High School Soccer and the Academies

Little man with big ego just can't leave it alone.

Can't argue intellectually.
Is accused of name calling and insulting, so his predictable response is to threaten legal action.

What a pitiful forum character.

All of the regular members in here know who I am. I am not compelled to reveal myself to the trolls.

For the record Cujo, I am a regular poster. and I don't know you are in real life nor do I want to known. To me, Cujo is the same as any Guest and your posts are often no better than any Trolls'. For your information, I used to post under a registered name, I no longer do for safety reasons. Like the poster tracking your baseball practices or people following FSM's weekend activities or commenting about onthree's daughter, it is not safe to be known. I wish it were different, but that's the reality.

Bingo. I agree that the women in here have much more to fear. There are some really scary people out there. I am not afraid of anyone in here but I am also not naive. Just check out Mr. Stats slanderous post. He knows who I am and where I coached in the past but in all actuality knows very little about me. Certainly not enough know anything about my coaching ability. It is for that reason that I choose to remain anonymous going forward. The problem that I see with the Guest posters is that they can manipulate the appearance of the forum. They can make a few opinions seem like many. They have no accountability because they have no identity. You do not know if you are talking to the same person or if there are two of them or twenty. You cannot get a handle on who they are. They can take their potshots and go on their merry way. I am accountable in that their are a consistent set of beliefs and opinions that are attached to my handle. I don't think you can argue that the Guests have the same level of accountability for their opinions or posts.

Using the same logic, there is nothing that prevents you from posting as a Guest and manipulating your own appearance in this forum. I believe a number of Registered users do just that in order to support their agendas. So to me, Cujo is a fictitious name used to remain anonymous and does not make you any more accountable than a Guest. The fact that your personality is consistent while posting as Cujo, guarantees nothing about what other postings you may be adding to this forum.

[Cujo]

Little man with big ego just can't leave it alone.

Can't argue intellectually.
Is accused of name calling and insulting, so his predictable response is to threaten legal action.

What a pitiful forum character.

Mr. Stats claims knowledge of my treatment of soccer players that he cannot possibly have any knowledge of. It was a reckless and unfounded post based upon his personal animosity towards me. It is riddled with mischaracterizations and deliberate attempts to damage and malign my reputation and character. Most importantly his statements about the way I treat soccer players and my qualifications are patently untrue and he has no basis of knowing any of things that he accuses me of. This is libelous and I will not tolerate this kind of posting. It is innacurate and is intended to damage my reputation. Call me a jerk, and idiot a blowhard egotistical asshat but do not ever presume to say that I am dangerous to children or in any way would ever mistreat them. THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS AND I WILL DEFEND MY COACHING REPUTATION WITH EVERY OUNCE OF MY ABILITY. I am critical of clubs, MAPLE, and the way we teach young people the game. Attack those ideas, be my guest but never attack my professional qualifications. That is utterly unacceptable.
It is at best cyber bullying and it is an attempt to damage my character. Stay out of it. It is between Mr. Stats and myself.

[Cujo]

All of the regular members in here know who I am. I am not compelled to reveal myself to the trolls.

For the record Cujo, I am a regular poster. and I don't know you are in real life nor do I want to known. To me, Cujo is the same as any Guest and your posts are often no better than any Trolls'. For your information, I used to post under a registered name, I no longer do for safety reasons. Like the poster tracking your baseball practices or people following FSM's weekend activities or commenting about onthree's daughter, it is not safe to be known. I wish it were different, but that's the reality.

Bingo. I agree that the women in here have much more to fear. There are some really scary people out there. I am not afraid of anyone in here but I am also not naive. Just check out Mr. Stats slanderous post. He knows who I am and where I coached in the past but in all actuality knows very little about me. Certainly not enough know anything about my coaching ability. It is for that reason that I choose to remain anonymous going forward. The problem that I see with the Guest posters is that they can manipulate the appearance of the forum. They can make a few opinions seem like many. They have no accountability because they have no identity. You do not know if you are talking to the same person or if there are two of them or twenty. You cannot get a handle on who they are. They can take their potshots and go on their merry way. I am accountable in that their are a consistent set of beliefs and opinions that are attached to my handle. I don't think you can argue that the Guests have the same level of accountability for their opinions or posts.

