Roger Thomas and SAT expanding program for U13-U15

[Unregistered]

Roger is one of the best coach/trainers Florida has to offer. My question would be whether he affiliates with a FYSA club for those older groups to participate in State Cup?

If that is true, why can't he keep a job with other clubs? He burned his bridges with several cities and high schools already. Very disorganized!

[Unregistered]

You're out of your mind, this program is a complete waste of time and money. More girls are leaving fast

You are clueless. Girls are coming back to the program because the don't develop in the traditional club environment. Is Roger a supremely organized individual?? No. But who cares? There are plenty of "well-organized" clubs out there that would be happy to take your money and stick your kid on a team. If that's what your objective is, knock yourself out. There's nothing wrong with that. If you want your son or daugher to develop into the best possible player they can be; take an honest, objective look at SAT.

[Unregistered]

He wont be able to field a full team for each age group so they will end up putting together a mix match bunch of 13, 14 and a few 15's and play division 2 or 3- U15. His training is good not great.

[Unregistered]

He wont be able to field a full team for each age group so they will end up putting together a mix match bunch of 13, 14 and a few 15's and play division 2 or 3- U15. His training is good not great.

You're correct. The other issue is how many clubs/trainers can the southern Palm Beach/Northern Broward area support. Think about it there is SAT, TB, BU, BJ, Sunrise, and probably someone else I'm forgetting. BU plans to have a US academy for this upcoming year. Where will all of these "elite" players come from?

[Unregistered]

You're correct. The other issue is how many clubs/trainers can the southern Palm Beach/Northern Broward area support. Think about it there is SAT, TB, BU, BJ, Sunrise, and probably someone else I'm forgetting. BU plans to have a US academy for this upcoming year. Where will all of these "elite" players come from?

US Academy? Are you serious? It will never happen!

[Unregistered]

my expierence

I had my kid there for a while trainning on the off days when not with our club. He was very anti club and always implied that he offered something better. He tried to push for us to leave the club and just train with him. We eventually left.

The trainning was not the same as it was a few years back. They had a coach there named Jan, who was the heart and soul of SAT. Once he left, the practices became very ordinary. Roger does not seem to have the energy level and motivation like Jan, or other top trainners.

On a persoanl note, he only seemed interested in my son becuase he was good and would in turn help him with his buisness by performing well in tournaments. He was not so attentive with other players of lessor ability. We all felt he saw himself as this master, and could be easily offended if he was not treated that way.

He is a good trainner and is knowledgable of the game. We just felt it was more about him and his own ego, than giving to the kids.

[Unregistered]

I had my kid there for a while trainning on the off days when not with our club. He was very anti club and always implied that he offered something better. He tried to push for us to leave the club and just train with him. We eventually left.

The trainning was not the same as it was a few years back. They had a coach there named Jan, who was the heart and soul of SAT. Once he left, the practices became very ordinary. Roger does not seem to have the energy level and motivation like Jan, or other top trainners.

On a persoanl note, he only seemed interested in my son becuase he was good and would in turn help him with his buisness by performing well in tournaments. He was not so attentive with other players of lessor ability. We all felt he saw himself as this master, and could be easily offended if he was not treated that way.

He is a good trainner and is knowledgable of the game. We just felt it was more about him and his own ego, than giving to the kids.

So where is your kid now?

[Unregistered]

I had my kid there for a while trainning on the off days when not with our club. He was very anti club and always implied that he offered something better. He tried to push for us to leave the club and just train with him. We eventually left.

The trainning was not the same as it was a few years back. They had a coach there named Jan, who was the heart and soul of SAT. Once he left, the practices became very ordinary. Roger does not seem to have the energy level and motivation like Jan, or other top trainners.

On a persoanl note, he only seemed interested in my son becuase he was good and would in turn help him with his buisness by performing well in tournaments. He was not so attentive with other players of lessor ability. We all felt he saw himself as this master, and could be easily offended if he was not treated that way.

He is a good trainner and is knowledgable of the game. We just felt it was more about him and his own ego, than giving to the kids.

Couldn't agree more. Don't know the other trainer, Jan, but RT is nothing more than a guy who wants the money. Extremely anti-club and very disorganized. He always praised his kids even why they do wrong. My two kids trained there almost a year. They training wasn't very good and we left. His ego is very inflated and he is losing kids left and right!

[Unregistered]

Soccer Academy and Trainning

With the club, you pay a registration fee that goes towards a league and you get at least 12 games for your money. You also are a part of a team and will get some playing time.

