Which would you choose for your U 14 daughter? Would it change if she was older/younger?
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Without reference to rank, first tell us if she's a baller or not. If she's a baller, she can be on whatever team she wants but that would contradict your premise that she would be bottom third on an ECNL team. If she's not a baller, just focus on her enjoyment and personal motivation to play. Wherever excites her most. Maybe she will catch a late bloomer ticket.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
In general, I don't like being bottom third in anything - it's often a revenue position. Make damn sure that's not the deal at the ECNL outfit or you will end up dragging her to practice. -
Go with what is the best coaching and fit. Assuming the coach is good (and most clubs won't have poor NPL coaching) she probably will be better off starting on the NPL track. All the training won't make up for the game bench warming she'll probably do. Nor will it help her confidence. Better to be a starter on NPL. If she does well then she has a chance to try again for ECNL the next year.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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This question comes at an odd time in the season. Who is CHOOSING in Sep?
Are you reflecting on a decision already made? Please share your thoughts/experience
Did you just move to town? Then let's get specific, TS can be very helpful.
Are you thinking about next year? Is this really about current U13 landscape or next year's U15 ('01)
Or, just maybe, you are chumming the waters of TS to advance an ECNL > NPL agenda. You feel compelled to do this because at GU14 non-ECNL clubs (NEFC and SSS) rule the roost. Have fun driving to Philly when you could get a proper cleaning right here in MA.Comment
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Time for a reality check. The league isn't going matter one bit to your daughter so you shouldn't lose any sleep over it. What matters is that you describe your player as a bottom third of the roster player. At either the top NPL or ECNL levels that level player really has no future in soccer other than at the non scholarship levels of college soccer and neither of those leagues will catapult such a player to higher levels simply by being on the team. You might want to carefully assess where you are at and investigate with a more objective mind where you think the potential to go might be.Comment
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The ECNL parents don't know what they don't know. In their realm the NPL is for B teams and they erroneously think the other NPL teams from other clubs are on a similar plane. They couldn't be any more misinformed.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
The central issue in this post really is playing time vs sitting on the bench. It is a no brainer that you go for playing time. This poster's problem is getting over the ego hit of not having their kid on their club's A team. In the end they are just cannon fodder and won't realize it until their kid is a junior or senior in high school. You should feel sorry for them.Comment
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Thanks for jumping into the discussion on #5 and #6, BTDT. You must have an alarm that goes off anytime anyone types the letters E-C-N-L.Comment
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I would go for training with the ECNL team at least once a week and playing with the NPL. I think this is a good answer whether she is a Aug-dec or a jan-july. If a jan-july I am betting she is on the 02 ECNL team next year. BTW one of my girls (and both of my boys) went from bottom third of their respective rosters at u14 to top of the roster at u16 due to the late bloomer affect. If she is behind puberty-wise support her aspirations, if she has them to play at a high level in college, if she is maxed out and older, without the drive to work for hours on her own, then maybe the former poster's advice to look at the long term picture is good.Comment
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Not at all spot on!Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
Why is it whenever someone asks a question a certain poster always come back with "your daughter is no good". How on earth do you get that when the OP says the girl is a top NPL player.
Also, the assumptions behind that answer are almost certainly off base. Who said anything about scholarships??! Not the OP. At U14 I would assume that the parent is asking what is best developmentally for his daughter to become the best player she can be, I do not think that he was asking about her college playing career.
My answer to the OP is that the importance of a player's confidence cannot be overestimated. I've seen it in my child, and in others -- they are good, so they join an elite team -- and stop playing as well as they usually do because they believe they aren't as good as their teammates.Comment
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I'm the "get your seat on the bus" guy, and not BTDT, but I do feel his warnings are grounded in truth. He provides a sobering balance to the intoxicating effect oh-so talented D's have on parents.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
Parent Intoxication applied to D Recruiting :
Up to GU13 Buzzed and Happy, Parties getting started, Parents get along
Gu14 - 16 Believe we are attractive, looking-to-hook-up drunk, Parents start c*ck-blocking Gu17+ Very few get some, most become angry Drunks. Parents call the lucky ones whores, and make fun of the school the D hooked up with. Start claiming paying for it is betterComment
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This point about maintaining Confidence is likely the post of the Day on TS. (although the Drunk thing is funny). I watched a girl with legitimate "star" potential walk off the field crying this Sunday. Why? Her team won by a boatload, but she didn't score.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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First part: because there's enough TS dbags who love to criticize everyone, even 13 year old girls. Ignore them. Their families do too.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
Second part: exactly right. My D moved onto a top team and she almost left the sport because of it. It was not the right fit or, more importantly, the right coach. The combination was dreadful. Her confidence plummeted and we pulled her out just in time. Got her on another great team - not #1 but that's fine - with a great coach and now she's happy as can be again, scoring and playing great.Comment
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Exact same thing with my daughter this year. I can't stress enough the importance of chemistry between the coach and players. My daughter is like a different kid this year and the best part is the good feeling she now has carries over to other aspects of her life.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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So, non-BTDT, are you claiming #5 and #6? Or agreeing that he wrote them? "A sobering balance"??? Now, that's funny. You mean dedicating his life to trying to make people feel bad and inadequate every single day? Don't you think his message has been heard by now? The DB is a cancer. End of story.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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