Age Pure Projections

ENERGYFC04 wrote:This Griffin love is almost unpalatable. You would think from this board the US national coaches should probably forego recruiting anywhere in the nation and focus all their activities in Tulsa.

Now for some truth!   Does Griffin have some good players?  Yes.  Do they have the 10 - 14 best players in the state? No.   Do they have a 10 - 14 girls that would make a player pool of the top 40 kids in the state?  Yes.    Are they the best TEAM in the state currently? Yes.

This is how this works.  I've seen kids from Griffin and other top teams throughout age brackets go and play on other teams and they look very average.   Often times, especially at these young ages, the sum is greater than the parts.   In this instance, Griffin has more kids that are probably serious about soccer and due to the size of the club, if your not serious your gone.   So, as a team they are more effective than some smaller clubs whose 10 - 14 maybe aren't quite as advanced.   I like what Blitz parents used to describe
what their coach has been forced to integrate this year.  

Why is Griffin probably the top team in the state this year?  Its not because of their top players but most likely because of players 10 – 15 aka depth.
 
Will the Griffin players remain top players from now to eternity?  Probably not.    You can recruit and advocate that they will but the truth is size and speed will equal out.  Boys will come into the picture.  Puberty is hitting.  Other sports may invade.  

Patience!  It’s a marathon not a sprint.

bird04 wrote:There are a number of girls on our team that are good at corner kicks, maybe one that takes the corner more often, but 4 total regular "corner kickers" that come to mind right off the bat...none of which is a specialty player by any means nor someone that the coach would "hide" nor someone who is "failing the team". They all are quite good in the other general areas of the game. It has been remarked on this board before that the players on Griffin are moved in and out of their normal position quite a bit to develop that "utility" ability. So I don't think ENERGY's concern about our coaches' style or means is warranted. I don't think i mentioned a concern about your style of soccer. I have no comment on style I really mean it and am not being "PC" when I say the range of abilities is pretty tight on this team, so when you are speaking "depth", it's not like the players coming off the bench are slouches! Of course, like all here, I am biased when it comes to our girls. So I could be way off base and self-deluding...

I do agree with The Soccer 1% that the level of competition we have played over the last year has some of us worried. That could end up biting us. Shout out to Stump 03, however, as I think that they have improved tremendously and should do better than people expect in State Cup. Played them the other night and they are a different team than I've seen in the past.

Yellowcard wrote:

ENERGYFC04 wrote:This Griffin love is almost unpalatable. You would think from this board the US national coaches should probably forego recruiting anywhere in the nation and focus all their activities in Tulsa.

Now for some truth!   Does Griffin have some good players?  Yes.  Do they have the 10 - 14 best players in the state? No.   Do they have a 10 - 14 girls that would make a player pool of the top 40 kids in the state?  Yes.    Are they the best TEAM in the state currently? Yes.

This is how this works.  I've seen kids from Griffin and other top teams throughout age brackets go and play on other teams and they look very average.   Often times, especially at these young ages, the sum is greater than the parts.   In this instance, Griffin has more kids that are probably serious about soccer and due to the size of the club, if your not serious your gone.   So, as a team they are more effective than some smaller clubs whose 10 - 14 maybe aren't quite as advanced.   I like what Blitz parents used to describe
what their coach has been forced to integrate this year.  

Why is Griffin probably the top team in the state this year?  Its not because of their top players but most likely because of players 10 – 15 aka depth.
 
Will the Griffin players remain top players from now to eternity?  Probably not.    You can recruit and advocate that they will but the truth is size and speed will equal out.  Boys will come into the picture.  Puberty is hitting.  Other sports may invade.  

Patience!  It’s a marathon not a sprint.

I like your way of thinking!  All good stuff...  Even the part later about the corner kicks!  But the silver 2 bracket in 03s is probably close to even with the gold 04 bracket...  IMO...

nat wrote:The love fest with Griffin's players is embarrassing.

ENERGYFC04 wrote:

Yellowcard wrote:

ENERGYFC04 wrote:This Griffin love is almost unpalatable. You would think from this board the US national coaches should probably forego recruiting anywhere in the nation and focus all their activities in Tulsa.

