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Post by justaparent on May 17, 2017 8:02:06 GMT -5
I can tell by reading the posts on this board that a majority of posters are based on the north side of Atlanta. So, some of you may not be aware of a little shakeup in the youth soccer scene on the south side that's happening right now.
First of all - MOBA is a corporation that produces mobile automation technologies. The owner of the company, Volker Harms, is from Germany and is apparently a very big soccer fan. He created a PDL soccer team under the MOBA name and they were based out of Fayetteville. Last year, they broke ground on a new facility in Peachtree City. This facility is literally directly across the street from the PAC fields that AFC uses. A golf cart tunnel even connects the two under Hwy. 74. There is a lot of money that has gone into this MOBA soccer facility. Currently, they have two full-sized artificial turf fields with stadium lighting, stadium seating and a decent scoreboard. Apparently the field house will contain player locker rooms, player lounge and video analysis rooms.
Once the turf fields were completed earlier this year, local clubs like AFC, CFS and SSA started renting them out when their fields were closed due to rain. It was a nice addition to Peachtree City. Many soccer parents started wondering if MOBA was going to try to partner with a local club (maybe AFC since they were right across the street). I know that they actually did try to partner with AFC, but an agreement could not be reached.
A few months ago, MOBA announced that they would add a U16 and a U17/18 boys team to their "academy program". Just a couple of days ago, they also announced that they would be adding U13, U14 and U15 boys teams as well as some older age group girls teams. They've hired a couple of coaches so far ( one is becoming infamous on that other mess of a message board).
But since they haven't come to an agreement to partner with AFC, they are now a direct competitor right across the street. A lot of questions remain at this point, but I have to think that some kids will be drawn to the nice fields and expensive field house.
I will be curious to see the quality of future coaches they hire, the cost structure for players and the level of play they will be able to achieve. AFC has been able to offer high level Classic and Athena ball as well as other higher levels including the new DA program for the boys. This direct competitor across the street will have an impact. We just don't know how much yet. It will be interesting to find out what the fees will be. Can a for-profit corporation offer a completely different fee structure than a non-profit soccer organization?
In the end, even if MOBA only takes a small number of AFC players, it will still hurt AFC by watering down the talent and depth. I just think it's an interesting discussion. At least it is for us down here on the south side.
A couple of links to browse MOBA's facility and general information:
www.facebook.com/mobasoccer/
www.mobasoccer.com/
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on May 17, 2017 8:12:46 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing this info. Interesting they have CF listed as one of their sponsors/partners. Going to be fun to watch what comes out of this venture and how it will affect AFC.
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Post by slickdaddy96 on May 17, 2017 11:49:03 GMT -5
Just to be completely honest, AFC has already done a good job watering down their talent by allowing too many kids in Academy through some agreement with their partner rec. club (Peachtree City Lazers) to allow rec. caliber kids to sign up for academy for half price.
AFC didn't have enough coaches, available teams, tournaments to handle that much influx of players. It was a giant money grab. Don't know if that helped to lead to Stahl getting fired or not, but maybe it was part of the reason. It was bad because they had some age groups like U11 and U12 boys that originally only had 25-30 kids balloon to 40-50 kids adding the rec kids into it. Then when going to tournaments and games they only have space for their 3 normal academy teams in each age group. So kids were getting drawn out of hats on who got to play in tournaments. It was a giant mess.
I know this straight from a couple of parents who went over there from SSA South in the Fall. They figured out it wasn't what they signed up for and what they were sold on at tryouts and asked to be allowed to transfer back before the season really go going. Fortunately they were nice to enough to allow the transfer.
That being said maybe there are enough kids to make both MOBA and AFC viable and not really interfere with each other that much. I mean if you look at how many clubs are in Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Dekalb alone, you have clubs literally minutes away from each other. Doesn't seem to hurt them. I am a parent of an SSA kid but its nice to be able to rent field space from them when we need it, when previously the only other option when fields were closes was the small indoor facility in Fairburn.
