Clash Tournament

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u12dad
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Clash Tournament

Post by u12dad » Tue May 12, 2015 10:05 am

Great tournament. It is really nice to see that many great kids play at a high level. La ringrazio tanto!

jg2112
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Re: Clash Tournament

Post by jg2112 » Tue May 12, 2015 10:58 am

u12dad wrote:Great tournament. It is really nice to see that many great kids play at a high level. La ringrazio tanto!
Agreed. I have a bit of concern there are way too many AAA teams at the U10 level and it's watering down the product, but up the chain (U12, U14, U16, U19) there is really some good hockey being played.

What team did your daughter play on this weekend?

InigoMontoya
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Post by InigoMontoya » Tue May 12, 2015 12:26 pm

Wow, has it been almost a year since somebody used the W-word? Most everyone buys into the 'build the base of the pyramid' philosophy, and yet we still describe the plethora of summer opportunities as 'watered down'. A different perspective might be in this case poor tournament selection decisions were made by the program directors/team coaches/parents/the tournament itself/or the fact that with 10U you just don't know what you're going to get yet. If there are 500 or 600 girls playing 10U hockey in the summer time, bully! Let's try to do a better job of matching them up.

jg2112
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Post by jg2112 » Tue May 12, 2015 1:04 pm

InigoMontoya wrote:Wow, has it been almost a year since somebody used the W-word? Most everyone buys into the 'build the base of the pyramid' philosophy, and yet we still describe the plethora of summer opportunities as 'watered down'. A different perspective might be in this case poor tournament selection decisions were made by the program directors/team coaches/parents/the tournament itself/or the fact that with 10U you just don't know what you're going to get yet. If there are 500 or 600 girls playing 10U hockey in the summer time, bully! Let's try to do a better job of matching them up.
To me the biggest problem isn't really that there are so many different opportunities. Of course, that is great. More girls playing is a good thing! The problem is that all these girls are thrown into one pool to swim and it can lead to worthless ice time in tournaments.

Perhaps it would be better to go the birth year route at the younger levels for girls, like the Machine and Miracle Gold do. Watching the 02 Machine Orange play most 03 teams (or most 02 teams for that matter) isn't going to be pretty, yet that happens at U12 this year. Same thing watching, for example, the 04 Miracle Gold play the 05 Machine Orange. That one year of physical growth or lack thereof can be very, very significant.

A tournament like the Independent could undoubtedly divide its teams into 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002 flights. Teams confident in their ability to play "up" (say, the 03 Machine Orange, the Miracle Gold), could go to 2002. Other teams could play teams that are of similar age.

This is how travel soccer works and for the most part it results in competitive matches. Compare to the Meltdown, where there was at least a plurality, if not an outright majority, of group play blowouts.

observer
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Post by observer » Tue May 12, 2015 3:52 pm

Teams are formed single birth year so you don't have to replace players every year. Easier to make 2-3 changes per year than 6-8 roster changes. Play in easier tourneys year 1 and more difficult ones in year two at any level. Easier on team managers and coaches.

InigoMontoya
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Post by InigoMontoya » Wed May 13, 2015 6:55 am

This is how travel soccer works and for the most part it results in competitive matches. Compare to the Meltdown, where there was at least a plurality, if not an outright majority, of group play blowouts.
That is also how it works on the boys' side. Looking at the Meltdown scores, I think it's an example of the unknown nature of the girls' summer environment - if the 10's had blowouts, the 12's may have been less so, and the 14's look like a bunch of pretty close games -they figure it out a little as they get older. Also, I think if you're going to consolidate all of the talent in one or two spots, there won't be anybody for those kids to play - if the Machine and Os have the top 50 02's, and the rest of the programs are each trying to scrabble together 2 or 3 of the kids 51-100, the rest of the programs will have a great time playing each other, but can't compete with the other two (the same issues the boys had with Machine and Blades for a few years - play up in the local tourneys, and travel great distances to find real competition your own age).

hockeywild7
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Post by hockeywild7 » Wed May 13, 2015 8:43 am

Spend less time and money playing in leagues and games in the offseason and more time working on general athletic skills. Great interview yesterday on radio yesterday with hockey agent Neil Sheehy who stated the best athletes are the best hockey players. Save your money.

zambonidriver
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Post by zambonidriver » Wed May 13, 2015 10:15 am

Why not go by grade like Os does with their teams like 01/02, 02/03,03/04
That way you all the kids that play at a level.

jg2112
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Post by jg2112 » Wed May 13, 2015 11:02 am

zambonidriver wrote:Why not go by grade like Os does with their teams like 01/02, 02/03,03/04
That way you all the kids that play at a level.
Do you mean for tournaments, i.e., that the Clash should have 5th, 6th, 7th grade levels for competition?

I like it. But that would require a complete overhaul of summer hockey. Maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Plus, teams from out of state and country would have to do a lot of reconfiguring as well.

I do agree, it's the best option.

zambonidriver
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Post by zambonidriver » Thu May 14, 2015 11:18 am

The tournaments already are that way U10 -U19
Most teams are the ones that are deciding to go by birth year.
I think the only team that does it by birth year is Machine that way they have an excuse when the lose to teams like the os 01/02 team.

zambonidriver
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Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:31 am

Post by zambonidriver » Thu May 14, 2015 11:18 am

The tournaments already are that way U10 -U19
Most teams are the ones that are deciding to go by birth year.
I think the only team that does it by birth year is Machine that way they have an excuse when the lose to teams like the os 01/02 team.

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