The unethical business of youth soccer

[Unregistered]

Great article on what’s going on....the whole thing has spiraled out of control. Not about the kids, just about the $$$. Sad state of affairs. Lots of Academy clubs guilty of this in

https://www.soccerwire.com/resources...aling-players/

[Unregistered]

Great article on what’s going on....the whole thing has spiraled out of control. Not about the kids, just about the $$$. Sad state of affairs. Lots of Academy clubs guilty of this in

https://www.soccerwire.com/resources...aling-players/

This sounds like a DOC from a GAL club.

[Unregistered]

Well, even if they are non-profit they still do the same things others do. Now the issue this person is saying is the development over poaching but here is the thing. Not all players can understand at the same level. The best trainers dealing with the same 20 girls that never played will have different results because no 2 players are the same. So this person complains about it, most likely a parent whose kid was demoted off the 1st team. Parents are a big part of the problem. They move their kid from club to club and keep looking for that better team. Truth is teams only have so many spots. Colleges only have so many openings and only so many can make it to the national team or pros. In EDP alone in an 8 team division there is over 130 players. Multiply that by the number of divisions per their and number of theirs and each age has at least 1000 players. Their is a best player and a worst player and everyone in between. Sure there are major issues with youth soccer but this letter isn’t a major issue.

[Unregistered]

This sounds like a DOC from a GAL club.

LOLOLOLOLOL....Either that or some town team complaining about the academy taking players year in and year out.

[Unregistered]

LOLOLOLOLOL....Either that or some town team complaining about the academy taking players year in and year out.

Probably CSA Monmouth, they losing players en masse. The article was posted on soccerwire so likely an academy losing players and wanted to advertise the unfair tactics of youth soccer.

[Unregistered]

Or maybe the person who wrote that has a point. If the product is so good, there shouldn't be a continuous cycle in and out of players. People should be running to be on and stay on your rosters, but instead the winning is getting in the way of development.

Everyone loves to win, and winning is a marketing tool in itself, but you can't convince me that recruiting kids during a season for that current season is the right thing to do. The kids you picked during this and/or recruited for that year should be the hand you're dealt. Develop and work with them. Don't start pushing kids down your roster or off your team because you can't be bothered doing your job and actually coaching soccer. If someone comes along for next year that's better than a kid on your current roster, then sure go line them up, but don't stomp on some u9 kid because you think you have a 2% better chance of winning the 3rd flight at Jeff Cup.

By the way, the person saying it's the parents has a partial point. There are parents that do exactly that. They think their kid is the next Messi and that coach was holding him back. On the other hand, coaches need to look at themselves in the mirror and make sure their own actions aren't part of the issue.

[Unregistered]

Great article on what’s going on....the whole thing has spiraled out of control. Not about the kids, just about the $$$. Sad state of affairs. Lots of Academy clubs guilty of this in

https://www.soccerwire.com/resources...aling-players/

Sounds like Soccerwire went undercover and posted the author @PDA.. Article is talking about PDA down to a T..

[Unregistered]

Sounds like Soccerwire went undercover and posted the author @PDA.. Article is talking about PDA down to a T..

Not really. PDA is a club that does not really “steal” because people gravitate there. There is a mix of decent coaches at PDA. Perhaps not as great technically as boutique clubs, but strong in terms of “coaching” for self motivation.

[Unregistered]

Sounds like Soccerwire went undercover and posted the author @PDA.. Article is talking about PDA down to a T..

Absolutely PDA written all over it....way back in the day they poached a few girls from our club. Approached the girls promised them the world and a few years later they were not even playing soccer anymore because they got recruited over and their confidence went down. Pretty sad indeed.

[Unregistered]

Absolutely PDA written all over it....way back in the day they poached a few girls from our club. Approached the girls promised them the world and a few years later they were not even playing soccer anymore because they got recruited over and their confidence went down. Pretty sad indeed.

How do you know it's talking about NJ?

