Feedback for ‘06B Coaches

bigtex75081 wrote:

KarateChop wrote:

thetruthhurts wrote:Phil Gomez best coach for this age?  Not in my opinion. If your BB is one of the best players on Phil's team or teams, then your BB will be fine, but if not, then he'll simply be used as fodder.  There is a distinct line drawn between the best of his players and the rest of his players, and while this happens in sports all of the time, in this case it can be quite extreme, especially considering the players' age group. Phil has had great success with at least some of his teams, and I'll even go as far as to say that he is a very good coach, but when good talent falls into your lap on a consistent basis for a variety of reasons, I think it makes success much that much easier. Also, if you're looking for a coach that communicates well, Phil is not for you.  

My advice to any parent looking for a coach is to attend a minimum of one game and a couple of practices and then judge for yourself. Watch the coach and look to see what he does during the game. Does he sit quietly on the bench, does he constantly yell at his players like "Come on!", or does he get involved in the game and occasionally give meaningful direction and guidance? Do the players know any of the simple basics such as on kick off, or just throwing in the ball, or have the goalkeepers been given ANY direction on how to goal keep, or are they simply targets standing in the middle of the goal? Are the players aware of the concept of playing positions or are they running amuck in big herds. I'm talking the very basics of the game. You would be surprised how many Academy level coaches, even FC Dallas coaches, that don't coach even the basics but rather only have scrimmages and maybe a few skills for every practice.

To be clear, Phil is a good coach, and his players always seem to be coached well, but if your BB plays for Phil and is not one of the best players on the team or teams in his age group, your BB will possibly feel second rate and with that, his confidence will suffer the consequences, possibly even long term, depending upon the circumstances.

You just explained how most coaches are in NTX competitive.  Unfortunately.

+1.

I think that issue is enabled by us parents though.  There are a lot of good coaches that can benefit our sons in this age group.  So why stick our sons onto a team that already has a full roster?  Why chase a particular coach or particular squad because they win games now?  Winning games now for the '06s is completely meaningless.

We have a lot of options right now at this age so you SHOULD be extremely picky.  When choosing a new team in this age I think you have to look at the entire situation, not just the coach.  "This coach is really good at developing players but he already has 12 players on his roster for a 7v7 league.  This other coach is really good at developing players but he has a brand new team that, if we join, will have 8 players for a 7v7 league."

I like smaller roster because kids at this age are going to make silly mistakes.  And if my son makes a silly mistake in the first 5 minutes of a game, the forgiveness from the coach is going to come a lot quicker when he only has 7 other players on the roster as opposed to 12.

Not very many things would make me more angry at this stage in my son's career then to see him make a silly mistake in the first 5 minutes of a game and then watch him sitting on the bench for the remainder.  It happened to my daughter and I hated it.

I agree with bigtex 100%.  I would like recommendations for coaches in the Plano/Allen/Frisco area who will put in the work to develop players and currently need players for their teams.  I don't want a "win however it takes right now" kind of coach.  I've seen several of the top teams slip in my older child's age group because they relied on big/fast athletes to win games in the early days and now into their teens those same teams are falling behind. Everyone is evening out in size and the very direct style teams that didn't learn how to possess the ball when they were younger are paying for it.

I'd really appreciate recommendations for 06 boys coaches who are willing to develop skilled players without feeling the need to micromanage every play during a game at this age.  I want my son to benefit in the long term.

I agree on roster size. It's just that you may join with just one or two subs available and then it suddenly becomes 4,5, or 6 subs. I've seen this with family and friends kid's coaches, each carefully selected for team size and less of an emphasis on winning, and now most in the various years of Select they have up to 18 boys on a roster.

I have yet to see a game where the coaches are great at time management for all players when they are really equally skilled. Those mistakes are killers for sure. At least to U14. Just doesn't work out. There are a bunch of great coaches to your point, but the environment and all of it's additives are the problem.

Oh, and the coach always will go for the win, "it's NTX Soccer pressure that is causing it." Of course if they do not win, it's okay and was just a learning experience.

KarateChop wrote:I agree on roster size.  It's just that you may join with just one or two subs available and then it suddenly becomes 4,5, or 6 subs.  I've seen this with family and friends kid's coaches, each carefully selected for team size and less of an emphasis on winning, and now most in the various years of Select they have up to 18 boys on a roster.  

I have yet to see a game where the coaches are great at time management for all players when they are really equally skilled.  Those mistakes are killers for sure.  At least to U14.  Just doesn't work out. There are a bunch of great coaches to your point, but the environment and all of it's additives are the problem.