Now for some truth!   Does Griffin have some good players?  Yes.  Do they have the 10 - 14 best players in the state? No.   Do they have a 10 - 14 girls that would make a player pool of the top 40 kids in the state?  Yes.    Are they the best TEAM in the state currently? Yes.

This is how this works.  I've seen kids from Griffin and other top teams throughout age brackets go and play on other teams and they look very average.   Often times, especially at these young ages, the sum is greater than the parts.   In this instance, Griffin has more kids that are probably serious about soccer and due to the size of the club, if your not serious your gone.   So, as a team they are more effective than some smaller clubs whose 10 - 14 maybe aren't quite as advanced.   I like what Blitz parents used to describe
what their coach has been forced to integrate this year.  

Why is Griffin probably the top team in the state this year?  Its not because of their top players but most likely because of players 10 – 15 aka depth.
 
Will the Griffin players remain top players from now to eternity?  Probably not.    You can recruit and advocate that they will but the truth is size and speed will equal out.  Boys will come into the picture.  Puberty is hitting.  Other sports may invade.  

Patience!  It’s a marathon not a sprint.

I like your way of thinking!  All good stuff...  Even the part later about the corner kicks!  But the silver 2 bracket in 03s is probably close to even with the gold 04 bracket...  IMO...

 Yellowcard.   I don't mean this offensive but the Silver II in OPL U13 is nowhere near u12 gold right now mainly because the top teams in U13 are playing SRPL which greatly watered the bracket down.

ENERGYFC04 wrote:

nat wrote:The love fest with Griffin's players is embarrassing.

Like I said.  According to this board the US National team should divert all its resources to Tulsa as the next squad will be filled with Griffin players.

Reality is its part parents promoting their team (some may not even realize what they are doing) and kids (Griffin parents should be proud of their successes) but its also trying to promote a TSC view of soccer that's not always grounded in reality.  Some parents are very concerned that the time, political moves and finances they have spent to ensure their DD on an ECNL team may have gone to waste.   How to correct that?  Push the propaganda even harder.   Lucky for most, if TSC coaches are worth anything they will care less what team a player is on but rather how they fit in a system or team.  

Don't forget the other motive.   TSC is on a mission to destroy Blitz.   Constant reminders of how great they are feeds into this propaganda machine.  TSC parents bite into this as well.  

In the end, sit back and enjoy.   Pray for the kids whose dreams are going to be crushed and pray their parents have the fortitude to give them the necessary love to overcome this strange year in soccer.  I truly worried that both parents and kids are not prepared to handle the possible rejection they will receive in the coming months which could turn into nasty situations.   I wish this on no kid and hope parents can prepare themselves for that awful scenario in which their child does not make the first team for the first time.

Sally wrote:YELLOWCARD is correct.

bird04 wrote:There are a number of girls on our team that are good at corner kicks, maybe one that takes the corner more often, but 4 total regular "corner kickers" that come to mind right off the bat...none of which is a specialty player by any means nor someone that the coach would "hide" nor someone who is "failing the team". They all are quite good in the other general areas of the game. It has been remarked on this board before that the players on Griffin are moved in and out of their normal position quite a bit to develop that "utility" ability. So I don't think ENERGY's concern about our coaches' style or means is warranted. I really mean it and am not being "PC" when I say the range of abilities is pretty tight on this team, so when you are speaking "depth", it's not like the players coming off the bench are slouches! Of course, like all here, I am biased when it comes to our girls. So I could be way off base and self-deluding...

I do agree with The Soccer 1% that the level of competition we have played over the last year has some of us worried. That could end up biting us. Shout out to Stump 03, however, as I think that they have improved tremendously and should do better than people expect in State Cup. Played them the other night and they are a different team than I've seen in the past.

SSD2004 wrote:I am going to make sure and bring a tribute to the Griffin girls so as not to anger the soccer gods this weekend. Just to be safe....

bird04 wrote:I know...I was responding to ENERGY's assumptions....I appreciated your comments and sorry if I worded things awkwardly....