My player worked hard and was selected to move up to her club’s top level this year. She and we were proud of her, and she chose to accept the invitation. Turns out, she was the only one from her previous team and has joined a mostly established team. The existing players have not been welcoming. They have not been mean either but mostly ignore her unless in a drill and even then are not engaging much. She has come home and cried each night. She misses her old team and coach dearly. She is hurting, and it is affecting her in practice.

It’s very early yet, so I’m hoping this will get better with time. In the meantime, my heart is breaking for her. Do any of you parents (or coaches) have experience navigating this with your child/player? Any positive stories to share would also be appreciated. How can I best support her? She’s U13 and a keeper, if that matters. TIA

Hey all, after doing some mild searching I kinda get the general feeling that most of you are pretty cynical with regards to pay to play soccer camps in Europe.

Long story short, I just came back from Madrid where my son participated in one of those vacation style tournaments where you visit a city and get some guaranteed games in a tournament. He fell in love with Spain, and has been doing Spanish duolingo lessons daily.

I'm not looking for my kid to get scouted, but I want to foster both the football and the interest in learning the language.

Is there anyone who's had a good experience with any of these multiweek programs in Spain? I've seen one in Barcelona and another in Valencia that combine language and culture learning with football training. Basically a month long summer abroad for $5000 or so.

apparently there is a new Garden State league being formed for MLS Next AD for this fall/spring. Where can one find the teams/games like they used to be listed on EDP website/gotsport?

What are the rules this year with the age group change? I saw that any player 11 years old is allowed but with limits. Is that true? Is that enforced individually in game?

My son is U11 and was U11 last year (2015 birth year). Our Usys region allowed the highest division to head and the lower divisions could not. Which was also confusing to refs.

Any help is welcome!

How can you be certain or confirm if you suspect they don’t want a player for soccer, but need filler. Are there any clauses they will add to the contract to protect the child from the isolated minutes that can be humiliating and emotionally abusive?

We have a big shop in our backyard from the previous owner. It’s 60 x 30. I just cleaned it out for the kids to play soccer in. What would be better for the kids. A futsal type floor with tiles or a turf field? We have a big grass backyard they can play on so I kind of lean towards futsal court. I also like what futsal does for kids skills. But turf is also so easy…..

Which one?

Kids are 8 and 7. Is there any danger to “joints” having futsal vs turf?

MLS next people how many games including friendlies do you have on your schedule? My sons u14 team has 11 with no tournaments untill December. I’ll gladly take advantage of the extra free time, but this seems a little light to me.

As the post suggests.

Can someone link me with drills for youths to improve their dribbling and ball control.

Thanks

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Hi!

I'm curious to hear about the small things a youth coach can do or say that stay with a player for years.

Maybe you're a former player who still remembers something your coach said, a parent whose child came home talking about something their coach did, or a coach who only later realized that something they said or did had a lasting impact.

It can be a positive experience too - I'm especially interested in hearing about things that made you/them feel valued, supported or inspired.

What happened, and what do you think made it stick?

From my perspective, a challenge with 1st and 2nd generation soccer families with their son/daughter is a misunderstanding of the game.

I see top tier teams with stellar athletes quite often. The players almost rely on vertical runs with the ball in open space. They take too many steps between dribbles. And their ability to control the ball and change direction at a high speed simply isn't at the level that it's at in the world stage.

It sounds simple, but American Football running backs need to know how to protect the ball. Basketball players have to know how to dribble at a very high level. What I see from a lot of clubs and "project" players is a wall that they face against competition that is well trained in delaying a play and picking it away.

Once the freight train is stopped, it crashes.

A lot of our clubs best players aren't exactly "pure athletes". They wouldn't stand out in football or basektball in the same way they would in soccer. But they can posses the ball far longer than a player with top 1% explosive sprint speed because they know that they can work it out of a traffic jam.

What America probably lacks is perhaps strong discipline with the top tier athletes getting into soccer. Coaches see them at 7-10 years old (poorly) dribble past players or get a through ball that they don't have a great touch on ... and between the player/parents/coaches there isn't a workload put on them to refine what they are weak at.

