Not many other options if your looking for DD to play in front of a couple hundred college coaches two or three times a year. As long as they have the only ECNL badge in Chicagoland those parents will continue to keep their pie holes shut.
Didn't they already have a very close relationship, gifting a bunch of field access in Vernon Hills or something?
From what I have been hearing is this is strictly a training academy. From the pool of kids, top players will be picked to go to International Tourney's and be showcased/seen. I believe this would be not only for the players, but for DD as well to show how he can develop. As far as Futsal, he does not believe in futsal so this will just be outdoor development.
My gut says that in the first 2 years he'll attract mainly low income families who do not have the funds to travel to Kansas - much less Spain to play soccer. After that it'll be on to something new again.
Anyone who thinks that one coach alone is enough to develop a pro is next-level arrogant. It takes a village. And "international showcases"? This guy or any of his clubs haven't even produced a domestic pro! But hey, there's a sucker born every minute...
Yeah frankly Eclipse (IMO) is just hanging on the ECNL bagde with the expectation that parents will accept there is no where else to go. RD is never around and MN just allows the madness to continue. Then there are the parents who let some of these coahes just mentally grind them down with insults that they would never let stand had their school teacher done the same. In OB it really seems to have gone off the rails. Too many clubs just are not or will not be agile enough to see there are better ways to run a business. This is not rocket science. Honesty and setting the expectations are just all about good communication. Hard to believe this is where so many clubs fail across the board.
What's an even greater shame is that many equate winning games to good coaching, so when those guys bully kids and they win people begin to think that it's ok. Same can be said about our boy at TC. Kids get into college so they justify the abuse. Maybe the one thing that needs to change in Chicagoland the most is that culture of coaching. Nowhere else can you get away with that, as evidence has shown.
I think what needs to change is clubs having an open door policy which includes educating parents. As you elude to, the parents just deal with the abuse. If a school teacher acted like some of these coaches - rest assured that same parent would be at that school speaking with the principle the very same day. But for some reason - in all youth sports, parents for the most part just deal with this - they accept it. Why? Is is because the notion of free college is that massive - that these parents haven't the first clue how far away from reality this really is??? Is it living through their kids? Being able to claim their player is better then anyone else?
Mustangs/ATA presser... Since I never heard of them and I live like 2 miles from training facility I'm guessing DD will be building squads by word of mouth with old club parent contacts and trying to poach where he can?
Im sure many are afraid their kid will lose out so better to turn a blind eye/rationalize. It astounds me because I know some parents that go ballistic if you tell them their kid isn’t suite at the #9. How some of them justify incessant f-bombs and the “C” word with young women just blows my mind.
It’s stability on several different levels imo that makes the club what it is. Stability of identity and (healthy) culture first and foremost
I'm going to respectfully disagree on this one. Sockers seems to be ruled with an iron fist. What is "healthy" about suspending/kicking out 8, 9, 10 year old kids who are not even in a DA for playing some 3v3's or futsal or other outside activities for fun? IMHO creating a fearful culture of "getting in trouble" for simply having fun at a young age is not healthy.
Yup... There is a fella who runs many teams in the winter. Great deal really, you pay for the games you play. In anycase the competition is solid and unfortunately I have had parents of kids who dropped out tell me - and the coach, that they (the kid) is worried they may get in trouble. 2 years ago I had an 06 mom tell me the same for Summer open play soccer because her daughter was worried if she got caught she may not make the DA team. That sort of "iron fist" rule is just too far. If a kid loves the sport and wants to play more - why stop them?
Unless your kid is in the DA, just ask. I did and we filled in on an old teammates squad when sockers matches didn't cross over. Took a total of 2 minutes with the coach. Had zero issue with extra play time during the winter as long as sockers matches took priority should a time conflict arise.
In the last 5-6 years, I know parents who have asked and been told no. Some did it anyway, got caught and got either suspended or thrown out of the club - non DA.
In my experience it sometimes depends on the coach when it comes to Pre-Academy. However my point is that the practice is so prevalent that I've heard Pre-Academy players state they don't want to risk a shot at DA by playing outside the club - as mentioned above in my earlier post. This very much backs up Chicagoland Soccer Sources comments.
I would add that this all depends on where your kid is. I know several parents of top players who loved the experience. I also know several parents with decent players who were just shuffled around - teams they were on were not organized with players missing practices and games. We have a commenting member here who just 2 years ago was asking my questions related to other clubs because they and their player was very frustrated. Now thats all changed and they are both very happy because their player is getting opportunities. They experience really depends on where your player is. Sockers is no different then any other club at the u14 and up level. If you are not a top player - you get very little. If you are a girl you get even less... All one has to do is look at the team calendars for training sessions, games and tourneys and you can see there is a very wide gap. That said, and I will say it again - they are by far not the only club that's doing this.
I agree 100% and I disagree with framing it as fearful culture. There is zero fear for most. Only fear would be for those signing up for Sockers, and knowing their rules, and trying to sneak around it. Or being direct and then being flabbergasted when the club kicks them out. I’ve heard about (2nd-3rd hand mind you) they kicked a kid off for going to Europe, etc. And apparently this kid was awesome. I totally understand Sockers stance on not allowing their kids to guest play, etc. But having an issue when the kid gets an opportunity to go to Europe to play in a tournament with big European clubs? That just didn’t compute to me.. But apparently this family was told in no uncertain terms that consequence would be severe if they went. So whose to blame if that’s true? re Culture of fear - Sockers is clear about this rule and parents in their misguided obsession to make their kid great believe more is more (ie elite tournaments, being around “elite” kids) and are willing to take the risk. Then when they’re caught and there’s consequences they’re like WTF? “Sockers suck...I’m going to another club.” I bet you in 100% of those instances those kids who leave the club go on to do jack squat in the game and the irony is they have parents trying to get them on a YNT/pro path but ultimately ruin them. Listen to Christian Pulisic’s dad - he says it all the time...so many great players ruined by their parents who have all the best intentions but don’t get more is not more in certain contexts. But I’m with you it seems there could be a happier medium. for me a kid gets an invite to Europe let him go - great for the kid/good for the club. Then again there isn’t many (independent) clubs in the country that consistently put kids on pro pathways as Sockers does - maybe they know something? Also I’m sure Sockers has no issues with kids playing pick up and enjoying the sport for free and just loving the game. I’m 100% positive they would encourage that all day long. This is the real issue for most kids and keeps some our best talent from being special imo. This is a massive problem that needs to be solved for us to take next step and I sincerely believe the club that figures it out will be heads and tails above the rest when they do. But the irony/catch 22 is the kids need to lead it. It can’t be forced. It needs to be free - in more ways than one. But back to Sockers and the overArching aim of this policy - I don’t blame them at all for not allowing a culture of “elite” mercenaries to permeate the club (guest play) AND allow other clubs to financially benefit from that...(using Sockers top kids to win hardware etc).
I should add that if you look at the elite clubs that have had no issue with guest playing, etc most (all?) don't last and look at their track records. Again maybe Sockers knows something many don’t.