04 Stop the madness!!!!

Fabiano9 wrote:In looking at this site (especially the girls site), it amazes me to no end when I see "2004 Power Rankings".
Why are we creating "Power Rankings" for six year olds?
How freaking idiotic is this???

Why is this everyone in this country so obsessed with having your six year-olds play on the #1 soccer team. Why? Why? Why?

The only thing that matters at this age is development, NOT WINNING. Stop it, please!

Last time I checked, practices were for development and games were for trying to win. A good coach can develop players and win at the same time.
Let me guess,..... your kid is on a losing team?, so to feel better about it, you use the tired old argument that winning teams are not developing their players.
Many of us have kids that play other sports. All of those other sports (Baseball, Football, etc.) have wins, losses, playoffs, and some even select all star teams. Heck even Blue Sky, Fieldhouse, and many of the private soccer leagues keep the standings on their website. Sounds like you need to go back to rec soccer or just go to skills training. Maybe your kid doesn't care about winning, but some kids have a natural desire to win. If your kid doesn't really care about winning, he probably doesn't have much passion for the game and probably wont last long in the sport.
If you don't like rankings, don't look at them. Quit worrying about others and do your own thing. It's real simple.
Oh, and I just looked at the girls site, and there is no power rankings for the 04's. (Just the standings.) Don't be such a judgemental drama queen.

FCdad wrote:

Fabiano9 wrote:In looking at this site (especially the girls site), it amazes me to no end when I see "2004 Power Rankings".
Why are we creating "Power Rankings" for six year olds?
How freaking idiotic is this???

Why is this everyone in this country so obsessed with having your six year-olds play on the #1 soccer team. Why? Why? Why?

The only thing that matters at this age is development, NOT WINNING. Stop it, please!

Last time I checked, practices were for development and games were for trying to win. A good coach can develop players and win at the same time.
Let me guess,..... your kid is on a losing team?, so to feel better about it, you use the tired old argument that winning teams are not developing their players.
Many of us have kids that play other sports. All of those other sports (Baseball, Football, etc.) have wins, losses, playoffs, and some even select all star teams. Heck even Blue Sky, Fieldhouse, and many of the private soccer leagues keep the standings on their website. Sounds like you need to go back to rec soccer or just go to skills training. Maybe your kid doesn't care about winning, but some kids have a natural desire to win. If your kid doesn't really care about winning, he probably doesn't have much passion for the game and probably wont last long in the sport.
If you don't like rankings, don't look at them. Quit worrying about others and do your own thing. It's real simple.
Oh, and I just looked at the girls site, and there is no power rankings for the 04's. (Just the standings.) Don't be such a judgemental drama queen.

So you're the a-hole at each game who's running up and down the sideline, yelling bloody murder at the refs, embarrassing your kids, switching sides at halftime, screaming at your kids and telling them that they must win their U8 game at all costs. I thought I recognized you.May your future superstar win all his games for the rest of his life. I'll be looking out for him in 2018. WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN!!!!!!

Fabiano9 wrote:

FCdad wrote:

Fabiano9 wrote:In looking at this site (especially the girls site), it amazes me to no end when I see "2004 Power Rankings".
Why are we creating "Power Rankings" for six year olds?
How freaking idiotic is this???

Why is this everyone in this country so obsessed with having your six year-olds play on the #1 soccer team. Why? Why? Why?

The only thing that matters at this age is development, NOT WINNING. Stop it, please!

Last time I checked, practices were for development and games were for trying to win. A good coach can develop players and win at the same time.
Let me guess,..... your kid is on a losing team?, so to feel better about it, you use the tired old argument that winning teams are not developing their players.
Many of us have kids that play other sports. All of those other sports (Baseball, Football, etc.) have wins, losses, playoffs, and some even select all star teams. Heck even Blue Sky, Fieldhouse, and many of the private soccer leagues keep the standings on their website. Sounds like you need to go back to rec soccer or just go to skills training. Maybe your kid doesn't care about winning, but some kids have a natural desire to win. If your kid doesn't really care about winning, he probably doesn't have much passion for the game and probably wont last long in the sport.
If you don't like rankings, don't look at them. Quit worrying about others and do your own thing. It's real simple.
Oh, and I just looked at the girls site, and there is no power rankings for the 04's. (Just the standings.) Don't be such a judgemental drama queen.

