Some of the TS-MA posts remind me of the scene in the movie version of "Money Ball" where all the scouts are squabbling about which players are the best and why they know better, but in reality they haven't got a clue. Billy Beane and Bill James where are you? Which Mass. Soccer Club is the Oakland A's in this region? Who is doing more with less and getting it right most of the time. Thoughts?
-
-
What an overreach. MoneyBall was about small market, low budget teams trying to find an edge against their competition by identifying under-valued skill-sets and exploiting them through the use of advanced statistical analysis.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
There are no "budgets" in Youth Soccer. There are no "under-valued assets" that can be exploited. There isn't even a universal end goal in Youth Soccer, the way there is in MLB (win/make playoffs), because some clubs seek to teach and develop players while others are reaching for wins, national rankings, etc. Trying to equate the two is non-sensical, other than the challenge of little guy vs. big guy. -
The money ball analogy actually does work on many levels. Half the problem with soccer in Mass is our clubs don't want us to know that there are clubs like the Yankees and Red Sox out there. They absolutely do keep trying to sell a small market mentality that they can do more with less. That is precisely why so many parents around here seem to think a club like the Stars (or Scorpions.. or NEFC) is going to consistently compete favorably with the huge national clubs like the Dallas Texans or Colorado Rush that are out there. Every once blue moon a small market team does make a run at things and may even win something but year in and year out it is the big market teams that are dictating the health of the league. Ignoring the obvious is half our problem around here. We over rate our teams. We over rate our players. In the end the clubs collect the gate receipts and laugh all the way to the bank.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
-
Never crosses my mind. Haven't heard much about these "huge national clubs" and don't care. Don't really care about winning some youth title, either. I don't think I'm so unusual among parents at local major clubs.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
-
Then all of the talk about the ECNL/NPL is also irrelevant to you. The thing a parent like you doesn't recognize is what happens at the top "elite" team level dictates what goes on with the lower level teams. You'll be the first to bitch when you player gets displaced by a better player.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
-
No idea where your wild assumptions and vitriol are coming from. But good luck to you.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
-
Suggest you go read the Bill James thread. There is actually a seismic shift going on in club soccer that will definitely effect all levels of players, even yours. What you are responding to is not vitriol, it is an interpretation of the forces that are at play. No matter what club your children play for it is going to have to respond in some fashion. It very well could be that it will chose to form ranks and ignore what is happening around it but then it is just as likely to wake up at some point and realize that it cannot hold on to its players because better options do actually exist for them with other clubs. There is a reason why businesses pay attention to forecasters. It is so they can make intelligent decisions.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
-
-
Completely agree.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
This thread highlights the competing and conflicting motivations among and within clubs.
If player development is truly the goal, then the measure of success is ultimately in advancing players. For any given player, those benchmarks of next level might be different. For one player, without the training environment, HS varsity might have been unattainable, for someone else, their club training makes the difference between a career that ends at HS and one that continues into college. A handful of team achievements by a club among all of their teams/age groups doesn't really enlighten as to development (if for example they've acquired a majority of players older than a certain age, they trained somewhere else under a certain age, etc., and/or their staff has changed substantially over period as recent as 2-3 years).Comment
Comment