Aug 2011 SRI Council Meeting Community Rule

[Unregistered]

Simple it lets premier maintain their advantage

And let's not forget keeps town clubs stuck in superliga.. look at the (conflict of) interests of the members of the SRI board and follow the money.. convenient how SRI leaves out the basic conflict of interest clause in the national by-laws from the state by-laws

The sad truth is as much as we like to bash SRI, the 3 community rule is supported by the town associations. The current premier clubs could not careless about the rule so stop taking the pills OD been giving you are these years.

[Unregistered]

My 2 cents...

If a town association team has players from more than 3 towns, then why don't they just go play in MASC? MASC has A,B, and C divisions. I understand the purpose of SuperLiga applying the 3-town rule.

What I don't understand is still applying the 3-town rule to town association teams for state cup play but not applying it to premier clubs. If I have read this message board correctly in the past, that is indeed the case.

JB

Do you know what would be cool! If Superliga put together All-Star teams from each age division and then entered the State Cup as a Superliga team. As it is now, 90 something percent of town teams would do so poorly against most Premier teams that entering the state cup for the sake of playing in the event would not be fun. But I would think that a team made up of all the best players would do pretty good.

JB, Get in contact with all the coaches, you can start the list of players. And start the marketing campaign.

COL, Please write the bylaws to make this happen (please keep it short - and use small words)

Bruno Dad, you can begin bashing all the premier teams. Just you typical stuff should be perfect.

ok, That's a good start. Please report back in one week.

[JBsoccer]

Do you know what would be cool! If Superliga put together All-Star teams from each age division and then entered the State Cup as a Superliga team. As it is now, 90 something percent of town teams would do so poorly against most Premier teams that entering the state cup for the sake of playing in the event would not be fun. But I would think that a team made up of all the best players would do pretty good.

JB, Get in contact with all the coaches, you can start the list of players. And start the marketing campaign.

COL, Please write the bylaws to make this happen (please keep it short - and use small words)

Bruno Dad, you can begin bashing all the premier teams. Just you typical stuff should be perfect.

ok, That's a good start. Please report back in one week.

Great idea! I'm on it! :)

JB

[Unregistered]

Do you know what would be cool! If Superliga put together All-Star teams from each age division and then entered the State Cup as a Superliga team. As it is now, 90 something percent of town teams would do so poorly against most Premier teams that entering the state cup for the sake of playing in the event would not be fun. But I would think that a team made up of all the best players would do pretty good.

JB, Get in contact with all the coaches, you can start the list of players. And start the marketing campaign.

COL, Please write the bylaws to make this happen (please keep it short - and use small words)

Bruno Dad, you can begin bashing all the premier teams. Just you typical stuff should be perfect.

ok, That's a good start. Please report back in one week.

Can't be done. A team entering State Cup would have to play in qualifying league as a team first, then at least 75 % of that roster would have to be on the State Cup roster. I'm pretty sure that not one town in RI is going to just give a Superliga "super team" their best player or two. Explain to me how that would be any different than those players joining a premier team? At U14 the three town rule goes away so I guess you'd be able to try to attract players and compete for State Cup then. If someone is looking around for something "better" than what their town team is offering, 99 times out of a hundred they'll land on a premier team. It's been said here before, it's more about the commitment and dedication of teammates than it is about just looking for a better team. I'll be taking a town team to Maple next year and I know going in that any success they may have will be short-lived. Eventually enthusiasm of some will wain and some will be pulled away by other commitments. When you have a great town team you usually already have the best , for the most part, players in that group. As players start to leave (and they always do) there just isn't anyone behind them to fill their shoes. Premier is different, players come from all over and filling holes is feasible from year to year. Even Premier teams, however, have an uphill battle when they lose a core group (5-7) of players in one year. I guess what I'm trying to say is enjoy what you have when you have it and stop worrying about rules that you perceive to be holding back your "super team" aspirations.

