PPL 97B Spring Schedule

I'm sure several have noticed that all 10 "D1" teams in Plano have games scheduled the Sat beginning Spring Break, a mid-week game during Spring Break and a Saturday game ending Spring Break. How unfortunate the league would do this. I know of many who plan their lives around school breaks that have nonrefundable expenses associated with a family vacation. I think we could all adjust to the bookend weekends, but the midweek games are just thoughtless and insensitive in my opinion. Any ideas on how to EFFECTIVELY influence this unfortunate circumstance? It's not right for these teams to work so hard all year to have one bone-head week of scheduling have such a potential impact on team and player availability. Maybe PYSA would like some teams to go play elsewhere next year???

The response from PPL on this issue is that last year, they told us that Spring Break would only be used in dire situations, such as excessive rain-outs, which happened...they had to schedule make-up games for spring break week and had many unhappy people then.
They decided that this year, rather than schedule make-up games last minute for spring break, they'd give us plenty of advance notice that we were gonna have games that week.

Yes soccermom, I have heard that. I am sure that is very comforting and a satisfactory explaination for those who have plane tickets for 4 and a condo at Winter Park for that week, along with the team that young man plays for. Mar 17 & 18 are the only weeknight games scheduled for the entire month of March. Seems like there should be enough room to have chosen a different week for that scheduling. I hope it either gets worked out, or it does not negatively impact any of the teams.

I'm sure it will negatively impact all of us somehow - so far we'll be missing 2 and luckily, our goalie's plans were able to be cancelled.

I am sorry to hear that. Very unfortunate. I hope the league comes to their senses. They'd be hard pressed to concoct a more dissapointing schedule.

Your goalie canceled spring break plans to play a game? OK, maybe you have an outside chance of a top two spot in Plano, but you have 3 losses going up against 3 undefeated teams. Family time outranks soccer even for the top teams.

we play a 3 games...a 3rd of our spring schedule in that week...

homer999 wrote:Your goalie canceled spring break plans to play a game? OK, maybe you have an outside chance of a top two spot in Plano, but you have 3 losses going up against 3 undefeated teams. Family time outranks soccer even for the top teams.

I am pretty sure some coaches would disagree with that last sentence. There will be many a parent or child who gets a funny look from their coaches when they tell them they wont be there for the 2 games over Spring Break.....We told our coach months ago we were gone that week expecting that Classic would only schedule one game over that period (as they always have). I think a lot of teams are going to be short, or may not have enough for games over the Break this year. Out of a short sample of our team, asking 4 sets of parents, 3 were going to be gone for at least one of the games during that week.

Especially considering that your ENTIRE spring schedule is played in a 35-day timeframe vs over a couple of months like the fall season.

I expect a coach to disagree, passion for the game is a part of what we are paying them for. But get real, this is plano league. There are 500 97b kids in Classic, 160 or so in D1 of Classic. The parents of those kids can have scholarship money in mind and worry about being top of the heap at age 13. But in Plano league? What is the battle for, who is ranked #32 vs #33 in NTX. Which, by the way, the number 32 ranked team in NTX is number 1099 in the nation, wow.
To cancel a family vacation for a few plano games is exemplary of why plano parents get a bad reputation. Don't live for soccer, enjoy the game and have balance.
At 25 years old what kid will say "Thanks Mom for watching those extra 3 games out of the 400 I played as a kid" compared to "Thanks Mom for the great trip to Cancun, I love the pictures we took at the beach where I learned how to ride a boogy board".

homer999 wrote:I expect a coach to disagree, passion for the game is a part of what we are paying them for. But get real, this is plano league. There are 500 97b kids in Classic, 160 or so in D1 of Classic. The parents of those kids can have scholarship money in mind and worry about being top of the heap at age 13. But in Plano league? What is the battle for, who is ranked #32 vs #33 in NTX. Which, by the way, the number 32 ranked team in NTX is number 1099 in the nation, wow.
To cancel a family vacation for a few plano games is exemplary of why plano parents get a bad reputation. Don't live for soccer, enjoy the game and have balance.
At 25 years old what kid will say "Thanks Mom for watching those extra 3 games out of the 400 I played as a kid" compared to "Thanks Mom for the great trip to Cancun, I love the pictures we took at the beach where I learned how to ride a boogy board".

