The Politics of Youth Soccer

I have been participating in one way or another in AYSO soccer for more than ten years. I have coached, been a team referee and volunteered for numerous team duties. I saw the politics of the sport ten years ago and I have seen the new politics this season.

I never thought much about how being a coach or assistant coach was a political move, but it dawned on me a few days ago. If you as a coach can get the parent of another really good soccer player to be your assistant, your chances of being successful are that much greater. Having two or three good players on your team is enough to move you to the top tier of your league. That means moving on to the playoffs.

Ten years ago the coach of a team would recommend two or three players to be considered for the all-star team. The coaches of the all-star team would then select the players they wanted on the team. This was a very political process since there was no formal tryout. There was also no way that the all-star coaches could get around to see all of the players that were recommended play in their league games. It was a who you are and who you know system. Chels was almost always recommended for the all-star team, but she was never selected.

With the effort of appearing to be more fair, our local AYSO has changed things us a bit. The coaches still recommend two or three players from their team for the All-star team, but now there is a three hour tryout. It turns out that Meg as recommended for the team and attended the tryout. There were more than sixty girls at the tryout and only twenty-seven girls would make the all-star team. Meg did not play her best at the tryout, which was disappointing, but I was not overly impressed by many of the girls there. I think Meg was a middle of the pack player. This, in my mind, would mean that she should make a team. We are still waiting to find out.

I was talking to Meg's assistant coach for a lot of the tryout and the first thing out of his mouth was that this looked to only be a formality. In other words, he was implying that most of the selections have already been made. For instance, all of the all-star team coaches' daughters have already made the team. That means that there were only twenty-three or twenty-four slots open for the girls trying out.

I watched the tryout pretty closely and I told The Queen that I don't know how the coaches can make a decision in just three hours, especially with so many girls trying out. There were only five coaches watching all of the girls, so there was no way that they could really watch each girl to see what there skill level was.

I read a book recently that looked at hockey all star teams. An economist studied the make up of the teams and found that the older kids usually made the teams over the younger kids. The older kids were usually bigger, which meant they looked the part of an all-star. They did not find that the bigger kids necessarily had better skills, they were just bigger. Over time these kids do end up becoming the better players because they get more practice time with better coaches. It turns out to be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The thinking goes something like this, "you are bigger, so you must be better" and eventually the kids are better.

I really hope that the selection process for this AYSO all-star team was more fair than that. Meg is not one of the bigger kids and she is one of the younger kids, but she has some natural instinct that makes her a good player. I think with some more coaching she could develop into a great player. If she does not make the all-star team, I have already told her that we will work on her skills in the off season to make her a better player next year. She has already identified the skills she wants to work on, so I know she is serious.