Difference Between Clubs

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Unregistered;616973]

Is it impossible to start a thread looking for some answers about club soccer without it turning into a bashing session on one of the clubs?

Thank you to those that took the time to provide actual answers to my questions. Please keep them coming. I'm trying to learn more about this whole new world of club soccer.

GO read a book

[Unregistered]

I'm trying to learn more about this whole new world of club soccer.


OK. This is the most important lesson I have learned from 6 years of club soccer. Write this down, it is accurate.

25%-33% of club soccer parents are insane. If you choose to join this new world you will have plenty of laughs and plenty of stress and humiliation due to these parents.

Good luck, and remember, I told you so.

Regards,
Still Sane (barely)

[Unregistered]

I'm trying to learn more about this whole new world of club soccer.


OK. This is the most important lesson I have learned from 6 years of club soccer. Write this down, it is accurate.

25%-33% of club soccer parents are insane. If you choose to join this new world you will have plenty of laughs and plenty of stress and humiliation due to these parents.

Good luck, and remember, I told you so.

Regards,
Still Sane (barely)

But also remember that the insane parents are not evenly distributed among clubs.

[Unregistered]

No troll here. It's a hypothetical! Of course I wouldn't move my family in order for my 8 year old daughter to train. The point was to eliminate geographic considerations and get down to soccer specific reasons to choose a club. I just want to know how to tell differences between clubs. I simply listed the 4 that are discussed most in this forum. My perception is that those 4 in some order are generally considered the best. I'm looking to understand why and what makes one club different than another. As someone who never played the game growing up, I want to know what I should be looking for.

Some of the replies have been very helpful. I still have questions, though. Do clubs have different philosophies? Different techniques they teach? What should I look for on a coach's resume?

If the top clubs were the best then there would be no need for them to recruit. Look to the clubs that the top clubs recruit from. Fine one close to home. If your kid is athletic enough and establishes a solid technical foundation, then the big clubs will eventually come knocking on your door.

[Unregistered]

Why are the two mutually exclusive?

An 8 year old that os running circles around everyone may quickly bore of the game and it will not be fun for them. Those children are still normal, they can still have fun with their friends, just not on the soccer field.

If they have of that mindset, find them a new challenge, if they are happy playing with their friends, leave them be.

Why? Because I know the "challenge" originates with the parent not the 8 year old.

[Unregistered]

But also remember that the insane parents are not evenly distributed among clubs.

True enough

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Unregistered;616960]

MPS had the most success when they hid from the other Mass clubs and didn't play them. The more exposure the MPS teams have had to the other competition out there, the weaker their results.

All clubs choose appropriate tourneys for their teams what ever the reasons are including MPS. MPS teams teams played in the Stars tourney as well as other tourneys this Fall and my sons team was heardly hiding.

[Unregistered]

This isnt fair but this is how it works.... If your kid is a star put her on the best club with best facilities. They will want to keep her in the program and play a roll in her dev. Its good business. If she's not, go with the big fish in smaller pond approach. Get thoses coaches to invest in her. Go where she matters to them most.

Imo hands down the best way to answer your Q is ask for private sessions. Do a session or three. Pay the hourly rate to see how the coach is one on one. No team drills to hide behind. Pure interaction. At 8-11 you may want to bounce around each yr to pick your coach. He or she should work up a sweat too making sure she gets good ball workout and lots of touches and be positive. My 8 yr old did with a guy who never smiled and did poor but her best came when his successer took over, very young but full of smiles and high energy and hi fives. Some coaches wont even respond or will charge you too much because they really dont want to do it. Move on even if its another coach in the same club.

Winning is not important at this age. Any coach that puts the focus there before 12-13, move on. Size and speed and one trick ponisms can win at 10 yrs. Working your skills at 8 and losing means winning at 16.

[Unregistered]

Why? Because I know the "challenge" originates with the parent not the 8 year old.

So does math and english in school. Why is it ok to learn subjects but not get taught the games you play?

If your kid isnt playing fundamental soccer by 7 as in learning to use laces and turn the ball and receive with inside of foot, and you live in places like Dallas, Houston or so Cal, they are way behind at 8 and 9. A season or two is huge when you have only been alive for 8 years. By 9, some have six season of club type soccer in them. Its just the way it be

[Unregistered]

Why? Because I know the "challenge" originates with the parent not the 8 year old.

Really?? You've never met me. You've never met my kid. You know nothing about either one of us. And yet you "know," when I say that my son wanted something more challenging than town soccer, that the "challenge" originates with me? How arrogant.

Poster #12 had it exactly right. It's more fun to play with kids with roughly the same level of ability, rather than kids who are much worse (or much better). My kid is an OK basketball player, not terrible, but not great. It's easy for him to find the appropriate level of challenge, so he doesn't need to sign up for an AAU league. He's satisfied with playing against other kids at school. But he happens to be a pretty good soccer player, so he's a lot more interested in playing with a club, where the competition is stronger, than with his town team.

Is that so unreasonable?

[Unregistered]

Would agree. No matter what the age, if the kid wants to maximize his improvement/development they need to be challenged. You never want to be the best player on the team until you are playing at the highest level of soccer.
If they are doing it for soley the fun then play anywhere.
Development and fun do not exclude each other.

[Unregistered]

Location, Facilities, Coaching, Uniform Color, Fee's, quantity of tournaments included, indoor training, how many for how much, keeper training included or extra, soccer moms Beverly hills or the trailer park

[Unregistered]

Would agree. No matter what the age, if the kid wants to maximize his improvement/development they need to be challenged. You never want to be the best player on the team until you are playing at the highest level of soccer.
If they are doing it for soley the fun then play anywhere.
Development and fun do not exclude each other.

A good coach will challenge players at all levels within a team..

[Unregistered]

The coach sets the agenda/curriculum but the kids are not playing against him. They are playing against each other, thus it is to the advantage of a kid to be playing against better players to constantly be challenged and pushed.

[Unregistered]

Really?? You've never met me. You've never met my kid. You know nothing about either one of us. And yet you "know," when I say that my son wanted something more challenging than town soccer, that the "challenge" originates with me? How arrogant.

Poster #12 had it exactly right. It's more fun to play with kids with roughly the same level of ability, rather than kids who are much worse (or much better). My kid is an OK basketball player, not terrible, but not great. It's easy for him to find the appropriate level of challenge, so he doesn't need to sign up for an AAU league. He's satisfied with playing against other kids at school. But he happens to be a pretty good soccer player, so he's a lot more interested in playing with a club, where the competition is stronger, than with his town team.

Is that so unreasonable?

I don't have to know you personally to know 99.9% of the kids are perfectly happy playing with their friends. It is always the parents looking for more. There is nothing wrong with that either. Just don't pretend you kid is motivating the effort at age 8.