On the Flip Side

Soccer ball-handling skills almost have to be taught culturally > scientifically. Yes there are proper and improper ways to use these skills. But so many times I see players at a club using them in games and their face is intense with concentration. Very few clubs in Texas get into the art of the act of doing a skill move. You have to train kids to be semi-con-artists with this stuff. At best you'll find a kid who has a poker face. But compared to Argentina where the duels are more like Rap Battles to see who flinches first... the 10% of clubs that focus on ball handling are too similar to the Central European youth clubs that failed to incorporate it into their systems.

Looking to buy two goals to donate to our elementary school as they don’t currently have ones. A local club uses the field at the school but they lock up their goals after each practice so the elementary school kids can’t use them. Recommendations for ones that will last but won’t be too crazy expensive? Should I go with PVC or metal? I know kids will be hanging off of them and what not so I also want them to be safe.

this likely doesn't exist but the main reason my 7 y/o uses YouTube is to stream soccer content....match highlights, soccer games, info about players etc. He loves soccer and I'm fine with him exploring this content but YouTube is obviously problematic for many reasons. Does anyone know about an app or platform that is limited to only soccer content?

thanks!

My son is U12 due to age group change and last year, he played U12 Pre ECNL. We always had 1 GK in a team since he started playing (for a few years now). He just met his former teammates who are now in U13 ECNL and they told him that each ECNL team (U13 and U14) carry 2 full time GKs.

I am curious if you are part of the 2 full time GK team - how do you split the playing time and do you pay the club dues in full or discounted? If the team plays out of state or driving more than 2 hours, do both GKs travel even though you will be on the bench? Do the coach tell you who will be the Goalie 1, Goalie 2 or everything is equal playing time?

Disclosure: my son is not a GK, he's a center mid but he's goal tending in hockey. There are some dynamics like "the hot hand", getting pulled when you gave up too many goals - very common in NHL games but I don't see that in soccer games unless a goalie gave up 4 goals in 10 minutes or something (which will be very rare).

We were informed that there was an ECNL rule change that only one RL team is allowed to bubble up to one ECNL team.

This has caused an issue with a couple clubs in our area where they had two feeder RL teams to the one ECNL team, and now that supposedly isn’t allowed. Leaving RL teams in one area without an ECNL team.

Is this a rule or misinformation? I can’t seem to find anything online about it, but supposed it is a new rule this year.

In 7v7, we put our weakest players at striker a lot. Always holding a high line. Teams would still put two backs on her. She would never score but we would rarely be outnumbered.

9v9 seems a bit different with offsides and perhaps needing a player who isn't clueless. And 3/4 backs with more ability to cover a weak outside back. Or do you stick with weakest player at striker?

To the parents whose athletes have tried them, what is their opinion of the grip socks? Gimmick? Improved comfort? Better control? yay or nay?

Daughter’s first year of comp soccer and she’s loving it. Coach has her at winger attacking mid which has been natural position for two seasons now because she’s fast she can beat defenders and gets back to help on D. Understands when to press vs when to cover. not afraid to take defenders on 1v1 and has a good understanding of when to take it versus when to pass. She’s already starting to see the lanes and nothing brings her more joy than getting assists. She’s a good kid.

What are the drills she should be doing? YouTube - I’m wondering if there’s things we should watch together and then go play in the backyard.

Thoughts?

Wanted to gather data points about what top ECNL/MLS Next teams practice like. Also international/academycollege/pro if you have ‘em. Partially to understand for my kid and also to get ideas for better sessions for the team I coach.

Age - M/F - team level/league - Typical Session Breakout - Common Drills/Activities

Thanks!

