Youth Competitive Soccer

College Station Soccer Club (CS):

Traditionally, CS has been a recreational only soccer club that organizes and administers all the recreational soccer teams in College Station. If recreational players are counted, CS is larger than all the other soccer clubs, but if only competitive players are counted, they were the smallest club in the fall of 98. However, CS could grow to have as many or more competitive players than Stars or Magic for the fall of 99. AGS will definitely have more competitive players registered than all the other clubs. The CS competitive division was formed in March of 1998. In the fall of 98, CS had the following three competitive teams.

Team	Coach	Notes
CS 88 (U11)	Jim Samuels	Played mostly local friendly games Moving to TYSA
CS 87 (U12)	Kimbrough Jeter	Played mostly local friendly games Moving to TYSA
CS 84 (U15)	Bob DeOtte	Played in TYSA Staying there

Likely new teams for the fall of 99:

Team	Notes
CS 82	Playing in TYSA.
CS 89	Playing in TYSA. Two teams formed
CS G89	Playing in TYSA.
CS G88	Playing in TYSA.

Using mostly U17 and U16 players from high school, CS will attempt to form an 82 team coached by Bob DeOtte. John Holman is set to coach CS 84. John Austin is set to be one of the boys 89 coaches. Denise Jansen is set to be the girls 89 coach. John Devine is slated to be the girls 88 coach. Other coaches will be assigned as teams form.

CS 84 played a fall TYSA schedule and therefore traveled away for every game like all the other BCS teams playing in TYSA. The CS 88 and 87 teams did not travel this past fall, as they basically played a few friendly games with some other local teams as their schedules permitted. They also played in some fall tournaments as well. But even with a very limited 1998 fall schedule for the 87 and 88 teams, those teams did improve and they can play competitively with some of the other similar age teams here in BCS that play in TYSA. While improvement did occur and some games were played, the CS teams that only played local friendly games do not want to play that way in the fall of 99. They strongly desire some form of a league to play in.

The original premise of the CS competitive club was that they were going to play local as much as possible. And the CS 88 and 87 teams did in fact play mostly local friendly games in the fall of 98. But in many ways, CS is now just like all the other competitive soccer clubs in that they will play in TYSA and have to travel.

What I think is different about CS is that they stand more ready to play in a local competitive league, if one existed, than any other club in town. The general philosophy of AGS, Magic, and the Stars is to let each team attempt to qualify as high as it can even if it means playing away from any local league that might exist. CS, on the other hand, would strongly promote that its teams play local and not attempt higher leagues, especially those teams in their first year of competitive soccer.

So while CS definitely does have a strong desire to develop a local competitive league and minimize travel, until such a local league actually ever comes into being, CS has little choice but to play and travel just like all the other competitive clubs.

Recommendations

People new to youth competitive soccer often ask me to make specific recommendations for them. So, for what it is worth, I will give you my own analysis and approach on how to select a club for various situations. Before giving my specific age group recommendations, I will give you my overall recommendation on what club I think is best. Next, I will go out on a limb and give advice for each specific age group. I'll start with the easy situations first, the older kids, and then I will work through to the most difficult situation which is for the first competitive year 89 (U11) teams.

The club I like best overall is AGS and here's why. They practice all together in a large group year round (yes, that includes the summer too). They practice four to five days a week depending on the time of the year. Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? It works like this. Like every other team in all the clubs, each AGS team has two primary days of practice per week. Each player is asked to do his best to make the days his team practices on. All other days are optional. Come or not as you please. If you miss a designated day of your team's practice, you just try to make it up on another day. Because of this practice approach, AGS is more flexible than any other club in that it is easier to play other sports like football, baseball, and basketball while also playing soccer.

The benefit of having all the AGS players practice together is that young and old players alike learn from one another. At practice, the kids warm up together and then they are separated out by age groups for drills and games. But they all get to watch each other and they do get to play with kids a few years younger and older than they are. Teams that have a designated practice go aside with their own coach to practice alone if they want to. Because all the players are together in the same practice area, it is very easy for each coach to coordinate with one another, set up scrimmages, and work drills with each other. None of the other clubs hold practices with all their teams together.