Oh, and the coach always will go for the win, "it's NTX Soccer pressure that is causing it."  Of course if they do not win, it's okay and was just a learning experience.

I highlighted another statement immediately above that I also think happens because of us parents.

A lot of coaches don't want to do the legwork for recruiting.  There are a lot of Academy coaches in this market but only a very small percentage of them are out there scouting the rec fields with their business cards in hand.  Instead they'd rather just call the team manager and say, "We only have 1 sub right now.  I want at least 4 more kids.  Tell the parents to call all their son's friends and have them come out."  How the parents respond to this request is what creates the problem with bloated rosters.  (Keep in mind though that other new kids will eventually trickle in on their own anyway.)

If the parents all frantically run out and start pulling any family that will listen, then yeah... you're screwed.  

But if the parents come together and say, "Hey...  If we're going to bring more kids on this team then we need to be really picky about who we invite out.  Let’s be picky and keep the roster small.  Don't invite any families that you don't want to stand by on the sidelines for 6 hours every week talking to."  When the parents keep the roster small by being selective then the coach is forced to manage accordingly (or start walking the Rec fields).

People complain on this board that “Select isn’t really select.” but who’s out there doing a large majority of the really bad recruiting?  Overly-critical coaches or the overreacting parents?

with respect to roster size...
if your BB is consistently sitting on the bench watching others play, he is on the wrong team. every day this happens widens the gap between him and the boys that are playing every minute of every game. when you get to select, coaches will max out the roster for maximum $$$, but really only play players 1 - 14. don't be 15, 16, and later 17, 18+ on the depth chart.

tpitty wrote:

Fctillidie wrote:Are you guys really talking about Phil Gomez? Are you kidding me? Nobody cares. At Fc he's considered a third tier coach at best! The top Fc coaches barely recognize him in the coaching staff. You need to look at his other teams, first team he had 02's are in last place in classic U12. And I don't want to hear he works with what he got. People were on here singing his praises last year that his 02's were up and coming and everyone wants to go play for him, well that's not working out. And you know why? It's because all he does is pack in the box and hope to survive or squeeze out a tie, so then all the parents on his team can say "see! see! We held Premier, Solar, etc....to one goal! We are improving!" When actually they aren't even learning to play.  Thetruthhurts or whoever that think that he's a good coach, you need to get out more and see what's out there. All of you throw that label around too easy....."good coach".

Ok, I don't particulary like Gomez, but his 02's are last place in Classic 1. Being the 10th best team in DFW isn't a bad thing my man...and considering by your own statement he is the third tier coach, i'd say he is working pretty dang good with what he has if in fact that is the case.

just because they 10th place (last) in their division doesn't mean they are 10th best in DFW lol. there are many team that added players after deadline to qualify for classic. there are a number of teams in each lower division that can beat "ANY" of the upper division teams on any given sunday BUT even more that can handle that last place team of a division. in my humble opinion:bounce: 

soccerdadrandy wrote:

tpitty wrote:

Fctillidie wrote:Are you guys really talking about Phil Gomez? Are you kidding me? Nobody cares. At Fc he's considered a third tier coach at best! The top Fc coaches barely recognize him in the coaching staff. You need to look at his other teams, first team he had 02's are in last place in classic U12. And I don't want to hear he works with what he got. People were on here singing his praises last year that his 02's were up and coming and everyone wants to go play for him, well that's not working out. And you know why? It's because all he does is pack in the box and hope to survive or squeeze out a tie, so then all the parents on his team can say "see! see! We held Premier, Solar, etc....to one goal! We are improving!" When actually they aren't even learning to play.  Thetruthhurts or whoever that think that he's a good coach, you need to get out more and see what's out there. All of you throw that label around too easy....."good coach".

Ok, I don't particulary like Gomez, but his 02's are last place in Classic 1. Being the 10th best team in DFW isn't a bad thing my man...and considering by your own statement he is the third tier coach, i'd say he is working pretty dang good with what he has if in fact that is the case.

just because they 10th place (last) in their division doesn't mean they are 10th best in DFW lol. there are many team that added players after deadline to qualify for classic. there are a number of teams in each lower division that can beat "ANY" of the upper division teams on any given sunday BUT even more that can handle that last place team of a division. in my humble opinion:bounce: 

I agree. But they are ranked 10th in the hierarchy of ntx soccer. So until they aren't, they are the 10th.

nearpost95 wrote:with respect to roster size...
if your BB is consistently sitting on the bench watching others play, he is on the wrong team.  every day this happens widens the gap between him and the boys that are playing every minute of every game.  when you get to select, coaches will max out the roster for maximum $$$, but really only play players 1 - 14.  don't be 15, 16, and later 17, 18+ on the depth chart.

