Monitoring The MPS Impact

If I didnt know better, I would think I was reading something about how the native americans saw the pilgrims when they landed from a history book like MPS players are aliens or something. :D

"they are just so different and strange"

Is it just me?

Keeper.. seriously...how many people are openly criticizing MPS here? Some of the posts describing full scale MPS attacks are hard to understand. I re-read the first 8 pages of this thread this morning and found more no more 'anti MPS attacks' than 'anti MAPLE club attacks' before I got tired of the circles it was going in and stopped reading.

If 2-3 people have been negative toward MPS who really cares? Even the criticism they have levelled has been moderate. There are hundreds of thousands of members of the youth soccer community. Few of them outside of MPS care about MPS. I dont think anyone is losing sleep over it.

Scorpions train side by side with the MPS teams in Braintree. Nice parents, Kids seem great, coaches are good people... soccer people. No jealousies, no friction, just another soccer club. I dont think I have heard a single anti MPS word from a Scorpion player, coach or parent. I dont think I sense any negativity from the MPS folks either. Much ado about nothing.

[Fred Marks]

Fred Marks above ^^^ still getting used to the new site..

Is it just me?

Keeper.. seriously...how many people are openly criticizing MPS here? Some of the posts describing full scale MPS attacks are hard to understand. I re-read the first 8 pages of this thread this morning and found more no more 'anti MPS attacks' than 'anti MAPLE club attacks' before I got tired of the circles it was going in and stopped reading.

If 2-3 people have been negative toward MPS who really cares? Even the criticism they have levelled has been moderate. There are hundreds of thousands of members of the youth soccer community. Few of them outside of MPS care about MPS. I dont think anyone is losing sleep over it.

Scorpions train side by side with the MPS teams in Braintree. Nice parents, Kids seem great, coaches are good people... soccer people. No jealousies, no friction, just another soccer club. I dont think I have heard a single anti MPS word from a Scorpion player, coach or parent. I dont think I sense any negativity from the MPS folks either. Much ado about nothing.

Personally, I think this has more impact on us than MPS has but it may just be me. If you are afraid to raise your hand, thats ok.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

Huh?

[Fred Marks]

afraid to raise my hand?? huh?

[FSM]

Is it just me?

Keeper.. seriously...how many people are openly criticizing MPS here?

How the heck can you tell with everyone posting as Guest???

Personally, I think this has more impact on us than MPS has but it may just be me. If you are afraid to raise your hand, thats ok.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

Mr Stats must be back in town.

Certainly has an impact but that impact is undoubtebly lessened by our children's involvement in activities like club soccer. In fact, one of the few ways that I can justify the incredible expense of time, effort and finaces that goes into club soccer is in the hope that she will learn from her time competing on the pitch the right lessons and that those lessons will outweigh the garbage spewed from other venues.

afraid to raise my hand?? huh?

'Raise your hand' in that you think that P@ris going to jail has a profound impact on you, thats all. Just trying to loosen things up. Was directed at everyone.

On that, has everyone seen this?

http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/cl...raves.mgr.wdef

Now back to your regular program.

[Fred Marks]

"How the heck can you tell with everyone posting as Guest???"

No matter how they are identifying themselves... most of the dialogue has been NON critical...

[Seabiscuit]

I agree with you Fred about this thread. Really just a few biting comments from anonymous posters trying to rile everyone up, otherwise it's been pretty civil. I think some of the defensive posts might actually reflect reactions to old Touchline discussions about same topic (also anti-MPS stuff finds it's way into other threads, even here on new forum) which i recall did get somewhat venomous at times. Sometimes I wonder if the old administrator blocked out MPS defenders from membership (I'm being paranoid, I'm sure :) ) because I only remember Keeper and soccerlimo and occasionally a few others trying to give the MPS perspective on old forum -- there seem to be a few more here (maybe the guest function)

Anyway, congrats to all the teams progressing through to semi's. Nice soccer this past weekend.

Why does u13/u14 MPS prefer to play OttawaCA, BlackwatchNY, NordicVT and fantomsNH instead of GR Boston, Stars, Scorpions, Western Utd and many other local clubs? It seems all MA kids would benefit if they did, and most 7th ,8th, and 9th graders do not want to play soccer all summer.

[keeper]

Is it just me?

Keeper.. seriously...how many people are openly criticizing MPS here? Some of the posts describing full scale MPS attacks are hard to understand.

I re-read the first 8 pages of this thread .....

Try re-reading touchline. The history of posting is pretty clear.

Negationism is something which I fine quite offensive. However, I re-read my post and quoted it below. I find neither errors nor anything out of line with any other poster, except poor grammar. (I really need to read these things before hitting submit)

We do agree however, that it’s only a few who seem to spend so much time, saying the same things about MPS over and over and over again. Maybe some one should tell them to stop, after all we’ve heard it sooo many times already.