With SAT, you pay $150 registration fee, but it is just a fee, beucase you get nothing with it, since they do not play any league games. Then to be considered to be selected to play in tournament, you have to pay another $50 fee to be a part of the selection pool. So after spending $200 in initial fees, paying for uniforms, and then monthly trainning fees, the child is still not garanteed to play in any games.

I agree trainning is more important than games, but part of developing a childs interest in a sport is to be a part of a team and play games. With SAT, there is no team, beucase the team always has different kids, and often times, there will be guest players that come from different clubs. So instead of having only SAT players represented at tournaments, there will be others club players pick instead.

After realizing this buisness model, we were not interested in being a part of it. Plus, their tournament team performances are not that impressive anymore.

[Unregistered]

Can't be that bad, they had enough interest to enter 2 teams into the Danone Cup. Only hard part is how did they separate the teams, 1 weaker and 1 stronger? If so that might upset some parents if one of the teams isn't very competitive

[Unregistered]

Can't be that bad, they had enough interest to enter 2 teams into the Danone Cup. Only hard part is how did they separate the teams, 1 weaker and 1 stronger? If so that might upset some parents if one of the teams isn't very competitive

As for Danone, like all tournaments, RT has grabbed guest players, grabbed players from ESC, and grabbed players unhappy at their current club. It will be interesting to see how the guest parade performs at Disney.

[Unregistered]

With the club, you pay a registration fee that goes towards a league and you get at least 12 games for your money. You also are a part of a team and will get some playing time.

With SAT, you pay $150 registration fee, but it is just a fee, beucase you get nothing with it, since they do not play any league games. Then to be considered to be selected to play in tournament, you have to pay another $50 fee to be a part of the selection pool. So after spending $200 in initial fees, paying for uniforms, and then monthly trainning fees, the child is still not garanteed to play in any games.

I agree trainning is more important than games, but part of developing a childs interest in a sport is to be a part of a team and play games. With SAT, there is no team, beucase the team always has different kids, and often times, there will be guest players that come from different clubs. So instead of having only SAT players represented at tournaments, there will be others club players pick instead.

After realizing this buisness model, we were not interested in being a part of it. Plus, their tournament team performances are not that impressive anymore.

Business model? Now that's funny. He has no clue how to run a "business". If you go back and look at the tournaments they have entered, they are lower tier tournaments and he usually plays them in lower divisions so they can win or at least be successful. They will point to how they won the A Division of this tournament, but it was carefully selected to make sure that the top teams in the area would be off or entered in another tournament.

I agree with the above poster in that you are paying for the training and the chance to play in a tournament, but I pulled my kid immediately when I found out he brought in guest players from a local club and let them play at no charge, while charging everyone else more to cover their expenses. The training had gotten stale and he can't really relate to kids. He thinks he walks on water! There are other clubs in the area and other coaches in the area who are better and he is finding that out as kids are starting to leave the program.

[Unregistered]

Bottom line. best trainer in area for girls. Your daughter
will learn skills from him. Mine did. She graduated and doesn't
play club anymore. May not be most organized but training
outweighs that.

[Unregistered]

I'm happy you spend your money on me and still support me after all these years.
Are you sure your daughter does not need any extra private training?
I'll give you a nice discount.

Signed
RT.

[Unregistered]

It is not easy wearing three hats, but he is the owner, coach and trainner, which is not easy. As a buisness owner, he is looking at the bottom line, making money. As a trainner, his sole concern should be the development of the kids. The hard part is, how do you look out for the sole interest of the players as the trainner, if you know as the owner you need to bring in more income.

I think in his case, he has to put the interest of the buisness and money first, so the players naturaly have to come second.

What I find more concerning is the anti club stance, but he will attend club only tournaments like regions to scout out players. If he wants to provide group rate trainning sessions on the of days, that is fine, but he should not be trying to pursuade parents to leave the club for his program.

Their website talks about the kids enjoyment first, and positive stress free environment, but I have seen in tournaments his win only mentality, which is ok for me. This is how most club coaches are, I just do not understand why he thinks he is any different from them. His sole purspose is to win. I have witness his players sit on the bench the bench for most of the game, and him get very upset and negative with his players.

So I do not get it. Why not be real? Why put the club coach down when you are the same way? Just becuase your website says something, it does make make you any different from what goes on in the club. Why not work with the clubs, instead of pursuading parents to leave them???