Using the same logic, there is nothing that prevents you from posting as a Guest and manipulating your own appearance in this forum. I believe a number of Registered users do just that in order to support their agendas. So to me, Cujo is a fictitious name used to remain anonymous and does not make you any more accountable than a Guest. The fact that your personality is consistent while posting as Cujo, guarantees nothing about what other postings you may be adding to this forum.

That would of course assume that I have a reason to manipulate the agenda. Which I do not. Whether you agree with me or not you must agree that I am consistent with my opinions and philosophy. I do not need to post as a Guest or under another name to bolster my standing in here. Do others do it? I cannot speak for them. The moderators could probably confirm that I never post as a Guest. I have never posted anything except as Cujo.

If you are accusing me of posting under a Guest name please cite the specific posts and I will ask the moderator to verify where the post came from. I have no reason to lie. On the other hand given the cyberbullying that is increasingly being displayed in this forum, other participants have every motivation to disguise their identity. The fact that I could care less what people think of me (with the exception of libel and malicious statements such as those posted by Mr. Stats) is also further evidence that I have no motivation to manipulate opinions in the forum by use of deceptive methods. One thing that is certain is that I have never INITIATED an attack on anyone. Every attack I have made was in reaction to an attack made on me. I do confess to retaliation and perhaps that is my weakness. Unfortunately the low moral character of many of the trolls in here compels me to live up to my handle. Poke me with a stick and I will bark and bite. Far too many people in here hide behind their keyboard and computer and attack people as opposed to attacking ideas. It is cyberbullying at its worst.

thing that is certain is that I have never INITIATED an attack on anyone

Tell that to Hope Sole, or do you only "initiate" attacks on people that are not there to defend themselves.

Stay out of it. It is between Mr. Stats and myself.

It's a public forum. If you don't like the heat, take off your apron and get out of the kitchen.

thing that is certain is that I have never INITIATED an attack on anyone

Tell that to Hope Sole, or do you only "initiate" attacks on people that are not there to defend themselves.

Or any of the posters he has called an "asshat".......

thing that is certain is that I have never INITIATED an attack on anyone

Tell that to any of the people who live in Sudbury, or any of the other wealthier suburbs.

Or parents that want to watch practice.

This forum is littered with the people you initiated attacks on.

When Cujo decides to take "time off" from posting, this forum offers reasonable and constructive discussion on a variety of subjects. When he decides to jump back in, this forum turns into his egotistical ranting and raving. He should be banned from this site.

If his opinions are that important to people, he should launch his own site and see who shows up.

For this of you who engage in his idiocy, if you ignore him he will ultimately go away.

Little man with big ego just can't leave it alone.

Can't argue intellectually.
Is accused of name calling and insulting, so his predictable response is to threaten legal action.

What a pitiful forum character.

Mr. Stats claims knowledge of my treatment of soccer players that he cannot possibly have any knowledge of. It was a reckless and unfounded post based upon his personal animosity towards me. It is riddled with mischaracterizations and deliberate attempts to damage and malign my reputation and character. Most importantly his statements about the way I treat soccer players and my qualifications are patently untrue and he has no basis of knowing any of things that he accuses me of. This is libelous and I will not tolerate this kind of posting. It is innacurate and is intended to damage my reputation. Call me a jerk, and idiot a blowhard egotistical asshat but do not ever presume to say that I am dangerous to children or in any way would ever mistreat them. THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS AND I WILL DEFEND MY COACHING REPUTATION WITH EVERY OUNCE OF MY ABILITY. I am critical of clubs, MAPLE, and the way we teach young people the game. Attack those ideas, be my guest but never attack my professional qualifications. That is utterly unacceptable.
It is at best cyber bullying and it is an attempt to damage my character. Stay out of it. It is between Mr. Stats and myself.

