My pop kind of lost his shit when it ended. He’d put so much of his world into it it hit him really hard
Soccer
- Thread starter Bulk VanderHuge
- Start date
I can see that happening too. All things must come to an end. My wife, however, is apoplectic about the end coming for one, and coming soon for the other. I said "c'mon baby, look at it this way, that just leaves more time for us to make love". Her response:
Let me ask you a follow-up as a newbie to this and someone that was never good at or that interested in soccer as a kid:
I'll preface this by saying, I want my kids to be competitive to the extent they like competitive sport - I don't have any delusions that they will be D1 players, let alone something more.
My son is just turning 7 and we are trying to pick a U8 team to commit to (for time's sake more than anything). I'm not sure how you determine who the best trainer is, other than if I go watch how each handles a practice before signing up - but maybe that's what you suggest?
In other words, I have no idea how to pick between an ECNL team vs. NPL team vs. other. If this were basketball or baseball, it would be much easier for me.
I will tell you I was tied in, played for, coached at, a big club here called Scott Gallagher. I started my daughter there and it was a mistake. My minion will eventually gravitate there but he has training now and will start at a smaller club my buddy has. It’ll be a better experience for him for his first years. Around 4th or 5th grade I’ll move him over
Some of this stuff you need to watch in theory, but ask around some of your buddies. Go watch a practice. At your son's age, you are looking for: (1) positive energy; (2) lots of energy; (3) focus on the ball--how much time are they touching it. Reward your kid for dribbling around in the basement and setting up his own obstacle course. I was told early on to make sure my kids were two footed--they are. HUGE bonus as before my oldest was switched to midfield his last year before he went to college, he could play left back or right back. The constant touches on the ball early on made it so switch to the midfield in college.
Where do you live?
Fing hell fine. @JamieDimonsBalls i don’t need the club name. Can you just screenshot the bar and concession area of the clubs then I’ll tell you what to doHis kid ain't playing at MILFHUNTERS Soccer Club bro. Don't be so transparent
Leaning towards:
Home - Minnesota Thunder Academy
mnthunderacademy.org
Other options:
Keliix Intra Soccer Club
intra.keliix.com
Edina Soccer Club
MN
Mc and Mark, you are lawyers. Is talking about enrolling a child in a soc*** program one of those child abuse things we are supposed to report?
Great job @BradStevens. You post non soccer shit and adds clutter and draws attention then there’s Marv. Lost
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Stay away from the the Thunder. The coaches at the younger ages groups there aren't going to be good. For the Academies (MLS Teams), the younger teams are simply there to find the one or two gems a year--that's it. That's my two centsLeaning towards:
Home - Minnesota Thunder Academy
Other options:
Keliix Intra Soccer Club
Edina Soccer Club
www.edinasoccerclub.com
MN
Unless he’s already obsessed I’d go watch Keliix and Edina train and get a feel. For just starting out I like smaller community clubs. You can always jump to the bigger clubLeaning towards:
Home - Minnesota Thunder Academy
Other options:
Keliix Intra Soccer Club
Edina Soccer Club
MN
What age would it make sense to transition - assuming my kids even want to keep playing? 12U? Just trying to understand the landscape.
Watch it all. Damn the English know how to watch a football match. Last Merseyside derby at Goodison and they do this. Also Michael Oliver just handing out reds to everyone at the end is fantastic.
Doucoure's shithousing by running to the Liverpool fans and being a dick. Perfection.
Also, before I forget, **** Liverpool.
He’s going to get the introduction. Our thriving robust jdb who deals with hedge fund billionaires is about to encounter an ego he’s never fathomed. A director of coaching making $78k a year with a B license who played at Eastern Illinois University 🤣Look for this, JDB:
I kid, I kid. Some of my son's most exciting games have been comeback ties, with the final goal scored under 1:00. Good stuff.
He's OK. About 6 weeks ago, I chewed his ass out. Told him he had to pay hard every second he was on the ice, couldn't take a sequence off, needed to hustle or he was never going to compete with anyone. For about 6-8 games, he was really going hard. Had a lot of parents come up to me and ask what had gotten into him, that he looked really improved.
But he's still not as fast or as skilled as the other players. Just can't go one on one with anyone and gets beat to the puck too often. What's frustrating is, I've told him ad naseum he has to practice outside of practice--needs to find stick & puck time (basically open gyms for ice) and tell me when, and we'll go so he can work individually on his skating, shot, etc. But he "forgets" or doesn't do it, so I have to, which pisses me off because this really isn't my dream, it's his. He could be a better skater, if he did what I tell him to do, but he won't listen or it just doesn't sink in.