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Post by justaparent on May 17, 2017 13:51:30 GMT -5
I'm not sure where you got some of that info, but I don't think it's entirely accurate. The half price deal is news to me. If it did happen, it didn't cause our numbers to balloon up to 40-50 kids. Our current U12 boys have just around 30 kids. About the same as last year, too. We sometimes have a hard time fielding a third team, so I'm not sure why anyone told you that we had to tell some kids they wouldn't be playing. The team manager has had to beg and plead for kids to show up so that the third team could actually go to tourneys at the U12 age group. The truth is much different than what someone told you. We have had some coaching issues at this age group, so there is some truth to that. Currently, we know multiple SSA south players that are trying to get back to AFC for the DA program. There were several of them at both DA ID nights.
Maybe MOBA won't interfere that much like you said, but it will be interesting. We just don't have the population density that the north side does. Let's be honest, we are neighbored by Clayton County that isn't producing club soccer players.
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Post by slickdaddy96 on May 17, 2017 14:02:26 GMT -5
Yes I know the U12 kids you speak of. I don't necessarily blame them for going to AFC. It wasn't really because SSA was bad, but because SSA hosts all their DA, NPL, and top Select teams at Marathon. So the kids you speak of that are likely good enough to make DA and top teams would have to be driven quite a bit away 4x a week to Marathon.
If I had a DA caliber kid, that would be a no brainer to go to AFC which is closer and centrally located. One of the downfalls of the megaclubs. It wouldn't necessarily hurt my feelings if Coweta broke back off from SSA and became more homegrown again just for the sake of having the top teams located locally.
To clarify my previous statement, I believe the parents that came back were speaking more toward the U11's which ended up having to have a 4th team created due to all the rec players coming in, and there was definitely some deal given to these rec. kids that came from Lazers. Whether 1/2 off was an embellishment I don't know but they were given a substantial discount which is fine I guess as long as they have enough coaches and teams to field them all. At least in U11's that was not the case.
I wasn't trying to make a beef between SSA and AFC. I think they both have their positive and negatives. I frankly would love to see a merger of the SSA South location and AFC at some point to consolidate resources, but I realize that is a pipe dream.
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Post by justaparent on May 17, 2017 14:21:36 GMT -5
I'm with you. There is no reason for any of these teams to have a beef with each other. None on my end either.
We've had that exact conversation with some SSA folks regarding the drive up north for the top teams. I was also expecting an influx from them for DA tryouts and that's what we've seen.
Maybe it was the U11s that had to deal with a 4th team. I don't know them well at all.
I feel like I would have heard about the Lazers discount offer had that been a real thing with as many soccer parents as I talk to. Maybe I missed it though. I'm curious to find out now.
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Post by justaparent on May 17, 2017 15:05:12 GMT -5
Steve Mucillo is our new DOC. Roby Stahl was let go and Steve was brought in. If this is what you are talking about, it's not a rumor. Steve has been with us for a few weeks now.
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Post by futbolfan on May 23, 2017 10:00:50 GMT -5
Lots of good stuff happening on the southside. MOBA hired another AFC coach away. This time their DA coach. And there is some hardcore recruiting going on by the MOBA coaches. It apparently looks like the strategy is take away as many AFC kids as possible. Many of the other clubs' parents don't really know all that is going on - from the few that I've talked to at CFS and SSA. Next couple of weeks are going to be very interesting. Some AFC age groups come be majorly impacted, including their DA teams.
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Post by justaparent on May 23, 2017 10:19:54 GMT -5
Lots of good stuff happening on the southside. MOBA hired another AFC coach away. This time their DA coach. And there is some hardcore recruiting going on by the MOBA coaches. It apparently looks like the strategy is take away as many AFC kids as possible. Many of the other clubs' parents don't really know all that is going on - from the few that I've talked to at CFS and SSA. Next couple of weeks are going to be very interesting. Some AFC age groups come be majorly impacted, including their DA teams. The question is: Why is this good for the kids? If talent is going to be spread out, why is this a good thing in your mind?
