U13 Girls Spring Predictions Thread

[Unregistered]

My daughter was and still is good enough to be on a top 4 team. The reality is the difference between teams 1-8 comes down to which team collects the top goal scorers. Players 4 to 22 are often interchangeable, and if the team is full, coaches rightfully owe their allegience to current players. It takes regional level ability and experience to crack destination team rosters once they're set. One coach explained that barring injuries, there was no room available for her skillset. She also blames herself, and works harder, so her effort is not in question. 'Nuff said. Good luck all.

[Unregistered]

Your previous post claimed there is no loyalty in club soccer so be loyal to your self. Now you claim all these other coaches and teams are loyal to their own players and essentially froze you out. It is a business and if your child was an improvement on any of the so called role players she would be on the team. Hope she keeps working hard enough said

[beentheredonethat]

Dr. Z says...................................

Can't wait for more play to happen! I'm sick of this other stuff!

For the record, BTDT, I've never said that there won't be a destination team, or that no one will leave their teams. If you look at the mass exodus of kids these past couple of years to the DAP clubs, you just don't see that with the ECNL and I don't believe you ever will (as long as the ECNL remains what it is right now). One of the reasons though is that girls value their team more than boys, so you see less movement.

Notice I said less and not no.

Other predictions:

If Stars win the State Cup, they have the best chance of becoming a destination team. I think second is NEFC. There will be siginificant player movmement if one of these two teams wins and also has a good season.

If Aztecs wins the State Cup, my prediction is that almost everyone will remain where they are. There will never be a migration to Aztecs (prediction only).

If Scorpions wins the State Cup, you still might see consolidation amongst the other clubs. But Scorpions in this age group will not be a destination team. They may attract some Crusaders and Select players though.

These are predictions.

Otherwise, I can't wait until games start being played again. I'm doing my advanced scouting for Jefferson Cup as we speak!

Z .. I understood what you wrote and agree with almost all of it. I wasn't trying to put you down. I'm essentially just debating your notion that because the ECNL is not DAP that there won't be a meaningful migration. I think you miss that this sort of migration happened on both sides even before DAP came on the scene and all that DAP has really done is just narrow down the clubs where the male players migrate to. The way I am looking at it is just because the ECNL doesn't appear to have the appeal that DAP does I don't think that will reverse a pretty historical trend.

The one thing that I will go at you over is your statement that this sort discussion is crap. I think that this particular period in time may be the MOST important time in a youth soccer career. Please understand that I don't say this because I put an tremendous amount of significance on U13 soccer but rather because there is so much transition in the kids lives at this age even without the crazy world of club soccer that I believe the parents need the sort of information we have been discussing so they can make rational decisions about where it all fits.

[Unregistered]

The way I am looking at it is just because the ECNL doesn't appear to have the appeal that DAP does I don't think that will reverse a pretty historical trend.

Dr. Z says.............................................. ...

This is exactly the problem I have. You just talk about some historical trend, but you have aren't providing evidence to back it up.

At DAP you literally have these mass changes at U16. One of the reasons is the addition of the MLS club and that program is far different than anything we discuss here. And because it's free, you have the addition of new players to the system.

At ECNL you've never had that.

You point to some historical precedent that either doesn't exist, or is just being overly exaggerated.

[Unregistered]

My daughter was and still is good enough to be on a top 4 team. The reality is the difference between teams 1-8 comes down to which team collects the top goal scorers. Players 4 to 22 are often interchangeable, and if the team is full, coaches rightfully owe their allegience to current players. It takes regional level ability and experience to crack destination team rosters once they're set. One coach explained that barring injuries, there was no room available for her skillset. She also blames herself, and works harder, so her effort is not in question. 'Nuff said. Good luck all.

Don't forget that the roster size expands at older ages making room for additions.

Rule of thumb: You have to be good enough to be a starter to find space on a "destination" team.

[Unregistered]

Z .. I understood what you wrote and agree with almost all of it. I wasn't trying to put you down. I'm essentially just debating your notion that because the ECNL is not DAP that there won't be a meaningful migration. I think you miss that this sort of migration happened on both sides even before DAP came on the scene and all that DAP has really done is just narrow down the clubs where the male players migrate to. The way I am looking at it is just because the ECNL doesn't appear to have the appeal that DAP does I don't think that will reverse a pretty historical trend.

The one thing that I will go at you over is your statement that this sort discussion is crap. I think that this particular period in time may be the MOST important time in a youth soccer career. Please understand that I don't say this because I put an tremendous amount of significance on U13 soccer but rather because there is so much transition in the kids lives at this age even without the crazy world of club soccer that I believe the parents need the sort of information we have been discussing so they can make rational decisions about where it all fits.

There is plenty of player movement at the older age groups. BTDT, how many different teams did your older daughter play for after U13?

[beentheredonethat]

Dr. Z says.............................................. ...

This is exactly the problem I have. You just talk about some historical trend, but you have aren't providing evidence to back it up.

At DAP you literally have these mass changes at U16. One of the reasons is the addition of the MLS club and that program is far different than anything we discuss here. And because it's free, you have the addition of new players to the system.

At ECNL you've never had that.

You point to some historical precedent that either doesn't exist, or is just being overly exaggerated.

Can't you not see that the way MAPLE handled its promo/relegation historically initiated a lot of transition at this age group? Not only did their process cut whole teams out of the league at this age but it also really clarified where the remaining ones fit in the pecking order and that tended to destablize some teams and energize others. Let's face reality, once you start putting teams into division there has always been parents who wanted to jump their player up the line. That movement has an impact from top to bottom.