At this point, the only way he makes the JV team in the fall (which is good, top 10 in the state right now) is if they have enough kids to have two JV teams.
Edit: in school, he's doing well. Says he wants to go to biz school (I'm a terrible parent) and wants to do DECA competitions. Know nothing about them, but he said some girl in his biz club went far in the competition and she said that got her into MIT. I'm sceptical.
Okay I’m going to hit you with some tough love that you won’t want to hear. Just be there to support him and encourage and cheer for him. But don’t push him. Just make the memories fond and positive.
If he has to be reminded about stick and puck etc it’s not in his heart. He’ll be fine even if he gets cut. I grew up on a dead end street. I got one present every bday for about 8 years. The top of the line adidas tango. I literally would wear the cover off the ball. To where the ball just fell apart. My buddy’s snarl’s Texan would tell his kids about it. Not bc it was a good thing just that it meant that you were obsessed with something. Loved it more than anything. Other than kids I’ve never cared more about anything. Practicing alone by yourself is when you actually love and care about it. You should never have to be reminded
Knocked the gutters off the side of the house. Twice. Hey, it was really close to the size of a goal.
My dad never got that pissed about it.
@BradStevens - my daughter was the same way. At 12/13 I thought she’d play in college. And she could have. I believe that. But her interest waned and my getting upset with her effort only made it worse.
I finally told her to find something she truly loved and that it probably wasn’t soccer. And that I was completely fine with whatever she did as long as she put in effort. And that she would do that easily once she found her thing.
Still looking (she honestly should be a theater kid) but now we don’t have that tension.
Agreed. 100%.
But . . .
Here I am at a rink 30 min away that I made him come to for an open skate. He’ll get bored in 30 minutes and want to leave (even though there are girls here!) and I’ll get pissed.
Screw it, I’m leaving him here and will come back in an hour. Maybe he can find a rink rat girlfriend. Fit figure skater.
You need to stop making him. He’s old enough to know what he does and doesn’t want to do for fun. And that’s all it is. It’s not homework
Meh. He had fun. Saw two kids from his old team there. Asked him if any baddies with GYAT were skating around and he just clammed up. “Daaadd.”
I was always told every tie is like kissing your sister. I call bullshit, if you were expected to lose that’s a win in my book. Then again if you give up a goal in the last 1:00 you deserved it.
Kids these days have a much harder time growing up than we ever did. The distractions in life are enormous. Social media could not be more of kick in the gut to these kids with the constant pressure it puts on them. Boys, as a general matter, are far more immature than girls. My take on this stuff is that kids know when they didn't play well, or play hard. I tried my best to be postive, but I didn't have to say "you played like dog doo doo today"--they already knew. They want to play well, do well, and look good for their friends. Youth is a wonderful time to make mistakes and grow. My kids trusted me to the point where they know I was a football and baseball guy, but I knew the game of soccer, and they would occassionally ask for a tip or two. They would then go out in the backyard and work on something or to the school and go play on their own or play small sided games with their friends. Point being, they will ultimately figure it out, but I didn't want to take away the joy of playing. Kid 1 started to feel a bit of burn out in his last season this year--4 years of college playing and starting for 3 1/2 years is a lot. I said one thing to him--"I get it, it looks like you are getting burned out". He said yah, "kind of". My response was simple one "you owe it to your teammates and coach to be the same guy you were the last 3 1/2 years." No yelling, no participation trophy, just a matter of fact reality check. He got it.
My wife once gave me a some good advice when the boys were younger "make sure you are doing this for them and not for you". The doing this was the taking them to extra trainings, knocking the ball around in the backyard, etc". She had a point that I needed to ponder. You can't make @mcmurtry66 love an obese woman no matter how hard you try and make him. Square peg in a round hole.
Spot on!!! I love it. One of my best buds is a bitcoin nut who moved to Texas. Growing up he was a man child. In 5th grade he went trick or treating as baby man. He had full back hair. Started as a freshman in the state high school championship game against cbc which was our powerhouse school. Sent a bunch of guys to iu. Played on the youth Olympic teams. Finally played at Dayton. By junior year he hated it so much he was at the point of tears. Quit at the end. Didn’t play his senior year. To this day it bothers him that he didn’t see it through to the miserable end. Your support and push to get your boy to the finish line is wonderful!!!
