Stop the Madness!!! Tryouts November 12th?

I saw a posting on Instagram for Pateadores 07 and 08 "Pre-Academy" Tryouts being held on Monday, November 12th.
What the hell?

The SCDSL 07 season still has games being played until November 18th.

I thought December tryouts was crazy enough. But having tryouts while the season isn't even finished?

Is anyone advocating for the kids out there? How about a little bit of a break for a 10 year old (08) player before the pressure of trying out for a "Pre"-academy team.
 
I saw a posting on Instagram for Pateadores 07 and 08 "Pre-Academy" Tryouts being held on Monday, November 12th.
What the hell?

The SCDSL 07 season still has games being played until November 18th.

I thought December tryouts was crazy enough. But having tryouts while the season isn't even finished?

Is anyone advocating for the kids out there? How about a little bit of a break for a 10 year old (08) player before the pressure of trying out for a "Pre"-academy team.

If someone is ready to bite on "Pre-Academy" as if it were something to be desired, attending an illogically-timed tryout won't matter much.
 
I saw a posting on Instagram for Pateadores 07 and 08 "Pre-Academy" Tryouts being held on Monday, November 12th.
What the hell?

The SCDSL 07 season still has games being played until November 18th.

I thought December tryouts was crazy enough. But having tryouts while the season isn't even finished?

Is anyone advocating for the kids out there? How about a little bit of a break for a 10 year old (08) player before the pressure of trying out for a "Pre"-academy team.
Yep, these clubs are starting earlier and earlier. Last year we signed early November for this season, not to mention we had other players showing up to our practices a month before....crazy!
 
I can see it now. There will be "Pre-Academy Development League".

Kids selected will have maximum prep-school and college exposure. The kids will have 10 months season and they will have to give up their LL, NJB and whatever else sports in the off season.

The parents must commit to buy complete training gear and supporter's package. It will be reasonable though, it should only cost between 4500~5000 per season....
 
I saw a posting on Instagram for Pateadores 07 and 08 "Pre-Academy" Tryouts being held on Monday, November 12th.
What the hell?

The SCDSL 07 season still has games being played until November 18th.

I thought December tryouts was crazy enough. But having tryouts while the season isn't even finished?

Is anyone advocating for the kids out there? How about a little bit of a break for a 10 year old (08) player before the pressure of trying out for a "Pre"-academy team.

It should be regulated like club volleyball. V-ball has a set time frame that tryouts can be held. I always thought that tryouts were a little ridiculous for club soccer. Every time after G12 my daughter wanted to move teams we contacted the coaches for the teams she was interested in and let them know when and where she was playing and sometimes sent video/link. ALL of the coaches saw at least a half of her games and would contact us by email or phone and ask her to come out to practice with the team. This was easier than driving her all over SD county going to tryouts.
 
I can see it now. There will be "Pre-Academy Development League".

Kids selected will have maximum prep-school and college exposure. The kids will have 10 months season and they will have to give up their LL, NJB and whatever else sports in the off season.

The parents must commit to buy complete training gear and supporter's package. It will be reasonable though, it should only cost between 4500~5000 per season....

Preschool soccer for tots is getting popular I've heard with the Galaxy and others getting into the ''little , Lil, or Jr. " scene.

lk_soccer.png
 
It should be regulated like club volleyball. V-ball has a set time frame that tryouts can be held. I always thought that tryouts were a little ridiculous for club soccer. Every time after G12 my daughter wanted to move teams we contacted the coaches for the teams she was interested in and let them know when and where she was playing and sometimes sent video/link. ALL of the coaches saw at least a half of her games and would contact us by email or phone and ask her to come out to practice with the team. This was easier than driving her all over SD county going to tryouts.

After my second son had played up a couple of years on a team with his older brother, I let him decide if he wanted to play his own age at U9. So we went to 2 tryouts, one for the local club's U9 team and one for a neighboring club whose President was a family friend. We got phone calls from 4 different coaches or board members offering him a spot (he went with the local U9 team, to my relief). I joked with him about his 200% success ratio, until a couple of years later - my daughter had dropped club soccer in favor of lacrosse. Then she got a call from the coach organizing a B team at U10 for the local club, and we knew the coach (mother of another player on my older son's team), so she took the spot without a tryout.
 
