Tryout etiquette

[Unregistered]

What do your club tryouts look like?

Clubs are finally listening to the complaints about taking people’s money for nothing and will begin cutting team numbers down.
Expect huge cuts of players as the focus shifts to just elite teams.
Prepare for the return of town soccer for 98.7% of youth players in Mass, which is where they belong anyway.
Tryouts will be extremely upsetting for many...

[Unregistered]

Clubs are finally listening to the complaints about taking people’s money for nothing and will begin cutting team numbers down.
Expect huge cuts of players as the focus shifts to just elite teams.
Prepare for the return of town soccer for 98.7% of youth players in Mass, which is where they belong anyway.
Tryouts will be extremely upsetting for many...

lol are you on the board of a town program? Unless clubs are closing up shop virtually no one is leaving premier soccer. There's too many options out there and players can almost always find a place somewhere. Without widespread consolidation clubs will do whatever they can to fill rosters. Consolidation won't happen unless clubs go out of business. Most parents are still foolish enough to sign up so clubs stay in business.

[Unregistered]

lol are you on the board of a town program? Unless clubs are closing up shop virtually no one is leaving premier soccer. There's too many options out there and players can almost always find a place somewhere. Without widespread consolidation clubs will do whatever they can to fill rosters. Consolidation won't happen unless clubs go out of business. Most parents are still foolish enough to sign up so clubs stay in business.

I AM on the board of a town soccer program and we are struggling with numbers more and more as our best players go to club soccer. I have not seen any kind of exodus from clubs mass or otherwise.

[Unregistered]

I AM on the board of a town soccer program and we are struggling with numbers more and more as our best players go to club soccer. I have not seen any kind of exodus from clubs mass or otherwise.

Exactly! Plenty of clubs and plenty of check writing parents. Our town has had a few kids come back to travel but almost always they never should have gone to club to begin with.

[Unregistered]

No offer from current club. Should we start attending other clinics/trainings/tryouts? Afraid it will get back to the coach/club.

Afraid of what?

They want your child to play or they want you to pay.

If it's the former, you have nothing to fear if they know you're looking around.

If it's the latter, you have nothing to fear if they know you're looking around.

[Unregistered]

Both my kids went through club soccer. Both played on top level teams at the clubs they were at. Early on they made a switch from smaller club to bigger one and was certainly for the better. While still at the old club they went to a few practices at new club to get a feel of the coach and team before coming to the new club for tryouts. They honored their team commitment until the spring season was over, then moved to new club. There is no harm in looking. Leaving mid season is not recommended as you screw everyone over (kids, parents, coach). From my experience you can have a great coach in a crappy club or the other way around. You are paying for this, so go what best suits your child in their development.

[Unregistered]

From my experience you can have a great coach in a crappy club or the other way around.

Absolutely true, but hard for most parents to see through all the distractions, especially ones who aren't experienced consumers, much less knowledgeable of the game.

If your child is committed to becoming a better soccer player, then the quality of their coach matters most, next is the quality of the players your child will be training with, then it's the quality of the teams your child will be competing against. Having a stable, well-run club with quality training facilities and curriculum is probably going to hand in hand with the first three, but the kit the player wears is no guarantee at meeting that objective.

[Unregistered]

Absolutely true, but hard for most parents to see through all the distractions, especially ones who aren't experienced consumers, much less knowledgeable of the game.

If your child is committed to becoming a better soccer player, then the quality of their coach matters most, next is the quality of the players your child will be training with, then it's the quality of the teams your child will be competing against. Having a stable, well-run club with quality training facilities and curriculum is probably going to hand in hand with the first three, but the kit the player wears is no guarantee at meeting that objective.

Define “committed”
I don’t think most of you have any idea what it takes, but it far outweighs the importance of a coach, especially at young ages.
Any half-decent coach can provide technical training to show the basics:it’s what your child does with it that matters.
Coaches are set up to fail with all of your unrealistic aspirations-always looking for the fall guy,
be it the teacher that “causes” your kid to fail or the lack of development the coach promised.

[Unregistered]

Define “committed”
I don’t think most of you have any idea what it takes, but it far outweighs the importance of a coach, especially at young ages.
Any half-decent coach can provide technical training to show the basics:it’s what your child does with it that matters.
Coaches are set up to fail with all of your unrealistic aspirations-always looking for the fall guy,
be it the teacher that “causes” your kid to fail or the lack of development the coach promised.

The days of fondly thanking coach X for everything are long gone...
Blaming them is a whole different matter

[Unregistered]

The days of fondly thanking coach X for everything are long gone...
Blaming them is a whole different matter

Klopp for coach of the year

[Unregistered]

Define “committed”
I don’t think most of you have any idea what it takes, but it far outweighs the importance of a coach, especially at young ages.
Any half-decent coach can provide technical training to show the basics:it’s what your child does with it that matters.
Coaches are set up to fail with all of your unrealistic aspirations-always looking for the fall guy,
be it the teacher that “causes” your kid to fail or the lack of development the coach promised.

Coaches also go into this knowing they have a responsibility to actually COACH. Try getting rid of the manager go betweens and have a freakin' conversation with the player and or parent if need be. Stop hiding behind the manager. Communication goes a long way.

[Unregistered]

If you haven’t heard anything by now, not a good sign. Start attending other trainings NOW, before it is too late.

[Unregistered]

If you haven’t heard anything by now, not a good sign. Start attending other trainings NOW, before it is too late.

This is absurd. The BEST just got offers Monday for our club. Plenty of players will get offers.

[Unregistered]

This is absurd. The BEST just got offers Monday for our club. Plenty of players will get offers.

The best got offers after the first night of tryouts. If yours didn’t get one, you can bet they aren’t one of the best. Probably going to warm the bench if anything.

[Unregistered]

The best got offers after the first night of tryouts. If yours didn’t get one, you can bet they aren’t one of the best. Probably going to warm the bench if anything.

Some tryouts are just starting today.