Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

HS versus Club Observation of Son

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    High school coaching is more tactical versus technical. There's not enough time to teach ball skills to kids that don't have them. The good coaches can evaluate the talent they have and organize the team accordingly in order to try and maximize wins.

    Comment


      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
      High school coaching is more tactical versus technical. There's not enough time to teach ball skills to kids that don't have them. The good coaches can evaluate the talent they have and organize the team accordingly in order to try and maximize wins.
      I'm not sure about anyone else, but I was never making the point that HS coaches are focused on "teaching" technical skills, but that's very different from the suggestion that they don't, shouldn't or can't train in a way that is economical where technical development continues. Obviously at U-little the coach is teaching the technique or move as part of all the repetitions much more than at the older ages.

      You obviously have a range of players on any team, from those with superior technical skills to perhaps players that are deficient (I don't take "don't have them" literally, let's assume we're talking about programs that cut players and among the reasons is they aren't skilled enough to play). Regardless of ability, touches on the ball for the purpose of technical development should be an integral part of the training session progression. If it's not, it's misguided, lazy or both on the part of the coach.

      Comment


        HS soccer sucks

        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        Father of a HS girl -
        The thing I don't understand is this...

        Not every club team is the best team in the state, but everybody that isn't doesn't "suck". You can still be a pretty decent club team with reasonably skilled players as a top-25 team in your age group in the state, IMO.

        So if there are 17 kids per team, and 100 teams (25 each at U15-U18)... that's 1700 reasonably skilled club-level players that are playing in HS. Simple math going the other way... that should be enough to have 100 reasonably skilled high school teams in MA.

        So where are those teams... and where is the disconnect?
        - Are the kids in poorer physical condition because their season just changed from "Aug-June" to "Aug-Oct and Mar-June"?
        - Is it the level of coaching?
        - Is the HS season too short to develop crisp play?
        - Is it a strategic move to try to win games (or more specifically not lose them, in HS) as opposed to developing overall skills (in club)?
        - Could it be that kick-and-run can be effective against a sweeper (which many teams still employ), which opens up the long-ball down the wing?

        Everybody says that HS soccer is ugly, kick and run soccer. I'd be interested to hear what people think the solution is.

        My reaction is that it starts with having a qualified (read: licensed and with some playing experience) coach who comes to practice with a gameplan in mind. That candidate can be hard to find considering the small pricetag put on a HS coaching position.

        I truly wish club soccer at U15 and above would continue at this age in the fall and compete directly with HS soccer. We have kids on our HS team that only started playing 1-2 years ago and have no clue as to how to play the game. My son gets nothing from this and has told me that 'this sucks'. This hurts US soccer in that we have U15-18's going through an entire season with horrible coaching.

        Comment


          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          I truly wish club soccer at U15 and above would continue at this age in the fall and compete directly with HS soccer. We have kids on our HS team that only started playing 1-2 years ago and have no clue as to how to play the game. My son gets nothing from this and has told me that 'this sucks'. This hurts US soccer in that we have U15-18's going through an entire season with horrible coaching.
          Honestly if this is true that you have boys with only 1-2 years of soccer experience on the varsity then your plight is hopeless because it says that soccer in your town is an after thought. This may seem harsh but if your town doesn't care about soccer why should that necessitate changing the whole soccer environment? Why don't you just move you boy to a private school where soccer is important then?

          Comment


            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
            I truly wish club soccer at U15 and above would continue at this age in the fall and compete directly with HS soccer. We have kids on our HS team that only started playing 1-2 years ago and have no clue as to how to play the game. My son gets nothing from this and has told me that 'this sucks'. This hurts US soccer in that we have U15-18's going through an entire season with horrible coaching.
            That's too bad. Our (small) town has a strong interest in soccer (I think because we're smaller so fielding multiple football teams is tough). The HS teams have a fair number of club players backed up by many solid travel players. Coach is actually quite good and does the best he can with what he has. Do we win state cups? Not in a long time. But we often go pretty far, and the boys all seem to enjoy the experience - even the club players like mine. He knows the soccer itself isn't the greatest but he is enjoying all the other aspects of it. Besides, it is a very short season and they will be back at their clubs soon enough.

            I know not all HS experiences are like that. If it's really that bad then tell him not to do it next year. But maybe there are some positives you can help him focus on to get through it.

            Comment


              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
              I truly wish club soccer at U15 and above would continue at this age in the fall and compete directly with HS soccer. We have kids on our HS team that only started playing 1-2 years ago and have no clue as to how to play the game. My son gets nothing from this and has told me that 'this sucks'. This hurts US soccer in that we have U15-18's going through an entire season with horrible coaching.
              That exists - it's called DAP - go and try out

              Comment


                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                I truly wish club soccer at U15 and above would continue at this age in the fall and compete directly with HS soccer. We have kids on our HS team that only started playing 1-2 years ago and have no clue as to how to play the game. My son gets nothing from this and has told me that 'this sucks'. This hurts US soccer in that we have U15-18's going through an entire season with horrible coaching.
                I'm in the same boat with my D and she would definitely skip HS if our club offered a fall program. Unfortunately not every town out there has a strong program and if your child wants to stay at her current HS it's tough. I'm not sure though how many others would choose to skip HS since some towns have really strong programs. Of the kids that play club on my D's team, the majority have very strong HS programs so I'm not sure the interest would be there as a whole.

                Comment


                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  Honestly if this is true that you have boys with only 1-2 years of soccer experience on the varsity then your plight is hopeless because it says that soccer in your town is an after thought. This may seem harsh but if your town doesn't care about soccer why should that necessitate changing the whole soccer environment? Why don't you just move you boy to a private school where soccer is important then?
                  I'm not saying it isn't true, but I'm with you in my surprise that in MA with the level of participation in soccer, including club, that such a program exists where players are making the varsity cut who can't play.

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                    I truly wish club soccer at U15 and above would continue at this age in the fall and compete directly with HS soccer. We have kids on our HS team that only started playing 1-2 years ago and have no clue as to how to play the game. My son gets nothing from this and has told me that 'this sucks'. This hurts US soccer in that we have U15-18's going through an entire season with horrible coaching.
                    This cuts the other way too: Some skilled, but not super-athletic club kids are getting cut from big, competitive HS programs, while the "I think I'll try soccer" kids are playing on the low- to mid-range HS teams. There is definitely a (non-DAP) market for fall club soccer.

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                      I'm not saying it isn't true, but I'm with you in my surprise that in MA with the level of participation in soccer, including club, that such a program exists where players are making the varsity cut who can't play.
                      Look at MIAA enrollment figures, and consider NEPSAC schools too, and there are probably 100 high schools in the state whose total boys enrollment is less than 300. There are probably some schools who only have a varsity, and some might not make cuts from tryouts. Be open-minded about the range of situations out there. You don't hear much about them because there's not enough interest for there to be any publicity, but they exist.

                      Comment

                      Previously entered content was automatically saved. Restore or Discard.
                      Auto-Saved
                      x
                      Insert: Thumbnail Small Medium Large Fullsize Remove  
                      x
                      Working...
                      X