'04 LH QT Predictions

For those that are complaining about the failure of NTX developing anything other than the biggest...fastest kids....here's a novel idea, MOVE to SoCal or the East Coast where apparently they only develop the most skilled players...If NTX coaches are so bad at development, why let your DD play for one?!!

wittymgr wrote:

Tom P. wrote:I was able to figure out the schedule ahead of time last year.  I think I used info from BWGophers so credit goes to him even though he claims it didn't work last year.  This is what I did:

For week 1 it was #1 v #20, #2 v #19 and so on.  After that it got more time intensive.  I had the rank of the '03 teams based on QT and the rank of the '02 teams based on QT.  My daughter is on Texans and we qualified by winning the 12th group.  So I found the 12th '02 team and figured out the rank of team they played each week and then matched that up to the '03 teams.  It was almost perfectly accurate.  The only adjustment came from when the '02s had been rained out and those games had been moved.

I would not count on this method. There are any number of reasons, including GotSoccer wonkyness, that a strict Premier League match ordering would not be followed or previous years schedules repeated. The schedule will be made taking into consideration coaching and other conflicts (meet the referee, approved tournaments, etc.). In other words, don't plan on it, but it "might" turn out this way. YMMV...

LHGCL could definitely change it around.  After all, they switched the QT format for U11.  And it only predicts the order of your opponents, not date, time or field.  Date, time and field might be affected by "coaching and other conflicts (meet the referee, approved tournaments, etc.)."  We had a game moved from Lewisville to UTD because of meet the referee, but the it did not change the order in which we played our opponents.

Since my daughter is now U12 I checked out the last two years of U12 D1 and their schedule has been set up the same the past two seasons.  Week 1 is 1 v10, 2 v 9 and so on and then you have to do the research.  But it matched.

No, I would not be surprised if it changed for the U11s this year, but since I still had the research from last year I used it for this year and the 12th seed, Sting Cuevas, should start with Sting Chacon, FC Dallas Premier, Sting Donovan, Kicks, LP Premier and Sting Guzman.  I was not confident enough to spend the time to go past week 6.  IGWS

Omar Gonzalez...

Grew Up in SOUF' DALLAS, Represented his Country in the 2014 World Cup...

It's Not as if North Texas ISN'T Producing or Developing Players @ the Highest Level...

smellsliketeamspirit wrote:Omar Gonzalez...

Grew Up in SOUF' DALLAS, Represented his Country in the 2014 World Cup...

It's Not as if North Texas ISN'T Producing or Developing Players @ the Highest Level...

Talking about girls dude

kick_tha_ball wrote:

smellsliketeamspirit wrote:Omar Gonzalez...

Grew Up in SOUF' DALLAS, Represented his Country in the 2014 World Cup...

It's Not as if North Texas ISN'T Producing or Developing Players @ the Highest Level...

Talking about girls dude

Ooooops!!!...

I'll Kindly BOW OUT of the Discussion Now...


  

SoccerShocker wrote:

Where did D'Feeters Munoz go?  

They didn't enter the QT. The team's still together, and I believe they're planning to play in Arlington in the fall. They had a strong Tut and a decent chance to make D3, I think, but made a different decision.

Their gotsoccer profile listed them as having 18 players so that might have had something to do with them not entering.

I will leave it as this:
For all the success NTX teams have in youth soccer, our national teams should be littered with NTX talent....yet - that's not the case. why?

Because we choose to win at all costs at U-11. Stack the back and boot it forward beats a coach trying to teach possession everytime at this age. The line is drawn right here, right now. Possession in NTX is only something to experiment with in practice or if you are blowing the other team out.

10sDad wrote:I will leave it as this:
For all the success NTX teams have in youth soccer, our national teams should be littered with NTX talent....yet - that's not the case.  why?

Because we choose to win at all costs at U-11.  Stack the back and boot it forward beats a coach trying to teach possession everytime at this age.    The line is drawn right here, right now.  Possession in NTX is only something to experiment with in practice or if you are blowing the other team out.  

How do we change this?

What is possession style soccer? one, two, three or more consecutive passes and keeping possession??  Name the U11 teams out there that actually play this way?  I personally have not seen many this at this age.

 Key words : consecutive passes and keeping possession

10sDad wrote:I will leave it as this:
For all the success NTX teams have in youth soccer, our national teams should be littered with NTX talent....yet - that's not the case.  why?

Because we choose to win at all costs at U-11.  Stack the back and boot it forward beats a coach trying to teach possession everytime at this age.    The line is drawn right here, right now.  Possession in NTX is only something to experiment with in practice or if you are blowing the other team out.  

Possession is hard to teach. It takes time as you know. You're going to lose games you otherwise wouldn't, unless you can manage to have all the best athletes while teaching possession. In that case you can win enough to satisfy parents and still teach a possession game, but it still requires a ton of work knowing you could win those games without doing it.

