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Surrey Soccer Yearly ClusterFcuk

Dude

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Who cares. Sign your kid up and play some footie. Thats what its about. It shouldnt cost arm and leg to play this game. Too many clubs charge way too much. Most of the coaches suck anyway at the younger level and are too sensitive. When I coached my daughter team (u8,u9) I invited some of the strongest players from other teams within the club to meet up and play together. Just for fun. Coaches got mad. I was like let them play, its free, good competition, good training. Who cares what club or team it is!?!? I like free registration but too bad majority of people think you have to pay big money to succeed when its actually opposite.
Probably the only place you went wrong there was not letting the coaches know your intention and working with them. When you are a youth coach, you get a jambalaya of players, and your ethical duty is to coach them all to the highest level they can attain, so what ends up happening is that, unfortunately, the stronger players do get dragged down a bit. The flip side is, some kids don't start "getting it" till years down the road. Often times the kids that were standouts before maturing (say, 12) fall back, and the weaker players all of a sudden step up...if they had stuck w/ the program. My daughter was one of those kids....definitely a weaker player until U13, but her last 4 years jumped forward to be a very strong player in her age group.

Something like you propose, as a coach, I'd have welcomed it, and offered the advise of presenting it as "extra high level training", but what you can't do is pick and chose. You need to make it available to any player that is willing to do the extra training.
 

Dude

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Hello.

Covid is making me squirrelly so maybe providing some drama out here in the open forums will spice things up in my life...

So there is a new group / club supposedly starting up in Surrey called Cloverdale United. No website yet but they are supposedly already taking registrations and they are leading off with free registrations for younger group ages.

Who in their right mind would sign there kids up for this with no idea who is coaching, nevermind who runs this outfit?

So poking around behind the curtains the last couple of days after seeing something on twatter, seems like we are in for some fun along the lines what we've seen in Surrey Newton the last decade or so.

Fun times ahead 100%.

Anyone else hear any rumours or know some concrete details?



As to this....is it really surprising?
 

Regs

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If some of the people I'm hearing are supposedly involved, yes, surprised.

For others, no, not surprising at all.

Imagine though the shite show at Newton playing out at CAP and the new clubhouse is taken over by a new group as soon as the paint is dry.
 

Dude

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I can imagine it well, LOL. But @Regs as much as I am (and you are) such huge fans of certain people w/in the club- some people have very inappropriate man crushes on @Ballbaby but not naming names- it has also become so huge, and the academy such a blatant cash grab, that you could see this coming many years ago. Maybe the best thing for a club like this is you really only have to hope the people within who may have power or draw will run out of time. It's easy to lose track of time when you only have a 10-12 year window, from U6 to U18. Most people who do have the ability to draw players don't have the energy to step away from the safety network of the club.

Anyways, I know nothing about this, I'm just saying it isn't surprising there is a rogue group trying to go out on it's own.
 

bulljive

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The issue is and always will be is field space. Especially with covid there sure isn’t a lot of turf space(lights) available. I wonder where a new club will play.
I agree with what you are saying with making the extras available to all kids Dude. There is a part of me that thinks those top 8-10 would really benefit from getting more time together. Some kids start to get it at a young age but don’t get to develop because you can’t make the progress with the group.
I do feel that’s an issue in Canada. We don’t allow the elite to really be the elite and train with the best. Unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for extras.
 

Dude

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You've just nailed the issue, it's the extra costs model that is killing us. @robino has the right idea here.

And, there are several of these "small sided" type groups going on everywhere due exactly to the same frustration issue. A mutual friend of ours in North Delta was telling me about his kid participating in one such group. His son is (I think) 10, and showing the elite level skills and desire. These small sided groups have been training together all spring / summer. No extra fees, no fuss, but definitely off the books.

Problem is, the big clubs like Surrey United are discouraging this in administrative BS and locking down pitch time, they then force the elite kids into the extra "pay to play" model. Talk about driving kids - and parents- away. My buddy talks about it; his son is equally talented at baseball, and right now, baseball has a way clearer pathway to university elite level ball and beyond, and it costs a lot less. I see his kids specializing there due to opportunity. Hey, kid loves sports, likely happy either way, and likely happy with whatever gives him the best opportunity to get paid playing sports.
 

Reccos

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I think back to the days of coaching our two boys in soccer and baseball in East Burnaby where many of our best athletes weren't from well off families or for some of the ethnic kids - or parents who never came to games ever and if they'd be in sports given what some pay today.

Jim Easton, Sr who I assisted for his two years as SFU JV soccer mens coach used to say to me constantly "the cream will always rise to the top" no matter where they play. We had high students from his school contacts - Rich Sumner and Mark Slater - and those two plus 4 others became starters with the Varsity side so I think he knows a bit about soccer.

