What’s the point of having your kid “play up” on third tier teams?
Because there is no such thing as open tryouts at these elite clubs.
Agree. Good luck making an elite roster. My advice is to save your tryout fee.
This summer my nephew tried out for an elite club. In full disclosure, he is not an elite player, rather a solid AA-AAA kid. But he wanted to see how he stacked up and get some reps against other good kids. Unfortunately he didn't even get that. As a longtime lax coach who had never seen one of these tryouts, it was hilariously bad:
The team was going to carry 22-25 kids. 21 returners attended. How many were they gonna cut? A new assistant came in from (ANOTHER CLUB) and brought 10 of his kids to try out (one his own biological kid). 30 additional kids signed up and walked in off the street.
So you had 60 kids attending and 40 new kids competing for 3, maybe 4 spots. And there was a strong feeling those 3-4 spots were already spoken for by the new assistant coach.
Then the "tryout" was terrible. I hope it was intentional.
They split the kids in half. 2 single lines. One on each goal. Each kid waits in line with a ball. They get to the front and do a split dodge (against no defender) on a goalie in cage. Back in line for 4 minutes! LOL
This was the set-up for every drill for an hour. Then they split all 60 kids into 2 teams and scrimmaged for the last 20 minutes.
The tryout was perfect for their purpose - No one stood out. You couldn't. There wasnt enough time or reps. You could have told me that my nephew was the best player there, if you wanted to. But I wouldn't have been able to dispute you. Because you couldn't tell squat. It was exactly what the club wanted- a charade to keep the list they already wanted.
I understand why kids/parents avoid these clown shows.
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