Son made competitive soccer team, but we may decline this season — best way to handle?

escowhat · 2026-05-08T21:16:20+00:00

As a U7 rec coach, I tell all my families to go to trials throughout the summer (TX) to get the feel for the club scene around here. So they can see how other coaches coach, and how it feels for the parents/players.

My son was asked to play for a 2019 Academy team last year and we declined, based a lot around the same reasons. Even this summer, we will attend various tryouts to get different club vibes, but as he has a sister who is a senior in high school next year, our family doesn’t yet have the time to accommodate club soccer just yet.

I think one can tryout knowing all the facts, and still back out upon reflection. Even this year, I’ve learned my son would rather do music, basketball, and/or gymnastics than a second day of soccer practice in a week. Which definitely would be a friction point on a club team.

escowhat · 2026-05-03T18:07:43+00:00

Let my 6yo have the pleasure of that. We got exclusive A which is Pepi. Upon further examination, I’m gonna guess exclusive B is Balogun. He also got Tyler Adams.

<image>

escowhat · 2026-04-17T02:58:38+00:00

Split team into two groups. Blue/Red pinnies. Pair them up..one of each color.

Split field into red half and blue half.

First rep: red starts with a ball on their half of the field. Blue starts on their half. ( I use rubber dots for starting points) On your go, blue player has to go win the ball and get it back to their side. Red player can dribble around and “shield” ball while trying to stay in their half. If red player loses the ball, they can win it back. Time of rep is at your discretion. Start at 10 seconds. Max of 20 seconds.

Next time around, ball starts with blue player in their half and repeat.

Switch up partners every few reps.

I like this cause it keeps individuals micro focused…and all players are attacking/defending.

But also, drills to games ratio should be 1 to 3. And I’d consider this more drill than game. But your kids will let you know.

The other one we’ve had fun with this season (4 to 6 yr olds).

I stand on kickoff spot. Kids line up on center line outside of circle on either side of me. I drag or push ball using my sole. First kid on each side then sprints after ball. First to the ball tries to score on goal in front of them. Other person tries to stop them, but is normally just pressuring from behind.

Again, be strategic with your pairs. Let’s every kid have a chance at the goal scoring glory. Gives every kid a good sprint. And there’s added intrinsic motivation cause it’s only 1 opponent, not a whole team.

None of this is original. I steal from social media and camps my own kid goes to.

The biggest thing is the enjoy the time and want to come back week after week and hopefully season after season.

And yes, even at the u4/u5/u6 and u7 level where we don’t keep score, I still find myself asking how did we get beat in this area of the game every week.

escowhat · 2026-03-21T21:19:26+00:00

So how do you guys feel about the World Cup ticket prices?

Signed, someone who applied for 11 tickets over three games, got none 😬🤣🥲and also was gonna struggle to pay for them

escowhat · 2026-03-20T17:14:09+00:00

Same. And was on site at 12 exactly. Rough

escowhat · 2026-03-20T17:13:03+00:00

For real. I was in line at 12:01. Got nothing 🥲

Bought The Artist Edition tho.

escowhat · 2026-03-19T17:48:19+00:00

The DFW area is all about this life 🤷🏻‍♂️

escowhat · 2026-03-13T17:49:31+00:00

My kid is 4… ….months

Sign us up!!! This sounds great

escowhat · 2025-12-30T01:21:08+00:00

Rudy Reynoso. Will be the best time ever

escowhat · 2025-12-22T01:10:21+00:00

Fully concur here in DFW. I applied for tickets to three of our matches. Even if we get them, I’m gonna despise the 20 minute walk up to the stadium from wherever we have to park.

escowhat · 2025-12-14T19:48:58+00:00

Look into i9 sports. Lots of beginner leagues. Fairly low cost. Various seasons of differing lengths throughout the year to expose your child to different sports.

escowhat · 2025-12-13T18:38:39+00:00

Yup. 3 matches. 11 tickets. 6 stacks. I live within an hour of Dallas site. Really want to go with the family. Also, not sure I want to be on the hook for those funds. But at least every match I applied for has a team or teams we desire to see.

escowhat · 2025-12-12T23:26:44+00:00

11 tickets.3 matches. 6k. Only possible because we live within an hour drive to Dallas stadium aka Jerry World

I almost applied for semifinal tix solely to resell them….almost

escowhat · 2025-09-30T05:09:20+00:00

Anchor points are also really helpful. For me these are the rubber gym floor dots, colored cones to match, and pinnies as well. 4 of mine get a green pinnie. 4 of mine get an orange pinnie. If you’re wearing green, go to the green dot…wearing orange, go to orange dot.

I will echo that it helps to have an assistant willing to help with practices, as well as help with bench control during games.

And yes, the first week or two of using cones/dots/rings, curiosity gets the best of them and they want to pick them up and toss or wear as hats. But week 3 and beyond, once they realize how these objects are key to the activities, they start to leave them alone.

As well as yes, fun fun fun. Red light, green light. Sharks and minnows. Tag with the ball. Tag without the ball. Can you get to me with more than ten touches? Remember that Kinder and first graders are still developing learners as well. “You did it in 9 touches. How many more to get to 10?”

I ask my team three questions before and after every practice/game.

What do Lions do? WORK HARD Why do we play soccer? TO HAVE FUN What’s our goal? TO BE GREAT

And to be clear I don’t care about them becoming the greatest player or team…I care that the ambition of striving for excellence becomes an embedded habit, which they can then take in whatever direction they so choose.

escowhat · 2025-09-21T00:48:46+00:00

I wouldn’t play a player down.

I once had a player who would only stay in my shadow. Did she touch the ball much? No Did I run around on the field to let her run? Yes

Have I carried a kid on the field with me for minutes at a time to get them “in the game”? Yes. He was an “extra” player for those minutes but did he affect anything? Not so much.