During the winter months, AGS practices every day of the week from 6:00pm to 7:30 pm under lights at Sadie Thomas Park on MLK drive about 0.5 mile west from where MLK intersects with Hwy 6. AGS is the only club to have all its teams practice under lights. In the other clubs, each team is on their own, practicing by themselves at whatever field the can manage to find. The vast majority do not have lighted fields.

Presently AGS is practicing Monday through Friday from 5:45 to 7:00pm at Lamar Junior High in Bryan located on the corner of Briarcrest and Villa Maria. On April 5, 1999, AGS will practice Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at Lamar and Monday and Wednesday at Smith Ranch Fields. These are two world cup size fields that I personally built on my ranch located at the south dead end of Arrington Road just to the south of the Nantucket subdivision.

AGS offers completely open practice sessions. Even if your child is already registered with another team, he or she is perfectly welcome to come practice with AGS. Attending practice sessions is also the way that a child tries out for an AGS team. Simply let the trainer know that your child wants to be considered for an AGS team. After a few sessions the trainer can let you know what your child's options are with AGS.

Besides the amazing practice opportunities that AGS provides, another special feature of AGS is that most of their coaches have trainer capabilities. Hispanic families grow up on soccer. All the Hispanic dads have played soccer since they were kids. Their knowledge of the game is profound. Even more amazing is that their physical skills are still good even at advanced ages. For example, Antonio Ramirez coach of AGS 86 (U13) still plays adult first division soccer. That's the highest local adult level there is. Usually only very fit young people can play. Juan Vasquez himself is also a first division quality player. Other guys like Ruben Arredondo, Francisco Aldape, and Jose Luna can all personally demonstrate advanced skills. And this is not to mention all the older sons of these guys who help train. AGS has no paid trainers, but it doesn't need paid trainers because they have so many high quality volunteer trainers. The amount of soccer knowledge and talent present at an AGS practice is astounding.

Another great feature of AGS is the number of games they play. As most trainers will tell you, the game itself is the great teacher. The more you play soccer the better you get. It's that simple. So besides providing lots of practice opportunities and all the normal fall season games, AGS also schedules lots of friendly games with other local teams and even provides its older teams free entries into the local adult league. Kids have the opportunity to play as much soccer as they can stand.

Kids can improve their skills significantly with all the soccer clubs. But I truly believe that AGS provides the best training system of all the clubs.

So if AGS has such great advantages in the practice and training areas, why shouldn't every kid just play with AGS? Well, there are other considerations that can sometimes outweigh those advantages and I will discuss them in my age specific recommendations below.

Age Group:

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

• 81 Team Recommendations:

  There were no boys 81 teams in BCS for the fall of 1998. However, AGS will have one for the fall of 1999. For girls, there is only one 81 team in town and that is the Stars G81 team coached by Jeff Morgan. This is a very good team that does well in IAL every season.

• 82 Team Recommendations:

  For 82 boys, you have Magic, CS, and AGS to choose from. Magic 82 is very strong and set and they usually have a full roster. Even when there is an opening on their team, you have to be very good to make it on. AGS 82 should be a much easier team to get on with. CS 82 will be a new team and it is definitely worth checking into. For 82 girls, AGS has an 82 team that plays local friendly games, but and there is also the possibility of playing up on the Stars G81 team.

• 83 Team Recommendations:

  Unless your 83 child is a national caliber player, don't even bother thinking of the Stars 83. They are making a run for a national championship this year and they are recruiting players from far and wide. Already, they have five Brazilian kids playing on their team. The only real options for an 83 boy are the upcoming AGS 83 team and the CS 82 team. For 83 girls, the only options are playing up on AGS G82 or the Stars G81.

• 84 Team Recommendations:

  The choices here are AGS, CS, and Magic. Magic has the more established 84 team, but CS did well with its new 84 team last fall. CS may be changing the age structure of their past 84 team so you need to check on that. For 84's, it's a close choice. If your child has friends already with one of the teams, that's a good reason to play there. For 84 girls, the only options are playing up on AGS G82 or the Stars G81.