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Post by futbolfan on May 23, 2017 13:38:25 GMT -5
I genuinely don't know exactly how it works either but I believe players are being told that they can keep their placement if they get enough players to move. I've heard conflicting stories of 50% or 70% of the team has to move. I honestly don't know if placement goes with the players or stays with the club. I believe one is an RPL team too.
As far as DA, I think that makes it all the more interesting. Why would you switch unless you were really unhappy? Why would the DA coach switch also? There aren't any other DA options on the southside so I think it does make it somewhat different.
I don't know what each individual's motivations are changing clubs, but there must be some believe that the situation will be better at the new club - even without DA. I can't see how this is going to make for stronger teams for any of the local clubs. Seems it will be diluted even more.
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Post by allthingsoccer on May 23, 2017 13:57:52 GMT -5
oldboy..agree... It does seem strange and not sure of all this "hype". I'm sure the players that are on bubble (or didnt get offers) will choose to go but if you are the top 10, I would be shocked if those players pick a classic team over staying/joining a DA team.
futbolfan- It just seems like a new club is opening up so it does provide other options.I just cant see them taking top level players away from AFC's DA or Concorde's ECNL. So you are left with 3rd/4th tier teams so not quite sure where this hype is coming from. At least for the next couple years. If you have an 06, 05, 04, player and is good. AFC will be the better draw because of DA. The next level will be ECNL which you will have limited choices as Cocnorde would be the closest place.
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Post by justaparent on May 31, 2017 11:00:32 GMT -5
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Post by slickdaddy96 on May 31, 2017 11:59:14 GMT -5
I'll say this, I don't know what the heck happened between AFC and MOBA admins, but it is obvious they hate each other at this point. If I'm getting info on it and I'm in Coweta at SSA, there has to be some very bad blood between those two. So far as far as I could tell at tryouts at SSA South we didn't lose anyone to MOBA. Might have lost a few rising U13's to AFC only because they didn't want to drive to Austell/Marietta for DA, NPL, RPL when AFC is closer. Don't blame them there to be honest. One of the downsides of megaclubs.
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Post by justaparent on May 31, 2017 12:38:06 GMT -5
I can't speak too much to the bad blood, but there is a divide. If I'm to look at it from the AFC perspective, AFC developed many quality players in their academy system for MOBA to swoop in and lure them away with a very nice facility. Weight room, player lounge, video analysis, turf fields, etc.
No soccer club can build something like that to compete. AFC has highly reputable coaches and established level of play, but they are losing top players to a really nice building. Maybe everything we thought about what players and parents are looking for from a soccer club is wrong. But there was never a mulit-million dollar facility to compete with before.
There are definitely a few rising SSA U13s at AFC tryouts. Doesn't appear that MOBA is taking too strongly from CFS or SSA South. They are getting their numbers direct from AFC right now. All their coaches are ex-AFCers with maybe the exception of Omar.
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Post by futbolfan on May 31, 2017 12:58:19 GMT -5
I agree justaparent. MOBA strategy is to take the AFC kids connected to the coaches they hired. Don't know if they will fill out all age groups doing that. But Mike and Rakel were putting in lots of recruiting work at state cup this weekend so who knows. I heard numbers were good for U13 boys last night. I think the glitz and glamour of the facilities opened some eyes. It might take a season or two to see who comes out on top - if there is a 'winner'. But make no mistake, there is bad blood between to the two clubs and they are not going to want to coexist.
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Post by goteam on May 31, 2017 18:46:45 GMT -5
Steve Mucillo is our new DOC. Roby Stahl was let go and Steve was brought in. If this is what you are talking about, it's not a rumor. Steve has been with us for a few weeks now. Steve is one of the top coaches in the Atlanta area. I've always said he could take a group of mediocre players- and turn them into a very competitive team. He teaches them the GAME of soccer. They know where to be on the field at all times and they are organized. He runs a tight practice and the boys respect him. If we lived anywhere near him - we would have begged to have him as a coach. Oh, and he is a real stand up guy. That is not all that common imo.
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