You sound like a good coach for the kids... volunteers with skills are hard to come by. The kids are lucky to have someone who has this much exposure to the game being on the practice field with them. Your resume' is atypical though. I hate you jumped into this and got your LD50 the second time into the posts. You really can tell that a lot of the high school coaches (Dale Jr, etc) really care about what they are doing, and the kids they are coaching.
I just have a hard time with kids who are training like crazy, and are on a select team thinking they are tearing it up, with the results for ACT thus far. Winning, tying and even losing can be fun... but if the kids are going to invest this much time hopefully they can play at the right level. I was kind of pointed on my first comments on purpose so no one could take this thread and use it for propaganda, which was already happening. The cold hard truth the ACT experiment has delivered a 50:50 result and a very high percentage of the wins and ties are versus rec teams. NOT FAIR... nor praise worthy... Sorry I lead you into any pain, greif, or whatever but the kids long term aspirations and dreams will be forstalled by staying in their current model. The High Schools all of Region II are loaded, and if the kids want to play high school, they have to get to a club. Any club, but a club, with a staff of coaches who were college players, coaches, professionals and with real recognized licensces. Within driving of 722 there are 4 clubs that can deliver the goods for their kids, and those who really want to compete. The ACT program is too much of an in between deal trying to play competitively, putting the time in but skipping a key component, the coaches. Someone was posting some vial things about a coach, nobody is sacred or perfect. Every club will have people they will have to deal with, from time to time. I can verify, we try to do it right. Issues are dealt with, when known.
I really do wish all the kiddies well, and the coaches. The thing is you can pick club players out on the fields of SCHS soccer fields. They have control, skill and desire. I just hope that all the kids who are putting in 9 months get the first two. Desire, that is all on the kid.
The children of this group, the leaders themselves, have the ability if properly trained to be assets for their high school, but alas, there are about 15 club players going for 2 varsity spots next year. So, if they want to gamble their own childrens High School career for an ideal, an experiment, they can. Not me I am taking my kid to ODP practice. sorry... I wish you luck, you just stepped into a lot, and I mean a lot of History.
Thanks for responding, I wish the question the ponytail lady brought up would be really thought about if not answered. Yours in soccer...