Your point is well taken homer999 and I don;t think many would disagree with you. However, it does not change the fact that PPL put all the teams in the position of having to make that choice. It's not necessary. Now many of the teams will be missing some players. That's just wrong given that only two of them will get a shot, and they have to work all year to get it.

homer999 wrote:Your goalie canceled spring break plans to play a game? OK, maybe you have an outside chance of a top two spot in Plano, but you have 3 losses going up against 3 undefeated teams. Family time outranks soccer even for the top teams.

Agreed - there is commitment involved, but you need to chose (family or team). It's not a 'no-brainer', but if you are upfront with your coach way ahead of time - it should be understood. At this age, it's not going to influence one's career path or budding professional sports life. It may, however, permanently place a friend/coach shun upon you and your child. Most contracts deal with this (they state you will attend every game and tournament).

clueless wrote:

homer999 wrote:Your goalie canceled spring break plans to play a game? OK, maybe you have an outside chance of a top two spot in Plano, but you have 3 losses going up against 3 undefeated teams. Family time outranks soccer even for the top teams.

Agreed - there is commitment involved, but you need to chose (family or team). It's not a 'no-brainer', but if you are upfront with your coach way ahead of time - it should be understood. At this age, it's not going to influence one's career path or budding professional sports life. It may, however, permanently place a friend/coach shun upon you and your child. Most contracts deal with this (they state you will attend every game and tournament).

The problem here is not Plano Premier and it isn’t the coach either it’s the parents. I don’t know about you but our contract gives us dates that vacation is okay and we clear our dates with the coach before we even book them. Hello you are playing select soccer haven’t you heard there is no off season save maybe the last 2 weeks of December and maybe 1st two weeks in June and that’s if you know you have a team and are happy to come back to that team.

To me this thread is a joke. If you were playing in Classic league, D3 parents who didn’t care might pull this planning a trip during spring break, D2 maybe but D1 parents wouldn’t even dream it. Unlike Plano Classic leagues games the week of spring break is a norm not the exception.

Yes family is more important and trust me we have already booked our annual 10 day summer vacation, and little weekend trips but the dates are always cleared with the coaches first. These are kids we are talking about they love their vacations more than the adults do. Really they need a break from their demanding coaches as well.

homer999 wrote:I expect a coach to disagree, passion for the game is a part of what we are paying them for. But get real, this is plano league. There are 500 97b kids in Classic, 160 or so in D1 of Classic. The parents of those kids can have scholarship money in mind and worry about being top of the heap at age 13. But in Plano league? What is the battle for, who is ranked #32 vs #33 in NTX. Which, by the way, the number 32 ranked team in NTX is number 1099 in the nation, wow.
To cancel a family vacation for a few plano games is exemplary of why plano parents get a bad reputation. Don't live for soccer, enjoy the game and have balance.
At 25 years old what kid will say "Thanks Mom for watching those extra 3 games out of the 400 I played as a kid" compared to "Thanks Mom for the great trip to Cancun, I love the pictures we took at the beach where I learned how to ride a boogy board".

I can see it all now as it happens far too often. This is the player and parents that missed those games and enjoyed themselves on the beach, let the rest of the team pick up the slack only to say at the end of the season "what we didnt make it to the challenge games for Classic? Sorry but we so wanted to be in Classic so we are off to join a team that is!"
What if the whole team took the same pigheaded view of "I'm not ruining my plans" nice selfish way to look at it!

Come on folks. The point is that scheduling 3 games for all the teams during that week is not necessary. There are ZERO other weeknight games for any of the teams for the entire month of March. It's asking for trouble, and there is simply no reason for it.

