Youth soccer things that surprised you…

If true, and I have no reason to doubt this is true due to the general success of the genre - it is gonna be like watching a car crash. Can’t look away.

We need to start a new thread guessing the name of the show.

Of all the locations, why Atlanta? I doubt we are the craziest of the bunch. Texas, Cali, New Jersey... idk.
Maybe it has to do with all the studio and production companies we now have in the ATL??? 

I have seen some stuff on ATL sidelines that I thought would make must see TV.   The only part that surprises me is that it has taken this long.

I actually had a parent say "You're absolutely right coach, my child does need to work harder if she wants to start"

I almost fell out dead

In order to get that response, it means that you actually had a conversation with either the player or parent that the child needed work harder.  Good for you.  Honestly, I think that is all anyone wants--feedback.    

It's probably far too late for anyone to pay attention to my response, but here goes...

I have played a different high level sport. My kids have and do play across a variety of other sports along with soccer, often at mid to high levels. No other sport approaches soccer when it comes to the inability to move up levels at the current club. From an early age, you are generally going to be locked into a certain box and moving upward is quite unlikely. Soccer is the only sport where the ability to move up is essentially an overlapping Venn diagram with moving onward to a different club. I've never seen coaches so entranced by the shiny new toy and immediately fixating on that player while already deciding everyone else is who they always have been. I've never quite understood that concept and the near total lack of true tryout opportunity that exists in soccer compared to other sports. It has often led me to wonder if that type of thinking is part of what is holding the men's teams back internationally and why we see so many early risers and ultimate flameouts when it comes to projection vs. ultimate outcome.

Closed leagues from youth to pro? Yes.

How about this… is it normal for at club to not have provided feedback by now regarding offers on teams? One parent reached out to one of the named coaches that was at try outs… publicly named as having a team… and later emailed a response that he is not coaching that said year team but coaching an alternate team at same club. Many people here are not in this scenario because their child is in a too 1,2,3 team which get offers before or during tryouts. But I have never in my life heard of a club posting the coaches for all teams and later be told they are coaching a different team after tryouts. My experience is limited, so thought I would post here.

We've had a coach change on us twice. Not during tryout week, though, but in the summer once we committed. I'm not surprised by anything anymore. These clubs don't have kids' or customers' best interests in mind. Only their own.

Oh I agree, but this wasn't that. Both times the club simply moved the coach to a "better" team within the club.

what club so I know where not to show up at to referee or to watch my kid play.

All those parents with kids that are early in their club soccer experience, pay attention to this response by Dunwoody Soccer Dad. If your child does not start out in the top team at Concorde (U8-U10) then take them elsewhere.  2nd/3rd team kids are just income producers for the club. At Concorde they will see coach turnover every year, will never have an actual licensed or experienced coach, and will not receive the level of development and team consistency that they need in those early years.  Go to a smaller club and have them transfer to Concorde at U12-U14 level if they must.  That's the age group where Concorde starts to add ECNL teams and add shiny new talent from other clubs because Concorde hasn't put the resources into developing this talent internally.  We wish we had heard this advice with our first child. Fortunately, we figured it out with our 2nd two and they thrived in small clubs (pre u14) before moving to larger clubs with competitive ECNL programs. And yes, Concorde places more value on transfers than they do on talent in their own system.  

That is not entirely accurate and is not limited to Concorde.  The key is to find good coaches that care about developing players.  

Dunwoody Soccer Dad's situation is entirely different than what you described.  His daughter joined at U10 and they did not have enough players to make a team.  Instead of telling the girls there was no spot for them, they formed a team with 7-8 players.  The team constantly needed players to be able to play a game and constantly had players rotating in to play with them.  The coach was not very good.

It is very easy to get pigeonholed at any club.  Once you are on the first team, someone has to be clearly better than you to move you down.  Likewise, if you are on the 2nd or 3rd team, you have to be clearly better to move up.  Oftentimes, the easiest way to move up is to move clubs so that you get a fresh look.  However, every club asks on your registration paperwork what team you were on before so it is not an entirely fresh start. Coaches are still aware of the level that you played previously.  At the younger ages, they look past it more than at the upper ages.

There are some coaches at Concorde, as there are anywhere, that will not look to lower teams to fill spots.  There are other coaches that listen to the coaches below and will elevate players that deserve to be elevated.  From my son's U8 3rd team at Concorde, over half played ECNL.  From my son's U10 team 3rd team, one third are playing ECNL.  Those kids worked their butts off to move up but they moved up.