• 85 Team Recommendations:

  This is easy. Only the Stars will have an 85 team in the BCS area for the fall of 99. AGS will have the Monterey 85 team from Madisonville, but it would require traveling to practice with them. For the Stars 85, that team is already loaded up to the maximum 18 player roster and it may be impossible to get on. If so, your 85 boy will need to look at playing up on one of the 84 teams mentioned above. Currently there are no local 85 girls teams. So 85 girls have to consider playing way up on either AGS G82 or Stars G81. While playing four years up may seem like quite a stretch, it can successfully be done. One of the best players on Stars G81 is an 85 aged player.

• 86 Team Recommendations:

  The choices here are AGS and Magic. Magic 86 has been in existence longer and it is a very good team. Magic and AGS 86 have never played each other. They were in different 86 divisions of TYSA for the fall of 1998, but Magic 86 did beat a team that beat AGS and won their own TYSA season. Although AGS 86 repeatedly asks Magic 86 to play a friendly game, they still haven't had the opportunity to play yet. The quality of these two teams is very close.

  This is another situation where your child's existing friendships play a key role. Otherwise base your decision on the difference in the two club's training systems. For girls, 86 is a good year. The Stars have the only 86 girls team in the BCS area and they should do very well in TYSA this coming fall.

• 87 Team Recommendations:

  The 87 year is the banner year for youth competitive soccer in BCS. Every club has an 87 team with Magic having two. AGS even has a girls 87 team. Tom Hartgroves Stars 87 team is the strongest of this bunch as they placed third in state in the very competitive IAL league this past fall. Currently, Stars 87 are pursuing a high finish in the prestigious President's Cup tournament series.

  The AGS 87 team plays in TYSA, but it is not way behind the Stars on talent and in my opinion it is stronger than all the other 87 teams besides the Stars. Of the two Magic 87 teams, Paul Harper's team played in IAL for the fall of 98 which would indicate that it is a stronger team than Mike Kogut's 87 team that played in TYSA for the fall of 98. However, Kogut's team has improved quite a bit and the two Magic 87 teams are very close. Magic could make an even better 87 team if they put the best players from both of their 87 teams together. Right now, they are in a split talent situation. Maybe they will change things up this spring.

  CS 87 is close to the quality of the Magic 87 teams. However, unlike the Magic 87 teams that will likely play in the EDDOA qualifiers and attempt to play as high as they can for the fall of 99, CS 87 is entering in TYSA and will thus have to travel for possibly every game.

  For girls, only AGS has an 87 team right now so they are the likely first choice for playing age pure. The AGS 87 girls played rec in the fall of 98, but they are looking towards playing in TYSA this fall. There is also the option of playing up on the Stars G86 team as they welcome good 87 player candidates.

• 88 Team Recommendations:

  With the recent disbanding of the Stars 88 team, the choices for boys right now are AGS and CS. The Stars had a great 88 team in the fall of 1998 as they played at the D1 level. However, they have disbanded for this spring and might not return for fall 99. Like CS 87, the CS 88 team will play in TYSA and thus have to travel. AGS 88 will attempt EDDOA qualifiers. They have a good chance at making at least IAL. Magic and Stars may attempt to form new 88 teams as well.

  There were no 88 competitive girls teams playing in the BCS area for the fall of 98. CS hopes to form a new 88 girls team and they have a good chance of doing so. The other clubs will likely try to form a girls 88 team as well. The only other option is to try and play up. My daughter, Kelly, is an 88 and she plays up on the Stars G86 team.

• 89 Team Recommendations:

  This age group is the hardest to advise on as there is no history to look at. All the 89 competitive teams will be brand new, and it seems to me that all the soccer clubs put in more effort on making the new first year teams than they do on all the other age groups.

