Originally posted by TwoNil
A few things have struck me as funny in this thread. First, I am just finishing up watching with one of my daughters Fox Soccer Channel's focus on youth program where they are spotlighting the "So Cal National Cup" which is really the state championships for the Southern part of the state. She laughed out loud at the "National Cup" title for the obvious reasons. Then we sat down and enjoyed the show, which featured one team in the finals that she was lucky enough to have faced in a tournament some years ago. (By the way, there are at least 2 "national futsal championships" in the US depending on which league is promoting it)!
Second, the poster that said any publicity is good publicity (or whatever the phrase is) has a real point. A few years ago when we were discouraged by the Maple relegation policy and hadn't had success in finding decent coaching for our soccer-crazed kids, one parent spent some time researching what Mass. had to offer (including by reading the Touchline forum - rightly or wrongly!), and the other followed up by going to practices, games, scrimmages, etc. and taking a look at the coaching and the entire program as a whole at a few different clubs (Maple as well as MPS). This particular thread is so replicative of what we were reading a few years ago.. same criticisms of MPS, same pokes at the "National titles" marketing, same lashing out about the costs, and by some of the very same folks, too. Truthfully, it was intriguing - why the clear hostility towards this program? We might never have even given it a second look if it hadn't been just to find out why so many in the forum seemed to hate it. In the end, we stayed away from a couple of the clubs that had coaches openly critizing MPS on the forum (even though at least one daughter did consider attending a tryout there and we were pretty confident could've made the "A" team) - we steered her in another direction because it seemed so unprofessional and left a bad taste in our mouths to be reading that stuff by adults who could be coaching our kid. Conversely, we were tentative about approaching MPS because we hadn't had any kids go through the SOE program and were concerned the premier programs were going to be open only to those kids, which of course is not how they work. There are many families who find MPS and not the other way around. We personally know several families who have 1-2 kids in MPS and maybe another in Maple, or vice versa. Also some who do Maple plus Blackwatch Super Y or just Blackwatch alone. How great to have all the options. As I noted in a previous post, different child, different ages, different things they wanted out of a program.
So who cares what clubs tout what accomplishments? I get this sense from some of the posters that they feel we must protect the newbie soccer parents from themselves and warn them of the evil empire. I say caveat emptor -- I wouldn't go out and spend a few thousand dollars on a widescreen TV or a vacation or a few hundred dollars on a new stereo or whatever without researching it first, and I don't have patience for those who don't expect all of us to have personal responsibility for our purchases -- ESPECIALLY when it comes to what is right for our kids.
I just continue to not understand the need to gripe about this or any club. I find it somewhat disheartening when you look at the bigger picture of Massachusetts soccer and see this picking (and sometimes bashing) of other clubs. This state has made great strides in youth soccer over the last decade, and we are all facing an uphill battle to showcase our talented kids against the likes of California, NJ, PA, NC, etc. It sure would be nice if instead of this kind of talk (maybe I just read this forum too much) we stuck together in an us versus them mentality. For instance, even though one of my daughters is on a team that continues to be rivals with some of the top clubs in the state in her particular age group, when it comes to following those team's progress in regionals (if they are the eventual state cup winners) or bigger tournaments outside of New England, we would also cheer for them to do well in their representation of Massachusetts soccer. Similarly we follow the older boys Bolts teams even though we don't know anyone on those teams, because they have represented Mass. well over recent years. Somehow I don't get the feeling (maybe I'm reading this forum too much..... :) that the same level of support would be directed towards an MPS team if by some chance a team made it to regionals or national stage (witness some of the gloating about 0 wins of a few of the older girls's teams in regional competition). That just is so distasteful to me. If instead we all promoted Massachusetts soccer and took pride in teams like the Stars U-14 girls current success and some of the National pool players and hailed these accomplishments as a positive for everyone loving soccer in Massachusetts because undoubtedly the more skilled and well-developed players coming out of this small state, no matter the club that developed them, the better for the future of our younger kids to get looked at down the road - by college coaches, regional coaches, whatever the level of achievement our kids are working their tails off to achieve. (And lets not forget having some fun in process, my common theme).
Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think it's impossible to have healthy, fighting competition within the state and have reasonable discussions about everyone's different viewpoints, and support all of Mass. players, at the same time. In that spirit, hope everyone who is playing has a fun and injury-free weekend at State Cup and hope we see lots of smiles out there. Enjoy!
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