So you're the a-hole at each game who's running up and down the sideline, yelling bloody murder at the refs, embarrassing your kids, switching sides at halftime, screaming at your kids and telling them that they must win their U8 game at all costs. I thought I recognized you.May your future superstar win all his games for the rest of his life. I'll be looking out for him in 2018. WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN!!!!!!

No, I am the Dad that quietly watches and encourages my son and his team. I also teach my son that it's not all about him. He has to pull his weight to help his team win. Learning to play as a team to get a victory is a valuable lesson. If a kid doesn't care about winning he needs to play rec soccer.
It's very obvious that you get offended at peoples rankings because your kid is not on a good team.
And I don't think you have been paying close attention to the screaming dads out there. 99% of the parents that are screaming at their kid is because of their kids individual performance. I have yet to see a parent chew their kid out after the game because their team lost....it's always because of the way their kid played. So yes, even parents like yourself are A-holes.

redhot6 wrote:

threesoccermom wrote:I heard TFC Plano is starting an 04 team. Great coaches

TFC Allen already has an AMAZING 04B team. They have a GREAT COACH!!

That's funny...AMAZING 6 year olds!

FCDad, i am sorry but i have to respectfully disagree with your post. It is natural to want to win and I give you that. However, games at 5 and 6 years of age are not for trying to win. They are a means to apply what you are learning and developing in skills. If you look at the European soccer clubs and their academies, formal games are not even attempted until after the age of 12 or so. If you ask any European or South American soccer professional, they will almost universally criticize the US emphasis on winning at an early age as a critical flaw in our soccer development. It is natural to want to win, but it is not an excuse to having a losing record to say that our coach's focus is not on winning. It simply may be the truth. My son's team routinely kicks the a** of their opponents (01), but that was not always the case when they were a 2-3 years younger. We watch as parents are consistently, and on a weekly basis, trying to maneuver their son onto the team. Many of those boys played on teams that won at the ages you are concerned with. They can't hold a candle in terms of skills to the boys on the current roster. Be careful before you throw stones...

mplsnsg wrote:FCDad, i am sorry but i have to respectfully disagree with your post. It is natural to want to win and I give you that. However, games at 5 and 6 years of age are not for trying to win. They are a means to apply what you are learning and developing in skills. If you look at the European soccer clubs and their academies, formal games are not even attempted until after the age of 12 or so. If you ask any European or South American soccer professional, they will almost universally criticize the US emphasis on winning at an early age as a critical flaw in our soccer development. It is natural to want to win, but it is not an excuse to having a losing record to say that our coach's focus is not on winning. It simply may be the truth. My son's team routinely kicks the a** of their opponents (01), but that was not always the case when they were a 2-3 years younger. We watch as parents are consistently, and on a weekly basis, trying to maneuver their son onto the team. Many of those boys played on teams that won at the ages you are concerned with. They can't hold a candle in terms of skills to the boys on the current roster. Be careful before you throw stones...

I understand what you are saying, but Europe and South America can criticize us all they want. The United States dominates in American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Golf, etc. The truth of the matter is that most of our best athletes play other sports instead of soccer. If soccer was our number one sport, we would be dominant in that also.
A team has practices and games. Practices are for development. Games are for winning.
Like it or not, we live in a winning country. It served us well in World War 2. Everyone has their own philosophy for developing their kid. I just get tired of the people that criticize kids and parents because they are on a winning team and assume that their coach isn't developing their skills. Most of the winning boys teams are winning because they have skilled players. Their coaches develop their skills at practice and teach them how to win on game day.
If it hurts someones feelings to look at win/loss standings and rankings, then they need to take their kid out of academy and find a good skills coach.

