Riding the bench at PDA and the annual rotation of players

[Guest]

If you have a good situation and your kids is learning, improving, good coach and enjoying the experience, stay! If they get good enough they will be noticed and recruited as long as you have some sort of platform even if it’s not ECNL. Not worth leaving to ride the bench on an ECNL team bc your kid will lose confidence.

Too simplified. If your kid is the star of a 2nd tier/lower level team, easy to slide into complacency and get good results from limited effort, which hurts long-run development.

All depends on the situation.

[Guest]

Too simplified. If your kid is the star of a 2nd tier/lower level team, easy to slide into complacency and get good results from limited effort, which hurts long-run development.

All depends on the situation.

Good point but make sure the coach is a good fit. Bad coach at higher level could also hurt long run development.

[Guest]

Too simplified. If your kid is the star of a 2nd tier/lower level team, easy to slide into complacency and get good results from limited effort, which hurts long-run development.

All depends on the situation.

Great answer and something we've seen after my kid moved to a higher level club vs her prior teammates.

[Guest]

Parent really need know and be honest with themselves on what level their kid is at. PDA is not for everyone. Some kids when put on the bench will work their ***es off to get more playing time while others will just blame the coach or players around them. I for one believe the environment at PDA is a must if your kid is going to play in college. They need to be able to deal with the adversity because because playtime is absolutely earned in college.

[Guest]

Parent really need know and be honest with themselves on what level their kid is at. PDA is not for everyone. Some kids when put on the bench will work their ***es off to get more playing time while others will just blame the coach or players around them. I for one believe the environment at PDA is a must if your kid is going to play in college. They need to be able to deal with the adversity because because playtime is absolutely earned in college.

This idea that you need to play on pda for college is bs. Many players are getting recruited from GA, NAL and RL teams even to D1. Do your research and don’t buy into all the propaganda. Good coaching, showcases and a reasonable level team to practice with is critical. Don’t get hung up on the badge as much. Just my two cents.

[Guest]

This idea that you need to play on pda for college is bs. Many players are getting recruited from GA, NAL and RL teams even to D1. Do your research and don’t buy into all the propaganda. Good coaching, showcases and a reasonable level team to practice with is critical. Don’t get hung up on the badge as much. Just my two cents.

Especially considering majority of the ECNL teams play dog **** soccer.

[Guest]

The starters should play more than the subs at the ECNL level. A coach shouldn’t take players he/she isn’t comfortable playing in a game. Until high school age, a kid should get a shift in both halves, even if 10 min. The subbing rules make this harder, but playing 5-6 position players the whole game is Busch league. Develop the group.

[Guest]

The starters should play more than the subs at the ECNL level. A coach shouldn’t take players he/she isn’t comfortable playing in a game. Until high school age, a kid should get a shift in both halves, even if 10 min. The subbing rules make this harder, but playing 5-6 position players the whole game is Busch league. Develop the group.

Sounds like MFA style

[Guest]

A 2008 blue player who is considered a practice player committed to a D1 school.

Which D1 school?

[Guest]

Which D1 school?

Crickets

[Guest]

Just calling it for what it is. PDA's name and badge has always drawn top players who have developed with their previous clubs and outside training. These players typically have high game IQ and can compete with the best of them. With all that talent on their team, there's only so much field time to go around. How do parents deal with watching their kids ride the pine so to speak, knowing that they would be starting on another team? How do the kids handle it? When the yearly influx on new players knock off the old players, how do the kids that leave rebound?

Bottom line is this, don't sit and cry over playtime if your princess only picks up the ball at practices. We are at a different club than PDA, but its the same thing here. We have kids that play 5 min a game if their lucky. Only thing is, none of those kids put in the extra effort. If your kid deserves playtime, they will get it. This isn't rec soccer. No one is guaranteed playtime. And your missing the big picture. People flock to PDA because the college scouts pay more attention to pda teams than your township rec club, and parents know this.

[Guest]

Bottom line is this, don't sit and cry over playtime if your princess only picks up the ball at practices. We are at a different club than PDA, but it’s the same thing here. We have kids that play 5 min a game if they’re lucky. Only thing is, none of those kids put in the extra effort. If your kid deserves playtime, they will get it. This isn't rec soccer. No one is guaranteed playtime. And you’re a missing the big picture. People flock to PDA because the college scouts pay more attention to pda teams than your township rec club, and parents know this.

Not a PDA parent but this is 100% correct. Play time is earned at the top levels.

[Guest]

Not a PDA parent but this is 100% correct. Play time is earned at the top levels.

Not always. There is some nonsense happening on some teams (won’t name team because they are children) let’s not romanticize things and act like this is all merit based when it’s clearly not.

[Guest]

Not a PDA parent but this is 100% correct. Play time is earned at the top levels.

I'm ok with this as well. It is funny how the narrative to have a huge roster and playing time earned is ok on the PDA side and not ok on the MFA side.

[Guest]

I'm ok with this as well. It is funny how the narrative to have a huge roster and playing time earned is ok on the PDA side and not ok on the MFA side.

Parents are morons watching their kids rot on the bench for some letters and perceived prestige. All that money and time and misery when you could be a valued part of a team. Kids don’t get better in games by sitting on the bench. They need experience. Go where you will get playing time. Otherwise you are just enabling these clubs to continue to roster 20-22 kids, rake in the money and continue to sell the scam. Hard pass.