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Random question...whatever happened to the old trend of a coach coaching one team and moving up with that team through the age groups?

That was the general norm back when I played and we all moved up, usually, with our coach from U11 select until we graduated.

I know MPSC coaches coach 2-3 teams each, so it made me wonder in case anyone knows why. It can't totally be coaching shortages, because I know a half dozen quality coaches who were simply turned away or fired.

Adidas....they were afraid that the kids would get to "close" to a coach if they coached them for a few years. It would then be easy for the coach to go to The Bridge and take the whole team with them. Also if coaches didn't coach the way the DOC wanted them to, they were gone. You had coaches who never questioned the DOC on training, tournaments or anything.
Having coaches coach 2-3 teams was all about the money and ability to control the coaches.

I do not see where the money is different if you have one coach coaching two teams as opposed to one coach for every team..other than one coach is out and the other is getting fees for coaching two teams so he or she makes more but they doubled the work load. I do believe that some coaches work better with certain age groups than others..What one coach can do with ten and eleven year olds may not have the same impact on fifthteens and sixteens or be able to give them what they need such as tactical play and less skill taught and the opposite would be taught to younger age groups..
Does not sound like Mr Aven has to many friends in this thread but that comes with the job as DOC..Making decisions others will not like..Do not know the man but I will say that I have seen some talented young teams at MPSC and I wish them the best in finding someone to run the club

Looking at MPSC's website..It looks like they are keeping the changes in house and some of the coaches are filling positions that were made available..

kitten,

I'm fond of the good old days as well. It's nice when a team and a coach can grow together.

In MPSC's defense, cht is right. Many high-level clubs now have paid coaches coaching multiple teams, and many put a 2-year limit on the relationship because:

1. It's good to expose kids to new ideas, tactics, philosophies.
2. Some coaches do very well coaching in a certain gender and age range.

My kids have learned alot of different playing styles and tactics from different coaches and have developed many friendships with these trainers..I believe they are better players because of the coaching changes..A new coach every two years is going to do what's best for the team and not a few players because he or she knows that their time with them is limited

I can see how having different perspectives is good...I guess we got lucky because we had other trainers come in sometimes to run our practices, one was the U15 National Coach, and we also had an assistant coach who was a college player who'd run practices and stuff, plus we all had JV and Varsity, so we got multiple exposures anyway.

I did love the fact that we literally became a family though and the relationship we had with our coach was pretty phenomenal once we hit U13+.

And, of course, correlation does not mean causation, but MPSC had better records back when that was the norm. I also think it can be a good experience for new coaches, to grow with a team and learn their strong points and weak points and how to adapt with different age groups.

Gender, I won't argue about, lol. I think you have to be predisposed to being able to coach either. I don't think I could handle boys, they'd be running suicides all the time because I don't have the patience for male posturing and cheap shots or fighting.

Players tended to stay at home with their local clubs back then also so that probably had an impact on win/loss records.Today there are alot more players traveling further for practices and weighing their options as to where they play

True. I can only remember two people who ever went up to Greenville and that was to join the GFC U18 team that Lindsay Beam played for.

It also helps though when you don't have to look elsewhere because there're quality teams nearby. It's when other clubs far distance themselves that people start moving, like CESA.

I think there may also be a correlation between people having the same coaches year to year and people staying at home with their local clubs--which, in turn, affects the local clubs' win/loss record. People form relationships with other people, not with organizations...when players don't know from year to year who they're going to be working with and playing for, they don't have much to lose by looking elsewhere. When they find a team and a coach (or coaches) they enjoy working with and there's a consistency from year to year, I think most players are less likely to jump from club to club. A solid player/team/coach relationship has staying power, whereas a more clinical rotation of players and coaches doesn't do much to inspire loyalty.