RI Middle School preview

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Who are the top teams going into this fall's middle school season?

On the boys side, I'm sure the South County teams (Curtis Corner) will be strong. And where do most of the Bayside players go to school?

Girls teams - Lincoln will be very good with lots of returnees and one of the best coaches in the state.

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Who is the Lincoln coach?

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Just a soccer buddy of mine whom I happen to think is a good guy. having some fun - thought he might read this :)

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Just a soccer buddy of mine whom I happen to think is a good guy. having some fun - thought he might read this :)

That's cool. What's up with the Lincoln program. Seems like it under-performs?

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No way. I actually think we over-achieve. We're a small town of 20k that loses a lot of talented athletes to private schools. Our town program loses a lot of talented kids to premier clubs. The parents have some $ and they can afford those options.

LMS boys team won states last year. But 2 of the best players going to La Salle. Boys HS team won DII states 2 years ago and lost in DII finals last year. Great, passionate coach who loves the sport and the kids.

Personally, I love living here. Lots of parental support at games, tons of camaraderie.

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With all due respect get a life.

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LOL! I will, I will.

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No way. I actually think we over-achieve. We're a small town of 20k that loses a lot of talented athletes to private schools. Our town program loses a lot of talented kids to premier clubs. The parents have some $ and they can afford those options.

LMS boys team won states last year. But 2 of the best players going to La Salle. Boys HS team won DII states 2 years ago and lost in DII finals last year. Great, passionate coach who loves the sport and the kids.

Personally, I love living here. Lots of parental support at games, tons of camaraderie.

You're making my point. The LMS boys won the states last year. How many play for LMS? The high school boys do great, how many play for LMS? The LMS girls program is bigger but how do they do in the state? The Lincoln soccer system has suffered greatly from disinterested and/or bad coaches. Not bad people - bad coaches.

They don't grow better kids in other towns either but Lincoln is a perennial middle of the roader. There can only be one answer.

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You're making my point. The LMS boys won the states last year. How many play for LMS? The high school boys do great, how many play for LMS? The LMS girls program is bigger but how do they do in the state? The Lincoln soccer system has suffered greatly from disinterested and/or bad coaches. Not bad people - bad coaches.

They don't grow better kids in other towns either but Lincoln is a perennial middle of the roader. There can only be one answer.

I think most of those LMS's should be LYSA's

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You're making my point. The LMS boys won the states last year. How many play for LYSA? The high school boys do great, how many play for LYSA? The LYSA girls program is bigger but how do they do in the state? The Lincoln soccer system has suffered greatly from disinterested and/or bad coaches. Not bad people - bad coaches.

They don't grow better kids in other towns either but Lincoln is a perennial middle of the roader. There can only be one answer.

fixed them, thanks.

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I misunderstood, I thought the original question was regarding the Lincoln school programs.

If you're talking about LYSA, you are correct. All but 1 of the LMS state champs played for LYSA competitive. The rest played for premier clubs.

On the girl's side, the LMS team is mixed 50/50 LYSA competitive/premier clubs. The LYSA girls competitive side has done a good job of keeping Lincoln girls in the town program. There are about 4 Dad/coaches that come to mind (MW, JL, NJ, CK) who have done a terrific job with the girls side. The parents support those guys for the most part and they work together for the mutual benefit of the girls in the program. I also hear that there's even more of the same in the U8's.

As far as the boys go...Listen, there's nobody that has tried to improve the boy's side of things at LYSA over the years more than this writer (me). I've been banging my head against that brick wall for over 3 years.

To their credit, LYSA has made some changes to improve things. They've brought in Challenger to help train - and now coach - the teams. But the changes are slow to come.

And what really needs to change is......I'm not going to say it on a message board. I've said way too much over the years as it is. :)

[Unregistered]

I misunderstood, I thought the original question was regarding the Lincoln school programs.

If you're talking about LYSA, you are correct. All but 1 of the LMS state champs played for LYSA competitive. The rest played for premier clubs.

On the girl's side, the LMS team is mixed 50/50 LYSA competitive/premier clubs. The LYSA girls competitive side has done a good job of keeping Lincoln girls in the town program. There are about 4 Dad/coaches that come to mind (MW, JL, NJ, CK) who have done a terrific job with the girls side. The parents support those guys for the most part and they work together for the mutual benefit of the girls in the program. I also hear that there's even more of the same in the U8's.

As far as the boys go...Listen, there's nobody that has tried to improve the boy's side of things at LYSA over the years more than this writer (me). I've been banging my head against that brick wall for over 3 years.

To their credit, LYSA has made some changes to improve things. They've brought in Challenger to help train - and now coach - the teams. But the changes are slow to come.

And what really needs to change is......I'm not going to say it on a message board. I've said way too much over the years as it is. :)

So you're the guy with the bruises.

Keep on working at it. It will come eventually. Thanks

[Unregistered]

I am not familiar with LYSA, but it sounds as if the problem in Lincoln is no different than many other communities...the talented players that have the ability/commitment/desire tend to gravitate toward premier clubs.

