Lots of interest in our game tonight. The White team needed to beat us tonight and tomorrow night in our second game in order to guarantee Premier status for the 2008 summer season. If they did not win both games, Woodbury would finish 5th in the league, ahead of the White team, and thus Woodbury would retain Premier status.
With the potential consequences of a Bangu vs Bangu game deciding placement in next year’s league, you can imagine the issues that arose. These issues were exacerbated by an email I sent to MYSA officials last week inquiring about possible ramifications of a forfeited by us to the White team. Somehow, my questions were leaked into blog-world and all heck broke loose for a couple days.
Here is the email that was sent out to Ian Barker (State Coaching Director) and Ranae Orr at the MYSA office.
Guys,
A few questions for you.
Obviously things are coming to a head this time of the year. I’m looking for some answers that I think you can give me.
If our Bangu U14G White team finishes last in the standings BUT BTE opts out of the Premier league for next summer in favor of MWRL, does our White team retain Premier status? Where is the rule about this if there is one?
What are the ramifications of forfeiting two games?
The U13s are invited to participate in the MWRL Premier division starting this fall. If we opt out of play this fall due to HS player commitments, are we guaranteed a spot in the MWRL Premier division next spring?
I hope you understand from 1 and 2 above that I want to respect the integrity of the league while trying to look out for fellow club teams.
If you guys could get back to me as soon as you can, I’d appreciate it. I know the deadline to apply for MWRL is July 2. Thanks!
I didn't really know who to approach with these questions, so Ian forwarded on the email to the people who would could help (the Exec Director, various people on the DOC, and the South Girls District Director).
Somehow, information from this email got leaked into blog-world (even before I got a definitive answer from anyone copied on the email) and it started a whole dialouge of mostly disparaging remarks against our club. I chimed in on the blogs as I usually do, so people can hear things from the horse's mouth, but the panic this must have caused in the Woodbury ranks was obvious.
Obviously the thought of forfeiting both games to the White team in order for them to retain their MYSA status had crossed my mind, but I don’t think it would have ever come down to that. This didn’t mean that I didn’t want to know what would happen if we did move down this path, so I did the due diligence to figure out potential ramifications. It was the thought of this though that caused all the controversy.
On Friday, the coaches and team managers of both Bangu teams received the following email from MYSA:
To BTE01 93/94 Blue and BNG01 92/93 White Team Coaches/Managers:
It has come to (our) attention and the attention of MYSA Vice President of Leagues Michael Sherrill that the two teams listed above have yet to play either of their games this season. The two teams were scheduled to play their first game on June 21, 2007, but did not, and that game has been or is being rescheduled. The two teams are scheduled to play their second game on July 10, 2007.
Since the outcome of both of these games have relegation consequences not only for the two teams playing the games but other teams in the league, MYSA would like to inform both teams that if either team forfeits one or both of the games listed above, the game(s) will be considered a non event and neither a win nor a loss will be recorded for either team. Furthermore, MYSA would immediately like to be made aware of the date, time and location of both of the games so that the appropriate MYSA officials may be present for observation.
To ensure the integrity of the game, it is important that all MYSA members are following the intent of our rules. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
I saw the Woodbury Club president copied on the email, so obviously complaints had made their way up the ranks in that club and people were working hard to address the issue.
Here's my response (I've left names out):
I think you’ve come to know me well enough in the last year, so I hope you know my comments are with all due respect to all the people involved on MYSA’s end.
Wasn’t I the one that came to you all with questions so that I could discover all the ramifications for possible outcomes next week? You make it sound like you guys just became aware of these games from a random source. More disturbing to me was that I find someone leaked this info into the blog-world and I find answers there before I hear from any MYSA rep. I would like to think that I came to you in trust and confidence looking for clarification and rules interpretation. Someone on your end decided it would be more effective to take the time to forward this onto blog-world rather than answer me directly and that doesn’t sit right with me.