I was where you are with these generalizations 4 years ago. The truth is, there are SOME that teach possession here in NTX and do it well. Not many, but some. Based on what I've seen around the country, the ratio is not much different anywhere else. Some in socal do it, but not most. Some out east do it, but not most. Some in ECNL do it, but not most. It's an american thing not confined to north texas.

There was a poster named "Dr. Soccer" that used to come on the board and lament about NTX soccer everytime any national team was released that didn't have a NT player called up. Now there are texas players on most all the YNT age group pools. That said, the national teams are such a tiny, tiny sliver of the playing population, and with all sorts of political and timing factors going into selection, I'm not sure it makes sense to judge a region based on the # of NT players named.

Look at the college recruiting instead. Look at how many and where the NTX players are headed...and the year over year trends. NTX is very strong, one of the top 3 metro areas in the nation, and appears to be getting stronger.

CBTeamworks wrote:

10sDad wrote:I will leave it as this:
For all the success NTX teams have in youth soccer, our national teams should be littered with NTX talent....yet - that's not the case.  why?

Because we choose to win at all costs at U-11.  Stack the back and boot it forward beats a coach trying to teach possession everytime at this age.    The line is drawn right here, right now.  Possession in NTX is only something to experiment with in practice or if you are blowing the other team out.  

How do we change this?

Ummm maybe not posting 45 pages on which team is the best? Maybe not creating divisions for 10 year olds? Maybe worrying more about the girls development than a parent's ego?

Some teams try and work to keep possession but I'm a believer of "Great Teams, Make Good Teams Look Average."

I agree, its hard for a player to get the concept of possession versus kicking it when pressure is on.  Players confident with the ball is key to helping your team start possession style play.

CBTeamworks wrote:

10sDad wrote:I will leave it as this:
For all the success NTX teams have in youth soccer, our national teams should be littered with NTX talent....yet - that's not the case.  why?

Because we choose to win at all costs at U-11.  Stack the back and boot it forward beats a coach trying to teach possession everytime at this age.    The line is drawn right here, right now.  Possession in NTX is only something to experiment with in practice or if you are blowing the other team out.  

How do we change this?

That's the million dollar question right there...

How DO we change this?  I am not a soccer shaman like some coaches around here, so I don't claim to know what would work.  I can think of a couple simple changes that might help though...

1.  Find a way to decrease "success" on long-ball/boot it - maybe for younger ages we should use the futsal rule that the ball cannot be in the air as it crosses the half-line?  
2.  Find a way to encourage passing/finding passing lanes - maybe say all shots must be taken from within the 18, and not by the player carrying the ball into the 18?  (must be passed into the box)

That's just a couple, and I am sure we could think of more.  Maybe if we encourage this in our academies and the first couple years of league, it will encourage the kids/coaches to be more possession oriented, which will carry over into how they play when they switch to the standard FIFA rules.  Tournaments can be FIFA rules if they like for the sake of out of town teams, as well as prepare our kids for out of town tournaments that don't have these additional rules.

There are probably better options than what I stated above, and I am not an expert by any means...but I think with a couple of tweaks, we can develop our kids for soccer beyond NTX youth leagues (aka rec soccer with big, fast athletes)

Oh, please.

The object of soccer is . . . to win games.

You win games by . . . scoring goals.

So don't give me this nonsense about the importance of "possession" soccer, or defending for that matter - the team that scores more, wins more.

Teams that win, advance.  Kids that win, are seen by scouts.

Heck, look at LH qualifying last weekened.  They rewarded goals scored in the tie-breaker up to 8.  All of the D1 qualifiers were the highest scoring teams.

Best way to score goals?  It starts with speed and athleticism.  Get some fast, athletic kids and get them the ball.  With enough fast kids, you don't really have to rely on your defense or goalkeeper.

A team kicking the ball from side-to-side (or especially backwards), isn't kicking it in the direction that matters - into the goal!

As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

onlythetruth wrote:Oh, please.

The object of soccer is . . . to win games.

You win games by . . . scoring goals.

So don't give me this nonsense about the importance of "possession" soccer, or defending for that matter - the team that scores more, wins more.

Teams that win, advance.  Kids that win, are seen by scouts.

Heck, look at LH qualifying last weekened.  They rewarded goals scored in the tie-breaker up to 8.  All of the D1 qualifiers were the highest scoring teams.

Best way to score goals?  It starts with speed and athleticism.  Get some fast, athletic kids and get them the ball.  With enough fast kids, you don't really have to rely on your defense or goalkeeper.

A team kicking the ball from side-to-side (or especially backwards), isn't kicking it in the direction that matters - into the goal!

That's only going to get you so far. Sooner or later your going to face off against a team that is just as fast, just as big, and has athletes just like you. Then what are you going to do boot it deep and race to the ball. Thats where posession play comes in and you probe until you find a chink in the armor.

onlythetruth wrote:Oh, please.

The object of soccer is . . . to win games.

You win games by . . . scoring goals.

So don't give me this nonsense about the importance of "possession" soccer, or defending for that matter - the team that scores more, wins more.

