Washington Timbers Boys Flame Out (again) at State Cup

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Something I harp on a lot. Don't confuse technique with tactics.

Playing out of the back vs punting is a TACTICAL decision.

Whether the GK can deliver an accurate punt, or whether the players receiving it can trap and advance the ball, or will turn it over, are matters of technique.

The hotshot ten-year-old who can dribble through traffic and shoot at the upper 90, is technique. Teaching him to pass to a more wide-open teammate, and to not try and take on a set defense all by himself, is tactics.

Technique is something that players can--and should--learn on their own, either in solo practice, practicing with a friend, or in informal games (i.e. no coach barking to pass the ball). If training sessions are being spent working on dribbling, or running laps, or anything else that a kid can do by himself, that's a waste of everyone's time.

Tactics are where coaching and organized play adds value.

But winning soccer requires both.

Practice, especially for any soccer U-14 and earlier should be 80% "technique" or "technical" as most of the rest of the world refers to it as, and 20% tactical. Youth coaches whom over emphasize the tactical elements over the technical elements are by-in-large coaches driven to win meaningless games to console their own egos and to satisfy overeager parents driven by the "our team is better than your team" stigma.

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Happens every year.
Same old "smash and crash" style, but this year they pimped themselves as being big on development. What a lie.

My son is on one of the Wa Timbers teams that 'flamed out'. then I looked through all the age groups. As it turns out, Wa Timbers only entered U11, U12, and U13. The rest are playing in Washington due to HS soccer being in the spring. All 3 Wa Timbers teams that entered, made it to the semi-finals. That seems reasonably impressive to me.

Once you get to the Semi-finals, all the teams are very good. Congratulations to the teams who moved on. They did a good job.

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My son is on one of the Wa Timbers teams that 'flamed out'. then I looked through all the age groups. As it turns out, Wa Timbers only entered U11, U12, and U13. The rest are playing in Washington due to HS soccer being in the spring. All 3 Wa Timbers teams that entered, made it to the semi-finals. That seems reasonably impressive to me.

Once you get to the Semi-finals, all the teams are very good. Congratulations to the teams who moved on. They did a good job.

Making it to the semi-finals is a lot better than our team (an Oregon team) did. Our coach was awful this year. Completely clueless. So glad that this year is behind us. And now I know a club to completely stay away from in the future. In fact, if anyone from our team returns to that club it will be a miracle.

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Making it to the semi-finals is a lot better than our team (an Oregon team) did. Our coach was awful this year. Completely clueless. So glad that this year is behind us. And now I know a club to completely stay away from in the future. In fact, if anyone from our team returns to that club it will be a miracle.

WST U14B Samba?

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Making it to the semi-finals is a lot better than our team (an Oregon team) did. Our coach was awful this year. Completely clueless. So glad that this year is behind us. And now I know a club to completely stay away from in the future. In fact, if anyone from our team returns to that club it will be a miracle.

it's not fun to not share this. just to see the defenders come out of the woodwork.

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My son is on one of the Wa Timbers teams that 'flamed out'. then I looked through all the age groups. As it turns out, Wa Timbers only entered U11, U12, and U13. The rest are playing in Washington due to HS soccer being in the spring. All 3 Wa Timbers teams that entered, made it to the semi-finals. That seems reasonably impressive to me.

Once you get to the Semi-finals, all the teams are very good. Congratulations to the teams who moved on. They did a good job.

The u12 team won NWCL, and for state cup the Red 1 and Red 2 teams actually joined together and split up so it wasn't the same team that won NWCL. At u12 you don't go to regionals, so they tried something to help the top 2 teams not just the top team.

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I've traveled the world and worked with some of the top academies. You couldn't be more wrong about when to work on technique. Although I agree technical work outside of your normals trainings is important you would be failing your child if you didn't have them in an environment where they had a ton of technical work at an early age. I've seen a weeks worth of sessions (ages 5 to the first team) be nothing but technical. It is the main reason why we are so far behind as a country. There are countries with the population of Portland metro developing kids at a far better rate than us.
Problem is, our culture chooses winning and playing for cups at 11 years old instead of becoming a better player

Fair enough--a coach instructing proper technique is valuable, particularly in areas where kids trying it on their own (or learning from Youtube) might be learning the wrong thing.

