04 Rankings

go99,

You say you don't blame a loss on the keeper but talk of "leaking" goals. You are the one blaming the kids. You are the one that has made the keeper and her family feel unwelcome by your attitude at the field and on this forum. You are what is wrong with Dalglish parents. It is parents like you that is the issue with academy soccer. Most relaxed parents? Really, how many times has LW sent an email to parents or a referee have to say something to a parent? Take the time and enjoy your daughter playing soccer and let the other parents do the same. If you want to come on here and bash someone, look at yourself first and throw that first stone when your daughter goes a full game, week, month or year without making a mistake. She is 7 years old and makes mistakes I am sure.

actually you can. Not every player is going to develop into a top team player. Daglish will not be playing select LP will and I am sure there will be beardsley, daglish, and other girls on that team. LW doesn't listen to me and he definitely plays the girls weather they hurt the game or not. He has chosen to keep the keeper so far even though she is an 03. The girls hurt the team in practice and that does matter as it limits what can be done in practice. But again that is LW's decision not mine. The ruse of development is that you can take any player and develop them into being a good player. Many coaches and parents fall into this ruse. You can't, the girls that have the physical traits, desire, competativeness, and agression will excel. As far as style of play, you can usually see it in how daglish plays. It's not an accident it is coached and worked on in practice. LW may feel he can develop them there. He may feel he can develope the keeper. I think he is wrong and thats my opinion. You don't coach talent. You find it and develop it as best you can. And LW is great at the development. I personally think he is soft on the getting players and cutting part. I have said before, he genuinly likes his players and I think he keeps some even when it's not in the best interest of the team or the players.[/quote]

Go99, I have been involved in youths sports (football, basketball, track and baseball) for over 15 years. I have seen kids go from age 9 to college. You are right that the "girls" who have the physical, traits, desire . . will excel. However, you make the mistake of assuming that just because a young athlete isn't dominant now, that they will never dominate. Players develop over a different time horizon. The biggest mistake a coach can make is to assume that a young kid is as good now as they ever will be. In my neighborhood, no one ever thought Drew Brees would be a star NFL qb. He didn't make varsity until his SR. season. He was always a b team quarterback, even in pop warner. Drew is a Super Bowl champion and top NFL qb. He is just one of many examples.

I am speaking from experience, don't write off the players who are slow to pick things up. If you have players who are behind the others, the best thing to do is mix up advanced players with less advanced players and let them play against each other. There are going to be ups and downs and young players will make mistakes but please don't write them off. Give those girls on your team the benefit of the doubt. The light will click on and you will be surprised when they hit the upward slope of the learning curve.

One last note on Dalglish. If the top 04 teams decide to play up in an 03 tournament against Dalglish, there is no guarantee that any of those teams will face Dalglish because they will have to play other 03 teams. That is why Dalglish should play 04 in the November tournament, then we are assured that Dalglish will play at least two of the DT Bennett, DT North, DT South, Fever, Solar Kennington group and possibly more.

Finally, how about a round robin scrimmage? DT North, DT Bennett, LP Dalglish, and Fever Red. 1st week of November, $5 admission to pay for refs. Wagon Wheel Park, Coppell, fields are in excellent condition right now. Any interest.

Actually i think you are spot on. But I think some of those girls are missing a few fundamental skills that they should work on and they aren't getting the chance because the team is on to working on something else. I said I think it is hurting them. We had a small player whose had great skill and was struggling with the size and speed of playing up. She went back to beardsley last year and is looking great, showing tons of confidence and skill. The going to beardsley helped her. Playing in an enviornment that helps your kid grow is more important that playing up or being on a supposed top team. Being overwhelmed by your team or the games is not a good enviornment for learning. Being the absolute top/dominant player on a team is also not a great enviornment to develop. Oh and according to everyone here those 03 teams we play are not good so I am sure all of the 04 teams would end up together in the final rounds. And to your Drew Brees I say exactly. He didn't develop on the top team sitting on the bench watching someone else play. He spent his time learning with the b team and developing and he got to where he needed to be when it mattered. And that is my point. At this age there is no way my BB would have been on a top team. He started rec as the kid who wouldn't get into pile and touch the soccer ball, afraid of the other kids. I am sure some parents hated to see him on the rec team. Eventualy became skilled with the ball but still physically would not challenge the ball or take one. He has gone thru select and now is doing his ODP and playing a year up in select. It was never about top team then, or now. Get better and improve as a players is the only thing that matters. A series of games to determine the best 04 team would definitely be entertaining but other than more touches would serve no purpose for my DD. Something even better that has been done with boys. Getting many of the top players together and basically playing pick up soccer. Without coaches, clubs, annoying parents screaming to win. It was amazing some of the soccer we saw them play with nobody telling them what to do

With so much bad blood between some of the top 04 teams' parents, it's probably a good idea that some teams play-up so that this situation is not aggravated!