RytMid wrote:Come on folks. The point is that scheduling 3 games for all the teams during that week is not necessary. There are ZERO other weeknight games for any of the teams for the entire month of March. It's asking for trouble, and there is simply no reason for it.

Listen if you want convincing your right, talk to yourself in the mirror. Plano HAS scheduled these games so get on with it like everyone else has too! If you have a problem with Spring break your going to have a problem with practice in the summer (when qualifying is) playing over Thanksgiving (when all the best tournaments are) and Christmas and New Year (again great tournaments are) Really the best place is rec where they listen to your every needs

cityslicker61 wrote:

RytMid wrote:Come on folks. The point is that scheduling 3 games for all the teams during that week is not necessary. There are ZERO other weeknight games for any of the teams for the entire month of March. It's asking for trouble, and there is simply no reason for it.

Listen if you want convincing your right, talk to yourself in the mirror. Plano HAS scheduled these games so get on with it like everyone else has too! If you have a problem with Spring break your going to have a problem with practice in the summer (when qualifying is) playing over Thanksgiving (when all the best tournaments are) and Christmas and New Year (again great tournaments are) Really the best place is rec where they listen to your every needs

I've seen some teams in Plano play might as well be rec. Why spend the money.

sillymom wrote:

cityslicker61 wrote:

RytMid wrote:Come on folks. The point is that scheduling 3 games for all the teams during that week is not necessary. There are ZERO other weeknight games for any of the teams for the entire month of March. It's asking for trouble, and there is simply no reason for it.

Listen if you want convincing your right, talk to yourself in the mirror. Plano HAS scheduled these games so get on with it like everyone else has too! If you have a problem with Spring break your going to have a problem with practice in the summer (when qualifying is) playing over Thanksgiving (when all the best tournaments are) and Christmas and New Year (again great tournaments are) Really the best place is rec where they listen to your every needs

I've seen some teams in Plano play might as well be rec. Why spend the money.

Whilst I agree to some point Ive seen parents pay a lot of money to watch their son run up and down the field chasing the ball they've kick because thats all they've been taught in Classic D1 because passing and moving takes time to develop. Why spend the money?

CS61 - you are making a lot of incorrect assumptions. Why is it so hard for some people to recognize the fact that it is better not to schedule games during Spring Break week than it is to do so when it is not necessary??? If you must know, it's not going to be an issue for me and my family. We will be there. Problem is, there are 150+ players and families involved and not all of them will have the same level of commitment or make the same decision. All I am saying is that it is WRONG to put the teams and boys in that situation unless there is no other option. Out.

city seems to think its act like a D1 team or be rec. There is a lot in the middle and all of the teams in the middle need to think balance between soccer and family time.
The games are scheduled, but in years past PYSA only scheduled 1 game over spring break, not 3. The vacation was scheduled before the games. Keep the vacation. That doesn't mean you have a problem with summer practices or tournaments, it just means you don't change plans for a game that doesn't matter. This team, the Longhorns, have little chance of reaching the challenge games as the number one and two teams in Plano are undefeated and Longhorns have lost 3 games.
If you want to know which is more important - go ask your own kids.

homer999 wrote:city seems to think its act like a D1 team or be rec. There is a lot in the middle and all of the teams in the middle need to think balance between soccer and family time.
The games are scheduled, but in years past PYSA only scheduled 1 game over spring break, not 3. The vacation was scheduled before the games. Keep the vacation. That doesn't mean you have a problem with summer practices or tournaments, it just means you don't change plans for a game that doesn't matter. This team, the Longhorns, have little chance of reaching the challenge games as the number one and two teams in Plano are undefeated and Longhorns have lost 3 games.
If you want to know which is more important - go ask your own kids.

