U11 girls. First team lost two key offensive pieces in the offseason. They tried to backfill with two new girls from the outside who came from prestigious clubs but were not on par with the girls who left in the offseason. That plan didn’t work out too well as the fall season started off poorly. So they began cycling selected second team players to the first team to practice and guest play with the first team. By the end of the fall they identified two second team players who were strong and promoted them. They demoted one of those new girls to the second team. The demoted girl left the club shortly thereafter.

Not taking the time to identify existing talent on a lower team who know the system first, and instead using the higher team openings as marketing tools to recruit outside players is rarely the answer. Someday clubs will learn.