  The first year U11 teams have the best chance of making it into D1 than all the other age groups combined. If a team misses D1 at the U11 age, it is next to impossible to break in later. Why is it so hard later on? In the first year there are 10-12 slots open. All teams come in on an equal basis to compete for those slots. In subsequent years, only the teams with the lowest season record have to requalify. There may be only 3-4 slots open. The teams that played D1 the previous year are much more likely to beat teams coming from D2 and trying to compete for those precious few spots. If a team doesn't make D1 in the U11 year, chances are that it will never ever make D1. So if there is a reasonable chance of a local team making it into D1 and your child really likes playing against the best, the first year of competitive soccer is the year to go for it.

  Since I have a son, Jason, in this age group, I am especially scrutinizing the clubs on this. I am the kind of guy that always likes to play at the highest level I can and I encourage my kids to always strive for the highest level they can play at. My kids are all naturally very competitive and they would all like to play at the D1 level if it were possible.

  So on helping Jason pick a club, we are looking at which club will get the best kids from rec and which club is going to push hardest on making a run for D1. This rules out CS because they do not want to attempt to qualify for D1 with their 89's.

  AGS, Magic, and the Stars all have high performance mentalities and they will push for D1 with their 89's if they feel they have the talent to do it with and if the kids want to try for it. Of these clubs, I believe that AGS has a head start on the 89 talent as they have a core group of 89 kids that played in the CS U10 rec league. But the CS 89 teams also have great talent although they say that they are splitting the talent evenly between two teams. Kimbrough Jeter tells me that their first attempt at doing that didn't work out like planned. One team unexpectedly did get a great deal more talent than the other, but they have now adjusted the rosters and the teams are expected to be more equal.

  Jason has long guest played with AGS on older age teams like their 88 team. Because of this, he has an affinity for AGS and their kids. Still, if he and I both thought conclusively that the best team was elsewhere and they were going to try for D1, I think he would switch clubs. But at this point, my bet is on AGS having the best 89 team by the end of Spring 99. AGS is going to push hard on preparing their 89 kids for the June D1 EDDOA qualifier tournament. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I think AGS is clearly the best place for the top performance minded 89 players that want to try to play at the D1 level.

  Last year only three 88 boys teams were formed and no 88 girls teams were formed. My present opinion is that only three 89 boys teams will form this year. I know that AGS will have an 89 team since they already have one and CS has already formed two boys 89 teams. It is very possible that both Magic and the Stars will fail on creating an 89 boys team. An 88 girls team will likely be formed by CS and possibly by Magic. We will just have to see what happens.

  For 89 girls, AGS and CS appear to have a head start there as well. AGS already has eight girls that are 89's and 90's. A few of these girls are already playing on their G87 team though. CS will very likely form an 89 girls team because they had a number of rec teams with girls ready to move up. As with boys, Stars and Magic will try to make new 89 girls teams, but it will be very difficult.

  CS is having a huge impact on the recruiting of 89 boys and girls that live in College Station. AGS is somewhat insulated from this because they obtain so many Hispanic kids. But Magic and Stars are deeply affected by the success of CS and they are under more pressure than ever to create 89 boys and girls teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How hard is it to get on a competitive soccer team? next question

   Many parents coming from both a recreational soccer and little league baseball background worry that getting their child onto a competitive soccer team is very difficult. They think it might be as difficult as making it onto a baseball all star team. As mentioned in the recommendations section above, there are only a handful of teams where it is difficult to get on. For first year competitive soccer players in our current environment with four clubs, I will go as far as saying that any kid that wants to play competitive soccer will be able to get on a team. Some of the clubs will be desperate to get players to help complete a new team. Sometimes the very best team to form in an age group will actually turn down players who are trying out. Last years Stars 88 turned away some players, but I don't think any of the other 88 teams turned away a single player. So don't worry about getting your child onto a team. It's not near as political as baseball is and the need for players is so great that it's actually kind of fun to see how much each club wants your child to play with them.

