SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Tryouts good/bad/ugly?

I had a very interesting discussion with another coach and a parent the other evening and I am interested to see how everyone else feels about this. The discussion came up that if a club was really interested in developing players then why in the world at the U9 and U10 divisions would you turn kids away. The example was that there was enough U9 players at a tryout but only one team picked. Now with LSYSA having three skill divisions in most age groups why turn away a kid at that age. Why would not use the tryouts to determine which of the three teams a child would be placed on and field three teams at U9? Now before anyone says this is a crazed parent their child has made a team each of the past 2 years. Her example was their neighbor who at 9 years old was turned away. He is not a poor player, he is not a standout right now but he loves (maybe loved now) and just needs time to develope. I am interested how everyone feels about this at a U9 U10 age groups.

Without any knowledge whatsoever of the situation, I'd have to ask some questions...number and quality of players is only one consideration in the decision of how many teams to field. Other questions would be, are there enough quality coaches, facilities, equipment, time, space, etc. available to do a good job of developing three teams?

Quality of overall experience for the players is a factor in any conscientious decision. Again, I have no idea of any of this applies in the specific situation you describe, but if resources are limited, it could be argued that providing a good, quality experience for one team is better than spreading everything too thin and providing a lesser experience for three.

I don't know if it's limited resources or not. I feel that at this age group you could discourage kids that with the right time and encouragement could be very good players in the future.

the only reason a club has only one u9/10 team is because of limited resources...they would take your money if possible.
what club?
if its sville, they should have 5x the number of players they usually roster.
sville, mcorner & gcreek should really get their act together because their numbers are historically pretty pathetic.
i think scumps shortsightedness is part of the problem.

I think the Mt P as a whole is a fairly decent model, especially at the u9/u10. There is something for everyone at every price point. I just think if you have 28 U9 players come out that you should be doing tryouts for placement on a team DI/DII/DIII. I think at the club level folks are concentrating on paying coaches rather than identifying good volunteer coaches and helping develop them. I look at it like this, if a kid comes out for tryouts its obvious they have the support at home and the interest in the game, which is 60% of the battle. And no it's not Summerville. Its actually from another a club near NC although I have heard of a couple of low country clubs doing the same thing. I hear things like this and I just don't understand how we grow the sport when we are turning people away.

ok, you missed my point,i agree, scump does a great job with all levels, & i will explain my beef if you explain what club is your beef...."you hear things", doesn't quite cut the mustard...put up or shut up.

& btw, a club near NC has nothing to do with LSYSA

I don't really have a beef, like I said it does not involve me. A situation was presented to me and I was asked what I thought. One low country example (and this is from last year, I have no idea about the tryouts that just happened) was that Sville has near 30 u-9 players tryout and they kept 9 for one time. Now this parent wondered why there was not 3 teams and while I told her I did not know because I have never been a part of them I did agree that tryouts that make one team only at this age could be bad for kids of this age. I was assuming this parent was not complaining as her child was on the team but that she concerned that the focus was only on developing players that made the team. Like I said I was just seeing what everyone thought of this. I am not and have not ever been a member there so I can only go on the information I was given (right or wrong) I just thought it was an interesting discussion. All of us in the low country do things differently from club to club. Each do some things that are great, and some things that are head scratching. My intention was not bash any clubs but to have healthy discussion.

I am thinking that one of these people involved in the conversation should be asking that question to someone associated with the club.

It's possible the club had no idea that many kids would show up, and had no "backup" plan for that scenario. Like others mentioned, maybe they just don't have the number of coaches necessary for that many extra teams. There are plenty of good reasons, but people involved at the club are probably the only ones who know for sure.

I had a conversation with the President at SSC the other day, and, not wanting to mis-quote him, I'll just say that he has some great ideas, and sounds like he is well on the way to making the club a strong one again. It will certainly take a good bit more time, but I don't think he would turn away that many (or any) kids if he could avoid it in any way.

I have met him a couple of times as well. He seems like a good guy with good intentions and I hope everything goes the way he has envisioned it to. From my understanding there has been some tug o war going over there for some time and with those facilities, location and pool of kids they should be successful.

It's pretty complicated.
My guess would be that "resources" (staff, fields, etc.) limit the club's capacity to field multiple teams.
The shame of this is, who's "good" at 9 is often "OK" at 12 and "done" by 15. And who's a "B" player at 9 is often the best player by 16.
My advice to a parent whose child truly loves the game is to find a club that offers more options.