Depends on the age group. At U5 through U12, I'll take the good coach without looking back. I'd need more information for higher age groups.
How about the situation for a child where you have 2 choices: 1) Play on a high skill level team with more equal peer group, higher level of commitment and passion for the game against tougher competition, but unfortunately you have a very poor soccer coach (not very knowledgable about the game at all, but bullied his way into being able to coach the top flite team). 2) Be the elite star player on a lower level team with a coach that knows more about the game of soccer and training and such. Many players on team have low commitment level and even some "goof offs". Some dedicated players and some skillful players. Playing against a lower competition group as well. This is an issue we currently face. Child is on a team where training is very good but just a mixed bunch of playing abilities. She's not really being challenged but is enjoying herself. We as parents don't know if its best for her to stay or to find a team with equal peers......
I'm assuming you are talking about U12 or lower. If you can find a team with quality coaching and quality players, I would say that's an improvement over quality coaching and sub-par players. But it your other choice is a team with a bad coach (e.g., a coach who is not focused on development and/or doesn't care about the needs of the individuals), then stick with the sub-par players, because good coaching is far more important than having solid teammates at the younger ages. Of course, you have to balance this to some degree, because if your daughter is getting discouraged and it is affecting her love of the game, then a change may be called for regardless.
What age? While most people will automatically say "go with the better coach", I disagree in this scenario. Good coach or not, the coach will be dealing with an entire roster, not just your daughter, and inevitably will have to target the coaching to the level of the team, not the level of your daughter. So not only will she not be pushed by her teammates or competition, she won't necessarily be pushed by her coach either, even if he is good. Because no matter how much the coach might want to focus on her and developer her, the coach simply can't leave the rest of the team behind to work at her level. He can't run two practices simultaneously - one for her and one for the rest of the team. And I say this as someone who thought his daughter had the best coach possible (me!), but was not going to be pushed hard enough by her teammates, nor would she be able to face the toughest competition because the team couldn't stay with her. And since my hands were tied by the town as far as getting better players onto the team, we left and I let her be coached by someone else in order to have her join a stronger team (playing up) at a non-town team. That coach was not very good, in our opinion, but our goal was to take the one year of development playing up, and sure enough the following year she tried out and made the top club in the region, where we are both extremely happy this year. And she didn't make it because she was well-coached last year, but because she was pushed by the teammates and competition (sometimes even the team played up, so she was effectively playing up two years, and for that matter has a birthday near the young end of the age group). I believe the playing environment is huge on their development, not just the coaching (and in fact, that coach she didn't like very much as since been replaced), and girls especially can quickly adopt the behavior of those around them, for better or worse, so I think it's important to get players out of bad situations quickly. You can always supplement the team training with personalized training, or clinics, from coaches who are quality (maybe even the coach whose team she left!)
I think specific to teen age girls, my findings are that they prefer being on a team of similar-skilled, like minded teammates more than most anything else. Soccer enjoyment is more about how well they bond with their teammates more than passion for the game or like/dislike of a coach. A huge part is the social aspect.
Depends on age. U6-12, put them with the best trainer to develop proper technique and learn field play. At U13, they start to transition to the full field 11v11 game and THAT changes everything. I have seen real dynamos humbled when they transition to the big turf and bigger goals. That is when proper team play really makes the difference. A well coached team of good players will help your child raise their game. Kids also have much more influence on each other at that age. The team dynamic changes from individual excellence to a true 11-person effort. Keepers become more involved in the defense, Midfielders have to play the dual-role and cover more territory and strikers can't just play kickball to the goal. 11v11 requires strategy and encourages creative play as attackers learn to switch, loop and cross against the defensive line. Are there younger teams that know this. Sure. Check out the video on the U10 Barca team. But on average, in your local communities across the country, U13 is when it starts to actually look like real soccer. Putting your kid with better players will raise her game and field knowledge. She might spend a little more time on the pine, but the development needs to be as a team, not just as an individual. BTW - I know some soccer gypsies who are superstars and play for a different team every year. They never seem to settle as they are focused on their own stats and finding the right "fit" (read: support players). These are the kids who hold the ball too long, shoot from anyplace on the field and are the first to throw a tantrum when a call does not go their way. The coaches admire their skills but always end up parting ways because the kid keeps trying to spell team with "I".
That's great! Now I can use that excuse, why my son changes teams so much because we are part Roma! However, we have the opposite issue, trying to get away from the players who hold the ball too much and throw tantrums. One kid with a "IV" after his name and goes yearly to Europe to "train" (also known as pay to take classes with European academies). Another who was playing up (all of one month) and is a superstar in his own mind. Feed them the ball and they score, they don't give you the time of day, it's all "I SCORED!" as if your pass wasn't right to their feet. The last straw on his last team was one of those players swearing a blue streak at practice at his teammates, and the coach saying the whole team would be punished with running laps if the kid didn't stop. He didn't, and at the end, the coach asked "do you guys want to run laps or take penalties?". My son almost left right then, but stayed for the final tournament. The worst situation you can have at work is a weak boss with no discipline. The worst situation you can have as a player is a weak coach with no discipline. My son's current coach sees his value, but many previous coaches saw that he wasn't arrogant and a b3stard like some of the other kids, which meant my son didn't fit in. It is what it is. TR may say how horrible it is to change teams and how players have to be loyal (see Juan Agudelo and NJSA), but apparently he also thinks players don't improve and families don't move. NO college coach has indicated any grief with him changing teams. His new coach does not care a hill of beans about how many teams he was on. And getting back to what you initially said, I agree 100%. When they are young, they need great training and don't need excellent but at least acceptable teammates. At the youngest ages, you are looking to avoid behavior and discipline issues beyond the pale (hitting teammates, crying or walking off if something goes wrong in practice). One of my son's proudest moments is helpiong one of his really slow and really poor teammates (nice kid though, coach was a money-grubber) to score a game-winning goal with a leading pass. But by 13 or 14, yes you need to have at least quality teammates. It's never good to be the best of the team by far, and it's not good to be the worst either. If you can count your son or daughter among the top three or four players, whether or not they start, that's a good team for them. If the worst players on your son's or daughter's team is not that bad, and knows how to play soccer, that's a good team. If your child is getting less than a full game, any child older than 12 should be able to talk to the coach about it and find out why.