[Unregistered]

Can't be done. A team entering State Cup would have to play in qualifying league as a team first, then at least 75 % of that roster would have to be on the State Cup roster. I'm pretty sure that not one town in RI is going to just give a Superliga "super team" their best player or two. Explain to me how that would be any different than those players joining a premier team? At U14 the three town rule goes away so I guess you'd be able to try to attract players and compete for State Cup then. If someone is looking around for something "better" than what their town team is offering, 99 times out of a hundred they'll land on a premier team. It's been said here before, it's more about the commitment and dedication of teammates than it is about just looking for a better team. I'll be taking a town team to Maple next year and I know going in that any success they may have will be short-lived. Eventually enthusiasm of some will wain and some will be pulled away by other commitments. When you have a great town team you usually already have the best , for the most part, players in that group. As players start to leave (and they always do) there just isn't anyone behind them to fill their shoes. Premier is different, players come from all over and filling holes is feasible from year to year. Even Premier teams, however, have an uphill battle when they lose a core group (5-7) of players in one year. I guess what I'm trying to say is enjoy what you have when you have it and stop worrying about rules that you perceive to be holding back your "super team" aspirations.

Obviously I wasn't being all that serious. But seeing as this is just for fun as is soccer, I will play along. First we will have to assume that we actually could have a Superliga All Star team as an eligible state cup team.

Your point about town teams not allowing their best players to play on an All-Star team is just a little weak. Obviously it would be an honor to be a player on the All-Star team and an honor to have a player from your team be selected.

How would an all-star team be different than a Premier team? First of all, somewhere between 5k and 10k. The team would be in addition to their town team. Much like ODP fits in-between premier teams.

And it wouldn't be about people looking for something better, it would just be in addition to the town experience. Maybe if the town system employed brilliant ideas like this, they wouldn't lose as many players to the premier system.

After that your sad rambling is a little tough to follow. Why are you going into next season with such a negative attitude. You are pretty much guaranteed to be unsuccessful. You need to be upbeat and positive. Attitude is contagious.

[Unregistered]

Obviously I wasn't being all that serious. But seeing as this is just for fun as is soccer, I will play along. First we will have to assume that we actually could have a Superliga All Star team as an eligible state cup team.

Your point about town teams not allowing their best players to play on an All-Star team is just a little weak. Obviously it would be an honor to be a player on the All-Star team and an honor to have a player from your team be selected.

How would an all-star team be different than a Premier team? First of all, somewhere between 5k and 10k. The team would be in addition to their town team. Much like ODP fits in-between premier teams.

And it wouldn't be about people looking for something better, it would just be in addition to the town experience. Maybe if the town system employed brilliant ideas like this, they wouldn't lose as many players to the premier system.

After that your sad rambling is a little tough to follow. Why are you going into next season with such a negative attitude. You are pretty much guaranteed to be unsuccessful. You need to be upbeat and positive. Attitude is contagious.

I wasn't sure if you were serious or kidding. A Superliga All Star team would be fun for those involved, if they had a venue to compete in. Unfortunately US Soccer does not have a place for teams like that. Not that I am aware if anyhow.
As far as the $ involved with playing premier, I again have to agree with you, but there really is no alternative out there for a lot of people. I'll be the first to admit that the US Soccer way is the opposite of most other countries. Only in the US do you get the pleasure of paying more $ the better you are. You make a good premier team (I'm not saying all premier teams are good) you have to pay more$. You make ODP you get to pay more $. You make a Regional ODP team you get to pay more $, and so on and so on. There are exceptions but for the most part, the better the team the more you pay. The system sucks and tins of kids never get the exposure or competition they deserve because of it.

Lastly, I'm the most upbeat coach you'll ever meet :). I'm also a realist.

[JBsoccer]

Obviously I wasn't being all that serious. But seeing as this is just for fun as is soccer, I will play along. First we will have to assume that we actually could have a Superliga All Star team as an eligible state cup team.

Your point about town teams not allowing their best players to play on an All-Star team is just a little weak. Obviously it would be an honor to be a player on the All-Star team and an honor to have a player from your team be selected.

How would an all-star team be different than a Premier team? First of all, somewhere between 5k and 10k. The team would be in addition to their town team. Much like ODP fits in-between premier teams.

