Feet Expanding

Uncle Numanga wrote:

#2420 wrote: No I do not believe it is really important. I have seen what the so called development does to North Texas youth players. You would not believe the players that are left in the wake of North Texas youth soccer development. With worn out bodies and minds by age 18. If they even make it to the age. It's a shame.

What are you talking about? Where are these worn out bodies you mention? There is always going to be a few ACL tears and sprains on every team. Women's bodies are more susceptible to injury than men. My daughter, age 17, has played at the top level since U-11 and before. She stills has the same passion and drive that she had back then, only with a stronger body. The same can be said about her teammates and those on competing teams. Do some girls drop off? Sure but not always because of worn out bodies. Often because of boys or other interests. I only remember one girl that had to quit because of injury. Hers was concussion like symptoms. She switched to basketball. As a matter of fact, we have one girl that has come back from 2 ACL tears in the same knee and she is more determined than ever to succeed.

Maybe I run in different circles but I think you make things up some times so that people think you know what you're talking about.

Uncle Numanga wrote:To say I only care about my own is ridiculous and I run in a much larger circle than you may think. I just feel that there has to be more basis than "I believe" or "I think" which seems to be your whole argument. Do you doubt my assertion that knee injuries are more common in females? If so, read this, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/64778.php To blame all of this on the academy system is crazy.

I encourage all females to work in strengthening their knees. Mine does it and so should the rest. Whether they're soccer, basketball, softball or whatever. Genetics make the knee an injury waiting to happen. If you're smart, you'll make your kid do whatever they can to make an injury less likely.

imabee wrote:Why is there being blame placed anywhere outside of the people driving their kids to practices, skills and games and signing them up for every activity in the world. Stop blaming "the man". We are accountable as parents. If you don't want your kid getting beat down, mentally and physically, then let them rest - life is too short - have fun!

Uncle Numanga wrote:2420 - Is it possible for you to make less sense?

Thank you Imabee for an intelligent remark about this.

socrocks wrote:I don't disagree that this commitment takes a physical toll on many of our girls. Our team was hammered with injuries last year...3 of them were ACLs but we also had 2 fractured spines, a fractured leg and a bevy of "normal" injuries (sprains, pulled groins, concussions). We had a roster of 18 and could barely field 10 in some of our late season games. No question, some of these were "impact" injuries but according to doctors involved many of these were overuse or over-training injuries. These were not necessarily just tied to the soccer regimen. Most of these kids (in previous years), had also participated in cross country, track, basketball, etc.....all, while also training full time for soccer. There was also a lot of feedback that these injuries concurred with growth spurts (growth plates).

There's no doubt the regimen has amped-up. We're asking kids at younger and younger ages to make a heck of a physical and mental commitment. Academy teams at u5 and u6?

The mental side....I'd day that is a situational. But I also agree that a lot of psychological pressure is put on the kids. Making the team, earning a starting spot, ODP, ECNL, parental pressures, coach pressure, missing parties, sleepovers, etc, etc. Some kids are just better equipped to deal with some of these pressures than others....but I'd suggest that a lot of it rests with the parents/coaches. Fortunately, the kids have a say in who their coaches are....the parents, not so much.

Uncle Numanga wrote:

socrocks wrote:I don't disagree that this commitment takes a physical toll on many of our girls. Our team was hammered with injuries last year...3 of them were ACLs but we also had 2 fractured spines, a fractured leg and a bevy of "normal" injuries (sprains, pulled groins, concussions). We had a roster of 18 and could barely field 10 in some of our late season games. No question, some of these were "impact" injuries but according to doctors involved many of these were overuse or over-training injuries. These were not necessarily just tied to the soccer regimen. Most of these kids (in previous years), had also participated in cross country, track, basketball, etc.....all, while also training full time for soccer. There was also a lot of feedback that these injuries concurred with growth spurts (growth plates).

There's no doubt the regimen has amped-up. We're asking kids at younger and younger ages to make a heck of a physical and mental commitment. Academy teams at u5 and u6?

The mental side....I'd day that is a situational. But I also agree that a lot of psychological pressure is put on the kids. Making the team, earning a starting spot, ODP, ECNL, parental pressures, coach pressure, missing parties, sleepovers, etc, etc. Some kids are just better equipped to deal with some of these pressures than others....but I'd suggest that a lot of it rests with the parents/coaches. Fortunately, the kids have a say in who their coaches are....the parents, not so much.

Another intelligent response. I hope your girls can work through all of this.

I am also glad that my dd is almost through with this and my boy has no interest. I am glad that I never had to make the kind of decisions that are forced upon parents and kids now. For mine, it was rec, then 2 years of academy and then select. Life was a lot simpler then and it was only 7 years ago.

imabee wrote:Why is there being blame placed anywhere outside of the people driving their kids to practices, skills and games and signing them up for every activity in the world. Stop blaming "the man". We are accountable as parents. If you don't want your kid getting beat down, mentally and physically, then let them rest - life is too short - have fun!

Bluemonster wrote:If I may posit another reason for the coaching moves. For next season the US Club Soccer plan is to roughly mimic the path the Boy's Academy Soccer program took. Each ECNL age group will permit/require each ECNL club to field multiple teams. Those teams will participate in the regional group play that occurs now, at a somewhat more robust level. Much like the "Premier League" program those teams will have the possibility of advancing to a national competition, the details of which are still being ironed out. The advantages for an ECNL Club are numerous; a player pool like ODP and fluidity of player movement between teams as needed; reduction in whining from parents in ECNL clubs whose daughters were not on ECNL; a broadened and more manageable presence for college recruitment (after all at the older levels winning is nice but a scholarship sells the program)and a reduction in dependence on local leagues as their teams at the ECNL ages will not participate.
For Feet they will have to expand by acquisition rather than development to comply, offtimes a less than pleasant accumulation/blending. Sting has teams so someone like Skip will have more options if he chooses that route
For LHGCL it will truly become a "youth league". Even now it is a somewhat pointless exercise in the older ages; little to no college presence, disinterested players, and less interested parents.
Viewing the movements of teams, coaches, and players through the prism of the ECNL clubs perhaps make more sense.

Bluemonster wrote:The two tiered system plan would be just as applicable IF the ECNL member clubs vote to not expand the number of teams per age group. In that case the multiple teams would simply reduce the overhead per team and create a more managable cost structure. All Feet is doing is hedging their bets, as any good business should. Certainly if ECNL still begins, as it does now, at the U-14 (?) age group, and if you need to have multiple teams in each age group in ECNL then you will have to build a local presence with multiple teams in the younger select ages (11-13) to have a pool to feed ECNL at U-14. In that respect there will be a strong local presence (LHGCL) in the younger ages so having multiple teams there at least

JeffM wrote:Is this still in the works? Haven't heard anything about it.