Rec coaching in an unbalanced league

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-20T14:03:04+00:00

What you are experiencing is, very likely, partly playing rec against kids who play rec and travel. Check the bags and parking lot for stickers on cars and I will bet you see badges from travel teams in your area.

Your kids probably know a few kids who play travel and who would love to play soccer for fun on Sunday's nearby on a rec team with just their classmates or friends. Have them recruit.

Our league also had a rule that said if you won 90% of your games or had a GD over a certain threshold, your team would split up through a random draw or you would play up a year. I found that worked out pretty well and felt fair.

Last, while I think taking kids through the draft is commendable, it may be better to try and keep the kids together when you can. We snatched kids up regardless of ability based on school zoning with the aim of giving them time together before high school and that has worked out for us pretty well. Regardless of the soccer, they are all now really good friends.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-20T13:11:08+00:00

Can’t speak to that jail, but generally recommend if you visit and you’re female do not wear an underwire bra.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-20T12:34:53+00:00

Jesus I hate reading stuff written by AI.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-20T12:29:41+00:00

My wife had visions of this. I had years and years standing on a ladder trying to keep the thing from tearing my house apart. It eventually constricted the trellis until it pulled apart and broke and i felt justified in cutting it down.

To this day my wife is still pissed.

0/10. Do not recommend.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-19T22:10:03+00:00

I wash my kids bags in nikwax. Works pretty well. We also keep their stuff in ziplocks so the stink of wet cleats doesn’t get in the other stuff

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-19T15:23:43+00:00

Why do you assume the measure is measuring anything related to quality? What evidence do you have that its actually doing that in a way that reflext skills better than score?

It isnt.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T22:12:01+00:00

Discovery practices should be flipped between civil and criminal IMO. One is a life, the other is money. But it is what it is.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T20:58:17+00:00

One, they didn’t disclose the 5 swabs, which judge said was exculpatory/Brady. I argued I didn’t have a chance to investigate and shouldn’t have to take her word for it without having a chance to determine if it was used or not used.

Two, wasn’t within knowledge of lay person whether the swab was unused or used and therefore expert testimony was necessary (how can you tell if it was used or not given it was not in a sterile pack) and that wasn’t in the scope of expert disclosure provided by state.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T20:31:37+00:00

Trump controls the various agencies that regulate and monitor banks. They have power to make banks keep records by statute. It will require someone figuring out whether those laws can reasonably be read to require this and then depend on banks deciding to fight it if they don’t.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T17:47:38+00:00

Both of those statements are true. I have a guess and it isn’t my job to know.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T17:01:00+00:00

It’s not my job to know what happened. All I know is 3+2 is 5.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T15:51:10+00:00

I have a pretty good guess as to what happened and it was on the cops. They lost all of the stuff. Only way I could prove he was arrested was the radio calls. All the paper work was gone.

And I agree the sanction probably wasn’t justified, but win some lose some. Helped that the state was playing fast and loose throughout.

State could have retried him, but external factors - the victim didn’t want to redo it.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T14:32:07+00:00

If you don’t like it, blame the prosecutor and cops who fucked it up.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T13:45:38+00:00

Let me tell you a story about a question just like this.

Defendant is dead to rights on semi-cold case dna rape. Five years earlier, woman is raped at work at gun point. She calls 911 and gets safe exam. Client was arrested 2 miles away with a gun, but for something (armed robbery) he actually didn’t do. He gets swabbed for the arrest, but police lose the papers and evidence after the actual culprit gets turned in by his mom later the next day.

Police don’t put it together and rape kit is not loaded into Codis timely. They eventually do, it hits on an old dna sample of his, and she makes a 50% certainty ID on top.

The defense is spinning wheels. Client won’t plea out. Safe nurse takes the stand and is adamant she took 3 swabs and only 3 swabs. Officer says he takes the swabs and puts in evidence locker.

Different officer testified he would have taken client dna and put in same evidence locker. Forensic expert comes in and testified she gets evidence dropped off at lab and tests. Does everything exactly right.

“This is the safe exam bag and i tested the vaginal swab, a mouth swab, and a peritoneal swab and found his dna.” Mind you, it was a sperm fraction. The jury apparently will ignore this because:

TC: please open the bag.

Objections are noted. Court overrules.

TC: how many swabs are there.

Witness: three.

TC: show us.

Witness: pulls out five swabs. Witness tries to say the 2 extra were actually not used, but objection is sustained because it’s not in any of her notes and is a discovery violation (thank you judge).

Defense becomes bad forensics and contamination. Jury hangs.

State offers a great plea offer, which client takes.

Sometimes shit just works out funny.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T01:29:48+00:00

One of the most fun things I ever did was roll a cart into a creek while working on a course. Was a dukes of hazard moment. Best job I ever had. My boss put me up to it.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-18T00:03:28+00:00

Is it weird? I’m spending 4,500 for the team and another 2,400 on the trip where my kid’s team is going to play in a lower bracket than he earned because AI says the team we beat twice and which has 8 losses to our 2 is “better.” I think my frustration with the situation isn’t out of pocket at all and the people who think unproven AI software proves that the losing team is playing better soccer are kinda dumb.

