Youth Soccer - Questions, Discussion and Stories . (8 Viewers)

[SwampDawg]

Well spring season came to a disappointing end Tuesday night with a 2-0 loss in the State Cup semi-finals. Disappointing because we beat this team 2-1 about a month ago without a couple of our best players and looked the better team. They just cam out with more intensity, they scored twice in the last 10 minutes of the first half. We had plenty of chances in the second half but their keeper stood on his head and made some great saves. He was man of the match no doubt.

They have like 3 weeks off before they start training for the National Championship tournament. We are headed out on his graduation trip next week but when we get back he needs to start his summer conditioning programs that he got from his college coach in between club trainings. They've played great in both qualifying tournaments so hopefully they can do the same in July. Just getting out of the group stage would be awesome but a lot depends on the draw how easy that will be.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

We lost the final match of the season 7-5. By "we" I mean the parents vs a bunch of 8yr olds.

 

[SwampDawg]

We lost the final match of the season 7-5. By "we" I mean the parents vs a bunch of 8yr olds.

Obviously need to learn to make better use of your size advantage...lol

 

[SwampDawg]

My son got his college game schedule, pretty much as expected except one. They play at PSU. I thought when I first saw it that it was a mistake, it must be one of their satellite campuses of which many are also D3. Nope, going to Happy Valley for their Senior Day game. It will be a cool experience and a chance to play at a great venue.

 

[SwampDawg]

About to start the last week of the youth soccer journey. Fly out Sunday for the USYS National Championships and the last three to five games of his youth career. Hoping the boys put in a great effort, going to be hot in Florida, the real feel for next week varies between 106 and 111 each day.

31 days until college training camp starts.

 

[El Floppo]

About to start the last week of the youth soccer journey. Fly out Sunday for the USYS National Championships and the last three to five games of his youth career. Hoping the boys put in a great effort, going to be hot in Florida, the real feel for next week varies between 106 and 111 each day.

31 days until college training camp starts.

Where'd he end up going?

And very cool about nationals. My club could never make it out of CA to regionals. Always right there, but kept losing in late stages including the finals my last year.

 

[SwampDawg]

About to start the last week of the youth soccer journey. Fly out Sunday for the USYS National Championships and the last three to five games of his youth career. Hoping the boys put in a great effort, going to be hot in Florida, the real feel for next week varies between 106 and 111 each day.

31 days until college training camp starts.

Where'd he end up going?

And very cool about nationals. My club could never make it out of CA to regionals. Always right there, but kept losing in late stages including the finals my last year.

King's College, it's a D3 school about and hour and half from home so nice for us as all of his league games are within 2 1/2 hours, they have a few non-league in upstate NY that we may or may not go depending on how much he is playing as a freshman. He really liked the coach and the fact that his area of study had like 15 to 1 ratios in classes and like 8 to 1 in labs.. They are playing at Penn State which is pretty cool. It's Penn States senior night and funny seeing them sandwiched between Michigan State and UCLA on their schedule.

His club coach has gotten teams to nationals the past couple of years, two years ago he had the U19's in the championship game (they lost on a late PK) and the U18's in the semis, plus he's won two National Championships when he was at another club so he's done a really good job of preparing them for the games that mattered so far. They got a decent draw as well, a couple of the real power houses that end up bringing a bunch of MLS Next players are in other groups and they got a team they beat 4-1 earlier this year in their group. But at this point every team is good so you need to be on every game.

 

[SwampDawg]

And that is a wrap on the youth soccer career for my son. They finished pool play 1-1-1 and missed out on advancing by about 20 seconds of stoppage time. First game we scored about 2 minutes in and carried a 1-0 lead through the half, gave up two goals early in the second half but fought back to get the 2-2 draw with a late goal. Game two was a good scoreless battle until they scored of a corner on the last play of the first half. We created a handful of chances in the second half but couldn't get one home until about 6 minutes to play to even it at one. The rest of the game and in the 6 minutes of stoppage time we were the team taking it to them and creating chances but couldn't get it in the net. Then they got a counter off of our attack and got numbers forward. I will say I thought we had them stopped and the second kid made a really heads up sweet pass to the third player trailing and they scored, ref blew the whistle and that was game. Oddly enough there was so much stoppage time because one of their players used a derogatory term toward one of our players which required them calling the head official over. Because the ref didn't see directly who said it he just warned both coaches and no card was issued. Today we won 1-0 . Had we held on for the tie yesterday the 1-0-2 record would have won the group for us.

