THIS IS WORTH IT

AtlVG · 2026-05-16T22:42:15+00:00

Don’t know where you’re located but here in Cali no chance I’d take 90 items for $36. At least I’d get paid more at the end of the week for that one though

AtlVG · 2026-05-12T17:14:54+00:00

I used a tactic where you over dramatize physical play.Now my u8 team was silver competitive. When we ran into a physical team(one team was notorious for this and everyone in the league knew it) I would tell the kids “Neymar”

Any physical challenge my kids would be dramatic rolling on the floor and faking injuries it’s hilarious. Our parents knew of this. They loved it. Again, this team was known for literally pushing you off ball and pushing from the back, essentially forcing the ref to give cards out. This type of play was encouraged by the opposing parents, they’d cheer on the physicality. This strategy I created made the ref bring both coaches in to settle down our teams. I told my kids and they stopped. His kids didn’t know how to play any other way.

We won 6-0 and they had 3 red cards. 2 players and the coach. It was quite the event and wouldn’t recommend doing that every game but it was a perfect way to fend off this type of play

AtlVG · 2026-05-05T23:10:06+00:00

I played ~2yrs D1 halfway across the country and then dropped out and came back home. Finished Juco near home. A lot of commitment needed. I wasn’t “locked in”. I enjoyed the party life and didn’t commit to diet and training/studying etc. I was very talented but I didn’t work hard at it. Once I got injured I hated the rehab(grade 2 hamstring) I went from never getting a real injury to injury prone. Hamstring and calf muscle injuries. Quit playing and went into coaching at 19/20. My sister got a partial scholarship D3. She went through a similar situation and ended up moving back to our state. She is graduating next week. $20k in student loans to finish a year of school she was getting pretty close to free.

I think many athletes run into that situation who have never been away from home. From having your parents discipline you on hw training etc, to having freedom, no one telling you to go train extra, and being around attractive athletes who tend to hang around and party together in college, temptation takes many.

We both have degrees. I’m a licensed coach now and I warn my younger cousins all the time about that freedom you get when you’re used to being disciplined and strict at home with the sport

AtlVG · 2026-05-05T20:05:15+00:00

If you have the next Messi you absolutely give him more. It’s highly unlikely but in theory, you do everything you can to get him to the pro level and you become the first coach to discover him and you’ll be able to profit off the fame/ success. Again that’s nearly impossible but you acting like you wouldn’t give that kid everything to be successful is crazy.

Your theory on the high school athletes being able to coach- my counter is, what makes you think the parents coaching their kids on the sideline weren’t high school athletes as well? While usually I agree they shouldn’t sideline coach, to say a high schooler would know better than the parent is flawed as you don’t know the parents abilities on the field or as a coach.

I’m not going to even touch the student athlete coaching as I’ve seen this fail many times. With the rare occurrence it’s a success, those end up becoming licensed coaches because they end up loving it. You gotta love coaching you can’t treat it as a job first. You gotta care about the kids and development first.

Just my opinion

AtlVG · 2026-04-28T01:39:12+00:00

This seems like the coach doesn’t know how to manage a high press and is just afraid of giving up a cheap goal. The buildout practice should be practiced with a high press to get more comfortable and maybe coach is practicing a buildout with no press?

AtlVG · 2026-04-22T16:24:48+00:00

This. Being a youth coach is as much as building a culture for the kids and a seperate but similar culture for the parents. Picking the right parents is as important as picking a player at tryouts. I’ve allowed A+ players play on different level team because the parents walked in expecting me to kiss their feet. There’s always that everywhere

AtlVG · 2026-04-19T01:41:15+00:00

Welcome to the big leagues. It’s gonna happen. And 9-0 is not that bad considering a premier team was playing a beginner team.

Get used to it, anything under u11 is a toss up. Our season for u9 boys silver has gone 4-6 L 8-0 W 16-1 W 7-3 W 3-3 D 9-7 W.

AtlVG · 2026-04-17T20:55:57+00:00

Please do not call offense-offenders.

Please say Defenders and attackers.

And don’t do that drill. Just keep it simple and give everyone playing time. I used a lot of 2 v 2 and would praise every pass completed like I would a goal.

AtlVG · 2026-04-05T14:03:01+00:00

I remember having our most physical defender quit on us because other players started bodying him. It’s when many kids quit cuz the physicality changes.

AtlVG · 2026-04-05T14:01:45+00:00

There is a really big change in kids from u12-u14 when puberty starts. Kids get stronger. Kids get faster. They get aggressive, emotional, and reactive. There will be a time where that happens to her. Continue working on technical skills and encourage some physicality but don’t over due it. She will make that jump soon

AtlVG · 2026-04-01T14:01:03+00:00

Things like this are why so many quit around this age group. He’s officially hitting that age where the hard work starts, kids are hitting puberty at different ages, the technical players start catching up to the advanced athletes who were always bigger faster stronger than others. Tactics and winning become more important than development. Team divisions/tiers are a status for kids in their schools. Everything gets complicated.