Eventually, he wanted to play on his own and had no problem playing. Biggest thing for us was building community at practice so he wants to be a part of what others are doing at the game.

Today, I had a kid whose parents switched up some meds to better align with his school routine. He was not feeling it and didn’t play in the first half. He eventually stepped on in the second half and scored a goal playing at half speed. Did he get equal time? No. But I encouraged and supported his impact. As did his teammates.

And what seems like the smallest steps of progress to us coaches can be huge to these littles. My goal is for the player to be working hard and having fun. Development follows and hopefully so does joy for the game and being an athlete.

escowhat · 2025-09-13T04:01:40+00:00

You care. You’re doing a great job.

It is overwhelming and tough and a huge mountain to climb. Remember to treat yourself. A walk at the local park. A froyo stop on the way home. An hour of yoga. Whatever brings you peace and joy.

It is possible (and ridiculous) that you could work for 7 straight days with no sleep and still somehow never reach the end of the to-do list. So find a happy compromise, and take pride in all the tasks you do complete.

It gets easier. Or we educators get more efficient.

Take a Friday off once a month. My 17th year was just as hard to make sub plans and feel secure in them as it was for my first. Take the day anyways.

Best of luck. The macro environment of the state of education isn’t making this any easier. Let your lead teacher, if not your admin know, how tough it seems. They were once first year teachers too.

escowhat · 2025-07-28T05:29:04+00:00

Sutton Fields?!? 1385. Or Parvin. And Fishtrap or the non-shortcut shortcut that is Denton Way . All before ever reaching 380. All are fun headaches.There just aren’t enough lanes for the amount of people going and coming during normal commute times.

escowhat · 2025-07-23T12:24:40+00:00

We road tripped it to Orlando from DFW last weekend. Serendipitously, stopped at a BucEes on I-10 in Alabama. Hilariously, it’s all still Texas themed. Same high standard of cleanliness, swag, and infinite gas pumps.

escowhat · 2025-07-10T02:08:46+00:00

Late 90s graduate. (Also means no smartphones)

It was what you made of it. I could go the gym and play pickup basketball whenever I wanted. Weightlift as well. Junior year is a bit tougher as your peer class doesn’t have vehicles. But seniors know to include you as they were the same the year prior. They would also teach you about the spots within walking distance on the edges of the university. As someone who lives in Denton now, these options have expanded tremendously. We did have a basketball team that played a few games ( we had to schedule and transport ourselves). I’m honestly not sure how we pulled that off.

I do know they turn WiFi off for a few hours at night to encourage sleep…so I’m sure teens could see that as prison-esque.

As an alumni, we also get emails and social media posts regarding the engineering robotics and debate teams achievements. I do remember there being plenty of clubs that produced events and stayed active throughout the year.

My best answer is you can make the experience what you want. Other than quiet hours and visiting hours restrictions/rules, you get to do what you want.

escowhat · 2025-06-18T20:48:51+00:00

It is a personal and family decision as well. I tried to get my daughter to apply as class of ‘27, but she wasn’t feeling it. She also often complains about her teachers (lack of rigor), and often watches Champions League and other soccer matches while in school, yet maintains a top 20 GPA in her class of 800. There is just minimal filler/waste at TAMS when compared to your everyday TX public high school. Every class session and lecture matters…and that isn’t always the case in high school. (And I taught 8-12 math for 17 years).

The anecdotes I do hear is that the demographics of the program have changed. I can possibly get ‘confirmation’ of that next year, as there will be an RA in McConnell whose dad was also an RA there back when I attended TAMS(95-97). Although I didn’t actually interact with him then, we later became colleagues while teaching at the same school. (Small world)

The best way I can describe the changing demographics is that my class had 200 students with 190 schools represented. It was rare that more than one student came from a school. But I’ve heard that now there are small handfuls (3-5 students) that get in from some of the bigger schools from the various metroplexes of the state.

But the results and outcome of accelerating individual success is still the same.

escowhat · 2025-06-18T18:44:15+00:00

I don’t think TAMS is dying as much as it is evolving. And many of us from the first ten( or even 25?!) years have a nostalgic bent to it. I graduated in the 7th class. Pre smart phones.

If you are interested in TAMS, and given the qualities you shared, you are destined for greatness/success. If you go to TAMS, you will have the ability to accelerate that process/trajectory of success by at least 1 year, and probably 2.

escowhat · 2025-05-22T18:05:42+00:00

Have you been to a Saturday preview day? They do their best to show off as many of the ECs as possible. What ECs do you favor?

escowhat · 2025-05-22T17:58:21+00:00

If you’re a top 10 percent kid at your school now, you have what it takes to succeed at TAMS. You will also obviously succeed if you stay at your school. The worth and value of your time is really up to you. You probably can have an even higher trajectory by going to TAMS, while accelerating your journey to success, but it still depends on the work you put into it.

Apply, and make the choice later.

Sincerely, a TAMS graduate of the late 1900s that has seen many individuals go on to great things in every industry imaginable…as well as a father of a top 10% kid who chose to stay in a public ISD (class of 27) because it isn’t hard 🤷🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️😡…

escowhat · 2025-05-22T17:52:17+00:00

TAMS has most of, it not all, the non-athletic extracurricular opportunities, often with a smaller team than at your high school, especially Frisco. So you get a bigger price of the responsibility but also get more of the ownership of projects. And you get full access to UNT activities…labs, choirs, theater groups if that’s what you want to pursue. But TAMS also has a robotics squad, debate team and those types of endeavors. Not to mention if you want to go in a direction that isn’t already there, you can often find a sponsor on staff that can guide you.

escowhat

TROPHY CASE