There are a lot of unhappy players looking to switch teams asap. Since transfer window open at Thanksgiving, its very possible to have tryouts in November.
 
Tots programs are great. No different than a tumbling class or music class that many toddlers attend.
Where it would be weird is if the various competing Tots/Lils programs started recruiting from other programs. With Pre/Academy/Elite etc in their names.
 
Last edited:
Tots programs are great. No different than a tumbling class or music class that many toddlers attend.
Where it would be weird is if the various competing Tots/Lils programs started recruiting from other programs. With Pre/Academy/Elite etc in their names.
I am going to be starting an elite pre-pre academy (tm) program for fetuses. Moms will have to sign a liability waiver though because these little guys (and girls) are going to kick hard!! Just wait until I get them training on bicycle kicks!!
 
I saw a posting on Instagram for Pateadores 07 and 08 "Pre-Academy" Tryouts being held on Monday, November 12th.
What the hell?

The SCDSL 07 season still has games being played until November 18th.

I thought December tryouts was crazy enough. But having tryouts while the season isn't even finished?

Is anyone advocating for the kids out there? How about a little bit of a break for a 10 year old (08) player before the pressure of trying out for a "Pre"-academy team.






Grab the cash before they spend it on other things like Christmas, rent/mortgage, food,........
 
I am going to be starting an elite pre-pre academy (tm) program for fetuses. Moms will have to sign a liability waiver though because these little guys (and girls) are going to kick hard!! Just wait until I get them training on bicycle kicks!!

I knew my DD was going to be a goalkeeper the way she dove from side to side while en utero. Just kidding :) Thanks for the laugh tho - it is totally ridiculous how intense it is getting for little players. Let them have fun!
 
After Thanksgiving (at the earliest) means that CSL and SCDSL are over and many kids/parents have had at least one weekend off from soccer. We were naive when we setup our club initially and did open tryouts in Feb/Mar, only to realize many kids committed to clubs in Jan (some even earlier). Lesson learned. We usually have kids come out to practice with our teams once or twice and play in a scrimmage but not until December at least (and mostly not until the new year).

None of our existing players lose their spots on the roster until after State Cup so we don't often make changes before then anyway; the only way anyone leaves before Feb is if they choose to join another club (and that scenario hasn't happened to us before State Cup in the 3 years we've been formed). The only way any new players come in before Feb is if we already have an open spot. We carry a maximum of 16 players on our rosters and with a couple of teams having 15 this season, we do have one or two spots open for players that could essentially join from Dec onwards. I know many clubs carry more than that (and some carry less) but for me it's a playing time issue. Getting 5 subs playing time is tough enough; any more than that and it becomes a bit of a nightmare.

The tryout season and madness of it all is equal parts laughable and shocking. I understand kids and parents being unhappy with their situation and wanting to leave but for me there should be an element of making a commitment to a team and your teammates, then seeing that through (on the part of both club and player). Of course, if there are extreme circumstances (such as a crazy coach or the team not being able to raise enough players for games), it makes sense that you would want to move ASAP and break any commitment.

Tryouts get earlier every year and the whole tryout process seems to get messier every year. I don't know what the solution is, I'll be honest.
 
So if tryouts are this early does that then mean clubs are making their offers to its current players and asking them to pay now and sign on the dotted line for next year?

My daughter has had a rough year on a new team, it started out fine in spring then summer started to play a new position which took some time to get use to then a 2 month injury kept her out of all but 2 fall league games very little minutes in those games so yeah we aren't extremely happy about the current situation but how will i really know if she needs to find a new team/coach until the full soccer calendar year is over

I guess it wouldn't be the biggest deal if it weren't so damn expensive but why make it more stressful of a decision by making us make that decision in November
 
Back
Top