[Unregistered]

Or maybe the person who wrote that has a point. If the product is so good, there shouldn't be a continuous cycle in and out of players. People should be running to be on and stay on your rosters, but instead the winning is getting in the way of development.

Everyone loves to win, and winning is a marketing tool in itself, but you can't convince me that recruiting kids during a season for that current season is the right thing to do. The kids you picked during this and/or recruited for that year should be the hand you're dealt. Develop and work with them. Don't start pushing kids down your roster or off your team because you can't be bothered doing your job and actually coaching soccer. If someone comes along for next year that's better than a kid on your current roster, then sure go line them up, but don't stomp on some u9 kid because you think you have a 2% better chance of winning the 3rd flight at Jeff Cup.

By the way, the person saying it's the parents has a partial point. There are parents that do exactly that. They think their kid is the next Messi and that coach was holding him back. On the other hand, coaches need to look at themselves in the mirror and make sure their own actions aren't part of the issue.

So you are saying if a new player comes in and is better then half the current team you don't drop a player to pick up the new one? You would just toss them on the 2nd team oh wait , according to you you can't. What your saying is new players shouldn't bother moving clubs because clubs should only take a certain amount of players and just develop those players. Hate to break it to you but even the elite academies in Europe drop under performing players while adding new ones. The only real difference is the parents, they would rather shop a kid around at u10 to sit on a future ECNL team bench then play significant minutes with USYS or GA and develop. It is a 2 way street, coaches can't train every player to be a national team player unless the player is willing to put in the work. Even then most players will require more work then others. The best players you see today in the younger age groups don't always grow up to be the best players just as the worst players sometimes end up becoming the best.

So, in short, you and the person who wrote that letter are delusional. No team is perfect no matter who coaches it and will always be tinkered with as new players come along.

What is really wrong with youth soccer is the lack of a true tiered league system, ability for anyone to start a club and call themselves a trainer and overall costs.

[Unregistered]

So you are saying if a new player comes in and is better then half the current team you don't drop a player to pick up the new one? You would just toss them on the 2nd team oh wait , according to you you can't. What your saying is new players shouldn't bother moving clubs because clubs should only take a certain amount of players and just develop those players. Hate to break it to you but even the elite academies in Europe drop under performing players while adding new ones. The only real difference is the parents, they would rather shop a kid around at u10 to sit on a future ECNL team bench then play significant minutes with USYS or GA and develop. It is a 2 way street, coaches can't train every player to be a national team player unless the player is willing to put in the work. Even then most players will require more work then others. The best players you see today in the younger age groups don't always grow up to be the best players just as the worst players sometimes end up becoming the best.

So, in short, you and the person who wrote that letter are delusional. No team is perfect no matter who coaches it and will always be tinkered with as new players come along.

What is really wrong with youth soccer is the lack of a true tiered league system, ability for anyone to start a club and call themselves a trainer and overall costs.

Ding, ding ding! This poster could run for not only us soccer president but president of the country. I'm all for radical changes!

[Unregistered]

So you are saying if a new player comes in and is better then half the current team you don't drop a player to pick up the new one? You would just toss them on the 2nd team oh wait , according to you you can't. What your saying is new players shouldn't bother moving clubs because clubs should only take a certain amount of players and just develop those players. Hate to break it to you but even the elite academies in Europe drop under performing players while adding new ones. The only real difference is the parents, they would rather shop a kid around at u10 to sit on a future ECNL team bench then play significant minutes with USYS or GA and develop. It is a 2 way street, coaches can't train every player to be a national team player unless the player is willing to put in the work. Even then most players will require more work then others. The best players you see today in the younger age groups don't always grow up to be the best players just as the worst players sometimes end up becoming the best.

So, in short, you and the person who wrote that letter are delusional. No team is perfect no matter who coaches it and will always be tinkered with as new players come along.

What is really wrong with youth soccer is the lack of a true tiered league system, ability for anyone to start a club and call themselves a trainer and overall costs.

