Difference Between Clubs

[Unregistered]

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.

you are throwing out a statistic you made up--it means nothing. i would imagine that the majority of 8 year olds are perfectly happy with playing with their friends. For those kids who are actually the advanced or elite players you are going to have some that recognize that it would be more fun to play with kids who similar in skill to them. they may not verbalize it corerctly or recognize that skill is what separatesthe groups--they are just going to be looking for a different type of game

[Unregistered]

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.

You sound like the parent of an only child. Sure kids like playing with their friends but you assume that all of their friends or influences are at the same developmental milestone. I have a bunch of kids. One of mine was going through the recuiting process when the other was a U8. Years later it has amazed me how big of an influence that had on the younger one. They are surprisingly very focused on what they want and that has driven the bus much more than you would like to hear.

[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.

This is the myth starting to be exposed. This is true for much older players. They must be placed in an environment where they are challenged on a day to day basis, but what we have often done in the US is push younger kids into highly competitive environment before they are really ready. Then we find players who are just competing to survive based on their strengths alone instead of being allowed to improve and develop in other parts of their game. This is one of the reasons we keep producing big, strong, fast players with poor technical ability.

[Unregistered]

You sound like the parent of an only child. Sure kids like playing with their friends but you assume that all of their friends or influences are at the same developmental milestone. I have a bunch of kids. One of mine was going through the recuiting process when the other was a U8. Years later it has amazed me how big of an influence that had on the younger one. They are surprisingly very focused on what they want and that has driven the bus much more than you would like to hear.

Hardly the parent of an only child. Let's just say I am someone in tune with how kids think. And in tune with how parents think.

[Unregistered]

Hardly the parent of an only child. Let's just say I am someone in tune with how kids think. And in tune with how parents think.

I'd say that you are correct that MOST kids at that age think like that. However while the percentage that do is probably pretty high I do not think it is 99.9%, you'd be amazed at how motivated kids can be particularly if they have older siblings that they are always trying to live up to or outdo, and if they suddenly know they are good at something, be it soccer or any other sport. I have two approx two years apart, the first always just wanted to play with friends on the town travel and school teams and the youngest always aspired to more, not only town travel and school but also club. In 4 years he went from u9 B team at the club to premier and this year to pre-academy. The last two years when tryouts came he has asked to try out for two other clubs besides the one that he is on (a very good one) just to see if the kids his age there are better because he wanted to play with the best. Just sayin', I think there are some very motivated kids out there, a lot higher than 0.1%, don't think we can judge others

[Unregistered]

you are throwing out a statistic you made up--it means nothing. i would imagine that the majority of 8 year olds are perfectly happy with playing with their friends. For those kids who are actually the advanced or elite players you are going to have some that recognize that it would be more fun to play with kids who similar in skill to them. they may not verbalize it corerctly or recognize that skill is what separatesthe groups--they are just going to be looking for a different type of game

All I can say is my daughter at u8 did asked to play on a better team. She was upset because she was constantly being put back on defense and in goal because it wasn't fair that she was scoring 6 goals in the first half of every game.

You may not believe it because it isn't your experience, but there really are kids like that out there.

[Unregistered]

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

A great coach maybe, but it is a very difficult challenge. At u8-10, great coaches are few and far between. There are lots of good people with their hearts in the right place but very few people with the experience or talent to challenge a group of players with a wide variety of skill.

[Unregistered]

All I can say is my daughter at u8 did asked to play on a better team. She was upset because she was constantly being put back on defense and in goal because it wasn't fair that she was scoring 6 goals in the first half of every game.

You may not believe it because it isn't your experience, but there really are kids like that out there.

why did you quote me? i was also disagreeing with mr. 99.9%. i beleive you because that is the point of my post--the majority (ie at least 51%) are happy in town, but those that are perhaps advanced do want something more--and its not always about parents pushing. I have a u8 child who is happiest playing on a club team with kids 2 years older than her. she has really great foot skills for her age and likes to use them with players similar to her. she doesnt say "im the best for my age" but rather "why cant i play with kids who like soccer as much as me?' she can--it just has to be with a club right now. this is a kid who will go in the yard by herself, grab a soccer ball and just practice footskills and shooting because she wants to. why shouldnt she play for a club if she wants to? she doesnt see it as a club experience-she sees it as more soccer, more enjoyable soccer than she gets in town where she gets upset when kids are picking daisies and looking for butterflies--which is all some kids are looking for, and totally fine with me. and yeah she too doesnt love being put on defense after scoring 6+ goals in 10 min beucase no one can get a ball away from her or figure out what just happened when she does a scissors or maradonna just because its fun. and seriously if i can afford to put her on a club team why does anyone else care?