The real problem that should be addressed is that there are too many premier clubs in RI. Specifically at the rising U14 Boys level, there are Bayside, Blackwatch, Bruno, Rams, Lusitana, and now RISC. The state is too small to support this many clubs, and the premier teams become glorified competitive teams. This becomes obvious when the premier teams begin to travel the region and have only a nominal amount of success.

RI is uniquely positioned with a relatively dense population in a small geographic area. If the powers that be at these premier clubs really cared about player development, and being competitive outside of RI, they would merge into one or two premier clubs (and have multiple teams in each age group). This allows for consistency in player development, and creates a "feeder" system for the top team. The Top team will then be better positioned for success outside of RI. This will never happen, but if it did, it would also have a positive effect on the local town programs, as the players that are very good, but not truly "premier" will have their town competitive programs to compete in.

[Unregistered]

I am not familiar with LYSA, but it sounds as if the problem in Lincoln is no different than many other communities...the talented players that have the ability/commitment/desire tend to gravitate toward premier clubs.

The real problem that should be addressed is that there are too many premier clubs in RI. Specifically at the rising U14 Boys level, there are Bayside, Blackwatch, Bruno, Rams, Lusitana, and now RISC. The state is too small to support this many clubs, and the premier teams become glorified competitive teams. This becomes obvious when the premier teams begin to travel the region and have only a nominal amount of success.

RI is uniquely positioned with a relatively dense population in a small geographic area. If the powers that be at these premier clubs really cared about player development, and being competitive outside of RI, they would merge into one or two premier clubs (and have multiple teams in each age group). This allows for consistency in player development, and creates a "feeder" system for the top team. The Top team will then be better positioned for success outside of RI. This will never happen, but if it did, it would also have a positive effect on the local town programs, as the players that are very good, but not truly "premier" will have their town competitive programs to compete in.

I understand and respect what you are saying, but I couldn't disagree with you more.

Trying to artificially shoe-horn talented players into a limited number of premier clubs is only going to do the following:

1. Allow the existing premier clubs to continue mediocre operations. Where's their incentive to improve if there's a limited number of competing RI clubs for players to go? You're giving them a controlled monopoly in the RI market. Competition breeds performance. Open it up to more competitors and you'll get a better product.

2. Allow existing premier clubs to charge parents whatever they want. With a limited number of clubs, it's easier for these clubs to collude and fix pricing. When SRI rejects a new club applicant, that's restraint of trade.

Limiting the number of premier clubs in RI is only going to cause more player spillover into Massachusetts. You're getting too caught up in RI clubs' performance in Region 1. Besides, RI Rays girls and Bayside boys make a respectful accounting of themselves at the regional level.

Let the market dictate the number of premier clubs and how much they cost. The talented players will still gravitate to the top-performing clubs with the best coaching. The whole notion of restricting the number of soccer club choices that parents have flies right in the face of the successful model that every successful youth travel sport in the USA is run. Only youth soccer has so many rules, regulations and restrictions.

[Unregistered]

I understand and respect what you are saying, but I couldn't disagree with you more.

Trying to artificially shoe-horn talented players into a limited number of premier clubs is only going to do the following:

1. Allow the existing premier clubs to continue mediocre operations. Where's their incentive to improve if there's a limited number of competing RI clubs for players to go? You're giving them a controlled monopoly in the RI market. Competition breeds performance. Open it up to more competitors and you'll get a better product.

2. Allow existing premier clubs to charge parents whatever they want. With a limited number of clubs, it's easier for these clubs to collude and fix pricing. When SRI rejects a new club applicant, that's restraint of trade.

Limiting the number of premier clubs in RI is only going to cause more player spillover into Massachusetts. You're getting too caught up in RI clubs' performance in Region 1. Besides, RI Rays girls and Bayside boys make a respectful accounting of themselves at the regional level.

Let the market dictate the number of premier clubs and how much they cost. The talented players will still gravitate to the top-performing clubs with the best coaching. The whole notion of restricting the number of soccer club choices that parents have flies right in the face of the successful model that every successful youth travel sport in the USA is run. Only youth soccer has so many rules, regulations and restrictions.

Excellent well organized argument. However some of your points are based on fantasy. With that I have to agree with the previous poster a little more.

By limiting ( and it's too late now ) the number of clubs RI could have been a soccer powerhouse in the region. A bigger club with multiple teams per age group definitely makes for a better 1st team. Just look at the more successful MA clubs. Having more choices may force the improvement of the quality of the programs but it also dilutes the available coaching and the talented players.

Do our local better players gravitate towards the better teams. I haven't seen it. What I see is each team having and keeping its best players with an occasional excellent player getting recruited and going to a MA powerhouse club. The type of club that doesn't exist in RI due to the overabundance of Premier clubs.

If gone unchecked, there will be no more town teams. Only a plethora of mediocre Club Teams.