Waiting on joining CFC?

[Unregistered]

First child is moving into the "love it or leave it" portion of travel soccer. To be honest, we love it. Good teammates, good coach, nice organization. I am wondering if offspring can wait until the big cattle call for the ECNL/NPL, or do we need to get the child into the system prior to the great culling.

Your kid is not playing with the best or getting the best training in travel. The longer he/she stays out of club soccer the wider the skills gap is getting. On the other hand, some situations in club are probably not worth the time and money (coaching and organizations vary in quality). They may get better advise/training but the costs will exceed the benefits. In the end, from our experience I can't see a kid getting trained outside of club soccer and getting skilled enough to compete for a roster spot and move over to club at U14.

[Unregistered]

This is a very new phenomenon for CFCU, spurred on by FSA's entry into ECNL and the fear of being surpassed by a local foe. Guess what, it is working way better than their old model of appointing a team at U13 and riding it forever, win, lose, or draw. FSA needs to do some soul searching and adopt this model as well.

CFC broke the mold with the 2002s. Faced with having one of the weakest teams in CFC history, they opted to recruit outside talent. Picked up solid talent from around the state and built a very good team. The 2001 and 2003 teams are still very much CFC homegrown kids so I wouldn't expect this trend to continue.

For what its worth, its a very difficult jump to ECNL. Small clubs unless very talented struggle with the speed of play. Taking kids from Yankee, Oakwood or FSA is less of a leap of faith because they play stronger competition every week.

My two cents is that top end talent will never be denied an opportunity. Most parents who think they have a strong player realistically have kid that might fall into spots 10-20 on an ECNL roster. Incredibly difficult to get picked up at 15 and up if your kid falls into that range.

[Unregistered]

CFC broke the mold with the 2002s. Faced with having one of the weakest teams in CFC history, they opted to recruit outside talent. Picked up solid talent from around the state and built a very good team. The 2001 and 2003 teams are still very much CFC homegrown kids so I wouldn't expect this trend to continue.

For what its worth, its a very difficult jump to ECNL. Small clubs unless very talented struggle with the speed of play. Taking kids from Yankee, Oakwood or FSA is less of a leap of faith because they play stronger competition every week.

My two cents is that top end talent will never be denied an opportunity. Most parents who think they have a strong player realistically have kid that might fall into spots 10-20 on an ECNL roster. Incredibly difficult to get picked up at 15 and up if your kid falls into that range.

And the likelihood of any of that happening outside of a good club is even lower. Only way OP will know if his kid has skills is to take her to some practices. It's entirely possible she might have to make two jumps - first to a decent club to play catch up and then again to a higher level team (depending on her age, which the OP didn't mention).

[Unregistered]

Moving at u12 worked perfectly for us. In the 3 years at that club since I have seen them cut 1-3 each year, and add that number of new players. In the younger years there would be 100 at tryouts competing for those few spots. High school age, fewer at tryouts.

Also agree the cream rises to the top, but I do think clubs/coaches aren't necessarily great at selecting kids at tryouts.

[Unregistered]

Moving at u12 worked perfectly for us. In the 3 years at that club since I have seen them cut 1-3 each year, and add that number of new players. In the younger years there would be 100 at tryouts competing for those few spots. High school age, fewer at tryouts.

Also agree the cream rises to the top, but I do think clubs/coaches aren't necessarily great at selecting kids at tryouts.

CFC is famous for taking only flashy offensive players at tryouts. Then the girls that are used to being scorers have a rude awakening when they are moved to defense or the bench. If you're a solid, unselfish player or defender, your chances of getting picked at tryouts are greatly reduced. Coaches should build a team, not select the selfish players (from the standpoint of tryout performance).

[Unregistered]

CFC is famous for taking only flashy offensive players at tryouts. Then the girls that are used to being scorers have a rude awakening when they are moved to defense or the bench. If you're a solid, unselfish player or defender, your chances of getting picked at tryouts are greatly reduced. Coaches should build a team, not select the selfish players (from the standpoint of tryout performance).

Its common law at U littles to put the most aggressive / skilled kids up front. Travel coaches want to win and parents don't object to having their kid be the "star." Wouldn't say its a CFC club preference as much as a reality in youth soccer....Just the way it is.

[Unregistered]

Its common law at U littles to put the most aggressive / skilled kids up front. Travel coaches want to win and parents don't object to having their kid be the "star." Wouldn't say its a CFC club preference as much as a reality in youth soccer....Just the way it is.

Oh stop. If you don't put your strongest players in defense you'll lose a lot of games and quickly.

[Unregistered]

ok whatever. Ive seen soooooo many travel teams put all their best players on defense... once they get a 5 goal lead. .

[Unregistered]

ok whatever. Ive seen soooooo many travel teams put all their best players on defense... once they get a 5 goal lead. .

Hahahaha! Exactly!

[Unregistered]

First child is moving into the "love it or leave it" portion of travel soccer. To be honest, we love it. Good teammates, good coach, nice organization. I am wondering if offspring can wait until the big cattle call for the ECNL/NPL, or do we need to get the child into the system prior to the great culling.

What age? Your daughter is on CJSA league team? I have seen a few unicorns in travel but if you wait until U14 chances are slim to none if you stay in travel. The outsiders are coming from higher end premier level clubs. So if ECNL is your dream....cough "your daughters dream" (they do have a wonderful web site).

No way is a kid who has only been playing travel up to U13 going to stand out at U14 at tryouts for ECNL. Top players from lover level premier programs are all going to be there, also kids who been playing at DAP club(s) who don't want to or can't afford to miss out on highschool or prep school soccer. All fighting for 2-3 spots at most.

Deck will be extremely stacked against a player who has remained at travel level. If your town has a premier teams maybe but still slim.