The reason for pushing one of our BTE v BNG games from June 21 to later in July was simple – we were heading to Des Moines on the 22nd and didn’t wish to play two Premier games earlier that week (we played Coon Rapids that Tuesday). I’m sure you’re getting complaints that we purposefully scheduled these games late in order to know exactly what each team needed to do to maintain Premier status, and you guys are obviously entitled to believe what you want.
I just find the threat of counting games as “non events” reactive and absurd. I want to make sure that I’m reading things correctly and that you are saying that since certain games happen to have a perceived huge impact on future league structure, MYSA is making new policy, effective immediately, that forfeited games won’t count as forfeits? I’m sure this is not a blanket policy across the board, but a special threat in the name of rules interpretations/intent and the integrity of the game. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I just want to be crystal clear here on what is happening.
You might feel our even discussing forfeiting childish and selfish, but just because I want to know all possible consequences for all possible outcomes doesn’t mean that we have decided to go down that path or even would decide to go down that path. I’m not dumb. I know our club is under the microscope and I know how two forfeits at this juncture would be perceived. However, if I truly wanted to throw the games, I could have easily looked to schedule our first game with the White team this weekend when we’re missing half our team. I could have easily kept the initial rescheduled date of July 14, when we would have been missing the other half on our team. MYSA and the world would have been none the wiser and we would have gone on as we wanted. However, we chose to cram three games in a three day period next week so that both teams would be nearly at full strength. This email makes me now want to dig my heels in, reschedule both games for next weekend, and call up 5 U9 guest players.
You have the game schedules. If they now change, we will get back to you. If you feel the need to police the games, so be it.
I’ll let club officials get back to you (I don’t speak for any of them), but it’s likely our White team will forego MYSA play next year, regardless of whether or not they retain Premier status.
At the end of the day, you guys are all here for the hundred MYSA clubs and the thousands of MYSA kids. I fully understand that pressure that you feel from 95% of the people involved in MN soccer to do what you can to not favor the “elite”. However, this does not mean that you should go out of your way to not show us any consideration, for at the end of the day, it is clubs like ours that directly and indirectly propel MN soccer forward to the next level. I know your hands are tied and that membership will continue to try and form rules to hinder what the more select clubs do. It would be nice to feel that someone from your end has our back and maybe gives us the benefit of the doubt every once in a while, rather than bending to the will of the people who shout the loudest. Maybe we have yet to earn that from your end.
I appreciate you being open to my thoughts here.
You would not believe the number of emails and phone calls I received from both Woodbury U14 parents and players about this issue, all basically pleading for me, as coach, to do the honorable thing and not throw the games. Most playing to the “what kind of example would throwing the game set for my girls” and “don’t you know how this would make you and your club look” ideology. Since when did Woodbury people care so much about my team and our club? Didn’t the core group of this old Renegades team choose to leave our club two years ago upon the completion of our tryouts, leaving us a bit high and dry and scrambling to piece together something at that point? Yes, I know a number of the families and kids well, but when it comes down to it, I don’t know what makes them think that I’d opt to look out for them over the interests of families in my own current club.
People should have understood that I know how our club is viewed by other MYSA clubs. I know that most everything we do is microscopically scrutinized and that forfeiting two games to look out for a sister team in our club would likely throw people into a frenzy. If I wanted to throw these games, I would have rescheduled one of them for this past weekend when we were missing half the team at ODP camp and rescheduled our second game for next weekend when we would be missing the other half of the team at the younger age group ODP camp. I could have called up a bunch of U10 players to fill the gap and played the game with a far weaker squad than is normal. And no one would have been the wiser.
Instead, we opted to keep tonight’s game as is (knowing I’d have a full compliment of players and the White team would be missing one of their key players), and opted to reschedule a game initially rescheduled for this coming Saturday (when I’d be missing a ton of players) to Wednesday, choosing to instead cram three league games in three days. If I was trying to dump games, I think I could have done a little better job. :)
Regardless, it made for a interesting week.
