I know I have spoke of clubs around me that have blurred the lines to get the horses to the water so to speak... One club claiming that their u14 boys were national champs when all they did was win President Cup. Last I check Presidents Cup was a tourney for teams that could not cut it in State Cup. I've also seen this team play - they'd be stuffed by any NPL team I've seen in Reg II - lets not even talk about what a DA team could do! So I get it. Stretch the truth in order to bring in the parents - parents who often know nothing of Youth Soccer. What was it 30% of parents believe their kid will play pro? 50% believe their kid is going full ride to D1??? Anyhow I am okay with parents who have enough positive cash flow to through away at shoddy training that will often end with Varsity Soccer - or maybe even no soccer by high school because a kid decides they have more passion for track. But this really takes the cake - it goes beyond stretching the truth and is just about the biggest post of horses**t I have ever seen - because I know this player well. And the sad part is - the parents are going to believe it! https://www.facebook.com/187531951298725/photos/pcb.880745221977391/880743248644255/?type=1&theater I know the answer is buyer beware - and while I agree with that, I still feel that this sort of nonsense only perpetuates a good deal of the problems in youth soccer. IMO clubs have a responsibility to grow the game with the right sort of coaching/development. Instead (what I see by me often), are these sorts of campaigns for the club and against other clubs in order to draw in more $$$.
Fun stuff or is it funny stuff? Some parents willingly buy into this bs. maybe makes their life more meaningful and exciting. Well, certain amount of puffing by clubs can be forgiven i suppose. But now many bozo clubs are wanting to become iysa 5 star competitive club. Youth soccer folks keep on coming up with gimmicks. Aint gonna make any difference for kids.
Yup. I remember when my oldest was in u11, u12 and all I could hear during the indoor season was parents boasting that their kids team was going to be in the A division. At one point in time this one woman was going on and on about it. She had no idea that I was a coach and eventually I turned around and explained to her that the her team was recently seeded in the A/B division. I then explained that there is a new Open Club division which would more less be the new A division so that in reality they were in the old B division. I then went on to explain NPL and ECNL to her - in which case she had nothing to offer at that point. My point is, her attitude towards winning and boasting about how high her daughter was playing, was a direct result of the environment created by the club they were in. There is a whole lot of mis-information going on as well as a good deal of malicious lies regarding competing clubs - all in efforts to build up reputation and maintain player retention. Why these DOC's just don't go out there and coach dev soccer is beyond me. But again - parents that are dumb enough to pay......
I think you're being unduly cynical. I know the club you're speaking of that touted its "national championship" team and they actually do an excellent job of "coaching dev soccer", starting with building a strong technical foundation at the youngest ages and not being focused on wins and losses. Personally, the biggest threat to youth soccer are clubs like the Fire and the Magic that have expanded and taken over other clubs, and then promote u-little "pre-academy" teams. This is a transparent effort to trade on their status as USSDA teams in order to sell hope that a kid might one day make their academy team. But their training at that age group is certainly no better, and I expect it's actually worse, then the one club you highlight.
That club stretched the truth period. It was posted in online papers, facebook page and all over the town which the club resides - on restaurants billboards and so on. So no I am not at all being unduly cynical. They did it - we all know why because clubs do this all the time. Now on to the club, it has definately bolstered the coaching staff and along with Sockers out there, are the only two clubs doing it right and doing so for the kids. That much I will give you for sure. However I have a question for you. Do the age groups practice together? In other words does your A team practice with your C team (girls are all mixed into one session)? Do they have the same trainer? As far as Fire & Magic are concerned... Fire are just building numbers and rolling through "buying" out smaller clubs - Plainfield Legends, Lemont Raiders etc... They are no better then a high school program - pulling in top talent from huge pools of players. It even looks like Eclipse is morphing into a Fire based on "how they do business". Magic is a mess - playing to win with players brought in from all over the country on the boys side. They get the numbers up for GotSoccer and all of a sudden players want to join that club because lousy parents are looking at rankings and having these discussions openly in front of the kids. If the same regulations for Little League Baseball were being used at the DA level, Magic would be in deep s*^t. Last I heard TY is not so happy regarding the commitment the club is making on the girls side - and he has done a boat load to build that in the last 4 years! So Magic is a facade of success and kids who want to learn the sport will not pick up much there. I don't think *your* club is a problem frankly. I do think it is a problem that the DOC of Sockers MCH and the DOC of your club fail to get along. Collaboration would be beneficial to both sides and benefit the kids. If there was a way for these two to co-exist, it would be the best option for players in the area. The club that posted this nonsense will probably be extinct in the next 2-3 years. Their business model is way out-dated and the coaching staff is half comprised of E cert volunteer parents that the club intends to train. Call it in intermediate club - and charge far less. That would work. But posting this crap doesn't and only makes the area worse for kids and youth soccer.
