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Soccer Politics
I heard recently that a local under 12 boys soccer team has been denied their request to be a Rep team for Tsawwassen. Apparently a program was being started by keen individuals to raise the level of play locally so that Tsawwassen boys (and girls) are able to play at a high level in their own home town. There is a great level of excitement about this plan that includes a three tiered strategy where all players can be presented with an environment that is challenging and creates growth. Unfortunately the governing bodies (not clear who these are) have decided that T-town does not warrant rep teams at both the Gold and the Silver levels. It means that the Silver team is destined to play at a House level rather than at a level that will be challenging and growth promoting. The process for going GOLD, as they call it, seems to be very unclear and appears again from the outside to have a large subjective component. The lack of clarity in the process and the belief that someone or some group are making life difficult for others, creates a great deal of ill will. I wish them the best of luck in their pursuit as it seems like a noble cause.
- JohnDacid's blog
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Jim, Thanks for your thoughts - very interesting. I too am a former President of a baseball association in the interior of B.C. and can certainly feel for all of the challenges of the executive. I've learned that the initial issue of discussion was more about not being told until the last minute about their refusal at their desired tier. A deadly communication error. Anyways...
Tiering is a very, very interesting topic. Tiering really requires numbers to be effective or the quality of the experience for all is poor. This seems to work in hockey where the numbers are there and in many cases for baseball (North Delta, White Rock/South Surrey, Surrey). For small communities such as Tsawwassen, the tiering thing just didn't and wouldn't work. Apparently the tiering was tried many years ago and it took the association many years to recover. The answer might have been to merge with Ladner but there were too many adults protecting their own interests so that all got in the way of doing something for the kids. :-(. Who knows what might have happened if the two communities merged. As an executive you are always challenged with providing the best possible experience for ALL the participants and not the Cream. The challenge of getting the best for the organization as a whole or getting the best for the cream is easily skewed based on the abilities of your own children. In my case, with many children of varying talents, I want it both ways :-) Argghh... all for now. I look forward to further blogs on this.
germinator
Interesting stuff. I have a question as well. What is your philosophy on playing time for U-11 kids?
For example, should better players play all game every game?
Dear John ,
I am a past President of the Tsaw. Soccer Club and spent about 6 years total on the Executive. I am not going to toot my horn about my accomplishments while there or tell that these are volunteer positions and everyone is just trying to do their best ,because sometimes in life , assholes get positions of authority and then screw things up. However , the age group that you are talking about creates the same issues in this club year after year. Is it the executive and the fact that this club does not have the membership to warrant "rep" teams in every division ? What's more is that who is benefitting here ? Is your child striving to get ahead at 11 years of age or dad believes that their kid is the next Canadian International ? You will be fortunate that of the 60 kids playing at your age group now , 15 will be playing at U-18. Why ? Because they were not provided the infrastructure to play to their level when they were younger ? Listen , the cream will rise to the top .
Your best player at 10 years of age will not be your best player at 14 and again at 18. If you have a desire to advance your son in the sport there are LOADS of opportunities outside of the club starting with the North Delta club and then the soccer schools. If this club is not offering the level your son is capable of playing at then move on . The boys want to play with their friends. However , please don't get me wrong . I am a huge proponent to tiering . In fact ( toot toot ) I was a catalyst in the organization of the South Delta United program combining Silver and Gold teams from both Ladner and Tsawwassen clubs to give everyone an opportunity to play at their highest level. After I left the club executive , the program lost its legs. The only legacy is the Turquoise uniforms still being used by some teams.
It is not always the executive , it's the talent pool . If you pull the best 4 players off of any Silver team to play Gold you are left with a mediocre Bronze team. The top 4 Gold players should be playing Metro. If they leave then the Gold team becomes a Silver team. Where does it stop or begin ? When this is the case , is it the talent pool or the Executive ?
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