2. How good does your child need to be to play on the best teams? next question

   As mentioned above, to play on most teams in a new competitive year, your child doesn't need much talent at all, just the desire to play. But what about making it onto the best team in an age group? That isn't so hard either. First of all, you never really know which club is attracting the best new kids. Secondly, the very best kids rarely ever migrate all to the same club. The best talent is usually split between at least two clubs and sometimes between all four. Almost by chance, one of the clubs will get a slight majority of the best new talent. If your child happens to be trying out with whatever club has the slight talent edge, how good will he or she need to be to make the team? In my experience, if your child was one of the top three players on his recreational team, he can usually make it onto the best team. Now obviously, if you count up the top three players from all the rec teams in BCS, that's way more than a maximum roster of 18 that a team can take. But remember, not all the best rec kids go onto competitive soccer and the ones that do usually get split up between the clubs. This splitting of talent is not good for making the best possible teams, but it does make it easier for kids to get onto the best teams.

3. What are tryouts like? next question

   A tryout is very much like a regular practice session. The kids and parents fill out paper work and get an identifying number to pin on the player. If trying out for an existing team, both the existing coach and club trainer will be running the tryout. If it's a brand new team, then a club officer and a trainer will conduct the tryout. Most tryouts consist of a series of drills that attempt to reveal the level of ball handling skills the players have. Usually, the tryout will end with small sided games or even a full sided scrimmage to reveal how well the players handle the ball and make decisions in a playing environment. Most clubs will hold a series of tryouts on usually 2-3 different dates. The more times a kid comes to a tryout for a club the more likely he is to be selected by the club.

   The only club that handles tryouts different from this is AGS. AGS allows any kid to come to their practices at any time of the year. The head trainer always recognizes a new kid and will greet them and suggest what group to practice with. Nothing is changed about the practice. The kid just works right in with the existing club members and the trainer observes how the child does. Although a kid may not be invited immediately to be added to the roster of a team, AGS has never cut anyone from their club. They are allowed to continue practicing indefinitely. The only requirement is that the child must have been previously registered with a recreational league and if the child does not have a current registration, the child will have to be ultimately registered with some AGS team to be allowed to continue practicing per STYSA rules. AGS has so many team opportunities that it tries hard to find a team for every kid that tries out with them. Trying out with AGS is very easy because all you do is just start going to AGS practices. Within a few days, an AGS trainer can tell you what the options are for your child on AGS.

4. Is out of town travel really necessary to obtain maximum improvement in soccer? next question

   The short answer to this question is yes. It's not travel itself, of course, that causes maximal player development. It is the fact that travel provides the opportunity to play against high levels of competition of varying styles. A great deal is learned by playing good teams. If there was some way you could make a stream of good teams always travel to your town, then no, travel by your own team would not be necessary. But of course, that's not realistic. Even teams in Houston, where there are many good teams, travel far and wide to seek the best competition. Some of the top D1 teams even make trips out of the country to gain exposure to different styles of play.

   Travel is time consuming and many parents understandably want to minimize it. The kids, on the other hand, love to travel out of town. They are excited by seeing new towns, new teams, and just eating out. So the goal then is to seek a level of travel that is a good compromise between the time and expense required and the benefits gained by the experience of playing new and better teams. Different clubs and even different teams within a club have different opinions on this. It is thus very important to align your family with a team that thinks the same as you about travel.

   This fall I will have three kids traveling to competitive games and one of my younger kids just starting U6 recreational soccer. That's four kids playing soccer. On top of that, I play adult competitive soccer myself and sometimes have to travel as well. Obviously my wife Terri and I cannot watch all of these games. It is physically impossible to. Even if they were all played locally, we could see more games, but still not all of them. Everyone's game in my family is considered equally important. Therefore, our first goal is to make sure that everyone has a safe ride to their game. In many ways, arranging a ride to an out of town game is easier than arranging a ride to a rec game. In rec, everyone is expected to make it to the fields on their own. In competitive soccer there is always a meeting place where the families park their cars and arrange rides for the children. In other words, you don't have to worry about arranging a ride the night before, you just bring your child to the arranged meeting place (the Exxon at Hwy 6 and Rock Prairie seems to be a favorite place) at the designated time and arrange a ride on the spot. Typically, a little more than half the parents make the trip to any one out of town game. This provides way more than enough rides to get the kids safely to and from the games. Parents are always glad to help one another. Sometimes you drive and sometimes they drive. In scores of instances, I have never had a problem arranging a ride the day of the game for any of my kids.

