U11B Blazers 19 Abbey Villa B team 0

[Unregistered]

When a game is a real competition, and the goal is being adequately defended - in particular, when the other team hasn't given up - then scoring goals is the point of the game. Embarrassing an opponent by running up the score is poor sportmanship. Maybe that's something hard for parents who visit this site to comprehend. A good coach will respond in several ways - move players around, such as forwards to the back (or to the bench), pass the ball around, asking the players to only score on passing inside the box, or playing down a man or two. Playing a team that goes down by 5 or more goals is not good training in any case, so nothing is accomplished by scoring goals under those circumstances.

That is exactly what I said, but sometimes the disparity between teams is so big that even when you've done everything you can including taking players off the field, a team can still score goals and if those kids happen to be the ones who don't normally have the opportunity, like the defenders and GK, then I think it very unfair to ask them not.

[Unregistered]

That is exactly what I said, but sometimes the disparity between teams is so big that even when you've done everything you can including taking players off the field, a team can still score goals and if those kids happen to be the ones who don't normally have the opportunity, like the defenders and GK, then I think it very unfair to ask them not.

Perhaps the opposing coach ought to know what level his or her team is capable of playing before entering a league.

[Unregistered]

My kid played for a team made up of kids of mixed ability and age at U11. They didn't win a single game in the fall. They didn't win a single game in the winter indoor league either, but we all stuck with the team, because despite the fact that they were losing games, and in the early going by some pretty big scores, we could see that they were learning and getting better. They did so, because they had a terrific coach. Quite a few years later several of those kids are playing on top level club teams and committed to D1 college programs, several more, kids that other teams would have written off, were playing for their high school varsity teams as freshmen.

So what should the Abbey Villa coach do? Teach the kids how to play the game well and focus on the positive progress that is made. Whining about losses and looking for others to blame will get these kids nowhere in sports or in life.

Great points. The kids can care less about it's 0-19 or 0-10. High scores in kid games are the norm. It is the parents/coaches putting political correctness above soccer that is killing the game. Passing around not going to the goal is not sportsmanship. It is the opposite of sportsmanship.

[Unregistered]

Only in the US is this a big deal. In other countries, they just accept the fact that they got beat by a better team. You have two choices. 1. Whine and cry about it or 2. Go out and work harder to get better. Maybe the team will never get as good as the team that spanked them, but there is no reason not to try.

[Unregistered]

By stealing other top players from other teams of course the league becomes uneven.

[Unregistered]

two questions

There are two questions/sides to this:

The first is what should the Abbey Villa Coach/kids/parents do. For the coach and parents this is an opportunity to coach, be a parent, and teach. There is no doubt that there are teaching and learning opportunities here. For the kids they can either accept that the alpha male just spanked them and go into a submissive stance, which would eventually take them to a different sport, or they can turn it into a motivator and work harder to never let this happen again.

The second question is for the 'alpha male' team and coach. The question is simple: Should you run up the score? How much should you let the other team bleed? When animals are playing and one realizes that they have won, they don't go for the kill......they have already won. They don't need to make the other dog bleed. For the Blazers/DC/FO and, on another thread, Stars and JD......are you better than an animal??

[Unregistered]

MAPLE should rethink their approach to U11 Fall, which mixes the weakest teams with the strongest. I recall when my kid did it that most of the games were a total boring waste of time, not worth the time or the drive. That was a long time ago, and you'd think they would have thought of a better way to do it by now.

Let the clubs self seed themselves into appropriate divisions. This is done all the time at the town level.

[Unregistered]

Let the clubs self seed themselves into appropriate divisions. This is done all the time at the town level.

I assume that you are talking about town travel which is a minimal issue for the following reasons:
U9 to U12: there are only 1 or 2 travel teams in the towns; for the latter one is clearly better. Placing them into the right divisions is a small task without bruising egos or worrying the finances.
Club is a whole different ball of wax, especially for the U11 divisions in which there are 5- 6 divisions (50-60 teams) in the fall all wanting to get into the Blue division (8 teams) for the Spring. This is made up of the winning teams in each division and 2 or 3 second place teams....the latter of which may come down to a goal differential. Now we are talking about money and attracting parents and players to come to your club. Which do you think is going to be more successful....the club with division 1 and 2 teams or the club with division 3 and 4 teams???

