AAA Dad here....curious what teams in the Elite Division have "Daddy Ball" coaching? Looking to have my son tryout for a couple elite teams to try and make that jump, but don't want a Dad coach.
Every time I hear the Daddy Ball comment I feel like it is just an excuse. If your kid is good enough he will play. I am sure there are exceptions to this but I hear this criticism way too often. Your bigger challenge is being better than the kids already on Elite rosters because those are largely well established teams but again if your son stands out and performs he will earn his time. Many of those teams go into tryout season looking only to fill a slot or two so if your only criteria is whether the coach has a kid on the team you are limiting your options.
It really is a mixed bag. I think it's more important to find out if the coach's kid is actually any good and does he play your child's position. There can be some significant benefits to the daddy-ball coach at this level, including making sure the team is getting enough practice to develop, actively recruiting top talent to the team, etc. Probably the worst situation is daddy-club/program-director. Unless your kid is on the daddy-club/program-director's team and/or the team isn't already built, good luck. You'll get all of the reject coaches and don't be shocked if you show up at a tournament without a suitable goalie. "Hey D-Pole kid, you know defense, you ever played goal? Wanna try against AA level competition at this tournament?" Yeah, those were good times. We left the club after that tournament (the pattern had been there, we had just ignored it hoping it would get better because we got on with the families). Felt horrible for the D-Pole kid. He got peppered all tournament.
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