Can someone explain on UA process is a sham? You know with actually facts. I thought Baltimore team won the Command 2 years in a row. Seems like they did a pretty good job picking the right players. I’ve been in the room when they’ve picked the team. Around 10 evaluators from all different clubs and schools talking about jersey numbers on a whiteboard. Maybe it’s not perfect but it’s not a sham and it’s produced two back to back champions.
Fact: the DC squad won the Command title last year. The Baltimore team got knocked out by them in the semis after beating them in group play. Two evenly matched teams. Parents and club coaches can disparage the selection process and outcome, but the fact is the Baltimore Highlight team was the champion last year and the Command team was arguably the second best team in the tournament. Few the folks griping have ever picked a championship all star team. Its not the best 22 players. Its the best players at the role being targeted. Watch John Danowksi pick the US team, he was picking the "best" team not the "best" 22 players.
From UA site " The TRYOUT is intended to select the top 22 players regardless of what school, state, or club team affiliation.' . It says the best players not the best players to form a team. If that was the case, it would be littered with players that are from same team/club/League that know coach/coaches and their style. And that is exactly what people complain about. Better players being left out that are not affiliated with the coaches. Hot bed areas like Balt are lucky as there is not much different in skill of top players , but everyone knows there are many players with a better tryout that are left out due to others who are known community. Does Balt get a bad team, nope, it just is not a tryout like advertised by UA. It is supposed to be a showcase of players for one weekend, not a team that will be performing for your country where you need cohesion of players due to the amount of practices and games.
It is a tryout for 5- 7 players at most...the rest are already on the team and everyone knows it irregardless of how they perform that day. Frankly many do perform well and deserve it so it is not like a huge amount get in that dont deserve it either.
UA could just as easily ask the coaches in MIAA and a couple local clubs who are top players and get the result they do without any tryout. But of course they wouldnt get that much income from that.
I really don't care what the UA tryout advertisement says: the coaches of the respective regional team are trying to field a team that gives them the best shot of winning, period. The boys are trying out for a team which best reflects the region. They don't care about the showcase nature of it, they want to win! The Baltimore area did your proposed all star selection process in the past and was summarily beaten repeatedly (during the past decade), Invariably they suffered from failing to put SSDMs, two way middies and "glue guys" on the team and hence they lost. Every HC worth anything tries to field the best team period. And yes these teams practice 3-4 times and try to become more cohesive over the tournament.