Cujo flatters himself way too much. He still thinks that the world revolves around him. Ã￾e Gads! What an egocentric bully!

I have never met the fellow. I do not know who is he. I don't know where he has coached. I do not claim this so-called knowledge that seems to trouble him so. He is simply not at all important to me.

I find his above-quoted post and others quite incorrect and misleading. He mischaracterizes the situation as usual. I am not surprised to read his self-serving and inaccurate comments.

In particular, I am put off and utterly and truly disgusted by his addressing me as "my friend" in another post. I of course am not his friend and I resent his attempting to suggest that we have some sort of friendship. Good Lord! That's worse than calling people Nazis or communists --- at least in his sad case! Are there no depths to which this man will not stoop?

I ask him to retract that insult. I am a little troubled that his insult suggests that he and I are members of the same species --- a most depressing conjecture.

I have merely pointed out his contemptible posting behavior, behavior that continues to prove my points about him. It is way too easy showing Cujo to be a fraud in his posts. He hoists himself with his own petard (Hamlet III-4). He proves my points.

And now the sad needs-to-get-a-life fellow will respond to a fare-thee-well, forlornly hoping to win some debating trophy in his mind by substituting his bloviating bilge for reasoned and thoughtful discussion. Ignore him.

Cujo has hijacked this thread. Let's get back to the topic and not waste further time on that troll. Sheeesh!

[Mr. Stats]

Clarification

^^^^^^^ from Mr. Stats

I thought that I was logged in when I posted the previous post.

Mr. Stats

[Mr. Stats]

I've got the check, mate!

I'm glad that we have a chance now to return to the topic at hand. I appreciate the general civility of most posters here.

There may be a logic flaw in some of the arguments about high school soccer. First, I feel that the high school soccer experience may be great for some kids and terrible for others. The options for families caught in a terrible situation are few and expensive. I have a problem with the general lack of choice. It isn't necessary.

I am also concerned that not enough high school kids have the chance to participate in high school soccer. Is anybody saying that those kids who do not play high school soccer (most high school students fall into this category) must lead lives that are irrevocably ruined because they have not participated in high school soccer? Of course not.

There is no iron mandate that certain students (talented soccer players or untalented soccer players) must or necessarily or should play soccer for their school teams. That would be utterly weird. This is America we live in.

I think that high school teams should be as large as possible (25 or more?) and that there should be less emphasis on a pecking order of alleged soccer talent where the coach decides that 11-15 of the players start all of the games and earn 90% or more of the minutes. That subsidy by some bench students to the others doesn't seem fair, particularly since some (many?) high school coaches are unable to understand quality soccer even if it bit them in the butt.

No. The current method is too easily distorted to favor (talented or untalented) insiders over (talented or untalented) outsiders. That doesn't seem right in a public school setting. The kids on the bench are not really learning how to play the game by watching others. Instead they are learning about who gets ahead in the world (fairly or unfairly).

I don't see how some of the players (elite or non-elite --- whatever those terms mean for kids this young) are harmed by trying out for the academies and for choosing other avenues including more manageable pickup game or intramural soccer rather than high school soccer. If they don't particpate in high school soccer then in nearly every school some other deserving kid gets a chance for this experience. That's great! There is no overall net loss here. In fact, this probably increases the number of different kids playing high school sports. It shares public facilities more widely and more equitably. Wonderful!

I am not one of those people who think that one should make a big deal about the quality of high school soccer. I am not an elitist here. I was a convert to this viewpoint in the past forum. High school soccer really is not about soccer. It's about all of those other things that people bring up --- team sports, memories, school pride, solidarity, fair competition, good times, practices, developing skills, good sportsmanship, testing oneself, exercise, and so forth. The actual subject matter is quite irrelevant. There is certainly nothing special about the soccer subject matter here.

