Y-league try outs

[Mr Base]

Last night was a second try out for Y league boys. U15 boys head a huge tourn out. Lots of select kids. But few outstanding gold players from Surrey came out to try. In my opinion few spots are open on U15 team. Rest looked like boys from last year's side. Foot skill lacks with many youngsters. Most of them are able to move on the pitch. Outsanding lads were a tall East Indian Lad with good game pace and a good shot yellow bib 3. Also a number 17 in yellow bib and a number 10 in a yellow bib. Younger age numbers were low.
Is this league only playing in BC or are the boys crossing over in to US?

 

[bettermirror]

Which team? This was Revolution/Surrey FC? This division/conference only plays in BC until Florida.

 

[Mr Base]

So kids do go to US for cup play. That's good. At least few will have a chance to get a scolar ship if their grades are high enough. That's good, gives local kids onother way to stay in shape over the summer.

 

[4thplacetrophy]

IMO the y league went backwards from when I played. 4 Canadian teams and 6 us teams in the pacific northwest conference. Having whitecaps, Abby fv, Victoria, and okangon being the Canadian teams and Then there were 4 teams from Washington and 2 from Oregon. That was better becuase you had your elite players play bc like Marcus haber etc, then the next best lot of mainland metro players playing either for Abby or Vancouver, and the inals still being held in Florida. Now it seems more like a glorified winter league with a Florida carrot at the end.( that's going back some 4 years I beleieve since I was eligible for y league)

 

[bettermirror]

Spot-on Missionblues. Certainly is a glorified metro league with Florida at the end for 2 teams per league. That being said, generally 1 of the 2 teams is strong enough to make the finals - and none of the teams getting blown out (on the boys side anyway) generally speaking. so the overall quality can't be harmed too greatly team-by-team.

 

[4thplacetrophy]

Spot-on Missionblues. Certainly is a glorified metro league with Florida at the end for 2 teams per league. That being said, generally 1 of the 2 teams is strong enough to make the finals - and none of the teams getting blown out (on the boys side anyway) generally speaking. so the overall quality can't be harmed too greatly team-by-team.

oh i no it isn't bad quailty at all, i mean for the most part the whitecaps usually qualified anyways. I still watch some of the games now, and the whitecaps based team (mountain and coastal) are way more than good enough to compete down in florida. I know at my age group the whitecaps reached either the semis or the final one year.

 

[Masry]

I coach the U-16 Mountain team and I have to agree. The league has been watered down very much with the affiliations. When I played, I played with the Vancouver Whitecaps and we had players such as Marcus Haber, Brandon Bonifacio, Michael Nonni. All guys who are now or were playing pro. Also guys who are on scholarships down in the states. We even got to play against the great MB10 when he was with Abbotsford. Even the teams we played in our division and in Florida had some really good players. I remember even playing against Jozy Altidore and now look where he is, playing in the Premier League. With that in mind, now, the best American teams are playing in the Academy league. Teams that were in the NorthWest division when I played such as Washington Crossfire, Washington Premier, Portland. All these teams were quality teams and now they are playing in this academy league. Our U-16 team had quite a bit of interest and registration because we did well last year and the main goal for the kids is to go to Florida and be part of the North American Championship finals. I'm hearing some team are having 12-20 players show up to their tryouts, thats not good because now the level of play up here won't be very good for the teams that are trying to prepare for hopefully qualifying to go to the Finals.

 

[Masry]

oh i no it isn't bad quailty at all, i mean for the most part the whitecaps usually qualified anyways. I still watch some of the games now, and the whitecaps based team (mountain and coastal) are way more than good enough to compete down in florida. I know at my age group the whitecaps reached either the semis or the final one year.

All my years with the Whitecaps (5) we managed to reach atleast the Semi's, and finals twice. Now with Mountain, my team is still managing to get the same results as last year we reached the finals and the year before that reached the semi's. I hope its time to win it all this year!

