Message Board

Mid-Ohio Select Soccer League

MESSAGE:

Assume Club XYZ has an A, B & C team in the same age/gender group. Is it unethical/unsportsmanlike to take say 2 of the better players on the A team and card them to the C team, with the full intention that they will practice with A and play "up" on A 95% of the time but, by being carded to the C team they are available to sub on the B or C team at will?

That's kind of extreme, but the same strategy could be used with just two divisions. I actually suggested to our club they do this last year, not for a competitive advantage so much as they didn't QUITE have enough people to make a third team, and I thought instead of having 9 players rostered to an 8v8 C team they should card a couple of the B or A team players down in case a C team player had to miss. Then it wasn't much of a leap to think some teams might do this just for the pure competitive advantage. For the record, in our case the third team fell apart and so we only had two teams...

My position is that if it is done with the pure intention of posting wins in a lower division, it's kind of a tool move and undermines the kids that are rightfully at the lower division, but certainly if it is a choice that saves a team's very existence it makes sense.

Just curious what others might think, and thought it might spark an interesting banter (but I'm usually wrong).

Responses

ameil43065 On 10/29/2009 4:08:13 PM
soccermamma- I think the kids know... and if you read previous post on mossl discussion board ( "playing time" and "good read for parents") you will see that children actually post and read the discussion board messages and they know that there is something wrong when they get no playing time because they are placed on the wrong level. I am so disturbed reading all of this so unethical behavior of "clubs" and "coaches"... seriously why are they in the business.. money or do they really care about the kids they are working with?! As for the merged club issue.. I am from a merged club and this does not happen at our club and the teams that merged below 13 have pretty much the same girls on the teams that were from last year plus minus girls that were moved down from higher teams after tryouts. Those girls don't play up either. so fyi on that.

soccer momma On 10/29/2009 2:30:06 PM
It is totally unethical and I would hope the kids are unaware of this going on...not something I would choose to teach a child. I also cannot believe this much thought and effort would go into any club just for the sake of "winning"....disturbing !!! To be succesful in life and sports takes hard work, I would suggest getting a better coach for the c league and teach the kids how to play a better game.

CAFC On 10/29/2009 1:31:33 PM
SteveH,

Interesting... the team you mention will obviously need to move up.

What happens if a team is winning by this kind of margin and there is no further level to move to? Can they or should they play up a year or consider a different league? Just curious on your thoughts?

SteveH On 10/29/2009 1:07:38 PM
While intentional or not, there has been many players placed in the wrong divisions. Do they guest play up? not sure, but it is likely... Here is another example of misplaced talent on the wrong teams...

With the surprising amount of clubs merging from last year to this year, I question how open their tryouts were. i.e. Club A combines with Club B. They each had 2 teams of 12 with their own coaches in U12 Girls. Did they combine all 48 girls and reshuffle teams based on talent and submit their requests as such? Or did they take their preexisting teams, negotiate on a club name and unifomr and play as they did last Spring? With the overall average of a C level talent, with A/B level players mixed with D level players, they could win out a level with little detection. Team wins, parents are happy and clubs boost a winning season. While I use U12 girls as an example, this just happened in a younger boys division. However, I do not know if they guest played their few ringer players - I just know they won games for the team.

ah... youth sports!

Jim Sturm On 10/29/2009 11:49:42 AM
Two points:

1) When it comes MOSSL tournamnet time, all players must play on the team that they are originally rostered to unless that time in not playing in the tournament.

2) I would hope those players who sit the bench every game but for 5 - 10 minutes consider their option when it comes to tryout time. A club that consistently does this will be lucky to have even one team.

CmhRef On 10/29/2009 11:44:47 AM
If there are not enough for a third team, then perhaps those players should seek another club. There are always clubs looking for players.

CAFC On 10/29/2009 9:14:19 AM
It was unethical all around.

EXAMPLE ( This happened recently) The A players carded to the lower team played in both divisions, they played 100% of the time on the A team and 100% of the time on the B team, while the other players ( who only played on the lower team ) sat on the bench, some of them all but 5 or 10 minutes.

Also, the supposed B team dominated, I do not believe this is fair to the other teams in the division.

ameil43065 On 10/29/2009 9:04:46 AM
very interesting strategy...If the parents are okay with it and the child is okay with being carded to a low division team when they are good enough to be carded on a higher division team, then what can you do? I think this is a desperate approach for a club to resort to this type of practice just to be competitive. What age group are we talking about here?