RINGERS

Has anyone else come across ringers in youth soccer? My daughter just played in the Hurst Turkey Shoot this weekend. They are a Division 2 team and are competitive at their level. We had to play Sting Intrepid 11G twice including in the final, and were completely dominated by three of their players who turned out to be ringers from DKSC (btw coach it would be less obvious if they weren’t wearing their DKSC kits!). Would have been competitive against the actual team but these three players were amazing…amongst the best I have seen at that level. Then I found out that this is actually legal! What’s the point of this??? They had three of their own players sitting on the bench watching these girls run rings around us. Their coach even left them in at the end when they were already up 4-0! What a jackass! What does this actually achieve for the team? Is a medal worth it for the girls to sit out and watch the “guest” players win it for them? Does this seem stupid to anyone else??

They are called guest players. Very routine to have for tournaments, especially around holidays when may need extra bodies. If within the same club, no issues at most tournaments. If from different club, each tournament tends to treat differently. You have to look at a tournament like it is a different "league" (like indoor).

Yeah, they had more than enough bodies. Very convenient that they brought in star players and sat their own while the “guests” played nearly the entire game and even tried to run up the score. Very poor sportsmanship if you ask me. Glad we don’t have that coach!

Coaches only care about winning. They have been doing this for years in NTX, at the expense of all their own players. Not sure why kids/parents put up with it, aka stay with that coach/club.

Adding light to the conversation... The team you are referring about is Intrepid-Sting 12/13G Blue. About 75% of the team are 2013 players. They had about 4 subs. They were placed in the 2011 bracket. Hurst Turkey Shoot did not have a girls 2012 division. Most of the players were DKSC last year, so some of them still have cold weather gear such as hoodies that say DKSC. All of them are 2022/23 Intrepid-Sting players. The coaches are very heavy into player development. The players are not guaranteed playing time however these coaches do play them over 50% of game time. The coaches are very approachable, no secrets. They are a fun team to watch when playing at their potential. The Intrepid-Sting team has players at different levels of their soccer development which can be noticeable. I don't believe they had any "Ringers" as described. To put things more into perspective without saying anything negative about any of the teams (including the Intrepid-Sing team), none of the teams were highly competitive in the division of 4 teams. I believe one was recreational. In the 4 team division the Surf 12G and 11G recreational team did not make the finals which was Evolution 11G vs Intrepid-Sting 12/13G.

Winning and losing is apart of the sport. Kids need to learn how to deal with both early because later in life these get magnified. It is up to parents and coaches as role models to help them navigate this... not to make excuses and certainly not to lose the passion to play.

365soccer wrote:Adding light to the conversation... The team you are referring about is Intrepid-Sting 12/13G Blue. About 75% of the team are 2013 players. They had about 4 subs. They were placed in the 2011 bracket. Hurst Turkey Shoot did not have a girls 2012 division. Most of the players were DKSC last year, so some of them still have cold weather gear such as hoodies that say DKSC. All of them are 2022/23 Intrepid-Sting players. The coaches are very heavy into player development. The players are not guaranteed playing time however these coaches do play them over 50% of game time.  The coaches are very approachable, no secrets. They are a fun team to watch when playing at their potential. The Intrepid-Sting team has players at different levels of their soccer development which can be noticeable. I don't believe they had any "Ringers" as described. To put things more into perspective without saying anything negative about any of the teams (including the Intrepid-Sing team), none of the teams were highly competitive in the division of 4 teams. I believe one was recreational. In the 4 team division the Surf 12G and 11G recreational team did not make the finals which was Evolution 11G vs Intrepid-Sting 12/13G.

Winning and losing is apart of the sport. Kids need to learn how to deal with both early because later in life these get magnified. It is up to parents and coaches as role models to help them navigate this... not to make excuses and certainly not to lose the passion to play.

The team never plays up to potential, that is why they are no longer affiliated with DKSC. Why would a coach enter his supposed top team into a tournament against a bunch of rec teams?