Seems like someone is hitting the crack pipe a little early in the am. You really need to stay of forums with your nonsense. I'm a youth coach, with an 09 and 10 team. I take pride in developing my kids. I picked the roster and intend to work with what I have. A constant rotation of players doesn't do my kids any good. In fact, at this age, it might turn some off them off to soccer in the future. At this age it should all be about development, not winning every silly game from here to California. I do agree, as the kids get older, you are not guaranteed a position on a roster, and when playing college showcases you want you best performing players on the field. Not at 11 years old. I read these forums about people complaining about the constant rotation of players during a season. It makes me laugh at the narrow minded ADULTS that think people are posting about this because their child was moved off the "A" team. You need to get a grip on life. This is a major problem with clubs. Coaches want the easy win, the easy job, and that means recruiting players already developed by a coach that actually cares about their players. At 11 years old, it's our job to develope and build future players, not push them aside for the shiny new penny because that might take a little more effort and dedication on the coaches part. I had a kid last year that wasn't at the level of the other kids. Rather them push them off, I found time to work with that child, away from the group. (And didn't ask for a penny to do it.) Why? Because I saw something in the kid and wanted to work with them. And guess what, that kid DID improve, and became one of my starters. For any parents looking for a place to put your child in the fall, I offer this advise... take a goid hard look at any club your interested in. If you see a constant rotation of players during a season, stay away from them because that's a sign that there is no developing of players. Just a coach who really doesn't know what they are doing. If they did, they would develop the kids they have. If you see a club where the roster has stayed relatively the same over the years, that's where you want to put you child. Don't be fooled by some teams "impressive" resume. Alot of the "wins" they are bragging about are really low level tournaments where the competition isn't tough, and alot of coaches will put their team in for the easy win and build up rankings points. I see it all the time. Some coaches, not all, really shouldn't be coaching youth soccer. They would be better off being recruiters rather than coaches. For my fellow 09, 10 coaches, take pride in your job, DEVELOP your players. Spend the time working with them. Your getting paid to do it, worry about the win count in a year for 2. Believe me, it's more rewarding to see a child you developed succeed rather than a child SOMEONE ELSE developed succeed. I know it's a hard concept to fathom, but just try a little bit to do your actuall JOB....

[Unregistered]

So you are saying if a new player comes in and is better then half the current team you don't drop a player to pick up the new one? You would just toss them on the 2nd team oh wait , according to you you can't. What your saying is new players shouldn't bother moving clubs because clubs should only take a certain amount of players and just develop those players. Hate to break it to you but even the elite academies in Europe drop under performing players while adding new ones. The only real difference is the parents, they would rather shop a kid around at u10 to sit on a future ECNL team bench then play significant minutes with USYS or GA and develop. It is a 2 way street, coaches can't train every player to be a national team player unless the player is willing to put in the work. Even then most players will require more work then others. The best players you see today in the younger age groups don't always grow up to be the best players just as the worst players sometimes end up becoming the best.

So, in short, you and the person who wrote that letter are delusional. No team is perfect no matter who coaches it and will always be tinkered with as new players come along.

What is really wrong with youth soccer is the lack of a true tiered league system, ability for anyone to start a club and call themselves a trainer and overall costs.

No, I think they are saying that you don't do this kind of thing MID-SEASON. Commit to develop the players that you selected to pay you at the start of the season, and if they don't progress as you thought, then don't invite them back the next year. And ok, there are special circumstances, like a great player moves to the area and is looking for a club to join; sure, make that exception. But recruiting players mid-season to take spots/playing time from the players you selected a few months earlier is not right.

And yes, parents take some of the blame.

[Unregistered]

I do agree, as the kids get older, you are not guaranteed a position on a roster, and when playing college showcases you want you best performing players on the field.

Huh. Our club takes the opposite approach with college showcases. Our club seems to care less about winning at showcases and more about making sure that all 18 players on the roster have the opportunity to showcase themselves to the college coaches they invited to watch them. The team is there to showcase the players, not the team.