The club does pool training within the different teams at a given age group so, for one out of three practices, the A will practice with the B and different coaches are involves. It doesn't mix age groups for training. As for why IM and MCH don't get along, I have no idea! So did Fire acquire the Raiders? I never saw an announcement but did notice some "Chicago Fire Raiders" teams and was curious how those relate to the "regular" Raiders teams which still exist.
IMO of course. I think all teams should train together - with the same trainer, less ECNL/DA teams. That is one thing where your club could do better- again IMO. You guys are very top heavy in coaches as well which is why I suspected they were not mixing the players. I do not know either why there is no collaboration - should be a ton of that going on in the area IMO. Fire gutted Raiders - they did not take them over. Eclipse will be taking on 2-3 smaller clubs in time as well. I often wonder how long a Team Chicago or Galaxy will hold off before they get gobbled up?
Well, you know 2,3 tears ago glenview and northbrook got together to form FC1 academy. Purpose was to create a more competitive club at u12 or 13 and up level. But mainly to stop losing players to Fc united. Most of the best players at fC united come from glenview and North brook teams. anyway that was the reason. Now after 2 short years youve got 2 teams from fc1 that just moved over to Fc united and 3 coaches from fc1 are coaching at both fc1/northbrook and at fc united. I'm sure the glenview half of the fc1 are not too thrilled. Parents are a bit confused and players too i think. But youth soccer never made sense.
Rumor is that FC1 is over. There will be a new club in glenview called Titan FC that is affiliated with FC United.
OMG what a mess! Maybe Sockers should expand more (I kid - I kid). Why be affiliated (Trevians)? Why not just make it part of FC United?
Very interesting. FCU is working to build their boys side and this will likely help. The club is doing some good things, including moving away from the NISL premiership and focusing on MRL and the CIYSL-North (http://ciysl-north.com/). By omitting weeknight games in Schaumberg they are able to consistently have 3 solid practices during the week (which is always difficult to schedule if playing NISL). They also apparently have a loose partnership with FC Chicago but no idea if that might grow into anything more substantial. Also, looks like an FC Titan website has been registered via a Glenview address. http://www.whoismind.com/whois/titanfcpremier.com.html
I don't thinks so. Wiggly jiggly and Gumby don't get along I don't think. Not sure about glenview mom and dad paying higher fee to be affiliated with a wanna be club like fc United. Glenview is parent run and from what I understand, run pretty well. Well, as well as can be expected from a parent run club and very deep support from the community. Northbrook club is more or less a monarchy like the fcu. So i don't know. If anything me thinks wilmette and glenview will merge as no love lost between them and the fcu. But whut do I know. It's all boring cause this sort of ego driven things happen all the time. Wonder what's happening at magic...
This we be an entirely new club in glenview to compete with the current glenview club. I believe it will be setup like glenview is. It will be independent until u12 and then the older teams' players will tryout for FC United. Spartan FC will be doing the same.
You mean that Spartan FC players will flow up to FC United, along with Trevians and Titan FC? Quite interesting if that's the case.
Correct. A lot of the top spartan fc girls already did that this year at u13-u15. Next year it will be an official partnership
Sounds like one stupid mess. What is this an intentional effort to confuse parents or just a bunch of DOC's/Boards who can't let go of control? Sarcasm aside - why is this area such a mess?
I wouldn't call it a mess. Northbrook and Glenview tried to create a competitive environment for older players. Sounded good on paper but didn't work in practice due to philosophical differences. Not the first time clubs have failed trying to work together; see sockers and Magic. Everyone decided to move on and looks like Spartan may have added a better partner for its players.
It's a bigger mess than you think. Rumors and innuendos swirling around as you can imagine among coaches and parents. These are not the kind of things the soccer-novice parents need to be bombarded with. All started cause jaba the hut wanted it his way but couldnt get it so formed an alliance with the evil emperor wiggly. Latest I heard is that more than half the players that went over to fcu will come back to fc1 for spring tryout cause it was not what it cracked up to be. Even if all these rumors are only half correct, I would say its a mess that the kids don't need.
Glad my kids are at a very stable club cause I would hate for either one of them to be in that mess. If I was a parent I would head off to Eclipse or Sockers until the terrain settles.
And the partnership with nb and fcu, if it does happen, won't last long. Just look at the personalities involved. Everyone seeking power, influence and prestige. Not sure where the kids or the game of soccer come in.