[Unregistered]

Let the clubs self seed themselves into appropriate divisions. This is done all the time at the town level.

The sandbaggers would have a field day, all so they could be placed in the highly coveted and illustrious "BLUE" U11 division come the Spring.

[Unregistered]

He's very smooth RECRUITER of players though. Almost fell for his snares. So glad I didn't have my son join.

Go back and check his past performance - After other coaches train and recruit he is handed a very talented FC United team, He leaves for greener pastures and takes a group of player with him to the Bolts, where again, others have done the primary skills and tactical training. He then leaves and goes to the Blazers - again with his smooth talking he recruits very skillfully from the Bolts, etc, etc only to have his Blazers trained primarily by FO from the fall through the winter. Buyer Beware!!

[Unregistered]

Go back and check his past performance - After other coaches train and recruit he is handed a very talented FC United team, He leaves for greener pastures and takes a group of player with him to the Bolts, where again, others have done the primary skills and tactical training. He then leaves and goes to the Blazers - again with his smooth talking he recruits very skillfully from the Bolts, etc, etc only to have his Blazers trained primarily by FO from the fall through the winter. Buyer Beware!!

I agree with everything you said except the part about FO doing the training. DC does the training - at least the last two to three seasons. He is a good trainer but always starts off with well skilled players from other clubs. With regard to recruiting, he moved half (at least 6 players) from his last years A team to the B team and recruited nine more players! Top players from other clubs including Bolts and FC Hammer.
Very smooth, aggressive and cutthroat recruiter. And this is only U10/U11!! Cut several players from last years A team and didn't have the courtesy to let them know. Shameful.

[Unregistered]

I assume that you are talking about town travel which is a minimal issue for the following reasons:
U9 to U12: there are only 1 or 2 travel teams in the towns; for the latter one is clearly better. Placing them into the right divisions is a small task without bruising egos or worrying the finances.
Club is a whole different ball of wax, especially for the U11 divisions in which there are 5- 6 divisions (50-60 teams) in the fall all wanting to get into the Blue division (8 teams) for the Spring. This is made up of the winning teams in each division and 2 or 3 second place teams....the latter of which may come down to a goal differential. Now we are talking about money and attracting parents and players to come to your club. Which do you think is going to be more successful....the club with division 1 and 2 teams or the club with division 3 and 4 teams???

In our town, there are 3 divisions and that is how I would divide Maple at fall of U11 even though there areactually more than 3 "color" divisions. When a club submits a team application, they should be required to to indicate whether the team is Competitive 1, 2 or 3. Then it's up to Maple to sort them further. This way you have a better chance of seeing teams play appropriate level competition. There maybe "sandbagging", but that will soon sort itself out if for no other reason than that a club will establish a reputation for the accuracy of their ability to judge the competitive level of their teams. If Maple notices sandbagging, they can then place that club's teams, ALL the club's teams, into higher divisions as punishment where they may find their teams relegated to lower divisions in the spring.

[Unregistered]

Way to go Blazers and DC! Feel good? Way to go MAPLE.

This is team made up of serious players who trained in the heat at MIT/BU this summer. What did your team do? It shows

[Unregistered]

This is team made up of serious players who trained in the heat at MIT/BU this summer. What did your team do? It shows

Once per week voluntary training sessions - get over yourself.

[Unregistered]

With regard to recruiting, he moved half (at least 6 players) from his last years A team to the B team and recruited nine more players! Top players from other clubs including Bolts and FC Hammer.
Very smooth, aggressive and cutthroat recruiter. And this is only U10/U11!! Cut several players from last years A team and didn't have the courtesy to let them know. Shameful.

Instead of developing the players from last year's A team - who were pretty good - lost only one game the entire year and won several tournaments!!!- he chose to move six players to another coach (B team) and cut several others (without letting them know). His team is not about development of players for anything more than 1 year. Even if the team does very well, he will cut or move you to another team if he sees a better player out there and succeeds in recruiting him.