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Post by spectator on Jan 29, 2014 14:58:06 GMT -5
No sleep at all. Started on Peachtree at Lenox at 1:30 pm made it down to Roswell Road where Johnny's Hideaway is by 11pm - I joked that he should at least go in but it was closed. He hung out at a Waffle House for an hour - said it was an 'interesting life experience' to be stranded with strangers. By 3am, cars started moving on Roswell Road and he was able to get to his parents house by 5am. He's still there - safe, dry, but antsy to get home.
That's not the worst story - a co-worker left at 1 yesterday and didn't get home until 10am. She was on the interstate trapped for hours. Another co-worker spun out and a couple stopped to help her and offered her their spare room rather than her freezing in her car or waiting at a gas station.
Our state and city governments failed us all yesterday -but the people of metro Atlanta rose up and took care of each other. Go on Facebook to SnowedOutAtlanta and read some of the amazing stories of kindness. Hope those don't melt away tomorrow when all this mess is finally gone, too.
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Post by spectator on Jan 29, 2014 8:20:28 GMT -5
At least they can blame the weather for a few days delay. My husband is still stranded in Buckhead. He left work at 1:30 yesterday!
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Post by spectator on Jan 28, 2014 19:37:52 GMT -5
Still nothing showing. Well I guess they couldn't adhere to the dates they put on the calendar. What a joke! The only date that applies to the general public is the Feb 14th one. Team Managers and Coaches should be able to see something but from what we're reading here, they're not.
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Post by spectator on Jan 27, 2014 17:42:36 GMT -5
Have fun to all who are going. We saw the US women vs China a couple of years ago at the Atlanta Beat Stadium at KSU. Love that venue -hate that we lost the Beat. Not sure how the Dome will be for viewing soccer - when we looked at the seating and available tickets, I wasn't sure how the seats would be and I'm not paying upwards of $300 per butt per seat to guarantee a good one.
Anyone know if it's going to be televised and if so on what network?
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Post by spectator on Jan 25, 2014 12:40:25 GMT -5
Coffee dude. Can you share what you know? Do you see U14 girls A and B? I know there is anticipation around U13G too
Thanks
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Post by spectator on Jan 25, 2014 11:08:24 GMT -5
Logging in as TM it appears BU14 have been released, no 13's or girls. Strange thing is it doesn't appear any of the CL Champions or finalist were promoted, RPL teams are gone...anyone else see that or am i missing something? RPL teams will show under that tab on the main Schedules page not under Athena/Classic. They have a totally different schedule and bracket outside of GA Soccer. If you're not seeing the promotions, it's not the new bracket yet. They tend to pull out RPL first then after the rosters/applications are presented, will do the promotions or relegations as necessary. It's not as simple as 'top two move up; bottom two move down' - some clubs will fold completely and they have to fill the brackets as they lose clubs. You'll get the official email from GA Soccer when the brackets are complete and ready for viewing.
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Post by spectator on Jan 20, 2014 20:22:12 GMT -5
Nope...nothing yet. Haven't heard anything regarding spring placement in Athena either. My girls had a 2-day training camp but I had to work today so I didn't get to ask about it. If I find anything out, I'll post here. According to the GA Soccer website, spring placement brackets were to be released today. The office is close so not sure who's 'releasing' and what 'released' means. There is another thread with the details of the timeline - supposedly we'll know spring schedules by February 14 - several weeks earlier than last year - YAY!!! For U13 - you can kind of figure out the joint brackets (loosely) - example = C/D brackets - #1 on each side moves to B - half of each side is C - rest are D - two bottom teams on each side may fall all the way to E. IF your daughter's team finished mid pack - it's a toss up and may come down to which DOC works best or goal differential! Some teams completely fold but that's usually at the lowest levels.
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Post by spectator on Jan 20, 2014 10:54:13 GMT -5
Their office is closed today - January 20 - how will they release the brackets if they're closed?
Regardless - big kudos for the accelerated timeline. Getting the schedules in mid February as opposed to the week before play is scheduled to start - AWESOME!!!
