Top 03 Forwards, Mids, and Defenders

herradura wrote:

03soccerdad wrote:It is perfectly OK to give praise for a specific achievement - at any age.

For the individual: a great play or stand out performance

For the team: a great game, tournament, or season

I think this is true if it's your kid or someone else's - might even mean more to the player if it comes from somone other than their parent, family, or team.

It is a slippy slope to start identifiying the "best", especially at this age, as it is way to early to tell where any of this is going.  

This all changes in the next couple of years....

I guess your team has never played SRSA... There is a visible difference in level of play between their front three and the rest of the 03s - other than the ones I mentioned in my first post on this subject. To say otherwise is naive.

Maybe this will make you feel better:  Currently, they are the best at their positions.

Sorry, but you are wrong. The SRSA girls are experts in their position in the system. You pluck any of them out of this team and place them on Sting, Texans or FCD team they will not be a star player. They will be good, but they will not shine like they do in the DM system.

My dd played SRSA twice last year and yes the SRSA team and many of their players were at a level far ahead of any other team my DD played. My dd had her moments during those games and walked away with an overall good experience - learned a lot playing those girls. She uses those games as a benchmark to improve and to drive her play.

My point is not down playing the rank - it is important to have standards set....a girl saying "I want to play as good as them or I want to beat them next time". This is good.

OK, who's best, but who cares at this age (I am speaking to the parents on this forum - not the athletes)?

Let's see who is still interested and playing soccer in 2 to 3 years than take note.

Derek Please wrote:

herradura wrote:

03soccerdad wrote:It is perfectly OK to give praise for a specific achievement - at any age.

For the individual: a great play or stand out performance

For the team: a great game, tournament, or season

I think this is true if it's your kid or someone else's - might even mean more to the player if it comes from somone other than their parent, family, or team.

It is a slippy slope to start identifiying the "best", especially at this age, as it is way to early to tell where any of this is going.  

This all changes in the next couple of years....

I guess your team has never played SRSA... There is a visible difference in level of play between their front three and the rest of the 03s - other than the ones I mentioned in my first post on this subject. To say otherwise is naive.

Maybe this will make you feel better:  Currently, they are the best at their positions.

Sorry, but you are wrong. The SRSA girls are experts in their position in the system. You pluck any of them out of this team and place them on Sting, Texans or FCD team they will not be a star player. They will be good, but they will not shine like they do in the DM system.

You are wrong DP. They would shine just as the F-e-v-e-r, LP or FCD Gold players I mentioned earlier do. Why else do you think everyone goes ballistic when they would drop into Gold division games with Gio or Canevari and score 2 or 3 in 5 minutes and then get pulled out? Sorry, that "DM system" stuff doesn't float, at least for these girls.

I am sorry you are so biased toward anything to do with DM. I am sure at one time you thought he hung the moon...

If DP's statement is directed at the 2 SRSA players that went out and guest played in Surf Cup, then I'm going to have to agree with Herradura on this one.  All you need for evidence is to go over to the SoCal forum and read the comments about the impact those two players made in that tournament.

Here's a little sampling...



BTW... #11 was one of the SRSA players guesting for Arsenal...

bwgophers wrote:

herradura wrote:

Derek Please wrote:

herradura wrote:

03soccerdad wrote:It is perfectly OK to give praise for a specific achievement - at any age.

For the individual: a great play or stand out performance

For the team: a great game, tournament, or season

I think this is true if it's your kid or someone else's - might even mean more to the player if it comes from somone other than their parent, family, or team.

It is a slippy slope to start identifiying the "best", especially at this age, as it is way to early to tell where any of this is going.  

This all changes in the next couple of years....

I guess your team has never played SRSA... There is a visible difference in level of play between their front three and the rest of the 03s - other than the ones I mentioned in my first post on this subject. To say otherwise is naive.

Maybe this will make you feel better:  Currently, they are the best at their positions.

Sorry, but you are wrong. The SRSA girls are experts in their position in the system. You pluck any of them out of this team and place them on Sting, Texans or FCD team they will not be a star player. They will be good, but they will not shine like they do in the DM system.

You are wrong DP. They would shine just as the F-e-v-e-r, LP or FCD Gold players I mentioned earlier do. Why else do you think everyone goes ballistic when they would drop into Gold division games with Gio or Canevari and score 2 or 3 in 5 minutes and then get pulled out? Sorry, that "DM system" stuff doesn't float, at least for these girls.

I am sorry you are so biased toward anything to do with DM. I am sure at one time you thought he hung the moon...

