Published: Thu 14 May 2026
By Sebastien Mirolo
In football .
Last week, May 4th to May 8th, was try-outs week for "competitive" Club soccer
in Northern California, and this week was try-outs for "select", "delta" or
similar team designation.
As the best soccer player in the school (according to other children) plays
for a nearby team, I registered my son to that Club "competitive" try-outs,
and to a closer team "select" try-outs, just because it happened on a different
week.
If, as myself, you grew up in a European football environment, let me explain
how weird things get here in Northern California.
Sports is not organized by year in the United States, but by season.
A "competitive" team is just a youth team that registers with a league
in the fall, in the winter and in the spring. A "select" team registers
to play a single season, and usually doesn't ask players to commit beyond that.
While there is one league pyramid per geographic region in all of Europe,
in the USA, almost anyone can create his own league. As a result, there
are at least two major distinct youth leagues in Northern California:
NorCal and
CalNorth . It is not just a re-branding.
In a league, there are usually 3 levels of competition per age group:
gold, sliver, and bronze. So while coaches typically advertise their
U.S. Soccer licensing to parents, they will boast their management of
"gold", "sliver" or "bronze" teams to other coaches.
Growing up in France, youth practices happen on Wednesdays. The game
sheet that specifies if you will play for the first team, second team,
or staying home for the week-end is published on Thursdays. Official games are
on Saturdays. The NorCal league prevents most transfer of players between
teams in a season, even within the same Club. NorCal also forces Clubs
to run try-outs within a short window each season. Apparently kids do not
grow up by leaps and bounds here.
While most European Youth teams run recruitment in August for a start
in September, US teams run try-outs the first week of May for a start of season
some time end of August. This means that a) Try-outs run the same week as School
State-wide tests, b) Kids must register before they even have a chance
to get pumped up by World Cup fever. In both cases, it seems bad timing
from people that claim to be professionals at working with children and
focused on promoting the sport.
In the area we live in, "competitive" teams are coached by "professionals".
It usually implies that these coaches livelihood are fully subsidized by player
registration fees. That is very important to understand the dynamics
of try-outs and team formation.
First day of "competitive" try-out
First thing I noticed is that players are instructed to come wearing
a non-Club affiliated shirt, yet most of the returning players wear
the full Club uniform.
There were about 4-5 coaches on the field. The try-out started with a short
classic warm-up without a ball. From afar, it is the first time I noticed
my son runs like a soccer player. I is difficult to explain. How people
move is the kind of things you notice after years of observation.
The warmup was followed by a constrained game with opposition. Finally most
of the try-out time was devoted to a 7v7 game on a regular-sized field with
regular goals.
Returning players definitely had an advantage as they were already familiar
with passing circuits. Player skills was on par with what I would expect
to see in any random youth team in a small amateur club in France, but
nothing standing out to the level of academies of professional clubs.
My son was obviously running a lot, trying to find his position.
His engagement in duels was below the intensity expected. He didn't shine
on the field, but wasn't shamed either. When he switched into the goalie
position, that was an entirely different story. His positioning, availability
for defenders under pressure, and accuracy in build-out phases was way above
any other goal-keeper there.
The next morning, my son received an offer from the Club to pay $2,000+ a year
to play for their second team. We had 48h to accept it.
Second day of "competitive" try-out
When I was 10 years old, scouts from bigger clubs would come by once
in a while, and coaches will use the occasion to organize analytic tests
and gather hard data: 30m sprint time, maximum number of juggles
from the left/right foot, cross-bar challenges, etc. Games would only
represent a small portion of a player evaluation.
Here try-outs meant my son was able to play a pick-up game with skilled players,
so we attended a second try-out at that same Club.
There was no constrained game this time. The whole session was two 7v7 games,
all five coaches looking one game, their back turned to the other game.
All coaches boast higher U.S. soccer licenses; all coaches boast themselves
as "professionals". Yet none-of-them demonstrate the basic understanding
of Salesmanship.
The offer expired, and got extended. Then on the week-end I finally received
an e-mail from a coach, asking if we received the e-mail offer. It was the
first time anyone from the Club reached out. Then we received another e-mail
there will be extra try-outs on Monday.
That's where incentives matter. While I have been trained to recognize
potential in young players, and the European system I grew up in is
geared towards moving talents to bigger and more competitive teams,
Club soccer in Northern California is optimized to award "professional"
coaches a decent living.
As I heard in a podcast recently, soccer is a rite of passage for young
Americans , like the Boy/Girl scouts
or sleepovers. "It is for Kids; You move on as you grow up." Once you
understand that, the whole U.S. Youth Soccer system makes
sense. There is never any intention to develop soccer players competitive
in the professional adult game (nor the college game for that matter - 73% of starters in 2024 Men's NCAA Finals were international players ).
Anyone telling you otherwise is trying to earn a paycheck at your expense.
First day of "select" try-out
The next week, my son tried out for a "select" team at a local Club. I had to
pay $50 this time, which seemed a good deal for him to play 2 more pick-up
games with his friends from school.
The try-outs were a lot more organized than the ones we attended previously.
They had a corporate-feeling to them.
Kids played 5v5 games with mini-goals across 3 fields, with one coach watching
each field. Most of the time, it was a mêlée. The skill level was a lot lower
than what my son experienced the week prior. Once the kids figured out that
the best tactic was to keep a player back to defend the mini-goal, I overheard
the coach watching the game complain to the kids: "I cannot evaluate you if you
stay back." - Obviously that coach was inexperienced.
My son got bored with the level of play, and decided he didn't want to attend
the second day. $25 per pick-up game is acceptable. $50 for one game is
expensive. That's what I am the most upset about.
Alameda Soccer Club
I met people from 24/7 UK Soccer last year
through coaching events, and was introduced
to Alameda Soccer Club in the process.
Both my sons ended up attending Saturday camps in Alameda
last Winter. I ended up on ASC e-mail newsletter, even though we live
too far for my kids to realistically attend school day practices.
Out of all the soccer clubs I interacted with in the East Bay so far,
ASC is the only club that had a Zoom presentation of their competitive
program before the try-out week. I am a little concern about
the "professionalization" of their competitive coaching staff, but otherwise
that Zoom presentation was refreshing; down-to-earth, no bullshit. After
all, It's only Kids Football .
Conclusion
At this point, for kids to play soccer, camps are most likely the best
investments time-wise and money-wise. I will definitely sign up my kids
again to 24/7 UK Soccer Camps, even if they are lead by English coaches
- nobody's perfect or French :).
As meaningful football competition is concerned,
high-school soccer (video)
has caught my eye recently.