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Post by spectator on Jan 18, 2014 18:59:38 GMT -5
It would be interesting to get a historical perspective on this. I wonder if we could collectively put together a list of tournament cancellations in the last 5-10 years and how much was refunded. That might help other teams make decisions in the future, and would also hold the clubs' feet to the fire a little in terms of customer service. 2009 Concorde Girls Challenge - 50% refund 2010 Cobb Classic - 50% refund 2012 Concorde Girls Challenge - part cancellation, no refund More: 2013 Concorde Boys Challenge - tournament cancelled - no games played - 50% refund 2013 UFA Xtreme Cup - Sunday games cancelled due to weather - pro-rated refund - this was unheard of - usually if you get at least one or half of your games in, no refunds at all so I was impressed this tournament decided to do that. Concorde is notorious for the 50% refund even when the entire tournament is cancelled before a single game is played. I think that's what has prompted NSA and GSA to give full (or as close to full as possible) refunds - to get teams to keep coming to their tournaments. Those two clubs are doing the right thing and I hope teams see that and continue to support them. Concorde has lost a lot of teams with their outright greed and arrogance regarding their tournaments.
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Post by spectator on Jan 15, 2014 12:48:39 GMT -5
Looking forward to the spring season! My older daughter will be high school JV age next year so I'm looking forward to discussion about the upcoming HS season to see what we can expect next year. U13 should be fun again. I'm curious if the Roswell girls will be moved to B even though they didn't manage to win their division and if other teams get moved up/down as expected. Regarding Roswell U13s - historically there have been times when two teams moved up but since there are two brackets in the C/D grouping (east and west) probably only the top team in each will move - UNLESS more than two teams move down but even then, the DOC at Roswell will need to fight for those girls and that hasn't happened for that team yet. The team was 'promised' A level by Mike Farnham at tryouts - lots of families are very unhappy with him for that. It's a good little team with a very good coach - I hope they stay together and move up. If they are in C for Spring - it will not be for long - they can easily finish top two in C and move up to B by next fall.
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Post by spectator on Jan 2, 2014 16:12:20 GMT -5
I have to wonder what prompted these penalty/bonus point changes? On the red card list - boys teams racked up 173 reds this fall where the girls teams only had 31. Most of the reds were at the older age groups so I wonder if it would have made any difference in standings had this rule been in effect this fall?
I doubt it'll get implemented though I do think teams that play clean and don't rack up the cards should be given some sort of recognition (maybe not points but defintely make it a top tiebreaker over goal differential?).
I 110% agree with the penalties for forfeits. I get so sick of the parents whining about how far it is to drive to Savannah for just one game. Then carpool or do something else. Your kid is on a team with out of area teams in the bracket - play the game and quit griping that you have to spend the money on gas!!
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Post by spectator on Jan 1, 2014 10:58:02 GMT -5
What is the rec:select ratio ?
Love the extra 5 points for no cards. Would have had my kids team in first instead of second in fall!
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Post by spectator on Dec 27, 2013 16:24:11 GMT -5
I think if it's a business transaction - you're paying for the training - then it isn't in conflict with any rules of a club. We hired a coach at another club last year for some training and I flat out asked if it was OK with the club, the answer was yes - no problems at all.
I think they only way you'd run into any issues would be if your paid training conflicted with your regular club's training for the team.
As for being a form or recruiting - the best way to avoid that perception is don't hire the trainer/coach from your player's gender/age group. In our case, we hired a coach that was several age groups up to work with our daughter and evaluate whether or not she was ready to make the move. That coach evaluated her and relayed his thoughts to the current age group coaches but that was it. Nothing wrong with additional training and eyes -= we've done winter workouts at clubs that weren't ours, too just to get additional coaching perspectives.
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Post by spectator on Dec 27, 2013 16:17:05 GMT -5
I think it'd best to leave the Academy coach behind when transitioning to Select/Athena. When we moved from U12 to U13 it was a political hotbed and the two teams that ultimately formed at U13 were lopsided -neither performed well where they were placed. The DOC and Coach went with 'team chemistry' - aka mommy and daddy threatening to leave if cupcake wasn't on the A team. In the end, it killed the club, all of the overlooked players from the lower team left for other clubs and almost half the players from the top team left out of frustration due to lack of performance. Had the coach selected the true top 16 players from the club, the entire makeup of both teams would have been very different but the coach had his own perceptions of players and was heavily influenced by certain parents.
