Just to be clear, I am well aware that the manager position is voluntary. I have been doing it for several years. Nobody pays me a dime. In fact sometimes it ends up costing more money than the rest of the parents on the team. So, when I said "job" I didn't mean a salaried position. I meant it is your "job" as in your "duty and responsibility" because that is what you signed up for when you volunteered for the position. Sorry, bad choice of words. Maybe I am different than most, but when I volunteered I simply assumed and thereafter acted as though the position gave me a modicum of authority. I make sure our parents don't walk across the middle of the field before or after the games, I make sure younger sisters aren't turning cartwheels in the center circle during pre-game (typically this involves my own daughter but some others as well), I make sure players stay out of the 18 while warming up, I do not let parents contact the CL Board or my commissioner for any reason whatsoever, I do not let my parents address the volunteers or board members at the field without having talked to me first and I will call them out on the sideline for chewing on the ref., mouthing with the other team's parents/player/coach, or any other behavior that is inappropriate at a youth sporting event. And the first person who gives me the Cee Lo Green will be asked to leave the field, first by me, then by my coach and then by CL staff or the referee. There will be a fine and it will be paid or their kid will be sitting on the bench. No questions asked and no excuses. So, guess I running my ship a little different but it seems to work--I have a harder time policing myself than I do the rest of the folks on my sideline. HA!!

and do you march up to strangers on the other team and tell them to shut up? I suspect not. By the way the manager is really there to collect checks and coordinate things, playing policeman is up to the coach or the league, the one who gets paid and is in charge. difference of opinion i guess

alpha02 wrote:I was happy to see the posting by Gababa, particularly the first couple of lines. He must have been in my head. What strikes me as a newcomer is that skills don't really seem to be a focus in the programs I'm familiar with. And I hate to make such a broad statment because I'm sure there are coaches out there who do spend a lot of time teaching the skills. I've seen some. This is based on games I have watched. My son has a good coach and we are happy (both bb and mom/dad). But games I've watched, and discussions I've heard among other coaches and parents surprise me. It just seems like there is way too much focus on power/speed/aggressiveness. I'd much rather watch a game with beautiful brazilians style footskills, possession style offense. And I think the kids would have more fun. Call me naive, but I was surprised to see 2nd and 3rd grade boys throwing elbows, body blocks, blatant fouls. And the pride I hear on the sidelines from the parents of the kids who play dirty is shcoking at times. Another observation is, it seems these young players are traded and recruited like commodities, in the name of winning. Do the coaches who are paid salaries need to produce results (wins) in order to make themselves more marketable? And the forming of Superteams? What does that have to do with teaching skills. To me, the term "Academy" should mean "focus on learning", not "focus on winning". as for out of control parents, sometimes I think the kids on the fields would be embarrassed of the way "grown-ups" carry on.

Agree 100%. However, we live within the system out there for the kids. If it truly an "academy" then why even play games. Perhaps some friendlies or scrimmages set up by the clubs. In NTX club soccer is a business make no mistake about it. This is not "select" soccer but club soccer. Now, since we chose to play in the system that techincally can be called competitive soccer, let's keep score. Save the "every ones a winner" for rec soccer. Nothing wrong at all with rec soccer, might even be the better place for my family.

As far as over the top parents going to the boards and reporting scores and creating rankings......if you didn't come on here and read them, it wouldn't bother you. I just don't see the harm. Now if you bring your kiddo on here and show them just how awesome their team ranked, that just might be a problem.

I don't have the monetary means to move to a country where the "beautiful" game is taught so I guess we will just work within the system available.

soccer23 wrote:Just to be clear, I am well aware that the manager position is voluntary. I have been doing it for several years. Nobody pays me a dime. In fact sometimes it ends up costing more money than the rest of the parents on the team. So, when I said "job" I didn't mean a salaried position. I meant it is your "job" as in your "duty and responsibility" because that is what you signed up for when you volunteered for the position. Sorry, bad choice of words. Maybe I am different than most, but when I volunteered I simply assumed and thereafter acted as though the position gave me a modicum of authority. I make sure our parents don't walk across the middle of the field before or after the games, I make sure younger sisters aren't turning cartwheels in the center circle during pre-game (typically this involves my own daughter but some others as well), I make sure players stay out of the 18 while warming up, I do not let parents contact the CL Board or my commissioner for any reason whatsoever, I do not let my parents address the volunteers or board members at the field without having talked to me first and I will call them out on the sideline for chewing on the ref., mouthing with the other team's parents/player/coach, or any other behavior that is inappropriate at a youth sporting event. And the first person who gives me the Cee Lo Green will be asked to leave the field, first by me, then by my coach and then by CL staff or the referee. There will be a fine and it will be paid or their kid will be sitting on the bench. No questions asked and no excuses. So, guess I running my ship a little different but it seems to work--I have a harder time policing myself than I do the rest of the folks on my sideline. HA!!