Glad we get another 4 years of watching him play college and likely some for of summer league but hard to believe the youth journey is over.

 

[The Z Machine]

Thanks for all the updates, @SwampDawg. Best of luck to your son playing in college.

 

[The Z Machine]

My son finally joined a club here in Switzerland. He had his first practice yesterday where I dropped him off, but he took transit to get home on his own. School starts on Thursday for him and he'll go from school to practice on transit and then back home on transit too. We might get him a scooter to help out, but TBD on that.

His first practice was all running and conditioning. They didn't even touch a ball. He told me the next practice was gonna be the same, lol. At least he'll get in shape, which he needs since he's not been playing anything but pickup for a year.

I have no idea what the game schedules are like since much like everything else, the system is opaque and nothing is communicated to me.

 

[El Floppo]

My son finally joined a club here in Switzerland. He had his first practice yesterday where I dropped him off, but he took transit to get home on his own. School starts on Thursday for him and he'll go from school to practice on transit and then back home on transit too. We might get him a scooter to help out, but TBD on that.

His first practice was all running and conditioning. They didn't even touch a ball. He told me the next practice was gonna be the same, lol. At least he'll get in shape, which he needs since he's not been playing anything but pickup for a year.

I have no idea what the game schedules are like since much like everything else, the system is opaque and nothing is communicated to me.

I'm excited to follow along- getting to hear first hand about differences between euro and us soccer at the youth level.

how old is Jr?

 

[The Z Machine]

My son finally joined a club here in Switzerland. He had his first practice yesterday where I dropped him off, but he took transit to get home on his own. School starts on Thursday for him and he'll go from school to practice on transit and then back home on transit too. We might get him a scooter to help out, but TBD on that.

His first practice was all running and conditioning. They didn't even touch a ball. He told me the next practice was gonna be the same, lol. At least he'll get in shape, which he needs since he's not been playing anything but pickup for a year.

I have no idea what the game schedules are like since much like everything else, the system is opaque and nothing is communicated to me.

I'm excited to follow along- getting to hear first hand about differences between euro and us soccer at the youth level.

how old is Jr?

Turned 12 in May. Biggest difference thus far is that there's a snack bar at the training grounds that serves beer every day. So, I can sit in the shade and drink a beer if I want to watch him practice.
I think it's either 7v7 or 9v9 at this age and headers are OK.

 

[Redwes25]

My son who is starting Sophmore year is in the middle of two a days. I don't miss doing those when I played HS soccer. He also made the varsity team this year which he is super excited about.

Only downside at this point is the team is losing 3 top players to club soccer as they blocked them from playing HS this fall. Very disappointing for team overall as they were looking very strong. One of them is MLS next but other two are just on very competitive club teams a step right below MLS next. One of them is a midfielder like my son so maybe he sees the field a bit this year but losing those guys will definately hurt the team as taking off the best CB, second best midfielder and best striker guts the team.

I personally don't think any of them should be blocked and other than the MLS next kid would think unlikely any of them end up in D1 soccer (maybe D2 or 3).

 

[El Floppo]

My son who is starting Sophmore year is in the middle of two a days. I don't miss doing those when I played HS soccer. He also made the varsity team this year which he is super excited about.

Only downside at this point is the team is losing 3 top players to club soccer as they blocked them from playing HS this fall. Very disappointing for team overall as they were looking very strong. One of them is MLS next but other two are just on very competitive club teams a step right below MLS next. One of them is a midfielder like my son so maybe he sees the field a bit this year but losing those guys will definately hurt the team as taking off the best CB, second best midfielder and best striker guts the team.

I personally don't think any of them should be blocked and other than the MLS next kid would think unlikely any of them end up in D1 soccer (maybe D2 or 3).

Which HS?