I think fresh eyes are best when putting together a truly competitive team for Select/Athena. Academy is a place for learning and getting the skills but not every Academy player is of the same level. Put all your Classic 1/Athena A players on those teams and you'll be competitive. If one little snowflake has played on the top Academy team for however many years and still isn't of that level, move him/her to the level they are don't just keep them for history sake.
The larger clubs get this and will form their teams to be competitive. It's the smaller clubs with 1-2 teams that inevitably fail due to the politics and perceptions of parents and coaches not the abilities of the players.
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R3PL
Dec 26, 2013 15:22:49 GMT -5
Post by spectator on Dec 26, 2013 15:22:49 GMT -5
The decision to take Concorde was made by the Region. Georgia put Ambush up as our 4th pick, but the Region decided to go with Concorde instead based partially on their play in National League. Using that logic, NASA shouldn't have made RPL on the girls side - both SSA and UFA Red have performed better at the larger national/regional tournaments. NASA has played a division below both those teams at CASL and at Disney. Sounds like the DOC at Concorde lobbied hard for his boys team - which - like it or not - is the job of the DOC. If CF doesn't belong in RPL, they won't stay there long. Same with NASA and Ambush on the girls side - UFA Elite and Top Hat will definitely compete - Ambush and NASA will have to step up their game to stay there.
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R3PL
Dec 23, 2013 22:04:14 GMT -5
Post by spectator on Dec 23, 2013 22:04:14 GMT -5
That makes zero sense to me. On the girls side, it was 1-4 - Top Hat. UFA Elite, Ambush and NASA Elite. Why on earth would a seventh place team get RPL over the fourth place one? Can Ambush appeal? Unless Ambush, GSA and NASA all imploded, Concorde shouldn't have even been in contention.
Strange bedfellows in GA soccer, I tell you . . .
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Post by spectator on Dec 19, 2013 14:04:40 GMT -5
We have ridiculously large rosters across four teams of 17-18 players per team. while it's great to have the depth and 'spares' to compensate for injury and illness, when they're all there, it's a time crunch challenge.
However, our coach is AWESOME at keeping track of the time played. The only time any girls were slighted was when we had a ref who wouldn't allow subs regardless of which team had possession (I know it's the rule but when you see 4-5 girls waiting to sub in and they're standing there for 10 minutes - let them in!) Even in those times, our coach will flip the starters and put the subs in first in the next half - we are very fortunate to have a very deep and evenly talented team so the starting rotation changes all the time - the coach goes more for on field chemistry and who works best with who to make the decision of which players are on the field when.
I haven't heard of any parents complaining about the length of lack of length of time their player is on the field so it must not be an issue with our team.
BUT - we have been on teams where it was an issue and the parents took it to the DOC who then spoke with the coach. Yes it is a rule via GA Soccer so until they're on a high school or college team, any player playing through GA Soccer is guaranteed half a match playing time.
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Post by spectator on Dec 13, 2013 10:13:16 GMT -5
My daughter doesn't do a specific sport in the off season but we do continue with speed and agility sessions and will do a month of kick boxing for fun. She hates - I mean hates hates hates basketball - which seems to be the only off season sport that doesn't eek into the start of spring soccer.
We kind of take a break but keep conditioning in other ways.
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Post by spectator on Dec 6, 2013 16:20:03 GMT -5
No hope!?! There is always hope! True - but hope is not a strategy - in life or in soccer!
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Post by spectator on Dec 6, 2013 11:51:46 GMT -5
Where did you see they're giving a full refund? If they are, great - I've never known a club to give all the money back - it's usually only 50%
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Post by spectator on Dec 5, 2013 17:06:50 GMT -5
From the Norcross Tournament website - Information Tab then look on Rules:
Now most tournaments will put this in their offical legalese rules but usually there's a 50% refund as courtesy. Clubs don't want to tick off teams - then no one will come to their tournament. Personally I think keeping 50% of the fees for something that never happened is wrong but it's been this way forever. What costs does a club incur prior to the tournament other than buying the insurance and medals - most of the time the tee-shirts are made on site now and you dont' pay refs until after they do a game so what are the 'start up' costs for tournaments and what justification is there to keep any more money than to recoup what was spent prior to the event?
