I know of a kid that walked away from one of the older AU teams -- it was great and all being on a top team like that, but at the end of the day, being player 18 on an 18 man roster where you might be playing 10 minutes a game if your lucky is no fun for kid with aspirations of playing college soccer.
I don't care what showcase and playoffs the DA team attends, if the kid isn't on the field he won't be seen. Its tough, but at the end of the day the other 17 players might just be better and thats it.
Kids want to play in games, they don't want to be cheerleaders.
Saw Atlanta Uniteds 13s lost to Triangle. Not even sure how thats possible given the talent they have. It will all get fixed by u16/u18 when it "matters", but still shocking. I know wins/losses do no really matter at u13 and u14, but I've seen many DA coaches think otherwise. Some are great, play all kids equally at these ages, and mix the squads up, others play their top 11 and everyone else on the roster get minimal minutes.
And if you haven't seen Ga Uniteds 14s play, your missing out. Go watch one of their remaining games this season. Robin Dixon deserves coach of the Decade for the job he has done. Unreal, they play beautiful soccer, work hard, move the ball around and most importantly play as a team. Obviously with the 2 year age groups next season and probably some of their top players moving over to AU, the team will get split up, but its a shame. Probably best u14 team in the south. It just goes to show you what a difference a little heart and quality coaching can do.
The 3 best players I ever played with in my life were so different - one thing they all had in common was when they stepped on the field, losing was not an option - most competitive 3 kids I've met in my life and all had extremely high soccer IQs.
1st went on to be one of if not the greatest players in US soccer history. He was no doubt an above average youth player. Even at 18, He was good, but you didn't look at him as a youth player and think one day he would become so smooth and silky and one of the best ever to play his position.
2nd - hardest working blue collar player I'd ever played with my life. Relentless offensively and on the defensive side. Back in the 4-4-2 days with a stop and sweeper, he played center mid and just out worked you. He ended up taking a duke team to a national title game and chose a career over soccer
3rd - the greatest soccer player I'd ever seen. Left footed player with size and speed, was built like a running back. Wasn't the most technical and didn't work hard at all, but kid was just a flat out athletic competitor and refused to lose. He would run circles around the future US soccer defender. Unfortunately, school really wasn't his thing, he went to a small school, received freshman player of the year in the conference and dropped out. Still to this date, I think he's the greatest player I've ever seen. Its fascinating given he probably could juggle maybe 50 times tops.
Sorry, had to go back and edit -- left off my point, at the u13/u14, they really are still kids and their is no crystal ball still on what they will become. Yes there are a few standouts, typically just because of their physical presence, so at these ages teams that focus soley on their starting 11 are missing the boat. I understand this philosophy at the older age groups though, there you start to see a switch to playing for results and by results I mean wins.