I have a question. At what age group does talent win out over favoritism toward a lesser talented kid who has connections? Will it ever? Please be respectful just curious. Open to any travel club cause i'm sure it gous on all over. Thanks in advance.
We will offer you some personal observations on this topic albeit from a long term club/elite level coaching experience.
Up until our girls team was a U/12 squad, we kept the group together as a largely town entity. When the team was U/13, an interesting twist had taken place. About half of the team was a premier caliber group and about half the team was a solid, albeit not terribly committed, club (town) team.
During the transition from U/13 to U/14, our coaching staff needed to make the decision as to whether to follow the town approach (and lose the upper half of the team to other top level programs) or move into the premier ranks and make some serious roster changes at our next tryouts.
Based on the fact that the coaches chose to move down the premier league path, some serious cuts were made after the U/13 season and those roster positions were filled with other, and yes, better, players.
We arranged for every cut player to play with our "B" team or if that was not their desired path of action, we made calls to their desired club (since we knew most of the other coaches involved).
Long story for a short answer : the transition takes place in that U/13 to U/14 season.
Reply
Quote
