Coach retention at SU

[Unregistered]

I agree. XF seems to be the one that is most likely to promote from within rather than go with new and shiny from the outside.

XF takes plenty of kids from outside the club, but on the girls side at least they do a reasonably good job identifying kids who will actually improve their teams. SU has a several years long track record of bringing in like for like kids from outside the club who don't improve the teams much if at all over what they see as bubble players from their A and B teams (and then, in several instances, happily bringing kids back to a higher level team than they were on before after they've spent a couple years improving their game at another club).

[Unregistered]

I agree. XF seems to be the one that is most likely to promote from within rather than go with new and shiny from the outside.

You are dead wrong here. Nothing wrong with XF. But they take tons of kids from the outside and will displace anyone they feel will better their team no matter the level of the team from top to bottom. This is exactly synonymous with all of the big clubs. I am not complaining as we have benefited from that when we came to XF and also we fully expect to get booted if someone better shows up. Once you have been in an age group long enough you know the majority of kids each year at your level of play. You then see where they all go at tryouts and mid year. My guess at a statistics is there are always about 20% who shuffle each year, mostly at tryouts but some mid season. Also as you age up you get less offended if your kid is the one cut. Well, at least some people do, others will never let the dream die...

Smaller clubs would do the same but......they are smaller and have to take just about anyone. Also not knocking smaller clubs with that statement but that is just a fact. They have to work harder to keep kids. Especially the good ones.

[Unregistered]

XF takes plenty of kids from outside the club, but on the girls side at least they do a reasonably good job identifying kids who will actually improve their teams. SU has a several years long track record of bringing in like for like kids from outside the club who don't improve the teams much if at all over what they see as bubble players from their A and B teams (and then, in several instances, happily bringing kids back to a higher level team than they were on before after they've spent a couple years improving their game at another club).

Perfect description of SU - "bringing in like for like kids who don't improve the teams much if at all"

[Unregistered]

You are dead wrong here. Nothing wrong with XF. But they take tons of kids from the outside and will displace anyone they feel will better their team no matter the level of the team from top to bottom. This is exactly synonymous with all of the big clubs. I am not complaining as we have benefited from that when we came to XF and also we fully expect to get booted if someone better shows up. Once you have been in an age group long enough you know the majority of kids each year at your level of play. You then see where they all go at tryouts and mid year. My guess at a statistics is there are always about 20% who shuffle each year, mostly at tryouts but some mid season. Also as you age up you get less offended if your kid is the one cut. Well, at least some people do, others will never let the dream die...

Smaller clubs would do the same but......they are smaller and have to take just about anyone. Also not knocking smaller clubs with that statement but that is just a fact. They have to work harder to keep kids. Especially the good ones.

Don’t disagree at all. I just think that XF takes kids that are better than what they have where other clubs are more likely to take kids that don’t necessarily improve their team, just because they are new.

All of the clubs say they are loyal to existing players. I have found otherwise, IMO.

[Unregistered]

Don’t disagree at all. I just think that XF takes kids that are better than what they have where other clubs are more likely to take kids that don’t necessarily improve their team, just because they are new.

All of the clubs say they are loyal to existing players. I have found otherwise, IMO.

It's tough to make a general statement like that at such a big club. I know plenty of people who got cut or bumped down and left XF spouting all the conspiracy theories in the world and hate XF and will never come back. I think on the top teams (ECNL now) I agree. It is hyper competitive at XF and they generally pick better players to displace kids. But on the top teams you also get alot of tiger parents trying to work their kid , or keep their kid, on the team. XF will zero problem bringing in kids from the outside vs development up from the lower team. And XF has zero problems picking up kids mid season from outside. On the lower teams where you cannot truly say one kid is better than the next, the kids just have different traits that keep them off the ECNL team. I think you see some moves that have you scratching your head at XF just like any other club.

And I totally agree with you about loyalty. It's amazing to me when parents get so emotionally involved in a club and are loyal to clubs to the death. You see it on this forum alot. Almost all clubs will drop your kid in a heartbeat if they want to. We have learned to not believe anything, literally anything, coming from coaches or club directors mouths at any club.

[Unregistered]

It's tough to make a general statement like that at such a big club. I know plenty of people who got cut or bumped down and left XF spouting all the conspiracy theories in the world and hate XF and will never come back. I think on the top teams (ECNL now) I agree. It is hyper competitive at XF and they generally pick better players to displace kids. But on the top teams you also get alot of tiger parents trying to work their kid , or keep their kid, on the team. XF will zero problem bringing in kids from the outside vs development up from the lower team. And XF has zero problems picking up kids mid season from outside. On the lower teams where you cannot truly say one kid is better than the next, the kids just have different traits that keep them off the ECNL team. I think you see some moves that have you scratching your head at XF just like any other club.

And I totally agree with you about loyalty. It's amazing to me when parents get so emotionally involved in a club and are loyal to clubs to the death. You see it on this forum alot. Almost all clubs will drop your kid in a heartbeat if they want to. We have learned to not believe anything, literally anything, coming from coaches or club directors mouths at any club.

This is pretty accurate, but come on there are couple ECNL teams with coach's kid or
parent managers who are like indentured servants for the club or big donors.
Not a biggie, b/c it is the same at all big clubs. The big surprise will be when they
go to the ID camps and realize that they are not in their safe place anymore. lol.

Yeah, loyalty. Learned the hard way early and actually, although still pissed, grateful
for the lesson. Clubs need to understand this is about recruitment, money, and college.
No messing around here b/c college coaches do not mess around. Top players can
vote with their feet which we will see after tryouts.

[Unregistered]

I think all clubs will add a strong(er) player. If you do your job as a parent, you prepare your kid to handle that and encourage them to ask for feedback and keep working hard to improve. My kids have all been through that at one point or another -- it sucks, but it's part of being an athlete. Seeing yourself replaced with a player who is obviously less skilled, or being cut after a season of negativity from the coach, is something else, and it's time to leave the club. We've been through that too. Sometimes sour grapes happen, but that's much less likely if the club treats the player with respect throughout the process, but at most clubs, the process is ugly AF.

[Unregistered]

I think all clubs will add a strong(er) player. If you do your job as a parent, you prepare your kid to handle that and encourage them to ask for feedback and keep working hard to improve. My kids have all been through that at one point or another -- it sucks, but it's part of being an athlete. Seeing yourself replaced with a player who is obviously less skilled, or being cut after a season of negativity from the coach, is something else, and it's time to leave the club. We've been through that too. Sometimes sour grapes happen, but that's much less likely if the club treats the player with respect throughout the process, but at most clubs, the process is ugly AF.

Spot on....except you forgot to call everyone an idiot. :)

[Unregistered]

This is pretty accurate, but come on there are couple ECNL teams with coach's kid or
parent managers who are like indentured servants for the club or big donors.
Not a biggie, b/c it is the same at all big clubs. The big surprise will be when they
go to the ID camps and realize that they are not in their safe place anymore. lol.

Yeah, loyalty. Learned the hard way early and actually, although still pissed, grateful
for the lesson. Clubs need to understand this is about recruitment, money, and college.
No messing around here b/c college coaches do not mess around. Top players can
vote with their feet which we will see after tryouts.

But RCL clubs don’t recruit. It’s against the rules. 😉