   In the BCS area for the fall of 98, virtually all the teams were willing to travel out of town for regular season games in order to gain the most player development possible. The only two competitive boys teams that did not travel in the fall of 98 were the CS 87 and CS 88 teams. And even those teams will now be traveling for the fall of 99.

   Definitely, skills improvement and player development can occur without playing out of town, it's just that at this time, I strongly believe that the maximum rate of improvement cannot occur without playing at least half your regular season games outside the BCS area.

5. Are there risks to playing at the D1 level? next question

   Most teams aspire to this level and would love to play so high. However, very few BCS teams have ever made it that high in the local BCS area. The most recent team to make it to that level was the Stars 88 team coached by Tom Scullion. However, the team did very poorly in the fall of 98, losing every one of its EDDOA season games. Some of the kids on that team were demoralized by losing so much and they transferred onto other teams at the end of the fall season. A number of local parents learned of this situation and they naturally were concerned that it could happen to their own kids if they were to play on a local team that made it to the D1 level.

   I spoke with Tom to see why he felt his team did so poorly in EDDOA this past fall. Tom said that the team he went through the June qualifiers with was very strong and would not have had such a poor season if it had stayed intact. However, after the June qualifiers and before the start of the fall season, he lost three of his top players for various reasons. The team he played through the season with was not the same team he qualified with and they were just not able to compete effectively.

   If unlucky, such as they Stars 88 were, some kids could feel like they had a bad experience playing at the D1 level. A lot depends on the nature of each child and whether they can see far enough ahead to know that bearing hardships now often brings great success later on. Remember that losing every game is a possibility at all levels of competitive soccer. It can easily still happen at the D2 level.

   D1 soccer is generally played more intensely than D2 soccer. No team can be successful in a D1 league with a casual approach to soccer. What I tell my children is that it's like everything else in life, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. My own best experiences playing sports have always occurred while playing at the highest level I possibly could. I encourage my children to do the same, but in the end, I let them make up their own mind at what level they want to play.

6. What's the differences between Rec, D2, and D1 soccer? next question

   Besides the implications of needing more talent and better athletes to compete at the D1 level, there is another even greater requirement, balance. To compete effectively at the D1 level, you must have a very balanced team. You cannot have a weak player at any position. In rec and D2, balance is important, but not as important as in D1. At the lower levels of soccer, you can work around less skilled players and star players have a bigger impact. In D1, the defense is so good that there are no players who can dribble through a whole team and score single handedly as happens in rec and sometimes in D2. So when the Stars 88, as mentioned above, lost three top players, this upset the balance of the team's talent and made them very weak in the EDDOA D1 league.

   Balance comes not only from having an even spread of talent. It comes from learning to work as a team. A balanced team does not have "ball hogs". It has team oriented players that will gladly trade their own 50-50 chance at making a goal to give a teammate a 90% chance at goal. As easy as it sounds, it's actually quite hard to build a team of youngsters that all play unselfishly and trust one another with the ball. Balance and great teamwork is seen most often at the D1 level. You really can't make it into that level without it.

7. Have the clubs ever considered unifying? next question

   Ever since my first personal experience with competitive soccer in the fall of 95 when 86 teams were attempting to be formed for the first time, I have seen a strong need for unification of the clubs. Talent was split so badly for the 86 kids that year that that no team actually formed for the fall season. Neither club had quite enough kids towards the minimum 12 players required to register a team. To Magic's credit, they took what 86 kids there were from their failed attempt and the Stars' failed attempt and held practices for them and then entered them into two tournaments at the end of the fall season. Had the Stars and Magic been merged into one club, I have no doubt that an 86 team could have easily formed and played a normal fall season schedule.