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Post by spectator on Dec 5, 2013 10:34:54 GMT -5
I can't see either tournament happening. It's rained all week with 60% chance today, 50% tomorrow, 60% on Saturday and 70% on Sunday. Even if it doesn't rain, the fields won't dry out in time and with that many venues for both tournaments, moving to another field that may not be saturated isn't a logistical possibility unless they move to turf -and even then, not enough turf fields are available unless the tournament committees are working the phones right now to use some high school fields for older age groups 11v11. Youngers may just be cancelled - hard to get 6v6/8v8 on a turf field.
Hate it for the teams entered - it's always a disappointment when the playeres work toward a tournament and it gets rained out. But I'm ever grateful our team isn't in a post season tournament here now - hate losing the $$$ and this 50% refund crap clubs do is highway robbery!
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Post by spectator on Dec 3, 2013 22:38:21 GMT -5
Suggestion - don't leave the club until tryouts. Research where you and your daughter want to go next. Get some private coaching sessions at that club. It will help her development and help at tryouts. Coaches will always give a talented newcomer a good look at tryouts.
If your daughter is U12, get the extra training before U13 tryouts - there is a lot of movement between clubs at that age. If she's U13 already, definitely get the coaching sessions at the club you think you want to be with next year. Between U13 and U14 there is a lot of jockeying to get on an ECNL or possible RPL team - the more she can stand out at a tryout at a new club, the better.
Also - it does matter what division you play at U13 if you're looking to move at U14. We had a bunch of girls from another club come to tryouts this year - the second the coaches heard 'Athena A' or 'Athena D', that's where the girls were placed for the duration of tryouts - it sucks but when they are looking at literally hundreds of girls, they need to be able to quickly assess and place them.
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Post by spectator on Dec 3, 2013 14:47:08 GMT -5
Same question can apply to anything - why aren't there more female CEO's, Engineers, Generals, Senators?
I don't think it has as much to do with gender equality or any kind of bias but with the choices women make in their lives. Example - I'm a working mother - have been since my kid was 3 months old. My choice was to continue to work in my career BUT I also made choices that allowed me to be home more rather than travel and be away from my family. Had I stayed on the career path I was on prior to having my child, maybe I would have been a senior VP by now or eventually a CEO - it was my choice not to go that route. My choice has allowed me a very flexible work schedule in a job I like and can balance with this crazy life of a soccer parent.
In business and politics, same choices apply. You may have the most capable and competent woman for the job but it may be her choice not to accept it. Where some may see that as a sign of weakness or gender inequality, I find the fact that women can make these decisions for what is best for them and their families very empowering and positive. Just like in soccer - not every kid is an elite national level player - not every woman wants to be the boss.
Back to soccer coaches, the female coaches I've met range from young women fresh off the college pitch to seasoned high school coaches coaching youth soccer (meaning not high school age kids). My daughter has had both male and female coaches - the worst of the bunch was a male coach who back in his day was a phenomenal player but sucked as a coach. I think - as in my personal example above - it would be difficult for a female coach with young children to take on more teams or responsibilities but it would be her choice to do or not to do so based on her personal situation.
Now - why aren't there more women as DOC's - good question. I do think it's still a good old boys club and would be a very difficult nut to crack - but if the right female candidate is out there, she does deserve the same opportunity as her male counterparts - if she wants that kind of job. Now, would the male coaches in a club with a female DOC handle that - probably some would and some would not - same as in business. The old cliche about female bosses goes both ways - I've worked for great women and horrible ones - I've had amazing male bosses and downright incompetent ones as well. Gender isn't the issue - ability and desire for the job are.
In the case of your question - I'm willing to bet the pool of women with the desire for coaching positions or DOC positions is just smaller than the pool of men.
Curious - what is the gender project you're working on? I'd be interested in hearing more about that - I can get pretty passionate about working moms and our fight for 'equality' in some areas, too.