LMAO what? Everybody loves daglish. There is no bad blood on here.

Master Bates wrote:With so much bad blood between some of the top 04 teams' parents, it's probably a good idea that some teams play-up so that this situation is not aggravated!

True. However, it would get some of the over the top parents to quit chattering about rankings, once it is settled on the pitch.

How about SDL doing 2divisions of 8 top 03 teams and 4 top 04 teams. Top 2 04s and 4 03s into the top division - bottom 04 and 03 teams relegated at the end of each season, the top 03 and 04 from D2 promoted?

Master Bates wrote:How about SDL doing 2divisions of 8 top 03 teams and 4 top 04 teams. Top 2 04s and 4 03s into the top division - bottom 04 and 03 teams relegated at the end of each season, the top 03 and 04 from D2 promoted?

This is fine as long as you understand that the top 03 teams don't play in SDL. The teams that are generally considered to be DI teams are playing in the primetime league. The teams left in SDL are DII or DIII level. This is not meant to take away anything from the 03 teams in SDL because there are several teams that are playing really well and would be considered top DII or bottom DI teams in the future.

Just don't want to see all the threads about how your 04 team beat all the top 03 teams.

Would be a waste of time having DTS, SRSA etc....they would be too good for all the teams ...

youthsports wrote:
actually you can. Not every player is going to develop into a top team player. Daglish will not be playing select LP will and I am sure there will be beardsley, daglish, and other girls on that team. LW doesn't listen to me and he definitely plays the girls weather they hurt the game or not. He has chosen to keep the keeper so far even though she is an 03. The girls hurt the team in practice and that does matter as it limits what can be done in practice. But again that is LW's decision not mine. The ruse of development is that you can take any player and develop them into being a good player. Many coaches and parents fall into this ruse. You can't, the girls that have the physical traits, desire, competativeness, and agression will excel. As far as style of play, you can usually see it in how daglish plays. It's not an accident it is coached and worked on in practice. LW may feel he can develop them there. He may feel he can develope the keeper. I think he is wrong and thats my opinion. You don't coach talent. You find it and develop it as best you can. And LW is great at the development. I personally think he is soft on the getting players and cutting part. I have said before, he genuinly likes his players and I think he keeps some even when it's not in the best interest of the team or the players.

Go99, I have been involved in youths sports (football, basketball, track and baseball) for over 15 years. I have seen kids go from age 9 to college. You are right that the "girls" who have the physical, traits, desire . . will excel. However, you make the mistake of assuming that just because a young athlete isn't dominant now, that they will never dominate. Players develop over a different time horizon. The biggest mistake a coach can make is to assume that a young kid is as good now as they ever will be. In my neighborhood, no one ever thought Drew Brees would be a star NFL qb. He didn't make varsity until his SR. season. He was always a b team quarterback, even in pop warner. Drew is a Super Bowl champion and top NFL qb. He is just one of many examples.

I am speaking from experience, don't write off the players who are slow to pick things up. If you have players who are behind the others, the best thing to do is mix up advanced players with less advanced players and let them play against each other. There are going to be ups and downs and young players will make mistakes but please don't write them off. Give those girls on your team the benefit of the doubt. The light will click on and you will be surprised when they hit the upward slope of the learning curve.

One last note on Dalglish. If the top 04 teams decide to play up in an 03 tournament against Dalglish, there is no guarantee that any of those teams will face Dalglish because they will have to play other 03 teams. That is why Dalglish should play 04 in the November tournament, then we are assured that Dalglish will play at least two of the DT Bennett, DT North, DT South, Fever, Solar Kennington group and possibly more.

Finally, how about a round robin scrimmage? DT North, DT Bennett, LP Dalglish, and Fever Red. 1st week of November, $5 admission to pay for refs. Wagon Wheel Park, Coppell, fields are in excellent condition right now. Any interest.





[/quote]So the purpose of this round robin would be what? To appease the egos of parents? To get a more accurate rankings for teams of 7 year olds? Just ridiculous.

The vast majority of Dalglish parents I have met, one or two vocal ones aside, are just enjoying the experience of seeing their daughter improve at soccer. All this nonsense about 'ducking 04 competition' and LW being a 'salesman' is so off the mark.

He is always going to do what he feels is right for his players. If he feels, given his knowledge and experience, that this particular group's development is best served playing barefoot in the rain on a concrete overpass, then so be it.

All the other 04 teams you mention have had plenty of opportunity to play up in 03 and meet his team. The Dalglish schedule and intentions have been widely circulated. No takers?

Afraid of competition? Seriously? In 03s Dalglish has played DT South, Juventus, Sting Mendoza etc. Frankly, I think if LW was concerned by W-L he would have kept his girls in 04!

