04 Girls Hotlist (Players to watch)

SLSC04 wrote:I’ve always been told in a debate to acknowledge what you agree upon.    Accordingly, let me give you props in that you correctly identified my gender assuming of course the term “fella” is gender specific to a male.

With the above acknowledged, I must next apologize.  I assume the misunderstanding to be directly correlated to my uneducated and obviously poor writing.   Further, I’m a SW OKC person writing on a message board on a Saturday night and I suspect my knowledge of soccer is obviously lacking when compared to others on this board.  So please, accept my apologies and kindly allow me the opportunity to better articulate my obvious ignorance.  

Whew.  I think the most succinct way to articulate what I was trying to say is with the following statement.  “SOCCER PARENTS ARE CRAZY.”  

First, if your not a parent or have some relation to a child or parent on a team please forgive me for calling you crazy and please PM with your name and number as I would like to call the authorities with your information so that they can properly congratulate you for your patronage of 10 year old girls soccer.

Now back to my points.  I apparently failed with my poor vernacular.  So let me try again.   I was in no way suggesting that a drop kick by the left back (you state goalie so I assume you meant a drop kick) as a good play.   What I was suggesting is whether a parent would notice the left back make a touch to the outside, cross it over to the center mid’s feet at the right pace and angle which in turn allows the center mid to play it through to the forward who makes a beautiful strike for a goal.  

My experience with youth soccer has led me to conclude the following regarding the above analogy.   First, 10 of 16 parents on an 11 v 11 team will yell for the fast forward and congratulate them for the goal.   5 of 16 will holler out to the center mid who played the ball through.   Maybe 1 lost soul in the wilderness will congratulate the left back.  

Assuming we have the 6% who yelled for the left back (not because they heard another parent do it) maybe this rating system is doable. However, even if we are that 6%, there is still a problem.  All the above occurred on our child’s team.   As a parent, our attention is tuned highly to our child.  We see every move they make.  Next, we see the moves of teammates (for good or bad) as they of course can contribute to our child’s team wining or losing.  

Now as it pertains to the opposing team, we rarely are truly watching what the other team is doing and more importantly who the better players are.     We might see whom the other teams fastest player is or what player made an aggressive play on the ball.    However, we are not watching the intricacies of the other team to know who is truly doing what for them.  

I believe what we will find out is 70% of those who are identified in this thread will not be a top player on any team in 4 years.  The fast players won’t be as fast and most girls get aggressive toward the ball as they age.  

Also, we as Oklahomans (and Americans) have a psychological issue as well.   I’ve read many articles discussing soccer in America.   The biggest problem is parents want goals.   We recognize the flashy player or the one who scores.    We like the baseball player who hits a homerun and celebrate him regardless that he struck out 4 times and left 6 men on base.   We love the Amare Stoudemires who score a lot but don’t play a lick of defense.   We care nothing for the Thabo (not Thabo from last year).   Also, that’s why we never truly appreciated a Tony Gwynn or Karl Malone and John Stockton.  They just weren’t flashy enough.

We love the scorers.  The freak athletes.    In other words, we will naturally be drawn to those most physically gifted regardless of skill.  This is because of our predilection for those types of athletes and the fact we have not watched opposing teams enough to truly know who their better players are.   We will notice who gets to the ball first or other such aggressive items.   We will not notice some of the simple things that make a great player and enables us to objectively rate them.

Speaking of objectivity, can anyone on here really be objective.  Everyone likes different types of players.  Secondly, we are biased.  Thirdly, how can we objectively evaluate based upon a game.  Do we know if the kids got enough sleep?  If they had to compensate for other kids?  Are they sleeping?  Keep going with the arugments against standardized testing.  

Again, I’m cynical.   I’m a CRAZY parent as my love of my daughter supersedes all my rational thought.  I believe whole-heartedly she will be the best player in the state at her position.   That said, I don’t trust anyone other that good licensed coaches to be able to truly evaluate her.  

Now if you have taken the time to read this.  Get a life.   Geez it’s a Saturday night.   Losers.   lol.   (For those without a sense of humor this is called self depravation).   Enjoy this thread.  I know I will.  I never said crazy is not fun to watch.  

OFC04DAD wrote:OFC can play skill/speed/and physical. Just depends on what the other teams bring to the field. Then we address it decisively and without reservation. If we do come into contact with your players don't panic, it's called soccer.

OFC04DAD wrote:Wow. You got me good. Silly silly.