Eta...and congrats on varsity as a soph- awesome!

 

[Redwes25]

My son who is starting Sophmore year is in the middle of two a days. I don't miss doing those when I played HS soccer. He also made the varsity team this year which he is super excited about.

Only downside at this point is the team is losing 3 top players to club soccer as they blocked them from playing HS this fall. Very disappointing for team overall as they were looking very strong. One of them is MLS next but other two are just on very competitive club teams a step right below MLS next. One of them is a midfielder like my son so maybe he sees the field a bit this year but losing those guys will definately hurt the team as taking off the best CB, second best midfielder and best striker guts the team.

I personally don't think any of them should be blocked and other than the MLS next kid would think unlikely any of them end up in D1 soccer (maybe D2 or 3).

Which HS?

Eta...and congrats on varsity as a soph- awesome!

Poly Prep. Also, thanks but think losing mid-fielder helped him a bit.

 

[El Floppo]

My son who is starting Sophmore year is in the middle of two a days. I don't miss doing those when I played HS soccer. He also made the varsity team this year which he is super excited about.

Only downside at this point is the team is losing 3 top players to club soccer as they blocked them from playing HS this fall. Very disappointing for team overall as they were looking very strong. One of them is MLS next but other two are just on very competitive club teams a step right below MLS next. One of them is a midfielder like my son so maybe he sees the field a bit this year but losing those guys will definately hurt the team as taking off the best CB, second best midfielder and best striker guts the team.

I personally don't think any of them should be blocked and other than the MLS next kid would think unlikely any of them end up in D1 soccer (maybe D2 or 3).

Which HS?

Eta...and congrats on varsity as a soph- awesome!

Poly Prep. Also, thanks but think losing mid-fielder helped him a bit.

My daughter trains with the Poly tennis coach. Ive spent a lot of time there. If she makes the team (Dalton) this year, well be playing you!

Great school, and especially so for sports school...your kid must be really solid to make varsity as a soph.

 

[Redwes25]

My son who is starting Sophmore year is in the middle of two a days. I don't miss doing those when I played HS soccer. He also made the varsity team this year which he is super excited about.

Only downside at this point is the team is losing 3 top players to club soccer as they blocked them from playing HS this fall. Very disappointing for team overall as they were looking very strong. One of them is MLS next but other two are just on very competitive club teams a step right below MLS next. One of them is a midfielder like my son so maybe he sees the field a bit this year but losing those guys will definately hurt the team as taking off the best CB, second best midfielder and best striker guts the team.

I personally don't think any of them should be blocked and other than the MLS next kid would think unlikely any of them end up in D1 soccer (maybe D2 or 3).

Which HS?

Eta...and congrats on varsity as a soph- awesome!

Poly Prep. Also, thanks but think losing mid-fielder helped him a bit.

My daughter trains with the Poly tennis coach. Ive spent a lot of time there. If she makes the team (Dalton) this year, well be playing you!

Great school, and especially so for sports school...your kid must be really solid to make varsity as a soph.

Thanks. Hope your daughter makes the tennis team. Dalton is a great school as well.

 

[The Z Machine]

I went to a game on Saturday for the club my son is joining. He wasn't allowed to play as he's not registered and hasn't gotten a uniform yet. Despite me filling out the registration paperwork weeks and weeks ago. I don't know why this is so hard... but it is.

Anyway, observations from the game and comparing it to his former USA (small time, nothing special) club. it's 12 and 13 year olds, 9v9. They are allowed to head the ball, which in the US they weren't. Overall the Swiss players were lower in athleticism and higher in football technique. I didn't see any standout athletes on the field, but there were some nice turns with the ball and nice tackles. Some naive defending, and honestly their goalie is pretty poor overall, and his team lost 7-1. His previous club had players that had better body control, better positioning, were faster, and often stronger than these kids who seemed more "doughy". However, there were few really bad touches, the kids had a decent short passing game, and actively tried to work the ball around rather than simply boot and chase. There weren't many times when the defenders were hoofing it upfield for a clearance. Instead, they tried to control it, and make the pass back through the midfield or even simply dribble up if the offensive player wasn't in danger of taking it from them. Plenty of clearances toward the sideline though to stop an attack. There were some physicality to the game, but less than the top level clubs that I've seen in the US.