Some body must losing sleep over MPS; look at how much effort was used to start this recent rant about MPS. It was a setup, pure and simple, and done rather poorly I might add.

My bad.
MPS dislpays and markets it championships, but State Cup results do not matter to the club. MPS says results do not matter, but it is concerned with player development. Playing in lower level leagues do not matter, because they are not concerned that it hurts player development.

I do not understand MPS. You are right.

Of course they market their successes. Of course State Cups are important, in the future you should expect those wins will be marketed as well. MPS’s State Cup results are improving each year and the wins will come as well. And, you’re sort of right, State Cups do matter, but it is not the main focus of the season as it is in MAPLE. The MAPLE season ends with State Cups while the SuperY season is just beginning. And, yes MPS is focused on development and the training of its players, but you have a different view on the importance of a league in that role. As MPS players move on to College soccer, I don’t think any of them will agree with you that their development was hurt by not playing in MAPLE. They are by far a better judge of that fact than yourself.

However, this is one of the first honest points you’ve made. You obviously don’t understand MPS. Admitting that is a big first step and a brave statement to make. MPS has now become a huge club and it’s safe to say that all of the parents and players know a fair amount about soccer and soccer clubs. They know about MAPLE, State Cups and all other tournaments.

They know what MPS says about themselves and what others like yourself say about MPS.

They know the results from State Cup.

They know all about what MPS and other clubs charge.

They have heard all of the negative stuff over and over and over again.

But still they chose MPS.

But still more and more players are trying to join.

And, despite all of the criticism from the well know personalities on Touchline, MPS has become the State’s largest soccer club.

If you really want to understand MPS:
Instead of investing so much time in criticizing MPS, why not try to figure out what they are doing right? Next, figure out why the most vocal critics come from a very small number of competing Clubs. The answers to those 2 questions will give you that understanding you’re missing and just might be helpful in any case.




.

One thing is for sure - based on writing and debating skills, the MPS folks seem to be far better educated than the typical MIPS bashers.

If I were in debate, I would want Keeper on my side.

[FSM]

Why does u13/u14 MPS prefer to play OttawaCA, BlackwatchNY, NordicVT and fantomsNH instead of GR Boston, Stars, Scorpions, Western Utd and many other local clubs? It seems all MA kids would benefit if they did, and most 7th ,8th, and 9th graders do not want to play soccer all summer.

Goalline, you have to understand that MPS created a business plan that they put into effect 5 or so years ago and that was to create pyramid of soccer with youth teams at the bottom and professional teams at the top. Super Y and US Club were created to help build that pyramid and to join like minded clubs. One of the things that sets them apart from USYSA is rather than just create a competitive environment, in theory they wanted to create a environment where kids would be developed for a higher level within the pryamid. Since they are in business, MPS recognized that there is a customer base out there interested in having their children learn the game of soccer from coaches willing to teach it. This was initially in contrast many clubs in Mass. who had (as someone put it) "mom and pop" coaches more interested in just competing and often limited in experience.

The plan has been some what changed overtime by both MPS and Super Y. And there have been some changes in USYSA which have brought all closer together. However, I think intially they wanted to recreate a more European type soccer environment. One of the things they wanted to do is have their youth schedule follow the professional teams schedule. another is to postpone a highly competitive environment in favor of teaching the game to young players. Some of their ideas were so foreign that they had to be modified in order to meet the American youth market.

As to your issues regarding travel, I think both MPS, players and parents alike would prefer less travel, but at present it is what it is. And why wouldn't they prefer to play clubs like the Stars, the Bolts and so on? They do often play those clubs in tournaments, but they choose not to in league play. For one reason, it may be that they prefer the flexibility Super Y presents with club passcards and larger rosters. It also may be that they disagree with the philosophy of playing for results at U11 and U12. In order to play in MAPLE in the higher divisions at the age MPS may think it becomes beneficial to the players (note players, not teams, U13 and up), they would have to enter their younger teams at U11 and start jockeying for position on the promotion/relegation ladder. They believe this interferes with their ability to teach the game at a critical time in the player's development. If they were to enter teams at U13, it is very difficult to work their way up from Maple D to D1 to where the teams with the top coaches are most likely to be found. Note I said top coaches, not top teams. I think they believe, especially for young players, the quality of the coaching is more important than is the quality of the competition.

As to you point that most most 7th ,8th, and 9th graders not wanting to play soccer all summer. When you consider how bad early spring weather impacts the MAPLE season, the Super Y season actually makes more sense to New Englanders. I think with the extended game schedule and expanded roster of Super Y, there may be more flexibility with regards to players going away on summer family vacations. A lot of MAPLE kids are playing all summer in Districts, the Bay State games, going to multiple soccer camps on top of just ending a full MAPLE season, which makes far less sense to me if they never get any down time and just go from one season to another.