If DP's statement is directed at the 2 SRSA players that went out and guest played in Surf Cup, then I'm going to have to agree with Herradura on this one.  All you need for evidence is to go over to the SoCal forum and read the comments about the impact those two players made in that tournament.

Speaking of the SoCal forum, why does Good4nuthin only make "guest appearances" there and not here anymore? That is classic material.

bwgophers wrote:If DP's statement is directed at the 2 SRSA players that went out and guest played in Surf Cup, then I'm going to have to agree with Herradura on this one.  All you need for evidence is to go over to the SoCal forum and read the comments about the impact those two players made in that tournament.

Here's a little sampling...



BTW... #11 was one of the SRSA players guesting for Arsenal...

Exactly, If you go over there and read their board, they are about to erect a shrine to the two superstars from TEXAS. Having your mom come on here and say you are great is one thing, but to perform at Surf Cup, with an unfamiliar team and have everyone that sees you proclaim your greatness is quite another.

Game over, end of discussion, thread done...Those two are the best 03s and no one else is even close....

herradura wrote:

Derek Please wrote:

herradura wrote:

03soccerdad wrote:It is perfectly OK to give praise for a specific achievement - at any age.

For the individual: a great play or stand out performance

For the team: a great game, tournament, or season

I think this is true if it's your kid or someone else's - might even mean more to the player if it comes from somone other than their parent, family, or team.

It is a slippy slope to start identifiying the "best", especially at this age, as it is way to early to tell where any of this is going.  

This all changes in the next couple of years....

I guess your team has never played SRSA... There is a visible difference in level of play between their front three and the rest of the 03s - other than the ones I mentioned in my first post on this subject. To say otherwise is naive.

Maybe this will make you feel better:  Currently, they are the best at their positions.

Sorry, but you are wrong. The SRSA girls are experts in their position in the system. You pluck any of them out of this team and place them on Sting, Texans or FCD team they will not be a star player. They will be good, but they will not shine like they do in the DM system.

You are wrong DP. They would shine just as the F-e-v-e-r, LP or FCD Gold players I mentioned earlier do. Why else do you think everyone goes ballistic when they would drop into Gold division games with Gio or Canevari and score 2 or 3 in 5 minutes and then get pulled out? Sorry, that "DM system" stuff doesn't float, at least for these girls.

I am sorry you are so biased toward anything to do with DM. I am sure at one time you thought he hung the moon...

You are a bit off here Herradura. Gio's team only scored 17 goals the entire season and one player scored 9 of them. She didn't play for SRSA, but trained with them. The SRSA girls that guested with us only scored 2 of the entirety of the goals and that was by one player. The others that guested didn't score, but played mostly support roles.

wow. only took 5 days to get what was wanted.

I pretty much thought it was a given that those two girls were the best in the 03 age group. Outstanding talents and if you aren't prepared to face them they will beat you before you know it. However I would say the same thing about the forward from FCD Gold, if you aren't prepared for the speed and tempo they will eat you up.

Fun players to watch, any team would love to have them.

Coach&Ref wrote:

herradura wrote:

Derek Please wrote:

herradura wrote:

03soccerdad wrote:It is perfectly OK to give praise for a specific achievement - at any age.

For the individual: a great play or stand out performance

For the team: a great game, tournament, or season

I think this is true if it's your kid or someone else's - might even mean more to the player if it comes from somone other than their parent, family, or team.

It is a slippy slope to start identifiying the "best", especially at this age, as it is way to early to tell where any of this is going.  

This all changes in the next couple of years....

I guess your team has never played SRSA... There is a visible difference in level of play between their front three and the rest of the 03s - other than the ones I mentioned in my first post on this subject. To say otherwise is naive.

Maybe this will make you feel better:  Currently, they are the best at their positions.

Sorry, but you are wrong. The SRSA girls are experts in their position in the system. You pluck any of them out of this team and place them on Sting, Texans or FCD team they will not be a star player. They will be good, but they will not shine like they do in the DM system.

You are wrong DP. They would shine just as the F-e-v-e-r, LP or FCD Gold players I mentioned earlier do. Why else do you think everyone goes ballistic when they would drop into Gold division games with Gio or Canevari and score 2 or 3 in 5 minutes and then get pulled out? Sorry, that "DM system" stuff doesn't float, at least for these girls.

I am sorry you are so biased toward anything to do with DM. I am sure at one time you thought he hung the moon...

You are a bit off here Herradura. Gio's team only scored 17 goals the entire season and one player scored 9 of them. She didn't play for SRSA, but trained with them. The SRSA girls that guested with us only scored 2 of the entirety of the goals and that was by one player. The others that guested didn't score, but played mostly support roles.

