What do RI families want?

[Unregistered]

I personally want my kids to be challenged and motivated to work hard to develop into a player even better then they thought they could be. To play on great teams that enjoy achieving things together. That isn’t at all the case here in RI. We seem to only want to travel 10 min to practice. To only play on teams with kids in our class. To be psyched we found a premier club that is half price even though they don’t have premier level fields, coaches, rosters, philosophy or playing style, or any really knowledge or experience in player development and evaluation. We then find teams that are committed to be the best they can be and we dump on them and make them unwelcome in the town they live in. I feel sorry for clubs like Bayside, NEFC, GPS, Surf who think we’ll want our children to become the best they can be. We instead want to prove someone’s dad on lousy fields at half price can do it better. Do you know why Superliga is so bad because it use to be a place that club players could come and join their classmates to have some fun, but now everyone plays on their town premier team that makes no cuts because their isn’t enough players to play. That isn’t premier it’s town ball. I get excited seeing a kid achieve something great, but we don’t want that in RI. We want them to stay in town and play hero ball for Jenny’s dad. I don’t understand why we don’t in RI support players going to a club to find players and teams that push and challenge them. Instead I have to go to Massachusetts to find RI kids killing it. We complain about LR and PB who may or may not be a good people and they may attract some unsavory families, but let’s just look at the possibility of some positives. Maybe they play Superliga because their players love to play and when they have a game on Sundays they wish they had one on Saturday too. Maybe they aren’t playing Superliga to get rich, but maybe when they see two kids on a Superliga team playing hero ball not being developed they hope they see a Puma team and realize their is another level and maybe they might want to give it try. We’re a very small state and we may only have enough kids to create a couple of special teams in each age group, but we don’t want these kids to find each other. We have our own agendas.

[Unregistered]

What in the hell is that message all about?

[Unregistered]

It's about the fact that RI towns for the most part do not want to advise their top players' families that there is a bigger soccer world out there, and that they should move on. If they want to stay and play hero or only drive 10 minutes to practice, that is fine as well, but they should be informed of higher options. But the families that do move on, are kind of frowned upon when they try to do anything sport related in the town they reside. They are allowed to play, but are not put on a team that challenges them, they are required to play in their age group, which is a waste of their time in regard to sports. This is the #1 reason why teams like the pumas exist. At least that was my interpretation of it.

[Unregistered]

It's about the fact that RI towns for the most part do not want to advise their top players' families that there is a bigger soccer world out there, and that they should move on. If they want to stay and play hero or only drive 10 minutes to practice, that is fine as well, but they should be informed of higher options. But the families that do move on, are kind of frowned upon when they try to do anything sport related in the town they reside. They are allowed to play, but are not put on a team that challenges them, they are required to play in their age group, which is a waste of their time in regard to sports. This is the #1 reason why teams like the pumas exist. At least that was my interpretation of it.

Well, the Puma's can exist.... but why play in superliga and beat up on town teams? Go play in a club league?

[Unregistered]

What in the hell is that message all about?

Let me simplify it. There really isn’t a single redeeming quality of the state of soccer in RI right now. If you got one name it. So what can be done to fix it? What do we want?

As far as the comment pumas can exist just not here. What if you have a group of girls that want to play together, but might not have the same birth year. Where can they go? Not club. I’d argue town could be a lot better if all the towns weren’t pretending to be premier.

[Unregistered]

Let me simplify it. There really isn’t a single redeeming quality of the state of soccer in RI right now. If you got one name it. So what can be done to fix it? What do we want?

As far as the comment pumas can exist just not here. What if you have a group of girls that want to play together, but might not have the same birth year. Where can they go? Not club. I’d argue town could be a lot better if all the towns weren’t pretending to be premier.

Trophy chasers! If you want to play with the best players participate in ODP. Or get together and play pickup with the best players. No it has to be a league with games where you typically win 4-0 and spend half the game playing keep away. Occasionally you run into a well coached group that has some club players and it's competitive but most of the games are a complete waste of time and only serve to make the players and the parents think they are the greatest. What a joke!

[Unregistered]

Trophy chasers! If you want to play with the best players participate in ODP. Or get together and play pickup with the best players. No it has to be a league with games where you typically win 4-0 and spend half the game playing keep away. Occasionally you run into a well coached group that has some club players and it's competitive but most of the games are a complete waste of time and only serve to make the players and the parents think they are the greatest. What a joke!

Great! Another RI thread that’s just going to turn into what I hate about Pumas. Back to the MA boards. Maybe RI is not fixable.

[Unregistered]

Well, the Puma's can exist.... but why play in superliga and beat up on town teams? Go play in a club league?

They already play in necsl, and have not been allowed in nep. What other "club league" would you like them to go play in? I'm sure they would rather play in nep than super liga. It's called lack of options, so they play up.

[Unregistered]

They already play in necsl, and have not been allowed in nep. What other "club league" would you like them to go play in? I'm sure they would rather play in nep than super liga. It's called lack of options, so they play up.

Playing up in lower divisions is not playing up. Every real town team I know has kids on it that play up in the top divisions.

