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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.