Your right, they aren't that good and your dd is the best. I get it. I'm sure it will be evident for us all this season coach. Can't wait to watch.

Or why cant we say at the '03 level in Cali is not crack up to what we think (not all that).. I'm just sayin', I'm just sayin'

Two side to a coin..

herradura wrote:

Coach&Ref wrote:

herradura wrote:

Derek Please wrote:

herradura wrote:

03soccerdad wrote:It is perfectly OK to give praise for a specific achievement - at any age.

For the individual: a great play or stand out performance

For the team: a great game, tournament, or season

I think this is true if it's your kid or someone else's - might even mean more to the player if it comes from somone other than their parent, family, or team.

It is a slippy slope to start identifiying the "best", especially at this age, as it is way to early to tell where any of this is going.  

This all changes in the next couple of years....

I guess your team has never played SRSA... There is a visible difference in level of play between their front three and the rest of the 03s - other than the ones I mentioned in my first post on this subject. To say otherwise is naive.

Maybe this will make you feel better:  Currently, they are the best at their positions.

Sorry, but you are wrong. The SRSA girls are experts in their position in the system. You pluck any of them out of this team and place them on Sting, Texans or FCD team they will not be a star player. They will be good, but they will not shine like they do in the DM system.

You are wrong DP. They would shine just as the F-e-v-e-r, LP or FCD Gold players I mentioned earlier do. Why else do you think everyone goes ballistic when they would drop into Gold division games with Gio or Canevari and score 2 or 3 in 5 minutes and then get pulled out? Sorry, that "DM system" stuff doesn't float, at least for these girls.

I am sorry you are so biased toward anything to do with DM. I am sure at one time you thought he hung the moon...

You are a bit off here Herradura. Gio's team only scored 17 goals the entire season and one player scored 9 of them. She didn't play for SRSA, but trained with them. The SRSA girls that guested with us only scored 2 of the entirety of the goals and that was by one player. The others that guested didn't score, but played mostly support roles.

Your right, they aren't that good and your dd is the best. I get it. I'm sure it will be evident for us all this season coach. Can't wait to watch.

Come on, Herradura. I was just setting it straight for those who think that Gio's team was only successful when SRSA girls dropped by to score some goals. The team was still solid and five of them are still playing together.

All the girls on SRSA are fantastic. If they weren't, they wouldn't be there.

Also, I never said anything about my daughter being the best nor do I even believe that. She has a LONG way to go!

It's a farce to dismiss the SRSA squad as just a couple of players that are head and shoulders above the rest. That's just wishful thinking. Sure they run the "DM system" or whatever you're calling it, and yes, the ball movement is so precise that it makes for a one-sided affair and neutralizes top players on other teams. And yes, those top two players are special, one immensely skilled and both incredibly quick.

But when you watch most all of the SRSA girls in tight space, you can they all have a much higher skill level and understanding of what they want to do. That's not a system; that's skill, athleticism, and vision that is missing in the age group otherwise. Forget the score, and just watch the quality, both as individuals and as a team. That's being taught, not just recruited.

You don't fear playing them. There's no dirty play. No shortcuts or gimmicks. No mouthiness. No roster full of huge athletes trying to just outphysical you. They play the ball. Some of their parents get a bit nutty, but whose team doesn't? That's an epidemic these days.

I, for one, enjoy watching them, and I wish this was taught everywhere, instead of playing for a cheap score all the time to vicariously satisfy parents. It pays off ten-fold down the road when the real soccer begins. Until we start demanding that our coaches teach proper soccer, it won't change.

I appreciate the example those girls set for other teams to see. That's what the beautiful game looks like. All teams should effort to emulate it because it's about how you play, not the results, at this age.

Erod wrote:It's a farce to dismiss the SRSA squad as just a couple of players that are head and shoulders above the rest.  That's just wishful thinking.  Sure they run the "DM system" or whatever you're calling it, and yes, the ball movement is so precise that it makes for a one-sided affair and neutralizes top players on other teams.  And yes, those top two players are special, one immensely skilled and both incredibly quick.

But when you watch most all of the SRSA girls in tight space, you can they all have a much higher skill level and understanding of what they want to do.  That's not a system; that's skill, athleticism, and vision that is missing in the age group otherwise.  Forget the score, and just watch the quality, both as individuals and as a team.  That's being taught, not just recruited.

You don't fear playing them.  There's no dirty play.  No shortcuts or gimmicks.  No mouthiness.  No roster full of huge athletes trying to just outphysical you.  They play the ball.  Some of their parents get a bit nutty, but whose team doesn't?  That's an epidemic these days.