Robino's story is not uncommon it seems.
 
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Dude

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I think back to the days of coaching our two boys in soccer and baseball in East Burnaby where many of our best athletes weren't from well off families or for some of the ethnic kids - or parents who never came to games ever and if they'd be in sports given what some pay today.

Jim Easton, Sr who I assisted for his two years as SFU JV soccer mens coach used to say to me constantly "the cream will always rise to the top" no matter where they play. We had high students from his school contacts - Rich Sumner and Mark Slater - and those two plus 4 others became starters with the Varsity side so I think he knows a bit about soccer.

Robino's story is not uncommon it seems.
Nice to see you back here, @Reccos ! So, Richy is someone I grew up with. He and I were at Coquitlam Olympus together. I don't mind saying I was one of those kids from low income, and I think Rich was too. Our backyards joined at the fence, and let's just say the fence was pretty shitty. John Retalick @ Olympus grabbed the best players from Coquitlam that weren't already signed to Metro-Ford, and I know for certain my mum didn't have to come up with fees at least once if not a couple of years. John had 6 kits for us, including summer kits (2 colors), Winter (2 colors), training kits (2 colors), and a kit bag. We were expected to have 2 training tops to every session, and all kits in the bag for matches. John also made damn sure we were invited out to play in front of Willy Azzie every spring and through summer. He didn't try and hang onto players, he pushed us up. Thinking of that squad, there were about 4/5 of us that were pushed onto Metro-Ford and would play all summer w/ the squad. Azzie would cut along the way. Rich stuck and of course had a great career at SFU. Not sure where he is these days- ran into him a few times in Men's. I broke my leg badly in grade 10, and my youth career ended there. John was the reason I chose footy over baseball at the time, and I know for sure had it not been for him and a long line of coaches before him that were looking out for poor kids, I wouldn't have been playing at all.

Point being, what they were doing back then wouldn't not fly anymore. Nobody is looking out for the low income kids.
 

Regs

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Cool Story Bro GIF by themarisjones
 

Regs

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I think this is to be expected when you once saved Langley and had great hair.

Allegedly.
 

Dude

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It wouldn't be if people weren't so sick of calling out clubs that like to pay players under the table in amateur leagues. That's a way more engaging topic than advocating for an identification & development system that doesn't reject low income kids.

Fcuk off, I'm busy.
 

robino

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Just to clarify, I asked parents of those kids if they want to meet up and play. Nothing to do with a club or a team. Its like a play date. I do not see anything wrong with that and actually would be honoured if someone approached me and said does your daughter want to play with some other kids and so on. Actually if I coached a team and some guy is talking to a kid on my team and wanting to meet up and play I would encourage it. Its not about me its about the kid. There is a difference between kids who are engaged vs those who are not. If they are still picking grass by 10, most likely soccer does not interest them.
 

robino

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To add, most of the TDs and Tcoaches make lots of money. When my kids were younger I said to the TD get kids who are engaged and have a session with them once in a while. He said no, we are a house club. They make 80,000 plus. I am always seeing them observe, observe and observe. For the amount of money they are paid and the hours they work 5pm -9pm. all the extra academies, training offerings and so for should be FREE and tun by the TDs
 

Dude

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To add, most of the TDs and Tcoaches make lots of money. When my kids were younger I said to the TD get kids who are engaged and have a session with them once in a while. He said no, we are a house club. They make 80,000 plus. I am always seeing them observe, observe and observe. For the amount of money they are paid and the hours they work 5pm -9pm. all the extra academies, training offerings and so for should be FREE and tun by the TDs
Wow, exactly what I went through at Surrey United! It was frustrating. What I ended up doing in my squad was seeking donation money from the business owners on the team to sponsor the squad, and I put that money into private sessions, in many cases coaches from outside academy, as I found the academy coaches lacking. Had I not had a couple of well of business owners, I would have paid for it myself. I was not going to ask each parent for an extra $100 for private sessions. I found these really good. I'm not a professional coach. Certainly, better than most coaches, but for the most parts I found that guys who'd been around the game on a professional level- either playing, coaching, or both- always offered something I couldn't, and it made me better.
 

robino

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Thank you for sharing your experience. I was always wondering why are all the academies within a non-profit soccer club cost so much? I believe TDs are already paid (some are on salary) thus shouldnt they promote and encourage players to be playing the game more and not always wait until money starts coming in. At my friends club, he was asked to purchase his own equipment such as nets, as a volunteer coach?!?! I am not sure how much money is being circulated but it seems very odd that they rarely put something for the kids (training, tournaments, educational sessions - wihout asking for money). This is just wrong, and its too bad that soccer people who are in these positions do not feel that way.
 

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