May 05, 2022 2:00 pm

Cut bait if it isn't in the best interest of the kid, IMO.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu May 05, 2022 2:30 pm

I've mentioned that we did this two (three? prior to 8th grade and she's in 10th now) years ago and she hasn't looked back. The same sport was left behind, and though we never had the wherewithall to take her to the next level of club she was good - indefatigable stamina and balls skills and vision. But she was always on the slight (if not small) side and had been concussed multiple times and we were ready for her to give it up, though we did everything we could to make sure she came to the decision herself. Her being even better at XC/track and falling immediately into a great group of kids on those teams helped make it pretty seamless.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu May 05, 2022 3:43 pm

My daughter doubled up on soccer and softball (both travel). It was a grind just from a logistical standpoint (I was coaching soccer), but it wasn't a huge deal physically.

I don't really see a scenario where you can physically excel at track and soccer at the same time. We had a girl trying to do that and we got with the parents and got them to agree to just doing indoor track. It's just brutal on the body trying to do that at the same time.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Thu May 05, 2022 5:49 pm

Listen to the kid... from the stands at the champions league final.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri May 06, 2022 8:59 pm

Had a game scheduled tomorrow morning in Albany 2.5 - 3 hours away for most on the team. We were only going to have one sub, but two more got sick today. We can normally bring in a couple girls from the lower team, but they have a game. Opposing coach was being a complete dick and insisting we forfeit rather than reschedule. We've already reschedule twice for other teams, once the night before, and one team let us reschedule because we had a tournament. It's a bit of a hassle, as a team in every age group from our club is traveling to play them at the same place, since most coaches have multiple teams. What a fucking asshat. Our coach was pleading with him until 9:30 tonight, and we were planning on leaving at 7:00 am. Our coach didn't want to forfeit, so we were going to drive up and play with 10, no subs. Probably not a great idea, and I wasn't looking forward to a cranky ass exhausted kid on the ride home. The Spring season, top two teams in the division play for the USYS National Championship. Our opponent is currently in first, but they've played 5 games to our 2 so far this season. I get the desire to win the group, but come on, who wants to get there by forcing a forfeit at U-13?

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri May 06, 2022 9:39 pm

I bet you get there and they have like eight players.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri May 06, 2022 10:25 pm

The (almost) 8-year-old has a chance to tryout for the Rapids youth academy this summer. He's turned into a pretty good midfielder and is the 3rd leading scorer on his team that has a Ukrainian prodigy and another kid that's one of those that rules at whatever sport he decides to play.

Sort of sad that the current team is at end. Got some good friends for the kid and we've gotten to be good friends with a number of the parents.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sat May 07, 2022 10:02 am

What's this end stuff? Switching clubs? Summer? Good luck to kid and glad to have another swamper still going. Thought giff was our only hope beyond syb.

Extremely difficult to get on with Atlanta Uniteds youth academy here... But they do tons of great outreach programs and training. Took two u13 from kids club 1s but an anomaly. And then you have to stick. Atlanta United posted a scholarship list for their u19s? Make you realize how much hard it is for boys to find their way onto a d1 team. Most of those kids were not at major conference programs. Hell UGA and Ga Tech don't even have teams. If they're not good enough there is basically no shot.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat May 07, 2022 10:42 am

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 10:02 am What's this end stuff? Switching clubs? Summer? Good luck to kid and glad to have another swamper still going. Thought giff was our only hope beyond syb.

Extremely difficult to get on with Atlanta Uniteds youth academy here... But they do tons of great outreach programs and training. Took two u13 from kids club 1s but an anomaly. And then you have to stick. Atlanta United posted a scholarship list for their u19s? Make you realize how much hard it is for boys to find their way onto a d1 team. Most of those kids were not at major conference programs. Hell UGA and Ga Tech don't even have teams. If they're not good enough there is basically no shot.

It seems like the MLS academies have changed the game for boys. Everything is different with girls and boys advancement, especially with the Development Academy folding. My daughter's club just had 5 girls from older teams called into a USYNT ID camp, and the clinic she goes to has two U-15 girls (my daughter is U-13) called to play on the U-15 national team. I feel like I have her in the right places, just regret I didn't get her there sooner. She is on the B team at her club. At tryouts, they kept the top 6 on her team mixed with the A team the entire time. Outside of 3 or 4 A team players who stood out, I think the rest were completely interchangeable with the top 6 on the B team. They just won't move a player down unless they are clearly at the wrong level. They did move down one of my daughter's teammates, but she was so clearly not at the same level. Felt bad, as she had been on that team for several years. She quit, knowing she was playing out the year on the B team and getting moved down to C next year. If I were her parent, I would have asked to move down, as she has skills and could be very successful playing in a less competitive league. It seems like just about every girl on the A team as a HS senior gets a D1 college commitment, so it's a huge advantage to get on that team, I just don't know if I want to deal with the travel. And my wife feels like it isn't worth the time and money to keep her at this club if she isn't on the A team. It just sucks that there aren't any academies within a 30 minute drive. So many soccer towns in my immediate area, but I guess there isn't really a spot with enough fields to add an academy on top of all the travel programs.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sat May 07, 2022 11:15 am

Sounds like a good spot for your daughter. Just wait out a couple injuries, quits, team switchers and she'll get her shot by high school. Kids team is not that way. The club actively recruits to top team and seeks to increase player pool by mergers/affiliates. Downward pressure on every "clubwide" team. Hard on psyche to be one of best on 1s at u12 and pushed off 2s at u14. One kid in particular is highly skilled and aware. Shares ball. Really great player but tiny... And that's dead. No substitute for losing a foot with every step.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sat May 07, 2022 9:13 pm

The current team will split up as they enter into the academy, maybe a kid or two on a team, but not everyone will make it up.

Couple of kids are into basketball etc. Only 3-4 of them are soccer specific.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sun May 08, 2022 1:22 pm

Why not keep them going? If your kid is one of the best he can carry them. Even if you lose a couple kids it's worthwhile for touches and family fun. My kid played on two teams for a long time even now. Minutes and game time on the ball can be tough to come by as the level goes up if for no other reason than the clubs may want to put 18-24 on a roster. Good for practice but may pool the groups and pick kids for games. Besides many u-9/10 coaches seem to encourage dribbling by 5 kids so let your kid get his with his friends.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon May 09, 2022 11:39 am

Just a general comment: some of the best players in the history of the game, both men and women, were very slight and would be considered "under-sized" by American standards.

The flip side of "losing a step with every stride" is "can do stuff in tight spaces that taller, bigger kids just can't do.*"

* - Unless you are a freak like Zlatan or Haaland.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Mon May 09, 2022 4:10 pm

Yeah. No doubt. Still tell that to those kids. Lots of physical disparity in youth soccer for a host of reasons. There are really good teams here and 4/5 take the easy road. The problem with us soccer really.

Eta. That's disrespectful. 5/7.