And it wouldn't be about people looking for something better, it would just be in addition to the town experience. Maybe if the town system employed brilliant ideas like this, they wouldn't lose as many players to the premier system.

After that your sad rambling is a little tough to follow. Why are you going into next season with such a negative attitude. You are pretty much guaranteed to be unsuccessful. You need to be upbeat and positive. Attitude is contagious.

You mean you were only kidding? And to think I just finished posting signs to recruit SuperLiga kids from Middletown all the way to Wide World in North Smithfield!:)

JB

[Unregistered]

I think the community rule still applies at U14; it's U15 when it goes away.

Actually, it would be a neat idea if perhaps SuperLiga had a challenge against MASC where perhaps the winner of the SL division played a match against the winner of the closest aligned MASC division.

As for the by-laws, you are right in that the premier teams won't support (or they have a person on the SRI board) and the smaller clubs have bought into the notion that it will hurt them. Frankly, given the demographic changes (RI has been losing population, especially in the youth ages -- just look at school enrollment trends-- except for immigration and that is concentrated in certain ethnic groups), financial trends, and growth of other sports (especially Lacrosse), it is going to take the leadership of a handful of clubs to force change, not via by-laws, but by going around the system.

Form academy-style U10 and below models for training and developing those players and just set up "house" leagues among the various academies where you make matches an event -- perhaps a group skill session where the club(s) bring in a higher profile guest, or run skills competitions, and then play matches where you can move kids week to week to keep matches competitive so teams are always playing to score -- or even mix kids from various clubs. Clubs will have to wake up and realize they could be pocketing the money that now goes to SL to play in a system (fixed rosters, little controls about ensuring competitiveness, etc.) that is counter to what is the prevailing conventional wisdom and experience about developing youth players.

-COL

[Unregistered]

I think the community rule still applies at U14; it's U15 when it goes away.

Actually, it would be a neat idea if perhaps SuperLiga had a challenge against MASC where perhaps the winner of the SL division played a match against the winner of the closest aligned MASC division.

As for the by-laws, you are right in that the premier teams won't support (or they have a person on the SRI board) and the smaller clubs have bought into the notion that it will hurt them. Frankly, given the demographic changes (RI has been losing population, especially in the youth ages -- just look at school enrollment trends-- except for immigration and that is concentrated in certain ethnic groups), financial trends, and growth of other sports (especially Lacrosse), it is going to take the leadership of a handful of clubs to force change, not via by-laws, but by going around the system.

Form academy-style U10 and below models for training and developing those players and just set up "house" leagues among the various academies where you make matches an event -- perhaps a group skill session where the club(s) bring in a higher profile guest, or run skills competitions, and then play matches where you can move kids week to week to keep matches competitive so teams are always playing to score -- or even mix kids from various clubs. Clubs will have to wake up and realize they could be pocketing the money that now goes to SL to play in a system (fixed rosters, little controls about ensuring competitiveness, etc.) that is counter to what is the prevailing conventional wisdom and experience about developing youth players.

-COL

Superliga serves the 96%. There's various forms of development, and there's only a few people interested in traipsing around New England for a third to half the year in the interest in playing a game. The price to a family for Superliga registration is likely a fraction of cost for fuel alone to the Maple and MASC games. So sure, pocket the Superliga money, you'll need it.

[Unregistered]

Yes..this is not about the 5-10% going the premier route.

This is about making the U8-U12 town travel system better. What would better serve those kids (and clubs) -- to have the parents pay $150-200 bucks of which 40-60% go to SL/ref fees to play in a single league system with almost no flexibility..or plow the 60 to 100 dollars back into the club who can align with like minded clubs to play matches that are not hostage to the town rules, fixed roster, goal differential rule, limited flexibility in scheduling, etc.

Really- you don't keep score or standings in U8/U10 so why should you be held hostage in the spring to a fixed roster formed often 6 - 9 months earlier?

It's not that novel -- look at what is done in other states or at the guidance in the national level curriculum/best practices..and it's not saying there is no place for SuperLiga..what it is saying is the one size league for the entire state may not be the best model.