Applause!

cityslicker61 wrote:

homer999 wrote:I expect a coach to disagree, passion for the game is a part of what we are paying them for. But get real, this is plano league. There are 500 97b kids in Classic, 160 or so in D1 of Classic. The parents of those kids can have scholarship money in mind and worry about being top of the heap at age 13. But in Plano league? What is the battle for, who is ranked #32 vs #33 in NTX. Which, by the way, the number 32 ranked team in NTX is number 1099 in the nation, wow.
To cancel a family vacation for a few plano games is exemplary of why plano parents get a bad reputation. Don't live for soccer, enjoy the game and have balance.
At 25 years old what kid will say "Thanks Mom for watching those extra 3 games out of the 400 I played as a kid" compared to "Thanks Mom for the great trip to Cancun, I love the pictures we took at the beach where I learned how to ride a boogy board".

I can see it all now as it happens far too often. This is the player and parents that missed those games and enjoyed themselves on the beach, let the rest of the team pick up the slack only to say at the end of the season "what we didnt make it to the challenge games for Classic? Sorry but we so wanted to be in Classic so we are off to join a team that is!"
What if the whole team took the same pigheaded view of "I'm not ruining my plans" nice selfish way to look at it!

I'm new here, and been looking at many posts, even old ones. This is quite interesting since it excludes the fact that some coaches - as always focused on "winning" only, will sit the entire game players that are developing brilliantly, go to all practices while the other lads toast in the beach on VC, some of the 'trying very hard players' although don't have the natural ability at this age, have integral pitch intelligence and well developed solid skills, they often contribute more than some of the 'fast' kickball lads. So these chaps trust their coach and then sit down only to see the vacationers come back and play poorly after VC while they sit in the bench... Discipline and persistence seems to be ignored in this discussion, from what I read, in Texas, I understand coaches need to win somewhat frequently, or lose their team, so I guess this argument is only valid if the ones on vacation are the ones the coach considers 'on the bubble' but not the naturally talented, yet lacking skills and cerebral equity.

oldcastle wrote:

cityslicker61 wrote:

homer999 wrote:I expect a coach to disagree, passion for the game is a part of what we are paying them for. But get real, this is plano league. There are 500 97b kids in Classic, 160 or so in D1 of Classic. The parents of those kids can have scholarship money in mind and worry about being top of the heap at age 13. But in Plano league? What is the battle for, who is ranked #32 vs #33 in NTX. Which, by the way, the number 32 ranked team in NTX is number 1099 in the nation, wow.
To cancel a family vacation for a few plano games is exemplary of why plano parents get a bad reputation. Don't live for soccer, enjoy the game and have balance.
At 25 years old what kid will say "Thanks Mom for watching those extra 3 games out of the 400 I played as a kid" compared to "Thanks Mom for the great trip to Cancun, I love the pictures we took at the beach where I learned how to ride a boogy board".

I can see it all now as it happens far too often. This is the player and parents that missed those games and enjoyed themselves on the beach, let the rest of the team pick up the slack only to say at the end of the season "what we didnt make it to the challenge games for Classic? Sorry but we so wanted to be in Classic so we are off to join a team that is!"
What if the whole team took the same pigheaded view of "I'm not ruining my plans" nice selfish way to look at it!

I'm new here, and been looking at many posts, even old ones. This is quite interesting since it excludes the fact that some coaches - as always focused on "winning" only, will sit the entire game players that are developing brilliantly, go to all practices while the other lads toast in the beach on VC, some of the 'trying very hard players' although don't have the natural ability at this age, have integral pitch intelligence and well developed solid skills, they often contribute more than some of the 'fast' kickball lads. So these chaps trust their coach and then sit down only to see the vacationers come back and play poorly after VC while they sit in the bench... Discipline and persistence seems to be ignored in this discussion, from what I read, in Texas, I understand coaches need to win somewhat frequently, or lose their team, so I guess this argument is only valid if the ones on vacation are the ones the coach considers 'on the bubble' but not the naturally talented, yet lacking skills and cerebral equity.

77 words put into a single sentence (the second sentence) and still doesn't make sense.