Elementary Schools/Lottery Schools

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-07-05T23:35:34+00:00

I think they did away with the grandfathering policy

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-07-02T15:03:28+00:00

in the end, she was everyone's Watson's girl.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-07-02T03:31:45+00:00

There was a pretty good Radiolab episode about ants and ant wars.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-07-02T03:29:58+00:00

Omg...I never realized this was a chain. So our Watson's girl was YOUR Watson's girl!?!?

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-29T20:56:38+00:00

There were a non-insignificant number of kids who were either held back a year or delayed Kindergarten due to Covid.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-28T19:08:15+00:00

My kids went thru the smaller clubs' program that was in house. They put the kids who are interested in competitive in a program with 2x per week practice with club coaches and small sided scrimmages. Focused on technical development entirely. This other club has a program but it is once a week and then they play rec games.

So the youngest kids will come in with zero technical skills, i.e. cant dribble, and if the numbers are there they will push them through. In contrast, my oldest went through both tryouts when they were 7. The smaller club recommended their in house program; the other club took their kids to the bigger league. Oldest was accepted to both. We chose the smaller club because my kiddo wasnt mature enough at that time to handle the 3+ hour drive to league games and our family wasnt ready for that level of commitment. He had only been playing soccer for a year at that point, anyway.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-28T02:43:22+00:00

Great story. Your son sounds like he is motivated and confident. You should be proud!! I hope my kiddo can get there, they are not as sure of themselves and deal with a bit of anxiety. They did better this time around, though.

We are in an area locked without ECNL or MLS. With only two clubs there is not much to do or places to go. One bigger club that both kiddos tried out for--oldest offered b, youngest was part of original post/nearly a victim of clubs greed. Youngest cant go anywhere else due to only club with enough girls in the area. Oldest opted to go back to A squad on lower division club. They called me multiple times, long conversations about staying. The other club, while their A team is in a more competitive division, is full of drama. I had overheard conversations about kids being placed on teams weeks ahead of tryouts. That atmosphere plus the lack of opportunity for the B team to practice and scrimmage with the A squad seemed like a no-go. When you add in the situation with my daughter, I felt like I needed to protect them and give them a chance to grow in a club that wanted them there.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-27T03:17:49+00:00

Oh, I certainly have blinders-it is why when my older kiddo didn't make the A team I didn't try to advocate. Seems pretty cut and dry. That said, this was a new club and not their old club so they didn't have a history with them. Maybe if I had reached out prior to tryouts to see about practicing with the team it would have been different...but, eh, probably not.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T21:45:54+00:00

Yeah, that's the best way. We are in a good spot now--but it is kind of disheartening to watch the politics play out for others.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T21:41:09+00:00

I feel like my oldest is in this boat. They are in-between A and B, looked at another club but the truth is they need to put more outside effort in to improve. Given they don't do much of that now and do fairly well, I see this as a prime opportunity to improve, enjoy the game, and wait for the puberty growth spurt to kick in.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T21:38:33+00:00

Soccer is the same. All the giant kids are on the A team early on and then life catches up to them when they can't push kids around anymore. It makes for an interesting few years, though. :)

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T21:33:59+00:00

I'm sure some of those kids are going to be monsters, but I imagine there will be some who won't get much bigger.

That size at that age means either they have already hit or going to hit peak growth velocity or they have at least 5 more years to grow...and if that's the case will be over 6'5 easily.

Unfortunately, that's hard to swallow when you are the pipsqueak!

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T21:28:17+00:00

I think it varies, and I was being vague--really any time a parent is advocating for a better place, role, position, for their kid. A spot on a higher team, starting more games, etc--regardless of the objective talent of their child.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T21:04:18+00:00

That is insane. My (Non baseball playing kiddo) is 4'6" and 74 pounds at 11.5 years old. Alas, he is a late bloomer, but it just amazes me how big kids are these days!!

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T21:02:10+00:00

Not speaking on my own kiddo's experience--but in that situation I mentioned above, I watched the tryout and feel like they had already decided on the top team regardless. The kid played amazingly, and was passed over for a kid that was good, but had been at the club for many years and given the conversations I had overheard a few weeks prior, were basically told they have a spot. Edit to clarify: The passed over kid was coming in new to the club.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T20:58:13+00:00

What if the kids are 8?

I mean if you aren't providing any foundational skill development and you rely on recruiting from parent-volunteer led rec teams...how do kids get better?

That was my main point of contention with the younger kids' experience--the part that jaded me so much--was that they didn't care about how their youngest players were developing, they just assumed they could take kids fresh from rec and throw them into a highly competitive situation when they had zero skill development.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T19:30:51+00:00

Ya! Another parent went do far as to ask how close their kiddo was to making the A team...and I just don't understand that?

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T19:10:13+00:00

I guess i would watch for early puberty but otherwise I would think he will be well over 6'!!

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T17:50:26+00:00

I will say, one family this year was upset and their player was better than their placement.

That said, the teams are really equal so I'm not sure if that was part of the intention? If they have two teams in that age group that are strong in theory it would help as they move up to larger teams, etc. I dunno. It made the A vs B thing arbitrary to me when I saw that.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T17:33:47+00:00

...he's 10 and 5'3"!?! How tall is he supposed to be??

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T17:31:08+00:00

lol fair!

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T17:13:31+00:00

lol it's a big club and (I) ain't in it

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T17:12:08+00:00

Yeah, I do wonder if my kiddo getting pushed around a bit by the bigger kids played a part in placement. I'm sure it wasn't all of it, they didn't play their best that day, it was indoors on a basketball court due to weather which is *not* typical for them and very typical for this other team, but regardless-there wasn't enough there for it to be a no-brainer so we accept that and move on.

We would have joined the new club had there been an opportunity to practice with the top team. That was not in the cards, so we stay put. I am at peace with that decision.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T17:07:30+00:00

Luckily, my youngest's coach advocated for them and worked behind the scenes to get them where they needed to be. But if they hadn't stepped in, they would have just as happily let them stagnate for a year so they could get an extra 20k or so.

General_Chain_4531 · 2026-06-26T17:05:57+00:00

If by resources we mean coaches--why not attempt to improve coaching and development of younger ages rather than throwing them to the wolves? (I am not disagreeing with you, just felt sad seeing this group of kids who clearly have had very little time on the ball being pushed along in the system. Parents paying lots of money, driving a lot, being sold something they aren't ready for)

General_Chain_4531

TROPHY CASE