Try outs

[Unregistered]

OP here, nice feedback. Seems we always have to have our eye on the door, eh? And also the "competition" as they may be the future home

Yes you do. At the opposite end if your kid is a stud on one team then you also want to see if they should move up a level. Not every kid should, but sometimes they need a bigger challenge. That's also where you want to do team practice sessions well ahead of tryouts - April is a good time generally - to see if it's a good fit or too big of a reach. You want your kid challenged but not struggling

I tell people to re-evaluate your situation every year - besides fit there's other issues that can crop up like coaching issues, club is falling apart, team is falling apart, better players are leaving, league change and more. It changes all the time

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For sure. Don't burn in any bridges in the soccer world. The pieces are always changing and it's a very small world.

Definitely a small world.

We left a big club B team last year for a stronger A team at a smaller club. Lots of issues within that region and age group. But we left on good terms.

Accepted an offer back at the big club on the A team for next year.

Next year will be our 4th year with club. You start to run into the same kids/parents/coaches. So yeah, don't burn your bridges.

[Unregistered]

Not trolling, just curious. If you knew she was at the lower end of the roster, did you or she do anything to improve the deficiencies that held back her game? Did the coach provide feedback and direction for improvement?

To be honest, she just wasn't aggressive enough and moving up toward U13 that starts to matter. And I don't believe she put in enough time outside of practices. We didn't get player evaluations or anything but it was pretty clear what the issues were.

[Unregistered]

Club rookie here...our D got on a team. So for next year same scenario @tryouts? Is there a real possibility that there will not be a spot for a returning player? Tryouts @young age isn't all just show for the parents? This is just kids afterall?

If your kid is still on the younger side, be sure to really pay attention when she transitions from U12 to U13. A club can have two U12 teams playing 9v9, but the next year only have enough to field one U13 team playing 11v11 (i.e. whittling 24 players down to 15-16). Your kid could be player 5 on the B team and think she's in a good spot going into tryouts, only to find they can only take the top four B teamers to add to the A team to complete the U13 roster. This happened to our kid, and we had to scramble to find a other club that year.

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Is anyone else seeing a trend of more players than usual not returning..to club soccer at all ? On my sons team, a parent told me that only three players tried out for his age group team for 2017/18 out of a team of 16 this year. Of those not trying out, it looks like 5 or 6 are going back to simply playing town soccer only, 4 are not playing soccer at all and trying other sports or focus on other activities, one is going to baseball exclusively, one is focusing exclusively on football. The one other is unsure about what his sons plans are but might be going to a different club. My son decided in early spring that he was done with club and wants to try some other things. This is a U13 group going on to U14. I had known a few were not returning, but I was quite surprised of the numbers and that is wasnt due to just leaving to play at another club as the dominant factor. Does this tend to happen at this age group ?

[Unregistered]

Is anyone else seeing a trend of more players than usual not returning..to club soccer at all ? On my sons team, a parent told me that only three players tried out for his age group team for 2017/18 out of a team of 16 this year. Of those not trying out, it looks like 5 or 6 are going back to simply playing town soccer only, 4 are not playing soccer at all and trying other sports or focus on other activities, one is going to baseball exclusively, one is focusing exclusively on football. The one other is unsure about what his sons plans are but might be going to a different club. My son decided in early spring that he was done with club and wants to try some other things. This is a U13 group going on to U14. I had known a few were not returning, but I was quite surprised of the numbers and that is wasnt due to just leaving to play at another club as the dominant factor. Does this tend to happen at this age group ?

That's more than average but it isn't unusual. Players and families realize it isn't all fun and games any longer. They may decide they don't want to go all in, want to play other sports etc. The system makes it very difficult to do multiple sports, which could help keep players interested. It's common at this age to start to question what you really want but the push to focus in one sport makes it happen quickly

[Unregistered]

Still trying to figure the whole club soccer thing out after 3 years of Town / Rec, then 3 years of Travel (my S stayed a year too long at each) then 4 years of club/premier soccer. In the club premier - he made the best team in the area, to have an amazing former player who was a dreadful coach (who loved him at first and called 4 hours after the tryout withan offer then hated him all season) then left to go back to the Town that made an official premier team, which had terrible coaching but he got double roster'd to play up a year as well as his year, then another club team- great Coach and team-mates, good chemistry, but coach left and after tryouts was offered a spot on an expansion team they were trying to form - but told he didn't make his year's team - but the expansion team had no named coach or roster, but the 4 boys who took it got rolled into playing up, but S said no to that (too shaky and we agreed) and he tried out for HS soccer and made JV as a freshman in a top tier town) and needed a club to play in the off season - he walked onto last day of try outs and got offered a spot at the end of 2 hours, playing up (U16s) but also scrimmaging every week against U17s, was promised an NPL slot but after 1/2 the season never materialized with no coherent explanation - later we learned no one tried out for the team as the same 15 boys have been there for the last 6 years - no cuts, no changes but newbies were 2nd stringers at best and no upward mobility. But my son kept pushing to play up to get better - he tried out for a DAP- 4 tryouts/invites later to be told sorry - good enough but not enough slots on the roster. Tried out for 2 separate NPL programs but no response, finally last tryout got an NPL program earned a slot. I'm amazed how a 15 yr. can keep it together. It's like a kid interviewing for a job only getting immediate feedback (positive or negative) whereas adult job candidates get either no feedback or not a good fit... Good life experience I guess...

[Unregistered]

Still trying to figure the whole club soccer thing out after 3 years of Town / Rec, then 3 years of Travel (my S stayed a year too long at each) then 4 years of club/premier soccer. In the club premier - he made the best team in the area, to have an amazing former player who was a dreadful coach (who loved him at first and called 4 hours after the tryout withan offer then hated him all season) then left to go back to the Town that made an official premier team, which had terrible coaching but he got double roster'd to play up a year as well as his year, then another club team- great Coach and team-mates, good chemistry, but coach left and after tryouts was offered a spot on an expansion team they were trying to form - but told he didn't make his year's team - but the expansion team had no named coach or roster, but the 4 boys who took it got rolled into playing up, but S said no to that (too shaky and we agreed) and he tried out for HS soccer and made JV as a freshman in a top tier town) and needed a club to play in the off season - he walked onto last day of try outs and got offered a spot at the end of 2 hours, playing up (U16s) but also scrimmaging every week against U17s, was promised an NPL slot but after 1/2 the season never materialized with no coherent explanation - later we learned no one tried out for the team as the same 15 boys have been there for the last 6 years - no cuts, no changes but newbies were 2nd stringers at best and no upward mobility. But my son kept pushing to play up to get better - he tried out for a DAP- 4 tryouts/invites later to be told sorry - good enough but not enough slots on the roster. Tried out for 2 separate NPL programs but no response, finally last tryout got an NPL program earned a slot. I'm amazed how a 15 yr. can keep it together. It's like a kid interviewing for a job only getting immediate feedback (positive or negative) whereas adult job candidates get either no feedback or not a good fit... Good life experience I guess...

Only 5 periods in that whole stream of consciousness mess. Amazing.

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Only 5 periods in that whole stream of consciousness mess. Amazing.

At least there were commas. Lol.