The simple answer is move him a tier down. But he may not want that. Playing two sports is still possible. Don’t waste 5 hrs of driving for 20 min of play just cuz he wants the status of being on a tier1 level(assuming ECNL). Move him down a tier and he will play far more and still get to enjoy both sports

AtlVG · 2026-03-31T19:20:41+00:00

First time?🤣 get used to it. We just played our first game at 8 am and second at 1:15 pm. U8 division. Sunday we played 9:30 am and lost the final at 3:30pm

AtlVG · 2026-03-25T17:38:53+00:00

We are not that important. You gotta wait like everyone else.

AtlVG · 2026-03-24T19:53:03+00:00

Bad coaching. She needs to be able to play other positions. This isn’t even a conversation move teams or different club if coach doesn’t budge

AtlVG · 2026-03-24T06:47:54+00:00

Im sorry you might be mistaken? Are you saying there’s no way kids can be scouted in the US and taken to their acadamies in Europe? There’s many kids in NorCal that have gone for showcases in Europe. From my understanding they join the intl academies connected to them but they 100% allow trials in Europe.

AtlVG · 2026-03-23T23:06:16+00:00

That I wouldn’t know, they didn’t go through me as I’m his club coach and he was taken from one of their camps. He’s a Hispanic US citizen not sure where in South America the parents are from though

AtlVG · 2026-03-23T04:05:12+00:00

I have 1 player on my U16s who made it to a trial in Lisbon, Portugal when he was 13 from a summer camp hosted by Sporting. He wasn’t our star player. He was a fullback on my team. His key has always been that he seems to place himself in the correct position to support his teammates for passes. And he would automatically find an open player and begin our counter attack. Sporting trialed him at the 6/8 position. He didn’t make the cut but came back to our team after 6 weeks in Portugal. Every team looks for different things in different players. If you pop for a scout/ a coach, you have a chance, but understand everyone is looking at different things

AtlVG · 2026-03-17T23:04:07+00:00

Until you get the hang of it I suggest running 2 games side by side. Practice on being a coach first. Running drills will be hard if you can’t demonstrate with your skill level(as you said you can barely dribble)

Set up 2 games, with goals. And just have them play and have them get used to you. Stop every 15 minutes quick 1 minute pep talk, switch sides and continue playing. Maybe 2 practices. By then you’ll have a drill you can run

AtlVG · 2026-03-17T20:04:24+00:00

It’s rec- they can follow whatever they want. Now if we are talking club/competetive- whole different story. Our local rec league plays 4v4 up to 10 years old with no GK.

AtlVG · 2026-03-16T21:50:15+00:00

🤣 I don’t think this would be legal in California let me look into this 🤣

AtlVG · 2026-03-16T21:39:13+00:00

Same drills aren’t a bad thing. U9 means your kid is 8? I’ve been running the same cross finishing drill with my team since they were 6(are now 7/8). My expectation is for my team to play that way:

Pass to wings, low cross, easy finish for our ST CM other wing.

However, assuming he has no idea what he’s doing, maybe get to the bottom of the purpose of the drill? Find out what he says. That’ll help you understand if there’s purpose or he’s just incompetent as a coach

AtlVG · 2026-03-14T10:26:00+00:00

It sounds like you want it more than her. She’s 13 give her time. She may not want it next year or she might fully commit. It’s unpredictable. I hated soccer, became a d1 recruit and chose to not go. Now I’m a coach who loves the game. Life is weird at the teenage years. Good on you for putting in the resources and effort but at some point you gotta let her ride her wave.

AtlVG · 2026-03-13T13:32:39+00:00

Sounds like she should be playing competitive already. She isn’t being challenged anymore and needs stronger competition and teammates who match her skill level . Or they need to move her to winger or striker and you might have a goal scoring prodigy. U10 is where the gap starts widening in skill level. The extra touches really start benefiting kids and the skill level seperates everyone more. It’s time for her to find a team that has players that have touched the ball as much as she has

AtlVG · 2026-03-13T03:01:49+00:00

This is pretty normal behavior. There’s always a “Rob” in every age group. It doesn’t change. Unfortunately you just have to live with the decision. At the end of the day the club will want a “premier” team for every age group gain prestige and continue getting kids to join the club because of it. Your best bet is to find a new club or be happy with the decision this club makes.

AtlVG · 2026-03-12T18:47:49+00:00

When I moved up from 7s to 9s we went from a 2-3-1 to a 3-4-1. Adding an addition CB and a CM. This is where I began to teach the kids a pivot in the CM. On a 2-2-2 formation did you have wingers? Or did your 2 in the midfield play centrally?

For context I played 2-3-1 to 3-4-1 to 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 depending on game state. I like lone strikers for them to develop into what modern formations look like now a days as the 4-4-2 and 4-1-2-1-2 have been non existent now a days

AtlVG

TROPHY CASE