 

[Masry]

Also on top of that, I think us Mountain are doing a pretty good job. We are ranked Number 3 in North America for the best club. And ranked Number 1 on the boys side. I guess we must be doing the right thing

 

[star #1]

I coach the U-16 Mountain team and I have to agree. The league has been watered down very much with the affiliations. When I played, I played with the Vancouver Whitecaps and we had players such as Marcus Haber, Brandon Bonifacio, Michael Nonni. All guys who are now or were playing pro. Also guys who are on scholarships down in the states. We even got to play against the great MB10 when he was with Abbotsford. Even the teams we played in our division and in Florida had some really good players. I remember even playing against Jozy Altidore and now look where he is, playing in the Premier League. With that in mind, now, the best American teams are playing in the Academy league. Teams that were in the NorthWest division when I played such as Washington Crossfire, Washington Premier, Portland. All these teams were quality teams and now they are playing in this academy league. Our U-16 team had quite a bit of interest and registration because we did well last year and the main goal for the kids is to go to Florida and be part of the North American Championship finals. I'm hearing some team are having 12-20 players show up to their tryouts, thats not good because now the level of play up here won't be very good for the teams that are trying to prepare for hopefully qualifying to go to the Finals.

You coach the team?.... wow congrats... never knew that they would hand over a Y League team to a 20 year old... where did you get all your coaching certificates that fast?

 

[bettermirror]

Can't disagree with Masry. As an assistant SYL coach for 3 years I noticed the same - fluctuation of numbers at tryouts. There are surely a lot of reasons for this. Which is a different topic, I suppose.

And ya, MB10, I gave a long answer for what meant to be an agreement with ya. It has become a glorified metro league. The most troubling bit is that players are being told they can only tryout for certain SYL teams by their fall/winter clubs. I coach a fall/winter club, I have an obvious connection to Abbotsford, but tell my boys they are free to tryout for whichever team suits their needs or goals best.

Abby's tryout numbers, at all age groups, has usually been at the lower-end....maybe 25 max? Some exceptions of course. Despite some "success" by various teams in the club.

 

[Masry]

You coach the team?.... wow congrats... never knew that they would hand over a Y League team to a 20 year old... where did you get all your coaching certificates that fast?

Star #1, I currently have my B-Prep going to take my B-Provincial soon. I am the assistant coach not the head coach. You should look into doing some coaching, its honestly a great thing. I did all my certifications in 4 month, took them all after each other.

 

[Masry]

Can't disagree with Masry. As an assistant SYL coach for 3 years I noticed the same - fluctuation of numbers at tryouts. There are surely a lot of reasons for this. Which is a different topic, I suppose.

And ya, MB10, I gave a long answer for what meant to be an agreement with ya. It has become a glorified metro league. The most troubling bit is that players are being told they can only tryout for certain SYL teams by their fall/winter clubs. I coach a fall/winter club, I have an obvious connection to Abbotsford, but tell my boys they are free to tryout for whichever team suits their needs or goals best.

Abby's tryout numbers, at all age groups, has usually been at the lower-end....maybe 25 max? Some exceptions of course. Despite some "success" by various teams in the club.

Bettermirror says it best. There's a lot of teams trying to force players to play where their club is. It is now starting to become a common factor for some teams. A club/coach shouldnt force a player to play where he doesn't want to play. It should all be up to the player.

Bettermirror, i'm pretty sure you guys must have had quite a bit of interest for your U-16 boys because they did well last year. We couldn't beat them both times. Our only 2 ties all year, they ended up doing pretty well in Florida as well. Lost to the team we knocked off in the Semi's.

 

[bettermirror]

Agreed - if you have been playing the sport and decide to hang it up, go for the coaching levels. If you are part of a youth club they'll generally cover the fees and at most ask for a short-term (2 years?) committment if it's the higher level ones.

If only the National B wasn't a week-long, and was done on weekends!

I find seeing success in the kids when coaching is much more gratifying than personal success when playing.

 

[bettermirror]

I don't know about the u16 Abby tryouts - both myself and Ian Knight have left that team - Ian is now Abby Head Coach and I coach an Academy u19 team.

Ya, we did well - wish they reported our last Florida match v. Alpharetta as a win and not a loss. We beat them 1-0! The boys had a good laugh about that. Alpha had this sick kid, african-american kid. Played everywhere. Went to West Ham for tryouts. Easily the best player we've come across.

Ya, our only loss was against that Florida team, you guys beat....Schulz. Everything that could go wrong, did! Great year though ... on the field at least.

Good luck to Mountain this year - we gave you guys a razzing, but really we want local teams to win games. Bodes well for all of us.