And maybe I will change my mind if someone can give me a good example of a real academy coach that isn't trying to develop their players and is only focused on winning only. Because every coach I see is trying to develop and win (whether they admit or not).

Now if you are talking about coaches that merge teams together for the sole purpose of forming super teams, (only in the interest of winning), I can understand the frustration. That's a whole separate issue.

Look dude, I could give a rats ass if your kid is kicking everyone's butt at U5, U8, U12 or wherever he plays.
Also, your analogies of us winning WW2 and in American Football ( a sport no other country in the world plays) are hilarious. So, if that's the case, why dont we just dig up General MacArthur and make him President of US Soccer.

If our youth system is soooooo perfect and our "Win at all costs" mentality is so right, answer me these quetions:

Why has our national team failed miserably over the last twenty years and why is our youth system considered a joke throughout the world?

Why has this country failed to produce ONE international superstar?

Why has an American-born coach never coached in the EPL, La Liga or the Bundeslga?

Why is MLS not considered to amongst the top 30, maybe 40 leagues in the world?

Why has an MLS team never won the CONCACAF Champions League?
Hell, we cant even beat teams from freaking Panama or Honduras?


So keep ranting and raving about how great soccer is here in the and how great we are at winning world wars. We'll keep looking at the big picture; why our country lags so far behind the rest of the world in producing world-class soccer players, first-class professional soccer teams and world cup winning national teams.

Fabiano9 wrote:Look dude, I could give a rats ass if your kid is kicking everyone's butt at U5, U8, U12 or wherever he plays.
Also, your analogies of us winning WW2 and in American Football ( a sport no other country in the world plays) are hilarious. So, if that's the case, why dont we just dig up General MacArthur and make him President of US Soccer.

If our youth system is soooooo perfect and our "Win at all costs" mentality is so right, answer me these quetions:

Why has our national team failed miserably over the last twenty years and why is our youth system considered a joke throughout the world?

Why has this country failed to produce ONE international superstar?

Why has an American-born coach never coached in the EPL, La Liga or the Bundeslga?

Why is MLS not considered to amongst the top 30, maybe 40 leagues in the world?

Why has an MLS team never won the CONCACAF Champions League?
Hell, we cant even beat teams from freaking Panama or Honduras?


So keep ranting and raving about how great soccer is here in the and how great we are at winning world wars. We'll keep looking at the big picture; why our country lags so far behind the rest of the world in producing world-class soccer players, first-class professional soccer teams and world cup winning national teams.

The answer is easy. Our best athletes don't play soccer. Soccer is way down on the list of popular sports in the United States. If our best athletes (Lebron, Kobe, Randy Moss, Deion Sanders, etc.) all grew up playing soccer, we would dominate. So you can keep bragging about how good the other countries are compared to the United States in Soccer, but just remember that Soccer is #1 in most countries and most people in the United States could care less about it.
You obviously have an agenda...so why don't you go ahead and tell us what country you are from and tell us how much better they develop the soccer players in your country.

I'm from the good-old US of A, buddy. There's no other country in the entire world I would love more to win the world cup more then our own. My agenda is simple; that someday before I die, I would like to see this country have a) a bad ass national team and b) a top 5 domestic league.

I would like to see the Cristiano Ronaldo's playing for FCD, the Messi's playing for NYRB, the Rooney's playing for the Galaxy, etc, etc. But I also want to see local kids who are on the same level as these guys.

Also, one of the reasons that many kids stop playing select soccer is the $$$$$$. Why pay $300-$400 a month when i can play football & basketball for free for my school? No where else in the world does pay to play soccer exist, no where.
Only here in the good-old USA.

This is where I agree with the FCD youth model starting at U14 (FCD Jrs). Free baby!!!! It's all about the talent.
Anyway, I'm done with this thread. Gotta take my little dork to soccer practice.