[Unregistered]

why did you quote me? i was also disagreeing with mr. 99.9%. i beleive you because that is the point of my post--the majority (ie at least 51%) are happy in town, but those that are perhaps advanced do want something more--and its not always about parents pushing. I have a u8 child who is happiest playing on a club team with kids 2 years older than her. she has really great foot skills for her age and likes to use them with players similar to her. she doesnt say "im the best for my age" but rather "why cant i play with kids who like soccer as much as me?' she can--it just has to be with a club right now. this is a kid who will go in the yard by herself, grab a soccer ball and just practice footskills and shooting because she wants to. why shouldnt she play for a club if she wants to? she doesnt see it as a club experience-she sees it as more soccer, more enjoyable soccer than she gets in town where she gets upset when kids are picking daisies and looking for butterflies--which is all some kids are looking for, and totally fine with me. and yeah she too doesnt love being put on defense after scoring 6+ goals in 10 min beucase no one can get a ball away from her or figure out what just happened when she does a scissors or maradonna just because its fun. and seriously if i can afford to put her on a club team why does anyone else care?

Exactly. What Mr. 99.9 Percent (BTW, I love that name you stuck on him/her) fails to realize is that we are talking about the other 0.1 percent. Yes, most kids will be happy playing with their buddies, but that's because most kids are only a little better (or worse) than their buddies. If a kid is in the tail of the distribution, so that's he's a lot better than his or her buddies, playing with his or buddies is a considerably less attractive proposition.

So Mr. 99.9 Percent is correct on the point that most kids are perfectly happy playing with their friends, but that point is utterly irrelevant to this discussion, because we're not talking about most kids.

[Unregistered]

Back to the original question. The Stars has a good academy program and they put their top coaches in it, rotating through on a regular basis. If your child is good, she will be recognized for her efforts, learn alot and be encouraged. They will also take talent at this age and encourage them to continue on. She will also have fun at this age, even if she's not as good as you think she might be. I don't know enough about the other clubs you mentioned but I do know that some of the smaller clubs struggle with numbers at the academy level and sometimes cannot afford (either time wise or financially) to put their best coaches on the programs.

I also think that clubs who have the majority of their coaches whose primary job and priority is coaching vs. someone who is coaching part time and whose priority is their day job---bring a different level of attention and committment to the job.

They all seem to quote the same philosophy...the execution of this philosophy is what you need to watch.

[Unregistered]

Exactly. What Mr. 99.9 Percent (BTW, I love that name you stuck on him/her) fails to realize is that we are talking about the other 0.1 percent. Yes, most kids will be happy playing with their buddies, but that's because most kids are only a little better (or worse) than their buddies. If a kid is in the tail of the distribution, so that's he's a lot better than his or her buddies, playing with his or buddies is a considerably less attractive proposition.

So Mr. 99.9 Percent is correct on the point that most kids are perfectly happy playing with their friends, but that point is utterly irrelevant to this discussion, because we're not talking about most kids.

Be careful what you wish for. Just because they are much better than their friends doesn't mean they would rather not play with them. You could be heading down a short path to burn out. I've seen it with my son. He's the kid you describe being put back on defense and goalie to limit scoring. Early in his life he played a great deal with his brother, who is 4 years older. Based on his enjoyment of soccer and skill level, we put him in clinics starting at u6, moving to club at u8. He is out of club this year (u9) as he says he just wants to play with his friends. The club soccer experience at this age can be monotonous. It's all skills and drills (boring). I expect he may return to club if any of his friends decide to join.

[Unregistered]

Be careful what you wish for. Just because they are much better than their friends doesn't mean they would rather not play with them. You could be heading down a short path to burn out. I've seen it with my son. He's the kid you describe being put back on defense and goalie to limit scoring. Early in his life he played a great deal with his brother, who is 4 years older. Based on his enjoyment of soccer and skill level, we put him in clinics starting at u6, moving to club at u8. He is out of club this year (u9) as he says he just wants to play with his friends. The club soccer experience at this age can be monotonous. It's all skills and drills (boring). I expect he may return to club if any of his friends decide to join.

From what I've seen, burnout is mostly the result of parents (and others) putting pressure on their kids, and taking the fun out of the experience, which is one of several problems with the win-now mentality that pervades some clubs.