 

[Mr Base]

Masry go slow. All the kids you get have spent seven years in soccer schools around lower mainland. Goys like Colin Elms, Roman Tulas bless his slole, Sijbo,Metro,Ekram,Elio,Gino and many more of us are responsable for yo to be able to have good kids. Y league is nothing more than a B side of BC soccer Provincial side. Just onother league to give our kids place to play bettter soccer. American sides do not want to cross the Canadian borther any more. That tell you that they have few kids with out papers. Florida Tournament is no better than the California tournament. It takes about ten years to learn the game as a coach. You just started. Be happy lissen to folks and think of development,forget wins and losses you will become a coach. As far as Nonni his Dad played with us. He is the reason Nonni is where he is. As far as coaching papers, that is the main problem here. Kids get coaching papers and think they can coach. Develop seven players forget winning seven games. At U20 we might have a team that can play against Salvadore.

 

[bettermirror]

A) my SYL team drew both games they played with the same-aged provincial team. So calling SYL a provincial B team is far fetched. I heard the Mountain SYL team spanked the provincial team pretty good.

B) Maybe Florida and California are equal ... point?

C) Development is more important than wins for sure

D) If BC Soccer new development was more important than winning they'd offer FREE coaching symposiums and programs throughout the year. These would be above and beyond the coaching certification courses which are not coach-education driven, but coach-knowledge testers.

E) Yes, go slow and study as much coaching guides as you can. For sure - even after 10 years of coaching. Never stop trying to learn new aspects of the game. Just being soccer-educated in Canada already puts you behind the rest of the world, sadly.

 

[Masry]

I don't know about the u16 Abby tryouts - both myself and Ian Knight have left that team - Ian is now Abby Head Coach and I coach an Academy u19 team.

Ya, we did well - wish they reported our last Florida match v. Alpharetta as a win and not a loss. We beat them 1-0! The boys had a good laugh about that. Alpha had this sick kid, african-american kid. Played everywhere. Went to West Ham for tryouts. Easily the best player we've come across.

Ya, our only loss was against that Florida team, you guys beat....Schulz. Everything that could go wrong, did! Great year though ... on the field at least.

Good luck to Mountain this year - we gave you guys a razzing, but really we want local teams to win games. Bodes well for all of us.

We played Alpharetta in our group and beat them 1-0 as well. That kid was amazing. He was a member of West Ham and part of the deal because Alpharetta is an affiliate was to let him come back and play in the Finals.

I must admit, you and Ian did a great job with that team. Hopefully see you around and can't wait for the Mountain Abbotsford match-ups this season!

 

[bettermirror]

Al Alderson took over - so the team should have a lot of fight in it for sure. No clue who has joined or left. Ya, that kid from Alpha was unbelievable. So much potential.

Good luck this summer.

 

[Masry]

Masry go slow. All the kids you get have spent seven years in soccer schools around lower mainland. Goys like Colin Elms, Roman Tulas bless his slole, Sijbo,Metro,Ekram,Elio,Gino and many more of us are responsable for yo to be able to have good kids. Y league is nothing more than a B side of BC soccer Provincial side. Just onother league to give our kids place to play bettter soccer. American sides do not want to cross the Canadian borther any more. That tell you that they have few kids with out papers. Florida Tournament is no better than the California tournament. It takes about ten years to learn the game as a coach. You just started. Be happy lissen to folks and think of development,forget wins and losses you will become a coach. As far as Nonni his Dad played with us. He is the reason Nonni is where he is. As far as coaching papers, that is the main problem here. Kids get coaching papers and think they can coach. Develop seven players forget winning seven games. At U20 we might have a team that can play against Salvadore.

Mr. Base,

First off, never once did I say I am one of the best coaches around and can coach. I have just started a couple of years ago and learning different things every day. So don't tell me I think I can coach when you don't know who I have been learning from. I have been lucky to have my mentors of who they are today. Andrea Agnoloni (The man who brought me under his wing), Hubert Busby (Ex-LA Sol Assistant Coach, Now Whitecaps Womens Head Coach), Steve Meadley (Whitecaps Residency Assistant Coach), and Frank Ciaccia (Not only a great player, but a great coach). So Mr. Base, just so you know, development is whats on our mind. From our Mountain team that we started with in U-13, we have sent up 2 players into the Residency, and 2 into the Prospects. And every coach wants to win, if not, maybe you shouldn't be coaching at all cuz I wouldn't want to be losing every game.