Man there goes all the fun.....lol

One of the quality leagues on the east coast created another volunteer team position:

Team Sportsmanship Liaison (TSL)
- The spectator sidelines need to be managed by a responsible party other than a team coach.
Therefore, each team will select a Team Sportsmanship Liaison (TSL) prior to each NCSL match
- Prior to each game the TSL from both teams will identify themselves to each other and to the referee
- Prior to each game the TSL will discuss with the referee and coaches what role the TSL will take in
the event the sidelines begin to negatively impact the match or the referee’s ability to do his/her job
- Ensure the team spectators/parents observe the spectator line
- Be the "cooler head" should sideline behavior become extreme
- Be the first point of contact should the referee feel he/she needs help due to inappropriate sideline
behavior
- In the event that an incident does occur which requires R&D involvement, the TSL will attend the
hearings



Our had a bag of blowpops and handed one to any parent who was being too vocal towards the ref....

really want to develop players - eliminate 11v11 at least till U11, U13 would be better. On sat each team splits into two groups and plays another team's 2 groups in 2 concurrent 6v6 games on 1/2 a field each week. This way each team will still be able to have a big enough roster to make the club/coache$ happy. Play 30 mins against 1 group,2 groups switch fields and play the other half, no coaching during the game, no goalies.1 ref per field. Don't keep score. There is no down side to this set up if your real goal is player skill development. I still can recall watching an entire sdl game where the defenders never touched the ball on 1 team, that's development in ntx? oh thats right they did win the game. Maybe even tell the p's what they can say during a game - 'good job', and 'im buying the ice cream today'. lets be honest sdl in ntx is currently just a way for clubs to recruit and funnel the best players onto their u11 team. The current focus is Club promotion-coach job program-parent ego-player development.

Great prescription, Doc, but there is no place around here to fill it.

I am not saying that I would eliminate scores or the keeping track of a team's record as dadonthesidelines suggests. I am critical of the repetitive banter over which U8 or U6 or U10 team is better etc. To me, discussions of this sort are needed by some parents to feed their egos or lack thereof. I get enjoyment reading such posts knowing that there are individuals more screwed up than me. I am all for the competitive side of the game, as that is a large reason most participate in any sport. Individuals like to compete, whether it is against themselves, another, or whatever. People like to compete, and teaching children to compete is a good thing. I am critical only of the back and forth petty bickering of a "6 or 7 or 10 yo."

drsoccer raises an interesting question or point that i am not sure ntx is ready for. however, i personally know of one club that has had serious discussion of pulling their top U11 team from classic league, until say U13, to train, play frequent friendlies, and enter occasional tournies to test their training and get the competitive side of games. parents have been supportive, but the club is not willing to pull the trigger, yet. if the big 4, or maybe soon to be big 3, do that i wonder what the reaction might be... food for thought.

If there's all this demand for the various leagues, I think you could build one that is more small-sided as long as it's fun. Eventually, kids would join - but, given it's NTX, there would have to be club backing (good luck with that).

Look how everyone is flocking to futsal when indoor is also available - some are slowly coming around. My BB has been playing futsal since U7 but there were no leagues back then, only club-based mini tournaments. These were all a mix of different teams, so, it was competitive, developmental and very fun (we did keep scores). But, you didn't know who was on your team until you arrived.

I've mentioned this a dozen times, but I think the following setup would work, but, would be a major mindshift (so, it will never happen).
- each club offers up a couple academy coaches/locations (payments would be split)
- players show up at various locations (not their club locations)
- each coach teaches a specific station
- kids number off so they are not with the same kids/team
- kids rotate each time or date to a different station
- on weekends - kids would show up and get scrimmage assignments to play games (keep score or whatever, but it's a different team each week, so, it truly wouldn't mean much).
- you could have a more competitive scrimmage on a specific date or time (for the over the top ones).

kids would get exposure to other coaches, techniques, coaches would see other players

The key would be make it fun, if there are different kids each week, I'll bet the great academy coaches we have would would treat it like a camp and it would be pretty fun.

gababa wrote:So, let me ask you parents. My experience outside of soccer is very limited as none of my kids play any other sport. So, how is it around the football field ? Basketball ? Baseball ? Dance ? Is there anything special about soccer ?

If you want to see high maintenance parent behavior that is so over-the-top that it is actually disturbing, you need to watch the show "Toddlers and Tiaras" on TLC.

Those moms will take you OUT.