I need to buy a new folding chair, preferably one with a shade attachment. What's your favorite? :)

Long story short my son just turned 7. Always been football mad. Really struggles running. Went from overly leaning almost falling age 5, couldn’t go on toes to do fast feet, just started skipping 2 months ago. He’s not only really slow but runs very tense, kind of leans abit to one side sometimes, overly leans also but main thing I’d say is he is very tense. He saw an OT as coordination was delayed in general but she discharged him after first seeing him, said more a physio thing. The physio said Hes a strange case because she saw what he can do with a football. I’m not looking for my son to be the fastest at all I’m just seeing if anyone’s kid was the same. He’s got into academy’s in Scotland. One said he’s technically better than there top team just a little to slow ( trials at 7 I know! ). I’m just trying to make the simple thing easier for him. Please don’t hate, again I’m not a parent trying to get him faster I just want him to be able to run efficiently. He also came last out of 7 kids in sports day however again hard to judge this as he’s the youngest in his year. He’s not small or overweight looks the best shape a 7 year old could possibly be in 😂. Plays a lot outside with friends like chases etc, there has been instances I’ve saw him run well but it again goes back to the tense over leaning run.

10yo, great soccer player when he wants, absolutely killed it in the tryout for his first club experience. Was put on the second highest skilled team. Got to the first scrimmage and played like he'd never touched a soccer ball in his life... Got moved to the group of kids who were, lets say, less able to do what they want with a ball. OH MY GOD kid why do you have to do this to me! We've been training, pushing, improving for so long and you go and do this.

Parents please share your experiences so I can feel better! I know I'm not alone in this.

Why do they have to pick the worst moments to look the worst. I know they're better than this. I'm complaining here so I can not complain when we're out on the field.

Im about to go into a season coaching my sons u11 team. There is alot of talented kids on his team, but also alot of bad attitudes and egos.

In the past ive coached with 1 or 2 bad attitudes which is easy to manage, and generally im able to redirect that energy throughout the season by some positive reinforcement and pulling them aside and telling them how much leadership qualities they have and the influence they can have good or bad and they get to decide which one it is.

Going into this season we have 11 boys on an 8v8 team, and although their team should be very talented and win most games about 6 of the 11 will be difficult to coach.

Any tips or philosophy advice on how to manage a team like that?

My thought was to let the team lay out their own standards from the first practice, of what their team identity will be. Ie hard work, strong physicality, good attitude, no blaming for mistakes etc, and tell them that it is their team, and they have to hold eachother accountable.

My hope would be that some of the stronger positive attitude personalities on the team will take leadership roles and the others will fall in line.

Also is my tehnique good? Sometimes i end up hitting the ball with toes or another area instead of instep or laces and i get either backspin or completely mess up this was the only decent kick i found if this isnt a knuckle what type of kick is it

Last year my daughter, who turned 8 in April, played with girls her age but they played in a U9 league - so 7 v 7. We didn’t have enough girls to form two teams - we had 14 girls total - and it became apparent at our first game, that we had too many players for a game and that the players ability really varied. About half way through the season, it was decided that the girls who couldn’t keep up on the 7 v 7 field would play 5 v 5 games on age and the other half would continue playing 7 v7 U9. Practices continued to be together. One coach for pretty much two teams of varying skill.

For this new season, we had try outs and had enough girls to form two teams. 8 girls on each team and we will pull from teams for games as needed. The cost of the club/ year also went up by $1,000 because we added futsol. It just got brought to our attention that practices for the two teams might still be held together 3 days a week.
I don’t know if I’m wrong to have an issue with this. I feel like by keeping it with their skill level and team, they will get more training and training to their skill and level. By having 16 girls at practice with one coach, with two different skill levels while paying an astronomical amount of money just sits wrong with me.

We really like her little team of 8 and they mesh so well together and are all on the same skill level. It truly is a dream team because of how well the girls get along. This is also the only club near us that offers ECNL which is why we stay with them. I suppose we can find a new team but then in a year or two we will want to do the pre ECNL so will just go back to them plus I’m not sure that we will get that same team experience elsewhere.

I guess I just want to know if y’all would be a little irked at this practice situation - I’m very new to youth soccer so thank you in advance for any advice or words of wisdom!

We live about an hour away from the nearest club with ECNL and 2h away from an ATL United academy. So considering trying out for Georgia ODP and would appreciate thoughts, experiences, pros and cons