I don't know much about your background but I have been through this before. At this age my older daughter was on what essentially was a marginal team that literally hung on by a thread praying kids showed up for tryouts. We loved being a part of that team but it just became too tenous and the level of play kept dropping. The teams she played for after that were always stronger but still they literally prayed for the top teams like the Stars to cut players so they could hopefully grab them. In this business I have found that one man's trash is really another man's treasure. I have seen the effect of this migratration on teams that were at all different levels from the bottom of Maple D/Masc to the top levels of the State Cup race and can state without reservation that the was an impact that at every single one of them..

[beentheredonethat]

There is plenty of player movement at the older age groups. BTDT, how many different teams did your older daughter play for after U13?

She played for 3 teams after U13. The first move was a bad fit and she only stayed a year. The second one was a great fit but the coach left at the end of the first year and his replacement was not what we were looking for. She spent the last three years of her youth career with the same team and coach.

[Unregistered]

Didn't take long, did it.

No, it didn't! You almost qualify as a prognosticator!

[Unregistered]

Your previous post claimed there is no loyalty in club soccer so be loyal to your self. Now you claim all these other coaches and teams are loyal to their own players and essentially froze you out. It is a business and if your child was an improvement on any of the so called role players she would be on the team. Hope she keeps working hard enough said

Please don't twist my words and have a little sympathy for my daughter as well as "role" players. What I wrote was she couldn't displace a top 5 player. By the time we pursued a move, she wasn't enough of an upgrade over players 5-15, even for teams that had pursued her aggressively in prior years. I'm warning current U13 parents to not fall for the parent hope- club hype, and listen to their intuition. If we had, perhaps my daughter would have moved initially and been better situated. I find the insinuation she doesn't work hard enough, insulting. You have no clue. I can assure you few kids put the time in she has over the years. While her disappointment will eventually make her stronger, it is heartbreaking to live through.

People can accept my advice, or not, but please do so with common courtesy.

[Unregistered]

Z .. .

The one thing that I will go at you over is your statement that this sort discussion is crap. I think that this particular period in time may be the MOST important time in a youth soccer career. Please understand that I don't say this because I put an tremendous amount of significance on U13 soccer but rather because there is so much transition in the kids lives at this age even without the crazy world of club soccer that I believe the parents need the sort of information we have been discussing so they can make rational decisions about where it all fits.

What most people need to understand is that BTDT puts a tremendous amount of significance on U13 soccer because that is where his kid is. Thus, the dissing of rival clubs and the recruiting efforts on behalf of her team. Most parents think the same way about their own players age group so it is not unique or bad BTDT just puts more effort into it than most

[beentheredonethat]

Please don't twist my words and have a little sympathy for my daughter as well as "role" players. What I wrote was she couldn't displace a top 5 player. By the time we pursued a move, she wasn't enough of an upgrade over players 5-15, even for teams that had pursued her aggressively in prior years. I'm warning current U13 parents to not fall for the parent hope- club hype, and listen to their intuition. If we had, perhaps my daughter would have moved initially and been better situated. I find the insinuation she doesn't work hard enough, insulting. You have no clue. I can assure you few kids put the time in she has over the years. While her disappointment will eventually make her stronger, it is heartbreaking to live through.

People can accept my advice, or not, but please do so with common courtesy.

I absolutely appreciate the advice you are giving. It is right on target based upon the experiences my family has had.

As the father of two keepers, I can also confirm that your story about roster spots tightening up is true. Most coaches are not going to cut a kid unless they have found another that is clearly better. Does it happen, sure, but those are the coaches everyone ends up loathing and you tend to know about them going in. The only wild card is if the coach perceives the parent to be a distraction to the team. Is those type of situations a new player could probably make the team in a wheelchair. :) Generally most coaches don't go to far out of their way to screw players over so when they pass on a player it doesn't necessarily mean that the player wasn't talented. It usually just means that they weren't able to separate themselves from the incumbant. The hard thing for most parents to come to grips with is that the margin between players gets thinner as they go up the pyramid. Standout players are always easy to spot but role players are a different story.

[Unregistered]

I thought we were getting back to predictions not all this melodrama. It is safe to say that the top 4 to 5 players on all these clubs are potentially going to be great players (Aztec, MPS, NEFC, Scorpions and Stars). you do not want all the same type of players on one team. If you 15 alpha players you will get nowhere with that many personalities. you need about 10 very good role players that make great decisions with the ball and do not turn it over. You need the blue collar player that will run forever and give you 120% every game and training session. These role players that are unselfish will make a team great, not all the great talent.

1) Aztecs - As stated by another poster, team to beat.
2) Scorpions FM - Spring is where it counts
3) NEFC H - Addition will not make them better
4) Stars - Not enough to break the top 3
5) Pioneers - Home field advantage
6) Scoprions KD - Like the underdogs
7) Western United - Will struggle again
8) NEFC M - Kick and run stlye

[Unregistered]

Role players are the heart and soul of every great team. Players need to accept their roles, and work for the team first. Showy, flashy players get the spotlight, and too much credit, while often the workhorses that do all the dirty work making others look good are over-looked, even by top level coaches. There are players on these older, top destination teams that are truly talented offensive threats, slotted into defensive and spot roles because of their versatility and athleticism, which is how "non-starters" get college commitments. The margins certainly do get thinner as you progress up the pyramid.

[Unregistered]

To all the predictionpeople...get back to the grill and flip my burger