Yes. Some high school soccer is great. That is not the point. Yes. Some high school soccer is terrible. That is not the point.

I don't think that anybody will convince me or any other rational thinker that there is something quite special and unique about high school soccer that cannot be approximated or even surpassed by other extracurricular activities such as baseball, music, school government, school paper, German club, and (yes) even the chess club.

A student (elite soccer athlete or otherwise) probably can often get as much or more out of his/her high school age experiences by joining something like the chess club and also participating in the soccer academies or in pickup soccer or other soccer alternatives. Forcing them only to play high school soccer limits their choices and makes it less likely that they will have time to choose other equally worthy extracurricular activities.

If the kids want to participate in and can handle two activities (chess club and academy soccer), why force them to choose only one activity (high school soccer)? There is absolutely nothing special about high school soccer here.

If one thinks that some sort of team sports is the key here, then I change my example to include academy soccer and spring baseball. That would be a fine combination of choices for some students. This is a particularly attractive scenario in those schools where the soccer programs are third-rate or where the soccer programs have other systemic problems.

Why choose a poor or cancerous high school soccer program if one can instead choose a great alternative sports program (high school baseball or academy soccer or pickup soccer)? The kids might even learn some chess in my example, a possibility that may be limited in the high-school-soccer-only Gulag.

Nobody is saying that the team sports experience must happen in the fall are they? That would be utterly preposterous.

People who obsess about kids necessarily playing high school soccer seem like the intrusive parents that we have been warned about. They may have not thought things through completely.

I am also put off that posters are suggesting that people should not try to follow their soccer dreams simply because most kids are not all that talented or committed to soccer.

Soccer parent to child: "John, you know you shouldn't play for the soccer academy. Look at Mary. She is satisfied being a bench player on the high school team. Why should you want anything better or different? Look at Joe. He doesn't have the time or the motivation even to play high school soccer. Why should you be more motivated than he is? That is simply not right! Finally, most kids don't get soccer scholarships. That is why you should not even think about becoming great at soccer. What would be the point? Soccer scholarships seemingly randomly fall down from the sky. You can do nothing here and you MUST NOT do anything here to become more skilled at soccer. That would be elitist and wrong."

Give the kids more choices about soccer and other extracurricular school programs, both elite and non-elite, both sports-related and non-sports-related. Let the kids play more sports and chess games!

[Cujo]

Little man with big ego just can't leave it alone.

Can't argue intellectually.
Is accused of name calling and insulting, so his predictable response is to threaten legal action.

What a pitiful forum character.

I have never met the fellow. I do not know who is he. I don't know where he has coached. I do not claim this so-called knowledge that seems to trouble him so. He is simply not at all important to me.

You acknowledge that you know little about me yet you devoted whole paragraphs in which you claimed to know what my coaching abilities were. That, my friend, is an admission of libel.

I have never met the fellow. I do not know who is he. I don't know where he has coached. I do not claim this so-called knowledge that seems to trouble him so. He is simply not at all important to me.

Mr. Stats - In the old touchline didn't you specifically challenge Cujo (then Cowjo) because his team lost more than it won and imply that the poor record of that year was due to his poor coaching?

You seemed to know his real name, where he coached and took the time to look up his record to buttress your arguments. You are a smart man and know a lot more about Cujo than you admit.

[Cujo]

I have never met the fellow. I do not know who is he. I don't know where he has coached. I do not claim this so-called knowledge that seems to trouble him so. He is simply not at all important to me.

Mr. Stats - In the old touchline didn't you specifically challenge Cujo (then Cowjo) because his team lost more than it won and imply that the poor record of that year was due to his poor coaching?

You seemed to know his real name, where he coached and took the time to look up his record to buttress your arguments. You are a smart man and know a lot more about Cujo than you admit.

For the record (for the sake of accuracy) my career winning percentage was around 60%. We got whupped in Tourney though.