so, are they making an A/B/C/D team (pre-pre-ECNL, pre-pre-mls next, us club regional league, usys state league), are they forming 4 relatively even teams and entering them all in the same league? Are you worried he might get stuck on the pre--pre-ECNL-RL team instead of the pre-pre-ECNL team? Or worse, the state cup league team? It's unfortunate that some clubs make it hard to get out of the track you get assigned to (ie. they won't take a top state cup kid already at the club for their RL team, but instead look for other RL players or kids tht got cut from MLSNext or ECNL) because they already have YOUR money, they want a new family's money. zbut you can always switch clubs...
1) competition weak? my friend, we playing in the hardest league. we did not come in first place, we were mid-table, which means no the competition was not weak, it was appropriate. 2) growth spurt? no my kid is about 40%-tile in height and weight, meaning he is below average height and weight for his age. Please stop talking falsehoods. While I agree that stats at his age aren't super meaningful, I also dont think they are meaningless. There are 2 kids at this age group that played up to the first year of MLS Next. This is a high level of play. So these kids are very near to that age where you have pro academies start looking.
Calm down Sam. Your blood pressure is probably high, you need to relax. Yes I already know the new coach talked to last year's coach. Everyone needs to chill. My point isn't to brag about my son, but just to give insights into their skill sets.
They will form 4 teams of different levels. Gold, silver, bronze, copper. Essentially the Gold is pre-MLS Next. Yeah it does feel like a money grab, the prices went up a lot. Am I worried? I think every parent has some worry in their minds. They express it to me, every year.
Dude, I've got plenty of more worries than you trying to do the coaches job. It just amazes me that you come on here looking for advice, have multiple people give you the same opinion (against yours), and you still try to justify why you're right.
My experience with select teams at u11/12 is that they really don't take the best at each position, they do what I've heard was what Ajax used to do. They'd take the x best players overall from the surrounding grassroots clubs, which usually meant mostly forwards and attacking mids, and then put them in the other positions, because they wanted the 11 most technical players. Similar to baseball allstars when I was a kid, the 2 pitchers who rotated to shortstop from every team would usually be the starting 8. If you lucked out and had a lefty, there's your 1st baseman. Catcher was the only position picked for position specifics. For a lot of the kids, it was their first time doing anything in the outfield but they pretty quickly adapted. The cache of "making all-stars" outweighed any stigma of "go to left field Timmy..."
Interesting. Funny you say that, my kid has been pitching every game and rotating to short stop. He had a super fun and successful spring season. Soccer use to be his #1 but I think now soccer and baseball are even in his eyes. But we couldn't do all-stars because they practice 5 days/wk. And soccer practice is 3 days/wk. But gonna try to do both comp soccer and travel ball in the fall. Found a baseball club that specifically is for kids who play other fall sports.
I will try to keep this short and sweet, since I know it won't get taken to heart. Remember I have been parent, coach, and club director in the past. If you bring me stats for a 10 year old, you are almost guaranteeing that I will look to cut you, no matter how good your player. The parents that do that are most likely to cause drama, and it is in the club's best interest to have you gone sooner rather than later, even if it hurts the team in the short term, it will be much better for the players, team, and club in the long run. Just being honest...
We have been at the club for 5 years. And I do work for the club. I help with the first team. I promise they would not cut my kid or make a bid deal about a parent sharing their kids goal count. Stating that as a reason to cut a kid sounds kinda rediculous frankly and if you were that kind of person frankly I would not want my kid under you anyways.
I get that, but just being honest, and having dealt with a lot of these parents over the years (and probably been one a time or two). It is best for your club to cut them sooner, and even risk cutting some you did not need to just to be safe. Every time a club implodes or melts down, parents are behind it, whether directly or indirectly.
What is "showcase format". I'm looking at a tournament website and it says: U8 - U15 aged teams are scheduled to play 3 games, with the potential for a championship game. U16 – U19 teams are scheduled to play 3 games in a showcase format. I'm familiar with the former, but not with the latter. And as DS gets older, I keep on seeing this word "showcase". Can someone explain to me what this means and what I need to be aware of as we get older? Thanks!
A "showcase" format means there's just 'x' games (usually 3). There's no advancement to a "knock out" stage. Most showcases are setup so teams only play one game a day. The "goal" is to allow college coaches to see players at their best. But we've been to "showcases" where there have been multiple games a day. Usually caused by weather.