This discussion board is such a great resource. We all want the best information we can find about soccer clubs and coaches. As parents ourselves (with two in AZ clubs), we have created a brand new website to help you (systematically) rate your clubs and coaches. Please visit us at www.brilliantclubs.com. You will find all the major (SCDS, BH, Arsenal, etc.) and more minor clubs and their coaches. We are based in AZ but serve the U.S. We are adding clubs and coaches daily. Please let us know if we need to add your club! Thanks for your support, and rate those clubs and coaches!
Okay I like the idea but it is so subjective. The first problem I see in such a concept is the un-warranted bashing of clubs by parent from other clubs - and the real problem in that is that most parents don't have a clue about the sport itself - at least from a youth perspective. So from the get go, I think you bare a responsibility to inform your potential "raters" of the environments out there which could include: Community Travel vs Club Soccer USClub vs US Youth State Cup vs Presidents Cup Much - much more as well but most parents are "My son is in the A division" when they don't even realize that there are 3-4 levels above that. There are also stark contrasts in leagues in some cases. For example there are 2 boys leagues in northern Illinois - YSSL and NISL. The lowest NISL team would smack the hell out of the highest YSSL team of the same age group. So it's a great idea - but at least from my experience, you may end up with garbage in and garbage out because most parents simply do not understand the architecture of youth soccer.
Like Volk, I think the whole rating thing might prove problematic; I would prefer actual written out reviews as opposed to all those individual ratings…at least with a review, you can get some sense of how creditable the review may or might not be…however, I really like that idea of directory of soccer clubs, especially the map view, once you can actually get to it…. .
Just looking at the site this morning. Some content is wrong. The search engine is very weak. How often is this updated?
As others have said the idea is fine but the inputs could be suspect. It will be interesting to see how it works out. My concern would be that I suspect it is more likely that unhappy parents participate in the site than happy parents. Happy parents aren't looking for a new club so they wouldn't look for this sort of resource. Just something to consider.
Clubs come and go. Clubs are constantly merging they usually don't last. Clubs are only as good as the coaching they have and the money behind them. Very few clubs have been around for more then 40 years. Even those it is hard to get going d coaching for all that time. So it is hard to rate clubs. In the old days clubs were judged by how many championships they won, and by how many quality players they produced. Today it's different evidently the coaching staff does not want to be under pressure to win and produce players. They might lose their jobs God forbide
Conceptually, I don’t why it would be any harder to rate/review a club, then say a restaurant… I think the bigger problem might be scale and volume….whereas a Restaurant might serve a 100+ people a day, and if even 0.2% take the time to write your place a review within relative short time, you’ll have a rating and dozens of reviews… Soccer Clubs, on the other hand, serve a set number of people a year and even the biggest of the biggest clubs will only serve a few 1000 people/parents at most….for coaches the volume would be measured in the dozens…you would need a very high participation rate to really start generating significant or meaningful numbers/reviews…. And whereas 1 meal is generally considered enough to review a restaurant, how long is long enough to adequately/fairly review a club/coach? A tryout? A couple of practices? A few games? Half a season? A full year?
But everyone knows the difference - or most people at least, between Subway and Mortons Steak House. Whereas few people know the difference between a community club and a DA club. VERY few people know about MRL, MDL, NPL, ECNL and DA. Most people think that Presidents Cup equates to a National Championship for god sake! Few people lack the knowledge of the US Club vs US Youth separation and as a result, State Cups are basically watered down.