Ah, see that's what is alluded to above. The addition of kids after you have done all of your homework for your child and decided on the coach and team traps a lot of parents. A BB could easily be the 3-8th most technically skilled player on the team but when you have so many other kids now on the roster it is hard for the coach to cycle them on equally especially if they are all like players and positions.

Move on for sure after, but there is still a commitment to the coach and the belief that hard work gets you somewhere. Or at least that is the lesson most parents want to teach their BB's.

My son has played for both Arturo and Gomez....Both are great for kids this age...I speak from my experience only...

tpitty wrote:

soccerdadrandy wrote:

tpitty wrote:

Fctillidie wrote:Are you guys really talking about Phil Gomez? Are you kidding me? Nobody cares. At Fc he's considered a third tier coach at best! The top Fc coaches barely recognize him in the coaching staff. You need to look at his other teams, first team he had 02's are in last place in classic U12. And I don't want to hear he works with what he got. People were on here singing his praises last year that his 02's were up and coming and everyone wants to go play for him, well that's not working out. And you know why? It's because all he does is pack in the box and hope to survive or squeeze out a tie, so then all the parents on his team can say "see! see! We held Premier, Solar, etc....to one goal! We are improving!" When actually they aren't even learning to play.  Thetruthhurts or whoever that think that he's a good coach, you need to get out more and see what's out there. All of you throw that label around too easy....."good coach".

Ok, I don't particulary like Gomez, but his 02's are last place in Classic 1. Being the 10th best team in DFW isn't a bad thing my man...and considering by your own statement he is the third tier coach, i'd say he is working pretty dang good with what he has if in fact that is the case.

just because they 10th place (last) in their division doesn't mean they are 10th best in DFW lol. there are many team that added players after deadline to qualify for classic. there are a number of teams in each lower division that can beat "ANY" of the upper division teams on any given sunday BUT even more that can handle that last place team of a division. in my humble opinion:bounce: 

I agree. But they are ranked 10th in the hierarchy of ntx soccer. So until they aren't, they are the 10th.

no it's the hierarchy ("formal grading of group: the categorization of members of a group according to importance") of the Dallas area NOT NTX soccer which is much more than Dallas TX. but you are correct in that most on this forum will agree with your biased opinion. Go win an open tourney with top teams and then your placement will be more representative of your team strength.  

[/quote]no it's the hierarchy ("formal grading of group: the categorization of members of a group according to importance") of the Dallas area NOT NTX soccer which is much more than Dallas TX. but you are correct in that most on this forum will agree with your biased opinion. Go win an open tourney with top teams and then your placement will be more representative of your team strength.  [/quote]
Riiiight. because there are never variables i.e. guest players that could or would affect the outcome of a weekend tourney  

I'll take my biased view of a team/coach over the long haul with locked rosters to proof out how I view them.

no it's the hierarchy ("formal grading of group: the categorization of members of a group according to importance") of the Dallas area NOT NTX soccer which is much more than Dallas TX. but you are correct in that most on this forum will agree with your biased opinion. Go win an open tourney with top teams and then your placement will be more representative of your team strength.  [/quote]Riiiight. because there are never variables i.e. guest players that could or would affect the outcome of a weekend tourney  

I'll take my biased view of a team/coach over the long haul with locked rosters to proof out how I view them.
[/quote]
now i do agree 100% with the affect of guest players and to some degree the "player pass" rule which FCD, Texans and others benefit from. but like i said you are last place in your division not 10 best in NTX. that does not take away from the boys accomplishment to get there just a little overstated in my opinion.

I thought this thread was about coaches developing 06 boys. The coaches who can develop these kids may not be good with these kids when they reach U-12.... Have no experience with it yet. Just putting in my two cents....Keep your eyes open!!!

Fctillidie wrote:Are you guys really talking about Phil Gomez? Are you kidding me? Nobody cares. At Fc he's considered a third tier coach at best! The top Fc coaches barely recognize him in the coaching staff. You need to look at his other teams, first team he had 02's are in last place in classic U12. And I don't want to hear he works with what he got. People were on here singing his praises last year that his 02's were up and coming and everyone wants to go play for him, well that's not working out. And you know why? It's because all he does is pack in the box and hope to survive or squeeze out a tie, so then all the parents on his team can say "see! see! We held Premier, Solar, etc....to one goal! We are improving!" When actually they aren't even learning to play.  Thetruthhurts or whoever that think that he's a good coach, you need to get out more and see what's out there. All of you throw that label around too easy....."good coach".