[Unregistered]

Trophy chasers! If you want to play with the best players participate in ODP. Or get together and play pickup with the best players. No it has to be a league with games where you typically win 4-0 and spend half the game playing keep away. Occasionally you run into a well coached group that has some club players and it's competitive but most of the games are a complete waste of time and only serve to make the players and the parents think they are the greatest. What a joke!

You couldn't be more wrong...

ODP? Seriously. Most of the pumas have done it at one time or another. I wouldn't suggest that program to anyone. It was more like a soccer playdate with a lot of club coaches standing around talking to each other. I do think it's a great opportunity for u little parents to see if their kid should be playing club. But if you are already in club, ODP=waste of time.

Not that we should be put out as parents, and have to try and figure out how to get these pickup games as you call them. But, I do know of a few dads that did try to setup a Spring league, in which the cost would have been about $40 per player for 8 games plus playoffs for each team. Now, these dads invited numerous towns to participate. Some said yes, most said no, due to their town not letting them leave super liga (evidence of more politics in each town not letting the kids/teams do what is best for them and not the town as a whole). Even with the huge $ savings, they still said no. Fast forward a few months later. Those same teams that said no are the same teams these dads teams are playing now in Super Liga, and their family paid 5x the amount as they would have if they joined the side league that was being offered. Now, they play those same teams in the winter indoors also (except this past year, covid). 80% of the games have been competitive. Yes, a lot of shutouts, but a 2-0, 3-0 win is not a blowout. So enjoy paying 5x the $, for the exact same result as if you would have got out of under your towns thumb and restrictions. These towns do not own these kids, they should be moving them on as need be.

[Unregistered]

Playing up in lower divisions is not playing up. Every real town team I know has kids on it that play up in the top divisions.

Before you bandwagon jump and take a shot at these teams, maybe you should specify the u14 classic team in this statement only? The other 3 play in top bracket and all are playing up. Some more than others as has been broken down by another poster, at least for the u12 and u13 teams. 85% of the u12 and u13 rosters combined are playing up 2 years. I guarantee no town has any team that hits the 30% benchmark as far as their roster playing up 2 years in top bracket. No other town comes anywhere near that 85% mark as far as playing up 2 years. The last team, u10, they are mostly u8 and u9 just starting out, so they play in 2nd bracket. But I do agree, the classic u14 team, I don't know much about, but it seems they might be sandbagging as another poster stated.

[Unregistered]

You couldn't be more wrong...

ODP? Seriously. Most of the pumas have done it at one time or another. I wouldn't suggest that program to anyone. It was more like a soccer playdate with a lot of club coaches standing around talking to each other. I do think it's a great opportunity for u little parents to see if their kid should be playing club. But if you are already in club, ODP=waste of time.

Not that we should be put out as parents, and have to try and figure out how to get these pickup games as you call them. But, I do know of a few dads that did try to setup a Spring league, in which the cost would have been about $40 per player for 8 games plus playoffs for each team. Now, these dads invited numerous towns to participate. Some said yes, most said no, due to their town not letting them leave super liga (evidence of more politics in each town not letting the kids/teams do what is best for them and not the town as a whole). Even with the huge $ savings, they still said no. Fast forward a few months later. Those same teams that said no are the same teams these dads teams are playing now in Super Liga, and their family paid 5x the amount as they would have if they joined the side league that was being offered. Now, they play those same teams in the winter indoors also (except this past year, covid). 80% of the games have been competitive. Yes, a lot of shutouts, but a 2-0, 3-0 win is not a blowout. So enjoy paying 5x the $, for the exact same result as if you would have got out of under your towns thumb and restrictions. These towns do not own these kids, they should be moving them on as need be.

What age group are you talking about?? The 2007s girls ODP have a great mix of top club players. Don't slam all of ODP from your small experience.

[Unregistered]

Before you bandwagon jump and take a shot at these teams, maybe you should specify the u14 classic team in this statement only? The other 3 play in top bracket and all are playing up. Some more than others as has been broken down by another poster, at least for the u12 and u13 teams. 85% of the u12 and u13 rosters combined are playing up 2 years. I guarantee no town has any team that hits the 30% benchmark as far as their roster playing up 2 years in top bracket. No other town comes anywhere near that 85% mark as far as playing up 2 years. The last team, u10, they are mostly u8 and u9 just starting out, so they play in 2nd bracket. But I do agree, the classic u14 team, I don't know much about, but it seems they might be sandbagging as another poster stated.

What do you mean "other" town teams? Pumas is a fake town team made up of recruited players. Real town teams all have players that play up. Big deal.

[Unregistered]

What age group are you talking about?? The 2007s girls ODP have a great mix of top club players. Don't slam all of ODP from your small experience.

Yeah maybe. I am speaking as a whole, just like most speak about the pumas as a whole. ODP top to bottom is not a good model in RI. But good for you having a good experience.

[Unregistered]

What do you mean "other" town teams? Pumas is a fake town team made up of recruited players. Real town teams all have players that play up. Big deal.

It seems your mind stops processing at, "all towns have players that play up". You completely dismiss all the other facts. There is no hope for your understanding, or you are trolling. Either way, keep doing what your doing, and so will we.