   >From that experience, it became obvious to me that with one big competitive club, more teams could form and the teams that did form would be better. From that point on, I began working hard on encouraging Magic and the Stars to merge. In the early spring of 98 the Stars actually offered to merge on an equal basis with Magic, but Magic turned them down. In the fall of 98, the presidents of all four clubs met and discussed unification of the clubs. But still there was no agreement. Just a few weeks ago in March of 99, Magic approached the Stars on merging, but they did not offer to change their club name. This most recent merger offer has stalled once again with no progress likely.

   One interesting note to the most recent merger offer is that neither AGS or CS were invited to participate. My guess is that CS would not have participated even if invited, but that AGS would have participated if they had assurance that a new club name would be created. AGS is proud of its rapid rise to ten teams and it would not merge with any club unless a new club name was offered.

   As the BCS area grows, there might be room for two strong competitive clubs, but I don't think anyone can make a case that our area can support four strong clubs. Certainly four clubs can eke out some kind of existence with a handful of teams each. However, I think the leadership of some of the local clubs are now more aware than ever of the problems caused by too many clubs for too few competitive players. For this reason, I believe that some level of consolidation will ultimately take place.

   One thing I have learned over the years is that whether clubs merge or whether even more clubs are created, the kids will get to play soccer and good teams will be made. All the club options make a little more work for the parents on figuring everything out, but it's definitely worth the trouble for the benefit of the kids.

8. What is a friendly game? next question

   You might wonder aren't all games friendly games? Well, yes they should be. But a so-called friendly game is really another name for an informal game that is arranged outside of a normal season schedule. Friendly games are not governed by as many rules as regular season games. For example, in a regular season game your team can only play teams entered in your team's age group. In friendly games, age and gender differences can be completely ignored. The teams can loan players to one another. All kinds of things can be done in friendly games that are not allowed in official games. Young boys teams might play older girls teams. A friendly game can be nothing more than a scrimmage with coaches refereeing or it can be very formal with official referees and proper time keeping.

   Friendly games are most often arranged between local teams from different clubs. These games supplement practices and official games that the kids play in. If you believe in the principle of the more you play the better you get, then you try to arrange as many friendly games as you possibly can for your kids. However, not all coaches believe in playing friendly games. Some argue that if there is time to play a friendly game then there is time to hold a practice. My opinion is that kids go through so many days of practice that playing friendly games really doesn't detract from practice time. Besides, the kids really love friendly games because they are so much fun. And isn't having fun the whole point of playing soccer?

   Because the attitude concerning playing friendly games varies so much from club to club and coach to coach, I believe that it is an important point to investigate when joining a club. If asked point blank whether their team plays friendly games, every coach will say yes. But the more telling question is whether they will play friendly games with every similar aged team in town regardless of club. Ask what other local teams they have played friendly games with. If the team your child is considering is brand new, ask what local teams the age group one year older than your child has played. If they haven't played every other similar aged local team in a friendly game then you have to wonder why and whether that is ok with you or not.

   Some teams play lots of friendly games along with all of their regular season games and tournaments. Other teams hardly play them at all or won't play teams in certain clubs. I recommend joining a team that plays lots of friendly games with all the clubs in town.

9. Do all the soccer clubs have good relations with one another? next question

   Parents in the various clubs have always been generally very friendly to one another. Any relations problems between the clubs have always occurred at the officer and coach level. Several years back when only Magic and the Stars existed in BCS, the relations were at their all time worst. Now, their relations have improved so much that the two clubs occasionally talk about merging. With the emergence of AGS and CS, this has changed the scene greatly. Magic/Stars are now in a rivalry with AGS to recruit players who are willing to travel and play at the highest level they can. CS is in a rivalry with all the clubs to recruit those same top players and just play them in TYSA.

   This competition for players always keeps the relations a bit tense. And depending upon the individuals involved with any given club, the relations can be more or less strained. For example, you can occasionally still hear somebody from one club try to use the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) principle against another club. To me, it says more about the club that is trying to spread rumors than it does about the club the rumor is about. Don't take at face value any rumor you hear about a club. Either disregard the rumor entirely or check into it yourself before you accept it as truth. It has been my experience that virtually all bad rumors about any club are false.