Teams that win, advance.  Kids that win, are seen by scouts.

Heck, look at LH qualifying last weekened.  They rewarded goals scored in the tie-breaker up to 8.  All of the D1 qualifiers were the highest scoring teams.

Best way to score goals?  It starts with speed and athleticism.  Get some fast, athletic kids and get them the ball.  With enough fast kids, you don't really have to rely on your defense or goalkeeper.

A team kicking the ball from side-to-side (or especially backwards), isn't kicking it in the direction that matters - into the goal!

love the sarcasm!    Unfortunately, there are some parents that actually think this way for real....

Cleansheets wrote:

onlythetruth wrote:Oh, please.

The object of soccer is . . . to win games.

You win games by . . . scoring goals.

So don't give me this nonsense about the importance of "possession" soccer, or defending for that matter - the team that scores more, wins more.

Teams that win, advance.  Kids that win, are seen by scouts.

Heck, look at LH qualifying last weekened.  They rewarded goals scored in the tie-breaker up to 8.  All of the D1 qualifiers were the highest scoring teams.

Best way to score goals?  It starts with speed and athleticism.  Get some fast, athletic kids and get them the ball.  With enough fast kids, you don't really have to rely on your defense or goalkeeper.

A team kicking the ball from side-to-side (or especially backwards), isn't kicking it in the direction that matters - into the goal!

That's only going to get you so far. Sooner or later your going to face off against a team that is just as fast, just as big, and has athletes just like you. Then what are you going to do boot it deep and race to the ball. Thats where posession play comes in and you probe until you find a chink in the armor.

Recruit faster, bigger kids! 

Cobra_Kai wrote:As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I agree with that statement. I'm by no means a soccer expert, but I think a good coach can juggle both. I saw a lot of teams do very well with what appeared to be a transition to possession from good ol kickball. The reality in my mind, is at this age the kids need to still have fun while learning the technical side and God knows it's fun sprinting down the field and getting a goal for them. It's not fair to the kids to be told you will lose every game until you are 12 to learn a type of soccer. They are still kids and winning a trophy every once in a while, is one of the reasons they play the game...any game. I now cringe at the coach recruiting who says it's not about winning and this could take years. Same as the parents and Coaches that are on the win at all cost side. Common sense and good coaching can bridge the gap.

It takes changing the parents perception of things. Simple as that. This is deeply engrained in our culture. "If you arent winning it must be bad" Second, is just the first loser", etc... Its an American thing.

You have the 1% that have god given ability to step onto a pitch late in their youth careers and take up the sport, then you have the rest of them...

Hard work, dedication, love for the game, parental support, and the proper education... just like their education in school.

There are a couple teams that I take joy in seeing us beat, otherwise I look for the signs of development in my child. I look for the signs her coach is leading her down the correct path of development.

There will be a time and place that the W and L matters, but that should not be at U6-U12 soccer.

Once we change the parents mindset of win at all costs the coaches will stop coaching to win at all costs.

The coaches know that if they lose, the parents will leave, they win, the parents will stay and more kids will come. That is the market we have created in NTX.

Borussia wrote:It takes changing the parents perception of things.  Simple as that.  This is deeply engrained in our culture.  "If you arent winning it must be bad" Second, is just the first loser", etc... Its an American thing.

You have the 1% that have god given ability to step onto a pitch late in their youth careers and take up the sport, then you have the rest of them...

Hard work, dedication, love for the game, parental support, and the proper education... just like their education in school.

There are a couple teams that I take joy in seeing us beat, otherwise I look for the signs of development in my child.  I look for the signs her coach is leading her down the correct path of development.

There will be a time and place that the W and L matters, but that should not be at U6-U12 soccer.

Once we change the parents mindset of win at all costs the coaches will stop coaching to win at all costs.

The coaches know that if they lose, the parents will leave, they win, the parents will stay and more kids will come.  That is the market we have created in NTX.  

Not sure I could have articulated that any better myself...   

Borussia wrote:The coaches know that if they lose, the parents will leave, they win, the parents will stay and more kids will come.  That is the market we have created in NTX.  

Absolutely...coaches are not sought out for their ability to teach. They are sought out for their ability to win.
This is what we have created in NTX....and its why we win a lot, but have only a very select few that excel beyond youth soccer. Sure, the recruiters come now...but the word will get out that our girls, although very athletic, are years behind on tactics and soccer IQ...and they will start discounting the value of a NTX player.

so...if we were to put in the rule that the ball has to be on the ground when it passes the half line (like futsal).....do you think that would have changed a lot of the results from last weekend?

Actually FIFA rules, which City Futsal now follows, allows for the ball to be chunked beyond midcourt... Sigh, eh

10sDad wrote:so...if we were to put in the rule that the ball has to be on the ground when it passes the half line (like futsal).....do you think that would have changed a lot of the results from last weekend?

I was thinking that exact same thing....you just beat me to the punch!