Fabiano9 wrote:I'm from the good-old US of A, buddy. There's no other country in the entire world I would love more to win the world cup more then our own. My agenda is simple; that someday before I die, I would like to see this country have a) a bad ass national team and b) a top 5 domestic league.

I would like to see the Cristiano Ronaldo's playing for FCD, the Messi's playing for NYRB, the Rooney's playing for the Galaxy, etc, etc. But I also want to see local kids who are on the same level as these guys.

Also, one of the reasons that many kids stop playing select soccer is the $$$$$$. Why pay $300-$400 a month when i can play football & basketball for free for my school? No where else in the world does pay to play soccer exist, no where.
Only here in the good-old USA.

This is where I agree with the FCD youth model starting at U14 (FCD Jrs). Free baby!!!! It's all about the talent.
Anyway, I'm done with this thread. Gotta take my little dork to soccer practice.

Not in your lifetime...maybe in your kid's.

Its been my experience that it is not the money that stops kids from playing. They get tired of the B.S. from coaches and parents and they get involved with "other" activities

Since when did U14 become free? Thought it was just in the academy.

Knowing which teams play at a high level is important information. If your bb is going to be an elite player, he/she will have to play with and against the highest level competition available. Yes it's important even at the 6 year old level. My '01 was a dominant player on a fair to middlin club for the past couple of years. Now he's made the jump to a high level club and he's had to remake his game just to become a contributor. If we'd gone to a good club at an early age, he'd probably be 8 months ahead of where he is today.

Even if you aren't shooting for the elite level, you still need to understand the heirachy of teams and get your kid into a situation where his or her goals can be achieved.

Also, I tend to agree with the argument that the best systems in the world focus on skill and development of creativity until the mid-teens. But apparently, the market (i.e. we soccer parents) is demanding "win now" whether it's a good idea or not. I have my ideas on how to manage that disconnect, but admittedly the only good answer right now seems to be that you just get really lucky and find a group of people and coach that are like-minded.

The US soccer system uses the same market based approach it uses for everything. The market approach has in general proved to be a pretty successful strategy. Although in this particular case, the results are not what we'd like them to be. Everyone has their theory on the lack of success of the US soccer system. Personally, I think that the big problem is that today in the US, soccer is a middle class game. Whereas the best athletes seem to come from the lower class. The reason is probably cost and lack of exposure to high quality soccer. But ultimately I believe that the market will figure it out ... though it may take many years.

I agree we are many years away from a WC contender. It's the kids of our kids who will bring the game forward. We are another generation away. Soccer is still a very young sport in the US and NTX.


Have you read the latest edition of The Pitch? Read the article on Dick Hall. Look at the amazing impact he has had on soccer in NTX since 1970. We've come a long way thanks to his individual efforts and dedication to our sport, but we still have so much farther to go....

I think it is a matter of what is emphasized. I'm about as competitive as they come with regard to sports and I want my kid to win any game he participates in (just like I wanted to as a child). The difference is that I can see some long-term benefit when he tries a move he's learned in practice but it doesn't work out and costs his team a goal. The "winning" thing to do would be just booting it away from his area rather than trying dribble it out.

With time, he'll learn when to try a move versus when to play it safe but for now I'd rather him be trying to implement the skills he's worked on in practice (even if it costs a goal or two) than boot it out and thus ensure that his team wins.

In summary, first of all I'd rather him win than lose but I'd also rather him try to grow as a player and fail on occasion than be too afraid to try new things because it might cause his team to lose.

I agree with part of your statement, UTND. Especially in regards to not being afraid to try new things at younger ages. I differ on the part about dribbling through the defense, even if it costs your team a few goals. I beleive competitive players can understand the dynamics of shape and movement off the ball at the age of 6/7. If they are playing with their head up and talking to their teammates, they should look for options in the defending third...not dribble at all costs.