I can see this point when you play on a team where you have one coach. By the time they reach U14, you have to make the call on whether soccer is a hobby or a sport they want to take as far as possible. I think too many parents try and force a hobby player into becoming a serious development player. Think of it this way; soccer is so fun it is addictive and provides fantastic conditioning for any youth - rec or competitive. 99.5% of kids fall in this pool and the joy they get from the game far outweigh the risk of pushing them too much to play above their level. It is just you have a lot of type A parents who think that with enough effort, any kid can play at the top. This seems to be endemic to the pay-to-play crowd in soccer, lacrosse, swimming, golf and tennis. Many times they are upper middle class families where the parents have been successful through hard work ethic and focus. Their value system dictates that dedication and discipline equals success. Unfortunately, they have a hard time understanding that ALL top tier players and dedicated and disciplined. There are other qualities that come into play that are not as easily measured that make the kid stand out in a crowd of talented, passionate players. If I could define it for you, I would be charging you a lot of money for it because I would be saving some parents a lot of money and helping others make the decision to invest tens of thousands of dollars into a game a child plays. Those hard to define qualities are something that US Soccer has spent decades trying to quantify. But to this point you still have a very active discussion about those measurements in physical, technical and mental attributes. You have National Team members who stink at SPARQ but are superior in field and technical skills. You have players who drop out early in the beep test but seem to improve their play after the 100th minute. What is it? It is simply that will to win. The desire to do what it takes to win the game. Sometimes it is an adjustment in play, sometimes it is gutting it out and sometimes it is just simply rising to the occasion with your best effort when the team needs it the most. Very few have it but one thing is for sure - when you have 11 players out on the pitch that possess these qualities, you have a winning team that has not lost a game in years. Now if your kid is in that .5 of 1% that will go on to college, you sit down and look at options for getting them the best development AND the best exposure. You have to weigh the cost benefit of playing for a club that will provide more trainers and coaches. If there is a DA or ECNL program available, your child will get the individual attention and advanced training to get on the right path. I am NOT saying that DA or ECNL is the only route. It is just a proven route. There are many quality clubs that play State or Region level that will get them development and exposure too. There is also ODP, PDP/ ID2 for good small group coaching and development.
I find this to be a ridiculous statement. How did a poor not very knowledgable coach bully his way to coaching one of those teams? What could happen is a knowledgable coach who was not really out for the player could find himself as one of the coaches on one of those teams.
Easy and happens all the time I'm sure. A not very good coach works over/has political ties to the commish or decisionmaker of the club and lobbys to get to head coach the premier team, while a much better soccer coach gets handed the 2nd tier team. I've seen and heard about that happening several times in numerous clubs and rec. leagues.
We are here now as well. Fortunately our practices are with boys (u9) so there is still a great deal to learn for our daughter. We lose games (often) to teams that don't have much skill at all but hustle to the ball far better then we do. These teams however could not string a 3 pass play together if their life depended on it. Meanwhile we have 2 players on our squad who are dribbling down field as defenders - recognizing when the odds (when confronted with no where to go), and distributing the ball back and to the center - switching sides of the field altoghter. We are smarter soccer players - just not in it for the wins and some of the parents are very frustrated - especially when the teams we play do not know how to play soccer. I am sure some will leave after this season but we will not. My daughter and another player see this as an individual sport more so - at least at this age. It's all about how they develop and not about the team. Through this they can see their performance set aside from the overall team and wins/losses. It's about fun and getting better for them. Both players have other sisters who play ECNL - one is getting a full ride to D1, so they and the parents know the bumps in the road and know to stick it out. Most everyone else just cannot get past grading success with wins/losses which is very unfortunate. Another thing I'd mention... There are two clubs who other teams play hard against - often because the speech before the games from the coaches include "This is the best club out there, if we beat them...." That is the downside of being at a top club - everyone is out to get you which makes the overall problem even worse for the parent who only looks at wins. We are staying put - very happy with where our players are and the fact of the matter is for most of the girls - this is the first year - two are right out of rec in fact. We could not be happier!
One thing to always remember is the pool of players your daughter will be playing with in practices. Odds are Eclipse will have a far stronger pool because the kids and parents are there for soccer and committed. As I mentioned - my daughters team has many new players so we lose. But we also practice with 40+ u9 boys - some of who are incredible players but all are very fast and skilled. So the top players on our team have room to grow and are not held up. If that is not the case with you then the pool of players will have an impact for sure!