   Even with the competition for the players, most of the clubs do hold friendly games between themselves. Some of the clubs are more friendly than others in this regard. You can tell a lot about a club by asking whether it plays friendly games with all the other clubs. The clubs least affected by these competitive issues will gladly play any similar aged team from any club.

10. What's bad about youth competitive soccer? next question

    No matter what sport you and your child become involved in it will not be perfect. There is always room for improvement. Competitive soccer is no exception and you should not be shocked when the occasional unpleasant event occurs. Some of the bad things you could encounter include the following:

    • A coach who doesn't really follow the rule about playing all D2 players at least 50% of the game.

    • A coach, who although well meaning, is very harsh on the kids.

    • The win at all cost coach who will do anything to win, even in a friendly game. For example, a team one year younger than your team shows up for a friendly game with only ten players. Do you try to make it fair and play short yourself? Do you loan them one of your own players to make it even? Or maybe you agree to let them use a young guest player? No, the win at all cost coach makes the younger team play a man down and does not short his own team by the same amount.

    • The coach who pitches a fit over what he believes is a bad ref call and acts so badly that he is asked to leave the park.

    • The spectator who loses control while watching a game and uses foul language.

    • The spreading of ill founded bad rumors about other teams and clubs. The competition felt between clubs on building teams can lead some people in the various clubs to say bad things about other clubs that have no basis in truth whatsoever.

    • The rules monger who goes beyond simply enforcing the rules and on to stretching and interpreting rules to the advantage of their own team. Everyone agrees all rules should be followed, but there is judgment required in applying the rules so that good sportsmanship and the spirit of the rules are observed. For example, a team shows up late for a game and exceeds the time limit for lateness on your watch by 45 seconds. Do you go nuts with the ref trying to enforce what you believe to be a violation of the time limit rule and thus ensure a win for your own team or do you relax and let the kids play? Believe me, there are numerous other instances where following the rules is not cut and dried, and where a rules monger can create big problems for everyone.

    No doubt there are numerous other bad things that can come up in youth competitive soccer. These are just a few that I have seen. None of it is world ending and it occurs so rarely that it doesn't even begin to offset all the good times that you and your child will have with youth competitive soccer.

11. What does the term O.D.P Mean? next question

    ODP stands for the Olympic Development Pool. This is the player selection process that ultimately leads to membership on the U.S. national team. Here are the steps one must go through: Area Pool, Area Team, State Pool, State Team, Regional Pool, Regional Team, National Pool, and finally National Team. Players have to be nominated for the initial pool tryouts and then they are selected from there on based on their performance. ODP players can come from D2 or D1 teams, but as you would suspect, the vast majority of high level ODP players play on D1 teams. Improved chances at making ODP are yet another benefit of playing at the D1 level.

12. Are there cultural and language problems in youth competitive soccer?

    I hear this question applied in two different situations. The first, is where somebody asks why the traditional Anglo majority clubs can't recruit more Hispanic and African-American players? All the clubs try very hard to make it easy for minority players to join. They provide scholarships and they go out of their way to make such players feel welcome and comfortable. And they are successful in getting some minority players to play, but not nearly as many as they would like.

    When someone asks me what it's like to be in the minority as an Anglo family on an Hispanic majority club like AGS, it makes me smile. I remind them that just in the same way the Anglo clubs go to great lengths to make minority kids feel welcome, the Hispanic kids and parents do the exact same thing for the Anglo families. All the Hispanic kids are just as fluent in English as the Anglo kids. And all the coaching instructions are spoken in English at AGS practices. The kids will sometimes use Spanish commands while playing like, "Pasa la pelota! (pass the ball!)", but the Anglo kids pick up quickly on that and it helps them to learn another language. Although not as fluent as their children, the majority of the Hispanic parents do speak English. Whoever is in the minority with any given club may initially feel uneasy. But after they get to know everyone, you quickly learn that you have far more similarities than differences. Nothing gets people together like watching their children play sports. And Soccer is the king sport of the world played by more people in more countries than all other sports combined.

The Referee says you scored goal # since March 31st, 1999.

Soccer information courtesy of Elite Software