When all is said and done though, Premier doesn’t hold as much importance to us at our older age groups with the emersion of the Midwest Regional League (MRL). Premier was a good option for older teams years ago, but only because that was the highest level of competition available at the time. With older teams traveling to tournaments already anyway, the three spring/summer MRL weekends are not a huge change. As many RII states are putting more and more emphasis on MRL play over state association play, the league is gaining strength and momentum. We need to be a part of that. Nothing against MYSA as their Classic 1 and Premier levels allow competitive opportunities for many skilled players in many MYSA clubs. We are just not a typical MYSA club.
The U13s were for sure going to be opting out of MYSA summer Premier league play next year in favor of the more competitive MRL. We could have applied to play in the MRL this fall, but with the fall high school season there was a chance we would lose some players to varsity high school programs and we didn’t want to play in the tough league short-handed. Since the fall season MRL results factored into the formation of the MRL Premier (top flight) and First (second flight) divisions for the summer of 2008 MRL league, I wanted to make sure that if we opted out of the fall MRL play we would still stand a chance of playing in the Premier division next summer.
Looking at the MRL fall team listings that were posted last week, I think we made a mistake in not participating this fall. Most other states’ top teams were in it and Minnesota had no representation at our age group. I’m going to try and see if we can still get in somehow.
I’d like to see our U14 White team also look to MRL play next summer, regardless of retaining their Premier status in MYSA. I think Mark Cook (BTFC Girls Coaching Director) actually spoke with the White team parent group prior to the game today about the thought of moving the team in that direction next year. If they beat us in both games, they would likely still forego their MYSA Premier status anyway.
Don’t know how this would sit with the parent group as “Premier” means everything in our little Minnesota world. We try to continually educate both players and parents that long term success means finding the best competition possible for our players. Premier meant a lot to me this year, not for Premier status, but for development reasons as it would help ensure that the U13s faced the best possible competition this summer.
Anyway, on to the game…
Since watching the Blue Valley Stars Ratpack team play against us in the Regional semifinals, I have had the stark contrast in playing styles in my head. Though we got the result, I was impressed with the Ratpack’s technical passing abilities and possession play. At times I didn’t think it was very purposeful, but it was something that I feel we needed to add to our game in order to vary the rhythm of our play a bit and continue to work on being unpredictable as a team. I knew the Marsh Creek field in Bloomington where would be playing on tonight. It was spacious with lush grass. It would be a great venue to look to have the girls work on keeping the ball on the ground and slower build up play rather than our more direct attacking play. The idea was to force the girls to rely on technical skill and tactical team movement rather than pinging long balls and using their speed to attack goal.
So, my challenge to the girls was to not play one single ball long over the top. Forwards’ movement, which was up until this point straight or diagonal up the field, would now need to be checking back to receive balls to feet. Defenders were asked to look to play out of the back rather than relying on wild clearances up to the forwards. Midfielders were asked to find their forwards’ feet and look to change the point of attack by linking passes across the field.
I also had the girls play in positions that they were not accustomed to playing in. This (and tomorrow’s) relatively meaningless games for us were good opportunities to do this in a competitive environment. I knew all the girls could play in other positions well and good performances tonight would give the girls confidence heading into tryout season. Moreover, all coaches see players differently. The girls next coach might see a girl I’ve been playing in the center of the field as a wide player, or a girl who I think it a solid defender as a forward. I base this on my own experiences as my dad always saw me as a central midfielders in my youth soccer days, my college coach saw me as a wide mid, then as a forward, my first pro coach saw me as a wide forward, and I finished my pro career as a sweeper and later as a wide back in a flat back four system.
Was I trying to throw the game by playing the girls in different positions and asking them to try and knock the ball around a bit more? To those who ask this, I will rephrase your question for you. Mark, were you not trying to win a U14 soccer game? Shame on me I guess.
