Coaching assignments

[Unregistered]

So we're 2 weeks out from the start of ulittle tryouts and 3 weeks out from the older kids tryouts and some/many clubs have yet to finalize and publish their coaching assignments. Latest ploy to get unsuspecting club soccer consumers to open their wallets without knowing who is coaching what? More disorganized shennanigans from DOCs? Major disruptions afoot?

Have only been in club soccer for 4 years, but this year seems to be the worst as far as organization and coaching assignments prior to tryouts...

[Unregistered]

So we're 2 weeks out from the start of ulittle tryouts and 3 weeks out from the older kids tryouts and some/many clubs have yet to finalize and publish their coaching assignments. Latest ploy to get unsuspecting club soccer consumers to open their wallets without knowing who is coaching what? More disorganized shennanigans from DOCs? Major disruptions afoot?

Have only been in club soccer for 4 years, but this year seems to be the worst as far as organization and coaching assignments prior to tryouts...

Just asking did you ask the club who is coaching the teams next year? I'm sure the clubs have an idea of who is coaching. This happens every year. I would assume the top coaches would be coaching the top teams. The only teams usually get effected by this are the lower level teams which some times is a wait and see how many players in an age group try out. Also some times coaches are on the fence about coming back to coach or some coaches say they will coach but have not fully committed yet. Some of the smaller clubs are probably waiting to see who comes to try outs and where to focus their best coaches.

[Unregistered]

So we're 2 weeks out from the start of ulittle tryouts and 3 weeks out from the older kids tryouts and some/many clubs have yet to finalize and publish their coaching assignments. Latest ploy to get unsuspecting club soccer consumers to open their wallets without knowing who is coaching what? More disorganized shennanigans from DOCs? Major disruptions afoot?

Have only been in club soccer for 4 years, but this year seems to be the worst as far as organization and coaching assignments prior to tryouts...

Must be your club. Ours let us know awhile ago. I'm sure you're just itching to tell us all who yours is. Regardless if of who it is you should have already been looking. In fact you should survey the landscape every year before tryouts - it's constantly changing in terms of clubs, coaches, leagues and most importantly what kind of learning environment is best for your player in the next 1-2 years. You may realize whee you are still is the best fit, but you'll never know without looking around.

[Unregistered]

So I guess I don't see the big deal about not knowing coaching assignments as yet for next years teams. At my sons club (which is not one of the mega clubs) they take a fresh look at coaching every few years. They have traditionally had coaches take teams pretty much all the way from about U12 until the teams are done, but are now assessing whether that is the best approach or instead take some different approach such as having coaches that specialize in gender and age groups (elementary, middle, and high school age groups). I for one am glad they are re-examining this as it means they are looking to find what is best for the kids. My son has had three coaches over six years, and both he and I have enjoyed each of them for different reasons.

[Unregistered]

So I guess I don't see the big deal about not knowing coaching assignments as yet for next years teams. At my sons club (which is not one of the mega clubs) they take a fresh look at coaching every few years. They have traditionally had coaches take teams pretty much all the way from about U12 until the teams are done, but are now assessing whether that is the best approach or instead take some different approach such as having coaches that specialize in gender and age groups (elementary, middle, and high school age groups). I for one am glad they are re-examining this as it means they are looking to find what is best for the kids. My son has had three coaches over six years, and both he and I have enjoyed each of them for different reasons.

It's been the recommendation coaches should change after 2-3 years.

[Unregistered]

The reason I think it is important is because the most important part in the trifecta of club soccer is the coach. Get a bad coach and it doesn't matter if the players are strong or the competition is at the right level for your player to develop, it will be a wasted year. Given tryouts are always on the same days for clubs, I want to be able to map out ahead of time what teams we're trying out for and to reach out ahead of time if possible.

I'm certainly not going to sign up to pay thousands without knowing who the coach is...

[Unregistered]

I understand why parents want to know - like the poster above it's a great deal of money, and having a bad coach can not only be a waste of time and money, but a really bad experience can kill a child's love of the game. If a club has a collection of good coaches then at least you can feel somewhat assured it should be ok. But not every club has 100% quality coaching. Also, not every coach is appropriate for certain ages, or would necessarily be a good fit for a particular player. I also understand clubs might not know for certain - a club that's trying to add teams might not know exactly how many teams they'll have, a coach could quit, new coaches come in, they have to make sure coaches aren't with the same team for too many years....Then if they tell you coach A but they have no choice but to give you coach B then you'll be disappointed. One of my kids' clubs tells us at tryout time; the other says it will either be coaches D or E. At least then we have a general idea and usually either option is a good one.