From overhearing some of the other parents, the club lost their 2 best offensive players this year, so they are struggling to figure out how to score goals, or even really attack effectively. My son typically plays left wing and likes to cross back into the box with his left foot. I think he can contribute to this team. I didn't see any "match winners" on the team, so they'll have to play solid team soccer to win. Might be a tough season depending on opposition, although I did hear that they lost to this club 7-2 last year and they had a good overall season.

I did meet 2 fathers who spoke English. One of which was a NYC native (and Mets / Jets fan, so that's good) and works for Unicef. The other an Uzbek who works for another International organization, but I didn't catch which one. At least I have their contact info on Whatsapp, so I can ask better questions of club organization since they suck at communication. From what the NYC guy said, the club is a little "rough around the edges" and "underdog", meaning not posh and not slick like some of the others around. That sort of suits me personally, although lack of communication is frustrating. NYC guy said, "I've been here 8 years, and some things are still mysterious to me."

 

[El Floppo]

Z- What was the final transfer fee, and is there a sell on clause?

 

[The Z Machine]

Z- What was the final transfer fee, and is there a sell on clause?

About CHF 450, match and training uniform included! (paid by me)

 

[El Floppo]

Z- What was the final transfer fee, and is there a sell on clause?

About CHF 450, match and training uniform included! (paid by me)

Its purple dildo day...so theres a still a chance for a move to Young Boys

 

[The Z Machine]

OK, so he got his "training kit" and game uniform. Had practice on Wednesday and is integrating into the team. Had a hilarious conversation trying to ask the head coach questions where he spoke in a mix of French and Italian and I was speaking Spanish. We made it work as I think my son may actually get to play in a game later this month... Still haven't gotten an invoice from the club, despite me reminding the President to send it. Whatever.

BTW, practice is on decent artificial turf (similar to field turf, maybe a little shorter) at this location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vCopPGSKiiiPhCK96. There are some grass fields, but they might only be used for games or higher up leagues. There are like 2-3 other clubs that use the same fields, but at different times, so the fields get tons of use. I don't think I've ever seen a full field 11v11 played there.

 

[SwampDawg]

OK, so he got his "training kit" and game uniform. Had practice on Wednesday and is integrating into the team. Had a hilarious conversation trying to ask the head coach questions where he spoke in a mix of French and Italian and I was speaking Spanish. We made it work as I think my son may actually get to play in a game later this month... Still haven't gotten an invoice from the club, despite me reminding the President to send it. Whatever.

BTW, practice is on decent artificial turf (similar to field turf, maybe a little shorter) at this location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vCopPGSKiiiPhCK96. There are some grass fields, but they might only be used for games or higher up leagues. There are like 2-3 other clubs that use the same fields, but at different times, so the fields get tons of use. I don't think I've ever seen a full field 11v11 played there.

Amazing how many fields are in those 3 little turns of the river and it looks like three separate complexes. Best of luck, looking forward to hearing how the games go.

 

[The Z Machine]

So my son was sent home from practice on Wednesday because he didn't wear the proper training socks as part of the kit. He didn't get to practice. About 7 others were in the same boat.

There are like 20+ boys on the team but they only take 14 for the game day squad. He wasn't selected. This 12 year old is learning some lessons in European football... he wasn't too upset about it, but he knows he's got to 1) do better with his gear, and 2) he's got to put in the effort in training to get selected. I think he's good enough to make the 14, but we'll see if the coaches agree.

 

[El Floppo]

So my son was sent home from practice on Wednesday because he didn't wear the proper training socks as part of the kit. He didn't get to practice. About 7 others were in the same boat.

There are like 20+ boys on the team but they only take 14 for the game day squad. He wasn't selected. This 12 year old is learning some lessons in European football... he wasn't too upset about it, but he knows he's got to 1) do better with his gear, and 2) he's got to put in the effort in training to get selected. I think he's good enough to make the 14, but we'll see if the coaches agree.

keep learning, Z jr- these are all opportunities to get better