The other thread on this board about the “best” clubs in Washington is just a way for folks to flex their tribal loyalty to whatever club they currently belong to. The information contributed is completely unhelpful to any consumer wanting to figure out the points of real differentiation between youth clubs. What exactly do players and parents want from a club? Go beyond the stupidity of parents, flexing about which team won, which team lost, which league is best, which league is worst. Folks need to ask better questions and drive past the stupid “my club is best/your club sucks” flexing. What are the experiences parents want for their child? What is the type of environment parents want for their child? What kind of character and honesty do parents want in the Directors and club leaders? What are the traits parents want in the adult coaches, who work with their child… including ethical standards, moral standards, strength of character, leadership, abilities, kindness, capacity for authentic mentorship?
if we focus on asking better questions, we will get better information to help folks see how the various clubs in our area measure up. if we are honest about it, we’ll start to see that diehard fans of their current club are putting up with substandard environments and substandard people, perhaps, as a trade-off for other things they can boast about to other adults, but have no real long-term value for their child.
if we share, honest facts, and yes, personal opinions, about these kinds of issues we will all be able to make better informed decisions for our kids.
A constructive dialogue on this board about these kinds of things would be valuable. Think of it as an organic community-based “Consumer Reports” about Seattle area youth soccer clubs. Share real info about things that really matter or should really matter. That would be a change for this board that has become more about hoping your own club and trashing another club, without providing any honest or measurable data about the things that really matter.
if your instinct is to post, some kind of cynical or clever reply to this, just take a beat and move away from the keyboard and make a different and better decision.
So let’s start with the list of important and nonnegotiable traits, characteristics, offerings, values, organizational structures, environments, etc. that go into making a youth club “top“ or one of “the best“. Then we can start measuring clubs constructively.
if we focus on asking better questions, we will get better information to help folks see how the various clubs in our area measure up. if we are honest about it, we’ll start to see that diehard fans of their current club are putting up with substandard environments and substandard people, perhaps, as a trade-off for other things they can boast about to other adults, but have no real long-term value for their child.
if we share, honest facts, and yes, personal opinions, about these kinds of issues we will all be able to make better informed decisions for our kids.
A constructive dialogue on this board about these kinds of things would be valuable. Think of it as an organic community-based “Consumer Reports” about Seattle area youth soccer clubs. Share real info about things that really matter or should really matter. That would be a change for this board that has become more about hoping your own club and trashing another club, without providing any honest or measurable data about the things that really matter.
if your instinct is to post, some kind of cynical or clever reply to this, just take a beat and move away from the keyboard and make a different and better decision.
So let’s start with the list of important and nonnegotiable traits, characteristics, offerings, values, organizational structures, environments, etc. that go into making a youth club “top“ or one of “the best“. Then we can start measuring clubs constructively.
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