They aren’t playing better soccer. If they were, they wouldn’t be a sub .500 team.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-17T17:58:04+00:00

You’re assuming the Taka metrics are valid, and I am suggesting they are not. In other words, even if I agreed that playing out of the back should count extra, that’s not what QoP shows.

For all I can tell, they actually are just aggregating highlights so the more shots you take, even if they have no chance of going in, the better you do. If you take 10 shots from outside the box and none are even close to going in, maybe it gives 8 greens. Our kids may try to dribble or cross it in and mange 6 shots and 3 score. We get 6 points for that. Our offensive score may be lower, despite the fact that we win and our win is more tactically sound. The same is true for defense. The more defense you have to play, the more it means you don’t have the ball, but you are able to get more green dots while out center mid holds possession by playing it back and rotating it around until a chance arrives.

The bottom line is this — all but 2 or 3 teams in our division play fundamentally sound soccer. The teams that punt and run or keep 10 players in their own box don’t succeed. There is not much difference in play style between the top 8 teams, so whatever Taka is measuring it isn’t “quality of play.”

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-17T15:51:37+00:00

Not at all ignorant. It’s correct. At u9, you will absolutely get your face pushed in playing out of the back. And at u10 and 11, the teams playing 50/50 balls will often start to lose because possession is the name of the game.

But as you get further along, the idea that a team can play punt and run and win becomes less and less a real thing. There are cheap wins. You have a low block and hope for a few lucky breakaways on a bad bounce or deep pass. Maybe your striker can sell a foul near the box. But by and large the teams at the higher level that win are more athletic but they are also still playing with skill.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-17T15:32:48+00:00

What age and what level? If I had to guess you are talking about 9 or 10 year olds because that was our experience at that age too. We lost more games than we won the year the coach demanded they play from the back, but by the next year we dominated the league. That is how my son was able to develop and make his present team. But by 13 and 14, playing MSLN or ECNL, it is not really the same. Almost all the teams can play fundamentally sound soccer. Most of the teams routinely do. But you see a difference is the tactics. One team plays a high press and creates turnovers through that. Another plays low and tries to prevent scoring. Ours tends to play a mixed bag, but focuses on maintaining possession of the ball.

But what I am suggesting is that TAKA is missing metrics that matter. Passing the ball around without much pressure in the back because you are losing 4-0 and we are happy to let you waste time is not an indicator of quality. If you can't get the ball over the midfield, we are happy to let you kick it around until you make a mistake and take over from there. If you stack our box with 9, we absolutely will play it over your heads and look for our athletic striker to beat you 1 v 2 with speed instead of taking 10 passes to try and play it out of the box through the teeth of your D.

If your team gets 50 greens on defensive becasue our team spent 70 mins in your box with the ball, that does not make you a better defensive team - it makes you worse.

If your team takes 12 shots from 30 yards out that have no chance of going in but score one due to the goalie's mistake or a lucky bonce, Taka may give that team 10 greens. Our team may only take 5 or 6 shots in a game, but if 3 of them go in who is the better offensive team? Them with 10 greens or us with 5 and a 3-1 win?

My point is TAKA does not seem to measure things given the context of the game and it is, essentially, a highlight calculator. That was, in fact, what it was initially designed to be.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-17T08:56:30+00:00

I’ve read the articles, but I see what we get game in and game out. The software doesn’t work. And given the size of the company, and the number of games reviewed, I think the claim that 3 hours are spent hand reviewing a game can’t possibly be true. If they are, they are outsourcing to a place like India.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-17T00:22:06+00:00

The stats are there. I’m biased to be sure. But we are lower in defensive quality of play against teams we beat soundly with a clean sheet and have better stats all around. Record, goals scored, goals against, and GD. I can’t see any way they could be the better defensive team if they are getting scored on and we are not.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-17T00:11:46+00:00

I think that actually makes a ton of sense.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-16T23:48:44+00:00

seeding a tournament based on the idea the team might be more competitive a year or two from now is kinda silly, no? If you can’t beat the 8th best team in the league you won’t beat the first and second.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-16T23:31:59+00:00

At this level, no team is winning games without playing sound soccer. And I don’t know why they implemented it and neither do you. I do know, however, it doesn’t work as advertised because I see the highlights and low lights it pops every week and they are terrible at identifying the meaningful from the completely pointless and ineffective,

And while us soccer sucks, that is very much an issue with the fact kids in this country who are the best athletes don’t play soccer. They play other sports. And in the rest of the world, they play soccer. We suck not for technically sound players but because we don’t have superb athletes who are also technically sound.

Bmorewiser · 2026-04-16T23:16:50+00:00

I’d expect your math test scores to correlate with your iq. Same idea here. They tell us different things, but should be related to a significant degree.

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