0708 Bangu Tsunami 93/94 Blue

With nearly 90 girls out at tryouts for this age group, I was interested in seeing if there were any girls who might warrant a look at playing on the Blue team.  I’m not all-knowing, but I’ve seen my fair share of games at our age level over the past few years.  There were only 2 girls outside of our club who I thought could come in and make an impact. 

When I say make an impact, I’m talking about coming in and being considered as a starter.   Why would I really only be interested in players like this?  Well, because kids who have been with me even for just one year have a good idea of our system of play, our team culture, and of my expectations.  I wouldn’t look to replace a “non-starter” with another non-starter.  I’ve seen how hard it is for new girls to come in and be effective in this group.  Egocentric on my part or not, there is a sort of mysticism with this team and many players from outside believe that they are not skilled enough to make the team, right or wrong.  This feeling affects confidence levels and makes it tough for new girls to feel comfortable in our playing environment, thus making it very difficult for new players to play up to their potential.  Not impossible, but very difficult. 

This is a challenge when dealing with a high level team that has found some success.  We’re not really at a point where we can baby players along anymore as the competition and training level that we live with are not very conducive to this hand-holding when compared to the levels that the majority of other teams at this age group may experience.

So, though there may be some players out there who are just as good as some of our current players (players who I think are in the lower half of the ability division on our team), I won’t take someone that will not make an immediate impact in this group.

Moreover, I don’t feel that it is fair to replace these current players who have made the commitment already to us, who have put in the time and effort in to doing what we do throughout the year, with someone who would come in and do the same job.

The issue with my view is current White team players as these players will continually find it difficult to break into the Blue team.  With all respect to every player out there, it doesn’t really bother me that this might not be fair to players outside our club who are coming to the tryouts.  We’ll have two other very solid teams at this age group that will provide solid developmental opportunities to players like this.

As for the 2 other Minnesota girls who I think would be impact players in our group, neither of them are interested in what we have to offer.  Actually, let me rephrase that. I think they are interested in what we have to offer, but not interested enough to make the full move to our club.

“Chilly” plays with the age group older Eden Prairie Premier team.  She is surrounded by some talented players and in a good community development environment and this is what is important to her and her family at this point.  And that is just fine by me.  She will be training with us this fall as most of her team has HS soccer to participate in, and she will likely guest with us if the opportunity presents itself without conflicting with her own team’s events throughout the coming year.

“Waldo” plays with the age group older Coon Rapids Premier team.  Like Chilly, she and her family are very content with their current soccer situation and have no interest in making a change.  Again, that is completely fine by me.  Waldo has guest played with us a bit this fall and may be in the mix to do more as a guest player if needed.

Though I feel our training opportunity provides more positive soccer development options for both these players, it will always be a soft sell on our part.  Here’s our opportunity.  If you’re interested, great.  If not, great.

Anyway, I had not seen anyone else this past year at the U13 age group who I thought would come in and displace any of our current players.  But I have never been with a team that did not change personnel from one year to the next and this year proved no different.

After all was said and done, Sting and Brownie ended up moving to our White team, with Lily heading to Shattuck St Marys boarding school in Faribault for an intensive, year-round school/soccer experience.  We will be re-evaluating Lily next spring as she can still play with our club in the summer, non-Shattuck months. 

We added two players, both new to Minnesota this summer.  Kaelyn "Cali" K from the San Diego Surf club and Clare (yet-to-be-bestowed-with-a-nickname) S from the Houston Eclipse club in south Texas. We are moving forward into the new soccer year with 16 players.

It wasn’t easy to let Sting and Brownie know about the shake out after tryouts. Both are talented players and I feel both are on track to play Division I collegiate soccer. I won’t say much else here about this save for the fact that I was truly impressed by their eventual attitudes and desire to remain in our program with our White team. Both will be in a position to be true impact players with that team, something that will help them both down the road in soccer as well as in life.

Last year, Jazzy and Dot were moved from the Blue team to the White team. Both were “role” players with the Blue team the year before, both emerged from last season with the White team full of confidence and as better players thanks in large part to their ability to help run the show within the White team structure. I see the same happening with Sting and Brownie. Putting myself in their shoes, anything that I say to them about this may come across as hollow. I understand this. Though I might not be their favorite person for a while, I think that long term this move will pay off greatly for each of them.