I, for one, enjoy watching them, and I wish this was taught everywhere, instead of playing for a cheap score all the time to vicariously satisfy parents.  It pays off ten-fold down the road when the real soccer begins.  Until we start demanding that our coaches teach proper soccer, it won't change.

I appreciate the example those girls set for other teams to see.  That's what the beautiful game looks like.  All teams should effort to emulate it because it's about how you play, not the results, at this age.

i agree, ntx soccer is getting to be about size, even heard coaches say that which is sad. I love watching srsa play like soccer is meant to be played-with skill and possession.

I've watched SRSA play on numerous occasions, against boys and girls, and it really is fun to watch. Now as far as their "system" it's really not much of a system besides get the ball back up to the CM or F's as quickly as you can and let them work their magic. I've actually only seen one other 03 team be able to contain their top 3 girls but even then that's all they had time to do and never really could get anything going offensively. I think they still ended up losing 6-0 once they switched things up at halftime to at least try to get something going offensively but to no avail. Personally I think most non SRSA parents over estimate the impact of those two players and most SRSA parents underestimate the impact those two girls have on their team.

NTX soccer is just one messed up ball of crazy. I'd say the majority of the parents don't know what good soccer looks like and are generally the ones yelling on the sideline "kick it harder" or "faster, baby, faster" or "don't let that girl push you around like that" and so on and so on. However if you asked them what style of soccer their team plays the will almost always say, "we are a possession team, we don't play kick ball." It's like parents in NTX are brainwashed to never admit that their team is some kick ball playing girls. Here's your first clue, if you cheer everytime your defender boots a ball long back down the field when no one is pressuring your defender, you might be a kick ball team.

GrandTXSoccer wrote:I've watched SRSA play on numerous occasions, against boys and girls, and it really is fun to watch. Now as far as their "system" it's really not much of a system besides get the ball back up to the CM or F's as quickly as you can and let them work their magic. I've actually only seen one other 03 team be able to contain their top 3 girls but even then that's all they had time to do and never really could get anything going offensively. I think they still ended up losing 6-0 once they switched things up at halftime to at least try to get something going offensively but to no avail. Personally I think most non SRSA parents over estimate the impact of those two players and most SRSA parents underestimate the impact those two girls have on their team.

NTX soccer is just one messed up ball of crazy. I'd say the majority of the parents don't know what good soccer looks like and are generally the ones yelling on the sideline "kick it harder" or "faster, baby, faster" or "don't let that girl push you around like that" and so on and so on. However if you asked them what style of soccer their team plays the will almost always say, "we are a possession team, we don't play kick ball." It's like parents in NTX are brainwashed to never admit that their team is some kick ball playing girls. Here's your first clue, if you cheer everytime your defender boots a ball long back down the field when no one is pressuring your defender, you might be a kick ball team.

I disagree with you about the SRSA girls to the following extent: As far as I know, no other girls have gone to the best soccer state in the Country ( CA), been placed on a team with girls they have never played with, and then dominated the highest profile tournament in the Country to the extent everyone that saw them was raving about how great they were. No other ( 03) players from NTX have done that ( that I know of) and that is a true measuring stick of how talented these girls are, not what a parent says about their own kid on a forum. Other than that, it is certainly up for debate how much any one player effects a team.


As for the kickball argument, we could start a new thread:

1. You might be a kickball team if.....
--the phrase "boot it honey" is heard on your sideline
---parents say "nice ball" when a defender kills it over the top of the midfielders.
---parents clap when you kick it far out of bounds to get away from pressure.

Others??

Without a doubt it's really impressive, however they've been doing the same thing here for years so the fact that they did the same thing in CA doesn't really move the bar for me. Did anyone really expect for them to go out there and not be able to dribble and shoot anymore? Now I can understand where the folks in CA are impressed, I too was blown away when I first watched them play so I would expect folks in CA would be the same.

You might be a kickball team if your jersey says:
Sting, LP, Texans, D'feeters, Kicks, Triumph, Beiber Fever, Aces, Andro, TFC, FC Dallas, LFS,... any more?    j/k

"I think most non SRSA parents over estimate the impact of those two players and most SRSA parents underestimate the impact those two girls have on their team."

What exactly does this mean?

Pretty simple. The non SRSA parents over estimate their value, meaning that they think those two girls are really the only reason they are any good (you hear it all the time when talking to folks about them, they always say "Yeah but without those two girls things would really change quickly) and then you'd have the other side under estimating their value saying that other girls can step in and fill their shoes without much of a drop off, they just haven't had a chance to shine.

That's all that means.