[lookout123]

I don't think anyone is saying to hell with the kids Bruce. Just a couple clashing ideas coming to a boil.

The director: wants league parity so that no team can blow another out. Admirable. He hasn't been around long enough to really see any of my kids play for another team. When they are in a group and passing it looks like I've got everyone beat on a talent level. In truth, my kids aren't really better than other teams on an individual basis. Even LL has a couple kids that he's a dead tie with talent and skill wise. Each of my kids lifts the level of the players around them because of the way they play. They trust the other players to carry their weight and fill their position. That gives them the freedom to play their position without fear of being left hanging if something doesn't work.

If each team has roughly the same total skill valuation I guarantee that my team will finish the next session with better than a .500 record even if I have LL and 9 kids who've never played together. The season after that we'll win 8/10 games. Not because I'm a master tactician or my kids are super stars but because I make them play as a team instead of teaching 5 kids how to get the ball to two stars.

Weekly practice is for building the team dynamic. If kids/parents want to work on individual skills they are free to join me and LL another evening each week, when we just go kick around for fun. Teamwork will beat individual skill most of the time. That shouldn't be some foreign concept to anyone willing to be a coach.

The Parents: They've each been around the club for awhile, they like me as a coach mainly because each of their kids plays - no one is left on the outside looking in. The parents like eachother which, while not necessary, is helpful when they spend hours sitting around eachother.

The Other teams: 4 of the 5 other teams are in the same situation. The 5th has been a revolving door of players and coaches - not a coincidence. Our methods, performance, and records may be different but they each have a core group that is there season after season that they fill in with fresh kids each time. Even the coaches bitching about my "stacked" team don't want to give up their core group - they want to keep them and add a couple of my players in around them. Well, hell - if I could keep my core group and add in the strongest players from another team I'd have a team that couldn't be scored on. That's the way it works.

No one is talking about pulling their kids out of soccer. There are 3 competing programs within a 10 minute drive of the complex. Those programs would gladly accept these kids if they left our place. My goal is to keep kids playing soccer because they find it fun. To do that I need parents willing to keep paying for them to play, drive them to practices and games, and generally take time out of life for the game. To do that they have see their kids having fun and learning the game. To do that the kids and parents have to get along with the people on their team. Splitting them all up can hinder that.

Whatever, I'll be standing out there for as long as I enjoy myself or until LL decides soccer sucks and he wants to be a rodeo clown instead.