Yes, no, maybe…I mean I get what you’re saying….however, most consumer reviews/ratings are not expected nor presumed to be expert level analysis; that is why volume/quality is so important…a 4.5-star product on Amazon with 1 review doesn’t mean as much to me as a similar 4-star product with a 1000+ reviews…. I also think most people know there is a difference between a 5-star Subway and a 5-star high-end steak house, and don’t expect the same experiences and value for their money…I am not sure why the same can’t hold true for soccer clubs… I mean a highly rated small community club is not going be the same experience, not necessarily offer the same opportunities, as a highly rated MLS or DA club…and I am not really sure who the hell would really think they would, certainly not anyone who has spent a couple years with their kids playing Youth soccer…granted there is rather steep learning curve when it comes to youth soccer for parents, but is not necessarily their fault it’s so convoluted…perhaps a site like the one the OP is trying to create might help further that education… Presidents Cup is a national championship, just a 2nd tier one…like the Europa League or NCAA Division II… still a lot of hard work and pride in winning one…. Most parents could give two shits about the US Club vs US Youth split, nor should they…that’s pretty “inside baseball” and totally unnecessary to rate/review a club or coach…
Having coached in both and had kids in both - I would want to know the difference between NISL and YSSL. I cannot imagine that there are not more leagues that are so different in other areas of the country. Presidents Cup is a money grabber - just like Super Y and a host of other National Championships - and the splinter between US Club and US Youth has deluded any real State/Regional/National competitions - which is why most recruiters can now be found at DA and ECNL matches. So yes I would want to know that. Parents are spending between $1300-$3000 per year on this - sometimes more with multiple kids. I think it's very important to have all the information out there to educate.
That’s because you’re the soccer equivalent of foodie…you care what breed of goat is used for their cheese, while most patrons just want to make sure that caper in their salad isn’t a rat turd… I am not saying that what you’re talking about isn’t relevant or important…just at much higher level than most parents, especially earlier on, need or even care about…I guess would envision this proposed site as being much more useful/helpful to the U8 parent, then say the U13+ parent, where a lot of things you talk about might actually start to matter…
I think the distinction between cheap "lets have fun" travel soccer should be crystal clear. There is a place for that which is called rec soccer and intermediate travel soccer. If one sees that they can put their u10 in a program for $700.00 then they should also know what that program is and where is stands against other programs - dependent on what they or their player are looking for. One problem youth soccer has in this country is the drop out rate at the lower ages. Boys run to baseball and other sports because their experience was not fulfilling. I know of a young player who guest played with us 3 years ago - would have been a great addition to our team/club but decided to go to the worst com club in the area - got destroyed and then moved to an intermediate club - where they are getting destroyed and she's ending her soccer experience after the season concludes. That would not have been the case had she come on board with us - she would have had a passion - I know this player very well (so it may not be the case all the time - but often it is) Education is key - if you do not educate again, it's garbage in and garbage out. A sight like this is relying on parents to both submit and rate clubs - that's going to be less valuable than Got Soccer Rankings. That's not a direct comparison - as I know the rank content is different - but the quality is my point here.
Kids are sponges at the younger ages - which is why I would say it's equally relevant to older aged players. Do you know how often kids end up at better clubs between u12 and u14 - where coaches have to start over at the beginning because they never learned the skills from the start? Hard to multiply when your skills at math are so sharp. But then again this is another topic - I think US Soccer should be doing more to help mold the rec levels at the younger ages so that it's not just fun but also builds a passion through teaching the right skills the right way.
Agreed, but none that has anything to do with what league they happen to play in or under which governing body they operate under….
I can agree with the governing body but league no - too much of a difference in some cases in terms of the overall talent pool. Like I have said in earlier posts - I've seen NISL Red division teams (4th tier) stuff Div 1 teams in the YSSL league during tourneys. I also know many players from both sides. So when the bottom of one league is outpacing the top players in another league - all the time, I want to know that as a parent.
So I see that the rating is assessed by an average of stars for certain categories. Winning is one... Winning games and tournaments is important to the club. From u8-u11 it simply should not be important at all. In fact if it is I would say you are at the wrong club. That right there (unless your a smart enough soccer parent - in which you would not need this tool), makes the results poor. Then there is Expectation... This club expects that soccer is my child’s most important activity outside of school. Again - from u8-u11, kids should be doing as much as they can - not just soccer. So to put this as a rate-able component is sort of silly and makes the results poor. Lots of defunct clubs - rec clubs and doubling up on clubs who changed names. I get the point but it needs a shit-load of work and some serious changes.
I don't know how I missed this--it turned out to be a pretty good discussion (thanks to all involved for that) but the OP was essentially promoting his/her own site, and that's outside the TOS. Thread closed.