Tournament directors, coaches and parents,

I am Recreational Soccer coach and love to train and develope kids that cannot afford Select soccer. We have been trying to find tournaments that will have brackets for Rec. teams in our age bracket. I had registered in the Legacy Freedom cup and they really thought they could put together a bracket for us. I even wanted to play up against PPL 2-3 teams but they did not have enough teams to put us in a bracket with that level of play. They said if we played we would have to play against teams that were PPL-Classic and they could not promise us a lesser bracket so I withdrew the team as I do not see the boys getting anything out of getting slammed every game.
We are now playing indoor at Frisco Indoor Sports and playing PPL 1-2 teams and holding our own but not winning.
I just wish these tournament directors would push for more Rec. teams and not have such a high registration fee for that level of play or even the home association having a season warm up and end of season tournament.
Anyhoot, I know this is more of a Select blog site but lets help all of the kids out not just the ones that the parents have the fat pockets. after all it is suppose to be about the kids not the money right?

Soccerpops

Some of the Y's (Plano/Rockwall,etc) usually have annual tournaments that are all rec, no select. Good luck!

Ther are alot of rec tournaments all over but they are clustered around the few weeks before and after the end of the rec saeson. There are a few before the season but they are few and far between. The reason for this are very few, almost none, rec teams that practice between seasons. Most start practicing two weeks before the first league game and are done after the league and maybe one tournament. For tournament listings go to http://www.ntxsoccer.org/events/month.aspx?F_c=79

It has nothing to do with money as the reason we got away from having rec. Its because the rec teams came with the most problems
and here are just a few
Weve signed up but now we realised that most have a basketball tournament
We cant get our spring roster until the coaches meeting early Feb
We dont have enough players now because we didn't realise that most were not coming back (goes hand in hand with above excuse)
Most of these were in the last week AFTER the scheduling was finished so I'm afraid its not worth the hassle sorry

Academy soccer has affected recreational tournament participation. 15 years ago, the most competitive U9 and U10 recreational players and teams were playing in tournaments. The same type of players and teams now make up the academy divisions of tournaments.

Personally, I believe that participation by U5-U8 recreational teams is low, in part, because NTSSA rules do not allow play-offs for U5-U8 rec in tournaments. $120-$200 for a team of 6-8 kids to play three game and go home? I understand why they don't see the value in that.

As a TD, I can tell you that having rec divisions is a beating, in part, because of the NTSSA paperwork. Even seasoned team managers of competitive teams sometimes struggle with which signatures are required on which forms. Rec teams have to get signed rosters from their home association, 5 signatures on each guest player form, and medical releases. I know organizations and TD's who have dropped the rec divisions from their tournaments for the reason of convenience, as much as the lower revenue.

The signature that is hardest to get on the guest payer form is the releasing coach which should be done away with altogether. Why should any player need a coach's permission to guest play? The medical releases are a joke too. Everytime I have done a rec check in they merely counted them to make sure I had enough. The only exception to that was the Ross Stewart where everything was closely checked.

my2cents wrote:The signature that is hardest to get on the guest payer form is the releasing coach which should be done away with altogether. Why should any player need a coach's permission to guest play? The medical releases are a joke too. Everytime I have done a rec check in they merely counted them to make sure I had enough. The only exception to that was the Ross Stewart where everything was closely checked.

The only scenario that I have heard that makes sense:

If you were a coach who was taking his team to a tournament or had a league game, you wouldn't want your players guest playing for another team that same weekend and leaving you short.

coachdom wrote:

my2cents wrote:The signature that is hardest to get on the guest payer form is the releasing coach which should be done away with altogether. Why should any player need a coach's permission to guest play? The medical releases are a joke too. Everytime I have done a rec check in they merely counted them to make sure I had enough. The only exception to that was the Ross Stewart where everything was closely checked.

The only scenario that I have heard that makes sense:

If you were a coach who was taking his team to a tournament or had a league game, you wouldn't want your players guest playing for another team that same weekend and leaving you short.

On the select side, yes I agree.. On the rec side the issue is getting in touch with the coach and then geting together to get it signed. It can be almost impossible. Also, if he says no because we have a game, do you really thinkk the rec player is going to show up. Absolutely not. Its rec, let them play.

my2cents wrote:

coachdom wrote:

my2cents wrote:The signature that is hardest to get on the guest payer form is the releasing coach which should be done away with altogether. Why should any player need a coach's permission to guest play? The medical releases are a joke too. Everytime I have done a rec check in they merely counted them to make sure I had enough. The only exception to that was the Ross Stewart where everything was closely checked.

The only scenario that I have heard that makes sense:

If you were a coach who was taking his team to a tournament or had a league game, you wouldn't want your players guest playing for another team that same weekend and leaving you short.

On the select side, yes I agree.. On the rec side the issue is getting in touch with the coach and then geting together to get it signed. It can be almost impossible. Also, if he says no because we have a game, do you really thinkk the rec player is going to show up. Absolutely not. Its rec, let them play.

May tournaments are the worst. When the rec season is over, it can be impossible to find the coach. Heck, depending on the association, finding association personnel is not easy in May. I have seen some associations sign in place of the coach on the guest player form if he is being obstinate or disappears.

U90C Management Group offers separate recreational, academy, and select divisions at the majority of their leagues and tournaments. Some of these offerings are unsanctioned and therefore allow "formed" teams or at least recreational participation for which no special release paperwork is required. Visit the website www.u90c.com and choose "Follow Me" to receive email updates for upcoming events.

Thank you for the compliment, DadofDefense. We do generate our tournament schedules manually and take great care to match teams appropriately to the best of our ability.

We are working on several events for April, May, and June and should be able to finalize these dates and post to the website within 10 days.

Wow, I am suprised at the responses on this subject. Great information and I have bookmarked the U90C website.
Our recreation season starts Feb the 11th amd I wanted a good warm up tourney prior to the season but had no luck.
I have had 4 11v11 scrimmages over the last couple of weeks and have had some great coaching moments in them so I guess that is just as good if not better than a tourney but the boys were looking fwd to the tourney as much as I was.
Thanks to all for the feedback.