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Post by spectator on Dec 3, 2013 9:42:51 GMT -5
RPL stats by Club SSA
| 6
| Concorde*
| 5
| NASA | 5
| UFA
| 5 | Norcross
| 4
| Top Hat
| 4 | GSA*
| 3 | AFC
| 2
| Ambush
| 2 | CFC Chiefs
| 2
| SSA Storm
| 1
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*Concorde/GSA - Boys only at RPL - girls are now ECNL
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Post by spectator on Dec 2, 2013 12:37:57 GMT -5
Combining Athena and Classic in all age groups, the stats are as follows:
CLUB |
No of Champions |
No of Finalists |
TOTAL | NASA |
3 |
8 |
11 | SSA |
5 |
5 |
10 | UFA |
5 |
5 |
10 | AFU |
3 |
5 |
8 | GSA |
3 |
4 |
7 | Norcross |
4 |
2 |
6 | YMCA |
0 |
6 |
6 | South Georgia |
2 |
3 |
5 | Augusta |
2 |
2 |
4 | Roswell Santos |
2 |
2 |
4 | Concorde |
1 |
3 |
4 | AFC Lightning |
3 |
0 |
3 | CFC Red Star |
3 |
0 |
3 | Ambush |
2 |
1 |
3 | Georgia FC |
2 |
1 |
3 |
27 other clubs had 1-2 Champions/Finalists in the mix. Overall there were 42 different clubs with teams that were Champions/Finalists. A few observations on these stats: 1. The larger clubs (NASA, UFA, SSA) did well but we'd have to compare the champions/finalists against total number of teams each club had to get a true sense of the depth. Those three clubs were consistent across both Athena and Classic. 2. Nice to see some of the clubs outside Atlanta finishing strong (South GA, Augusta). 3. YMCA numbers were mostly for boys/older ages - leftover age groups from the heyday of the Y being more about competitive soccer than rec. They need to revamp at younger ages to sustain the programs. 4. "City" clubs did OK (Roswell and Ambush). A handful of good teams may keep them going for a few more years but they need to start developing younger talent, too. 5. Concorde was a disappointment. I always felt this club was stronger than they showed. Finally, for all the Top Hat and Rush love on forums - Top Had only had two champions - U13 and U14 Athena A. They have strong top teams but their lower teams are underperformaing big time! (Edited to add, from U15 up, the Top Hat Gold team is RPL but they still have multiple teams in lower Athena levels) And Rush only had on champion U15 Athena C and one finalist U17 Classic II - it's a strong program nationally but I'm not sure they'll ever take off here in GA based on the strength and depth of other clubs.
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Post by spectator on Nov 23, 2013 12:23:59 GMT -5
Why would it matter unless the job the coach had involved a lot of traveling where he or she would miss trainings or games? Considering kids are in school until late afternoon, what exactly would a full time coach be doing from 8-5ish?
I voted 'don't care' because it's nobody's business. Same argument can be made for working moms versus stay at home moms - nobody's business but the individuals who made that choice. Back in the Dr. Laura radio hey-day, this argument irritated me to death when people were so judgmental either way - it doesn't matter if or where another person works - unless they beat you out for that job - it's none of your business.
As long as the coach is there for the team at trainings and games, I don't give a flying flip if he or she works elsewhere!
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Post by spectator on Nov 18, 2013 16:41:35 GMT -5
stupid follow up question - could a club in Georgia start an all boys program and dump girls soccer? Not being snarky but I thought Rush was all boys for years. Never once has my daughter played a Rush team - not at Academy or Select here in GA or at any out of state tournament. Supposedly they are a stronger club for boys -at least here
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Post by spectator on Nov 17, 2013 22:38:40 GMT -5
The question so good it needs to be asked twice ;-) In all fairness, though, it is a good question. Do they want it? LOL Server glitch sorry
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Post by spectator on Nov 17, 2013 20:43:14 GMT -5
Better question - does Top Hat want or need ECNL?
My guess is no. Their elite teams can go toe to toe with any team out there. The U14 girls team is amazing to watch.
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