As we were warming up to play, I noticed a number of the Woodbury players and OJ (their coach) come out to cheer us on. Can you blame them? They had backed into a Premier slot in January, fielding a team that had not been able to advertise Premier status tryouts and a team that most people had written off his spring as bottom feeders for the upcoming Premier season. Against this adversity they had managed to put together some good performances and now had a chance to retain their status. The irony here is that many of the families who would take so much pride in retaining their status would not likely not be a part of a Premier team next year as Woodbury would surely attract other talent to a 2008 Premier tryout. I can only imagine the controversy that this will cause in the coming weeks as parents likely will petition for the team to stay together as these are the girls who earned the right to play Premier and they deserve to reap the benefits that their work has afforded them, even though the benefits for some are just to say “my kid plays Premier”. This isn’t unique to Woodbury as it happens all over the place, in our club as well. However, the nature of tryouts is to form the best possible team and I’m sure Woodbury’s coaching director feels the same. Heck, if Premier status didn’t stay with the club and a team could move it to any club they chose, this team may have looked to move to another club and Cottage Grove or NESA might end up with a U15 girls Premier team. :)
I was impressed with how the girls knocked the ball around in the first half. We came out and played a 4-1-2-3 and the girls looked sharp for not having had a decent training session in over a week. We had nearly half the team at ODP camp this past weekend so were not able to train.
I commented jokingly at halftime that they girls actually looked like soccer players and they all enjoyed the first half as they actually felt that they were composed under pressure and were actually playing the game better as they were able to sometimes connect 8 to 10 passes together as they advanced up the field. It was a real treat to watch.
Fifteen minutes into the second half the White team pulled ahead. They had moved to a three forward system and we had not adjusted properly to the added threat up top. I wasn’t watching the build up as I was giving instruction to the girls on the bench, but I did manage to turn to the field in time to see the ball rocket past Tori into the back of the net. Tori had made a series of fantastic saves in the preceding minutes, much to the delight of the Woodbury onlookers, but this shot was too well placed.
We still continued to knock the ball around well, connecting passes and getting numbers into the attack when we went forward.
Around the 25 minute mark, Brownie (LF) received the ball deep in the left corner of the field, raced to it and sent a wicked left foot cross into the box towards Getch (Point). Getch just missed connecting with it and the White team defenders couldn’t get it cleared well enough. The ball squirted out to Blondie (RF) to the right of the goal and she fired a shot the nicked the inside of the far post on it’s way into the net to pull us level. It was a great finish from a play who had wanted to be subbed out a few minutes prior to this due to tired legs.
The White team pressed forward in the attack during the final 10 minutes, but some great headed clearances from dangerous crosses kept the tie in place at the final whistle.
It was tough to see how hard the White team girls played at the end, how they were giving everything they had on the field as they knew the “importance” of this game to them. It broke my heart as I know I could have eased the pain by adjusting the play on the field to give the White more scoring opportunities.
However, I know the White players would not want to be handed Premier status. I know their coach would not take it that way either. I hope the parents and players saw how entertaining the game was and how far the White team girls have come in a year. It will be interesting to see what tryouts bring for this age group next month.
From a personal standpoint, this whole scenario was one of the most no-win-situations I’ve ever been involved in (does that wording make sense?). To throw the game outright by forfeiting would have cast an ugly light on everyone involved on our end. Playing with a streamlined squad last weekend and this weekend would have also opened us up to a ton of negative feedback. I tired to handle everything in the best way that I saw fit, allowing the girls to play the game(s) without ever once asking them to not give 100% effort. Yes, I challenged them to look to go forward in the attack in a different manner, but in the end this was a solid developmental situation for them that will benefit them in the long run.
I know anyone with any kind of soccer knowledge watching the game could have easily thought that we weren’t playing our “normal” direct style, but I know that our normal style will not see this team have continued success in coming years. I know people will process our play through their own set of filters, and people will find a way to blast our approach to this game, and that is fine. My plan was to go into these games with the same build up mentality and the same give-the-girls-looks-in-“unusual”-positions, and those who come watch our game tonight will see the exact same thing. Though my guess is that I don’t think we’ll have as many Woodbury fans out cheering us on to victory tonight.
Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 09:33AM 