Don't know anything about Phil but his 04 team is definitely the best FCD team in that age group...and they recently played Solar and held them to a couple of goals..funny comment above....how all this relates to his ability to coach...that's up to parents to decide.

The one coach that I am most impressed with is FC Dallas Juan Lopez. He has an 06 team that plays against 05 teams. He emphasizes speed, and during his practices he also targets specific skills that I personally think are important that I don't see most coaches bother with, such as attempting a goal from outside the penalty area, crossing, corner kicks, offside, etc. While offside is not in play with the 06s, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a coach yell at his players for being offside over and over again during a game, and then will never bother explaining to the player what he did wrong even in following practices.

Phil Gomez a third tier coach? I don't think so. I'd say he is considered by many to be one of the top tier FC Dallas youth coaches.

tpitty wrote:

abahani wrote:I was looking at this string from summer.  Can anyone recommend good 06 and 05 coaches who hold practices in the Plano Allen area?  I am interested in coaches who will take time to deveop skills and not just winning.  Thanks in advance.

Andro has some coaches in plano I know Haylock just got an 06 group, and I know Titans has an 06 coach in Plano/Allen. Opoku, I believe is his name.

Texans Rosales is in Plano as well.

Mckinney is Medina (Ayses) they have a few 05 and 06 teams.

Are any coaches of 06 teams in the Plano/Allen/Frisco area currently looking for players?

Fctillidie wrote:Are you guys really talking about Phil Gomez? Are you kidding me? Nobody cares. At Fc he's considered a third tier coach at best! The top Fc coaches barely recognize him in the coaching staff. You need to look at his other teams, first team he had 02's are in last place in classic U12. And I don't want to hear he works with what he got. People were on here singing his praises last year that his 02's were up and coming and everyone wants to go play for him, well that's not working out. And you know why? It's because all he does is pack in the box and hope to survive or squeeze out a tie, so then all the parents on his team can say "see! see! We held Premier, Solar, etc....to one goal! We are improving!" When actually they aren't even learning to play.  Thetruthhurts or whoever that think that he's a good coach, you need to get out more and see what's out there. All of you throw that label around too easy....."good coach".

wow! So not true. My son played for other coaches and if you said something innaccurate about them then I would tell you as well. My son played for Phil and Phil was recommended by Chris Hayden, the director of coaching at FCD. So what top FCD coaches did you talk to? As most of the top ones I have talked to like Josema Bazan, Luchi Gonzalez, Franciso Molina, Jesse Suarez (Staff PreAcademy and Academy coaches...know who he is and recommend him highly).
So not sure how you come off saying that. From what I have seen and from talking to him..he has played the role he was given to pass the top players and he did that for the 01's, 02's. He even passed another classic team he had and put an 01 team together in 30 days. Oscar Pareja, put his own son, on that team. Phil took that team from Plano Premier to classic the old fashion way. Winning it all. Not many coaches can do that. Ask some of the preAcademy players and they will tell you they started with him and then right before select he passed them off. There is a process at FCD.

We left Phil's team because my older son was playing for another club and the commute was not doable. But I have gotten to know Phil thru this time. His 02 team were the players that the Premier team didn't want or players he could find. So to play competitively vs the premier team or top teams is pretty good...and no he did not pack it in the box. I happened to see his 02 team this play Texans South and they lost 0-1 and they were attacking and I did not see them packing it in.

If he feels your son is a weaker player he will put you in an appropriate group that he feels fits the level of your son at FCD which parents may or may not like. It is what it is. I recall him trying to split time and trying to get kids equal time. I have seen a lot worse with other select level coaches who stand by "earn your time". Kids losing self confidence because of his coaching...NOT. I never saw him tear a kid down.

I don't have 06 or 04 BB but my friend has an 04 who plays for him and I believe with the 04's he will keep them in select as most of the better players and parents want to stay with him. I heard he is taking them out select and then handing them off when preAcademy comes. His communication is brief and to the point he is very approachable and says what is on his mind...which can work for some and not for others.

Nothing is perfect.. you have to pick a coach that fits your style.

Coach Dru Wright from Liverpool FC is establishing Plano practices on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Liverpool practice fields on the SE corner of Custer and Legacy in north Plano for a new 06 boys team. Join us from 5-6pm this week as we prepare for the spring season.

Please PM for information or contact Coach Dru Wright at 601-919-6200.

dru.wright@liverpoolfcamerica.com