But I was thinking of clubs where the kids spend significant amount of time dribbling through cones, or running laps around the field (including without the ball), with the coach mainly acting as a cheerleader or babysitter. If the coach isn't explaining HOW to do something, or do it better, than s/he is not adding much value. And outside of rec, coaches shouldn't be having to impart the basics. And outside of rec, a player should be getting more touches on his/her own than in training.

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WST U14B Samba?

No, wrong club and wrong age group. Apparently we weren't the only miserable team this year. Our 12th or so year of club soccer with our kids and this was the only one that was absolutely awful. We've had other years that were great, some were just good, some were mixed, but none that were just awful the entire year. The DOC is an idiot, the coach was someone who should never be around kids trying to teach them soccer and some of the parents were flat out people I had no desire to spend one bit of time with (and they probably read my body language and felt the same way about me). And to think that nearly every, not all, parents felt the same way as I did.

[Unregistered]

No, wrong club and wrong age group. Apparently we weren't the only miserable team this year. Our 12th or so year of club soccer with our kids and this was the only one that was absolutely awful. We've had other years that were great, some were just good, some were mixed, but none that were just awful the entire year. The DOC is an idiot, the coach was someone who should never be around kids trying to teach them soccer and some of the parents were flat out people I had no desire to spend one bit of time with (and they probably read my body language and felt the same way about me). And to think that nearly every, not all, parents felt the same way as I did.

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like a total drag. The coaching/DOC ranks are small, but I can't think of who it would be.

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Dude... (or Dudette)-- you are a pathetic loser who, I'm quit sure, has seen no success at any level, at anything. Life, work, athletics, marriage, family, anything.

Instead you can only prop yourself up by attempting to tear down others.

Even the most myopic and hate filled of you must admit that WA Timbers are doing some nice things.

I'm cracking up thinking of you right now. Your heart is racing and your blood is boiling as you start to form your retort...


goodbye little person.

Note the word "smash." The Wash. Timbers have a history of playing dirty (they call it "physical"). So yes, I like seeing dirty teams lose, and thus not get positive reinforcement for playing dirty.
One can hope that they really will take the development approach, and Brett Jacobs is saying all the right things -- but the parent mindset he's dealing with is a brick wall.

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Note the word "smash." The Wash. Timbers have a history of playing dirty (they call it "physical"). So yes, I like seeing dirty teams lose, and thus not get positive reinforcement for playing dirty.
One can hope that they really will take the development approach, and Brett Jacobs is saying all the right things -- but the parent mindset he's dealing with is a brick wall.

Parent education has begun

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Parent education has begun

Sounds good. I have confidence in Brett Jacobs. Class act in ODP. Would love to see the Wash Timbers change the culture, and play attractive soccer.

[Unregistered]

Happens every year.
Same old "smash and crash" style, but this year they pimped themselves as being big on development. What a lie.

They divided the talent onto two teams. Parents on the weaker team were frustrated and didn't understand the rationale behind the selections. It's going to be a questionable decision given the ultimate outcome, but was it done for the right reason? If so, I'm behind it and I don't see any evidence to turn on a club that's made this much progress in 18 months.

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This is a ridiculously stupid thread. Wa Timbers had 3 boys age groups enter state cup. U11, u12, u13. In each they had a semi-finalist. While all 3 were disappointed, it's hardly crash and burn to finish top 4 in the state in each case. Not shouting from the rooftops but certainly not embarrassed either.

Good work boys. Haters are always gonna hate. You learn the haters can't do nothing else but hate on others. The OP, for example.

[Unregistered]

This is a ridiculously stupid thread. Wa Timbers had 3 boys age groups enter state cup. U11, u12, u13. In each they had a semi-finalist. While all 3 were disappointed, it's hardly crash and burn to finish top 4 in the state in each case. Not shouting from the rooftops but certainly not embarrassed either.

Good work boys. Haters are always gonna hate. You learn the haters can't do nothing else but hate on others. The OP, for example.

This is true. 3 for 3 in semi-finalists? Successful by all accounts. OP has a small pp. clearly.