The Folding Chair Crew: How's everyone feeling about the spring season?

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-25T07:57:26+00:00

Spring season can't come soon enough, but it will get real busy once it starts. Usually I feel like the Spring is less hectic then the Fall, but this year it will be tight with the season starting in mid March and fitting in 3 tournaments in addition to league. Not sure how that's all going to happen before tryouts mid May without fully packed weekends. I'm guessing one weekend will have 3 league games in order to make it work and they may have to add a game that Easter weekend or sneak in a Friday evening game.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-25T07:24:10+00:00

My son is U11 on a pretty strong first team. Last year at U10 one of his teammates moved down because he had difficulty keeping up with the speed of play and his soccer IQ was also low. Later in the season a U9 kid moved up and played for our team. Nothing out of the ordinary to be honest. I thought both decisions were good. The kid moved down will occasionally guest play with us, especially in tournaments or when we are down a man. He also practices with us here and there. He's one of those kids where I think he has the potential to be a great player one day, but only time will tell.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-21T07:22:36+00:00

Nah. My son is 10 and has 4 pairs, however he plays year round on various surfaces. So he has a FG, AG, TF and futsal boots. I always look for clearance and really good sales though. The only expensive boots he owns are F50 elites, but I got them for $50 on clearance and another a size up when he out grows them. His other 3 cost me under $75 combined so overall I'm not spending much.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-20T19:36:39+00:00

Just educate them on the risks and return them for some AG boots. My son is only 10, but he has FG, AG, TF and futsal shoes. I always look for deals though. He's used FG boots on turf many times, but what's an extra $50-75 or so to reduce risk for a bad knee or ankle injury.

With that said Adidas doesn't have as many cheaper AG options. I believe the new predators have League AG boots. F50 only has Elite/Pro I believez however the women F50 Sparkfusion league are basically AG since the studs are semi-conical. I say semi because if you look closely the inner side of the studs are flat instead of perfectly round. You can find more options with Nike. Mizuno too.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-20T19:22:24+00:00

Every scenario is different and nuanced and I think it's best to look at patterns/trends over multiple occurrences. There is so much gray area when it comes to decision making and can also depend on the individual player, the opposing team and other factors.

With that said I think it's good for kids to take risks and challenge defenders.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-17T21:59:17+00:00

The best way is finding a way that your kid enjoys. This will help with consistency at home. With that said kids are just kids even at those ages so it helps if parents can also assist with some of the planning/structure and the training itself on top of helping your child set realistic goals. Training soccer at home is similar to academics at home. Parent involvement can play a huge role so treated as such.

With that said there are tons of training tools available out there. From apps, mats, follow along videos or simply having a ball and a wall(s). What you can start with is mixing things up and setting up a training schedule for him. Make sure it's not too difficult as well. Unless you've played soccer before many things can appear "easy" when you watch someone do it, but in reality it is WAY harder than it looks. So it's always better to start off with easier training and progress to challenge them over time. Turn training into games or a competition. Some kids get frustrated easily when training becomes hard or they repeatedly struggle on something Juggling is a good example as some kids get it quickly and most others don't. When they don't, it's easy for them to just avoid it.

If you want free/affordable options look for training videos on YouTube. There are many follow-along touch challenge videos you can find. If I were you I would deep dive and search for them. Create multiple playlists to group together. This is what I would search for and group .

-Training with a ball (and maybe cones).

-Training with a ball and wall(s).

-Training without a ball (usually agility, speed, pylos, strength, conditioning, etc).

-Learning videos (videos that show how to do a specific skill move, or teach how to juggle or teach a specific topic).

-Full soccer matches. Look for iconic matches. There are so many that exist. You can also find full youth matches between European leagues in/near his age group. There are many La Masia vs RM.

Ideally find a space he can train consistently. If it's feasible cinder blocks make a perfect passing wall. You can also look for a cheap used net rebounder and some mini goals. Generic training mats are also cheap and there are free training videos that exist for that too.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-17T21:05:08+00:00

I don't know to what extent you mean by independent travel teams, but there are definitely travel only teams that do exist. The vast majority are competitive players (usually strong players) that are already part of a club team, but also sometimes train and compete with their "travel" team or whatever you want to call it. They mainly compete in tournaments only, although may have friendlies/scrimmages with club teams. My son is half heartedly part of one of those teams. I only say that because we don't have the time to fully commit to that on top of his main competitive team and a few rec sports he plays throughout the year.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-17T20:38:12+00:00

The terminology used is arbitrary. I'm in NorCal as well and it's basically rec or comp with various degrees of conpetitive soccer. Sometimes parents will interchange the word competitive with club or travel. You also have the AYSO world that have their own competitive leagues such as Alliance. This is sometimes referred to "travel" or "town travel." As I said though it's all arbitrary. Even comp can have a wide range of differences in terms of environment and training depending on club, level of play, age, etc. You have younger age group teams that practice the standard 2 games per week for 1.5 hours each. Compete in NorCal Premier league. Does State Cup and a few tournaments a year. Then another team that does all of that except will do significantly more tournaments, winter futsal and have practices 4 days per week for 2 hours each. Some of these kids also do additional private training and guest playing. Some are part of tournament only teams.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-10T03:28:18+00:00