As for own daughter everyone at Gallagher was lifelong friends. The head of the women’s’ program and I had played together for 30 years. They rolled out the red carpet for her. By the end of the second season he grabbed a couple beers, put his arm around me, and said let’s go for a walk. He could have been more delicate than this is the worst player to ever come through here we think she’s physically dyslexic but still. She wasn’t even there long enough for me to learn the names of any of the dirty moms. By 5th grade she crapped out of all other sports. Mercifully she never cared.
But yes the distractions these kids have are horrible. From social with the constant contact to expectations to even just being bad they never get a break. I get daily texts from her school. Xxxxx missed her assignment. When we were kids you brought home your shitty report card, got screamed at, then knew ehhh 3 months before we do this again.
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I remember you talking about her switching clubs a couple years back for a better scene or something? Now she's out completely?
Do you mind detailing the situation? Which clubs specifically, etc?
I feel like we're heading towards some decision-making here after the Spring season regarding our 14 yo's options.
She was from a young age in Carmel FC which is a lower level club but they had a really good group of girls that stayed together and one of the dad's (former DI player himself) coached for free. This is how Carmel FC was always a cheaper option. They've never (well at least until 2021) had paid coaches. Very community based program, etc.
That team started to disintegrate as they got into highschool (7 player rule - from one high school - in their league) Well, most of the girls went to Carmel so, that was pretty much it. She then went to Indy Premier. I think that played a part (although her conditioning was SHIT) and the final nail for her b/c, again, those teams had been together for a while and spots were limited. She made it but it was different for her.
Again, I think she loved the team she played for (CFC) unitl about freshman year. She played really well freshman year but that summer between freshman and sophomore year was the one where she figured out boys and it all went to hell. She played highschool her sophomore year nad then stayed with her club team through Juniior year (but didn't play highschool). Her biggest motivation at the end was the social aspect.
I don't doubt she'll play some intermural (coed of course) in college. She still wants to play. It's an odd thing. She surely doesn't want to put in the time and energy for conditioning (and she has the body tyope where she has to do it consciously, she's no Fred - in fact she could probably beat him up). There was a point where I realized she wasn't really putting her heart in to it and we had the talk. I think she knows she kinda ****ed up an opportunity b/c of her inate athlectic ability but, as murt said, if your heart isn't in it.....
Played with Jurgen in a Bloomington South golf scramble down here last year. Buddy of mine coached his kid Tommy in youth baseball at some level. I thought he was a cool guy...like what he's trying to do at Carmel as far as not getting caught up in the arm's race.
I know this might sound over-dramatic, but your story just saddens me a bit, from a dad who likes seeing their kid compete standpoint. Obviously know the "I'm just not into it anymore" is always a possibility...but given all the memories provided via the high-level club experience, just gives me a feeling of dread having to potentially walk away someday.
I'm pulling for your kid to find the love of the game again...even if it's just coaching young girls during/after college or whatever. We had a group of girls working at the country club last year that played IU Club soccer, were obviously ballers in HS, and were just the coolest crew of girls.
Our situation is a bit different...
Kid's "moved up the ladder" from small Bloomington club, to ECNL club (Pride). Plays both RL and NL, but mostly as the Alpha on the RL, with spot pull-ups on the NL squad for showcases, etc. Has a handful of goals playing NL. Set Bloomington South varsity record for goals as a Freshman. All-Conf and All-Area First team as a Frosh as well. Baller at the RL level, and our RL team is good (won Ohio Valley ECRL last year, #5 ranked in state currently).
First Conference game from last Friday...
We've been taking her to ID camps from DIII to "Big 4" D1, and she just seems set on wanting D1 (quite honestly, I'd be fine with a Depauw, Hanover, Wash & Lee, or Sewanee, or the like). But she's motivated.
Our NL squad is top 25 nationally, easily best in state, and our two girls up top (kinda a #9 and #11) are Big 4 level D1 locks. Our kid may never get significant mins with the NL squad at the position she is a natural at as a tall, fast lefty that just finda a way to score. She loves the whole Pride 2010 crew (both NL and RL girls), and is insistent she doesn't want to move clubs.
That said, the stats are the stats. Given she wants to at least have solid looks from D1...do we stick with being a (potentially) All-Conf star on a playoff-level RL squad, or look at trying to make the NL team at Fire or Racing Louisville, or even Premier's GA team?
So...Lars, McM, Mark M (even though this is girls and slightly different from boys), or any others with valid experience in this "bind", what would you do? Good problem to have, I guess...but we're going to need to figure out a path sooner than later.
