MicPapa -
1. "organic teams" - you mean the ones kids have to try out for while they still have 3 months left with their previous team, and then parents have to pay a lot of money to be a part of? If Coach finds someone better and willing to pay next season, they can cut 9 year old girls? Still sounds organic to you?
Yes, that's how it's worked for years now and how it works in almost every other club sport.
2. Are the players on GOATS good or bad players? You think they can't make it on a good enough team to win at this "elite" tournament but then go on to say that they don't include less marginal players. If all they care about is winning a tournament and they're good enough to get on an elite team, why didn't they just leave their loser teams and move on to one of the more serious "elite" teams that match their quality?
That's the whole point of what we call "stacking the deck". Creating a team in Combo with the #1 team in order to "have fun" shoes a motive to win. Entering Blues Cup also shows a motive. Smart parents keep their kids with the coaches who motivate them regardless of wins.
3. "Goofy" uniforms & "Clowning" around - fast forward 10 years from now and you will wish that your DD was doing more of this on the soccer pitch when she was 9. They'll never get to be 9/10 again, let them be Goofing and Clowning around while playing soccer and meeting new people.
I have no issue here. The intent is the girls have fun.
4. "mockery to serious organic teams and degrades tournament credibility" - the seriousness and formality of club teams & tournaments for 9/10 year old girls' soccer was created by some unscrupulous DOCs (not all DOCs) to convince people like you that soccer for 9/10 year olds shouldn't be fun but a "serious and prestigious" in order for parents to pay thousands of dollars for club soccer when AYSO is only a few hundred a year.
Correct, so how about you respect other PPs by keeping GOATS to summer tournaments. If it wasn't fun in the first place, none of our daughters' would be playing. If our DDs weren't serious about playing competitively, we would be at AYSO.
You say the GOATs did it for the parents, but did you ever turn to your kid and ask if they would enjoy doing that, especially without a Coach screaming at them or fear that they would be pulled out for making mistakes?
A lot to debate here, I asked my daughter what she thought if we combined a couple 3v3 teams that we know. Her response was, "That would be cheating, wouldn't it?" I also asked my daughter what her favorite part of the sport is other than playing it. She said traveling and staying overnight for tournaments.
Take a picture of your post, read it in 5 years. You'll realize the absurdity of it all.
I agree, it's all absurd. From the money spent to kids specializing at such an early age.