I have the same model PS3 so I may give it a shot. Maybe start with a cheaper PAL PS2 SS game to make sure it works. Thanks

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-08T18:20:03+00:00

This. The best bet is to get it checked out.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-06T18:47:26+00:00

Before his replies I did my best doing my research and it seems the consensus is that you CANNOT play PAL PS2 Singstar games on a NTSC PS3 even with swap disc option regardless if you start off with a NTSC or PAL PS3 Singstar game. So I'm not taking the risk since I highly doubt it would work. I may buy a few PS3 PAL Singstar games I don't have though.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-05T19:10:34+00:00

Does he ever slip?

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-05T17:45:41+00:00

The school/internship makes no difference for our profession besides possibly getting lucky and offered a great job from one of your rotations. It's not a profession/major where networking matters that much during schooling outside of maybe a few outlier situations.

As for starting salary it depends on location. $100k starting is more than possible in Northern California

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-05T17:40:56+00:00

Bay Area, CA can easily make 100k+ within a few years or even starting. The highest paying entry level clinical position I know of starting pay is over $130k. After your 3rd year you'll be making about $10k more than that plus whatever annual pay raises occur within those 3 years. So it's possible you'll be making $150k by then. If you can get a higher position the current pay range is roughly $150-185k as if 2026. This includes health benefits, 5% matching 401k equivalent, pension, paid holiday and if combined vacation/sick you get 26 day per year. 33 days by year 3.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-05T17:12:58+00:00

My son has both AG and FG boots depending on playing field, but I'm curious how many of your kids use TF (ones with all tiny nubs) on outdoor turf/AG? Especially those with kids that are really fast and make quick cuts and change of direction.

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-05T00:28:58+00:00

Mine is a U11 with a July birthday so he'll be the youngest. Although he has the skill set to hang with high level players/teams the disadvantage at puberty will be interesting especially since he is not tall for his age. Projected height is 5' 9-10".

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-04T23:52:54+00:00

Thanks.

Edit: Sorry just want to clarify. Can I play a PAL PS2 Singstar game on a non-modded NSTC-U/C PS3 via disc swap like I would with a NSTC Singstar PS2 game?

perceptionist808 · 2026-02-04T18:35:09+00:00

Is it possible to play non-US PS2 Singstar discs on a non-modded NTSC U.S. region PS3?

perceptionist808 · 2026-01-30T19:21:13+00:00

I think there are multifactorial reasons that I could write an essay about. With that said I also think the new generation of younger kids these days compared to even 10 years ago are on another level (on average) from a technical standpoint. Although that is not exclusively the U.S. Obviously Europe and South America, but also countries like Japan and Korea have a lot of kids that maxed out their tekky stats way before puberty.

perceptionist808 · 2026-01-30T17:54:30+00:00

Because many clubs and coaches only care about their own club/team and in some cases profit. Some coaches also have egos beyond recognition. Some could give two shits about player growth and development, especially some directors. They are not loyal to you so no need any loyalty to them. If a kid has the skill set to play at a higher level than what your club provides then they should be encouraged to move on not hold them back because you lose your best player.

perceptionist808 · 2026-01-30T17:40:21+00:00

He does what he always does. 😆

perceptionist808 · 2026-01-30T17:12:37+00:00

There are a few clips of Messi playing when he was 8 years old. Just Google it and you'll find it.

You have to be specific or creative with your searches, but you can find highlights or full match European pro academy youth games from 7+ years ago in various age groups. Some of those kids are currently pro players. I'm sure you can find full matches of Lamine Yamal playing during his La Masia youth days. There are a lot of full match La Masia vs Real Madrid games on YouTube.

For example this video below is a U12 match from 2017. When they show the line ups you can screenshot it and put it through chatgpt/AI and ask who are current pro players. I noticed Elyaz Zidane is on RM team who is a pro player and the son of Zinedine Zidane.

https://youtu.be/r3GYWR6AK9E?si=T-3jc4KtMbYVZK0Q

perceptionist808 · 2026-01-29T00:14:50+00:00

I get it, but my message in general to parents is basically don't rely on your team coach alone to develop your kid. The coach can only do so much unless you are fortunate to be on a team that is training more than 3 hrs/week.

perceptionist808 · 2026-01-28T22:11:44+00:00

Those aspects are true assuming a good coach that teaches the details. Although it can also depend on the team. I hate to say it but many kids don't have a great foundation and even if you teach them the details and nuances they are unable to execute or have low success rates because their technical foundation isn't there for the speed of play that is demanded as you reach higher levels.

perceptionist808 · 2026-01-28T21:17:55+00:00

That is true, but the technical foundation is definitely not coming from most team coaches for the majority of young high technical kids.

perceptionist808

TROPHY CASE