"The vast majority of Dalglish parents I have met, one or two vocal ones aside, are just enjoying the experience of seeing their daughter improve at soccer. All this nonsense about 'ducking 04 competition' and LW being a 'salesman' is so off the mark.

He is always going to do what he feels is right for his players. If he feels, given his knowledge and experience, that this particular group's development is best served playing barefoot in the rain on a concrete overpass, then so be it.

All the other 04 teams you mention have had plenty of opportunity to play up in 03 and meet his team. The Dalglish schedule and intentions have been widely circulated. No takers?

Afraid of competition? Seriously? In 03s Dalglish has played DT South, Juventus, Sting Mendoza etc. Frankly, I think if LW was concerned by W-L he would have kept his girls in 04!"

For anyone to say Dalglish is afraid of competition is not being truthful. They are a legitimate top '04 team that decided to go a different route and our opinions, no matter how valid, don't really matter.

As for the Dalglish schedule and intentions, I think the same amount of respect needs to be given to the other top '04 teams decisions to not play up. In my mind, yes, I would rather have my daughter play in numerous tight, competitive, hard faught games against the top 5 '04 teams than play in lopsided wins and losses in the '03 division. Neither is right or wrong.

However, the ego of the Dalglish parents have nearly crashed this server numerous times. Once again, only a matter of opinion, but when a coach tells a group of parents that their team is better served to play against older girls, it doesn't take a smart parent to figure out "wow, my kid must be good". Whether that is a truthful statement or not, only you can decide.

Crazy4Academy wrote:

Master Bates wrote:How about SDL doing 2divisions of 8 top 03 teams and 4 top 04 teams. Top 2 04s and 4 03s into the top division - bottom 04 and 03 teams relegated at the end of each season, the top 03 and 04 from D2 promoted?

This is fine as long as you understand that the top 03 teams don't play in SDL. The teams that are generally considered to be DI teams are playing in the primetime league. The teams left in SDL are DII or DIII level. This is not meant to take away anything from the 03 teams in SDL because there are several teams that are playing really well and would be considered top DII or bottom DI teams in the future.

Just don't want to see all the threads about how your 04 team beat all the top 03 teams.

This is so not true. Primetime only took 10 teams per age bracket. They didn't take the D1 teams from SDL they took the first 10 times that registered and paid. Go look at the u10 rankings and look at the top 10 ranked teams. You will see several are not even playing in Primetime only SDL. It's not because they didn't want to play in Primetime its due to not having enough slots for more teams to play. They made and exception in the u10 and allowed 11 teams.

Trust me there are still solid D1 teams playing in SDL by choice or not.

All of the top 5 03 teams are in the primetime league. Most of the 03 playing SDL are well behind the top 5. I know for a fact that there were invites to the top of the 03 group to play in this league so they didn't take the first 10 to register.

bigheadpena wrote:All of the top 5 03 teams are in the primetime league. Most of the 03 playing SDL are well behind the top 5. I know for a fact that there were invites to the top of the 03 group to play in this league so they didn't take the first 10 to register.

When you say top 5 by who's rankings? Since there is no official rankings until select then by who's standards? Are they going off this board because we know that our rankings while close depending on who is doing the tallying could be way off.

Most of the teams you say got invites were teams that played Primetime in the spring. They weren't exclusive invites because they were the best it's because they played that league in the past. It's a hey come back and play with us and you get 1st dibs before we open to the general public.

If they were seeking out top teams only then tell me why you don't see the 5 top '04 teams in Primetime? Just happens that some of the strong '03 teams in the past played in Primetime as a 2nd league as most teams played SDL in the spring and decided to make it their primary this season. The driving force I know for many coaches and teams is cost & in the older age brackets 3 refs instead of 2. Still drives me nuts why only 2 refs for an 11v11 game in the older age bracket when paying $400 more a season.

I know some folks opinion may vary some but the same top 5 03 teams will be mentioned every time. I'm just talking about the 03 group. But I know there was an effort to make Primetime the elite league in the 03 group.

bigheadpena wrote:All of the top 5 03 teams are in the primetime league. Most of the 03 playing SDL are well behind the top 5. I know for a fact that there were invites to the top of the 03 group to play in this league so they didn't take the first 10 to register

bigheadpena is right about the '03 Primetime league and how it was put together. You can go back and see the thread about what league teams were playing in and everything for the '03s was like last year as far as teams playing in SDL. Then one by one teams started saying that they were playing in Primetime.

Even some of the parents that seemed well informed on this forum were surprised by the change from SDL. I don't know if Primetime convinced the coaches or if the coaches started the idea and then went to Primetime, but the idea of the top '03 teams playing at the Sting complex in Richardson came together pretty quickly during the summer.