Some Clarity on Parity

So, you wanna know what parity is? (Or maybe you don't.) It's kind of this theory about how to develop players in youth soccer. Let me explain it this way....

When we went to our first soccer try-outs way back when my girl was seven (three years ago), this a lady stood in front of all the parents and said something like this (Reader's Digest version):

"This is NOT rec soccer."

We all know what rec soccer is, right? It's when we practice once a week and then play a game on Saturday. And we do it for 8 weeks. No one is supposed to keep score - but they do and actually so do the refs. And so do the parents - you KNOW they do. Everyone has to play at least a half and it's all about exercise and learning fundamental soccer skills.

But here's the rub - most of the time in rec soccer (in my area), the coaches are usually just one kid's parent who may or may not know anything at all about soccer except that you can't touch the ball with your hands and you win if you score more goals than the other team. So, how many fundamental soccer skills are these kids actually learning? And from whom.

SIDEBAR - I am in no way speaking negatively towards any rec soccer coach either my boy or my girl ever had. I can't tell you how much I appreciated the boy's coach that carried around a copy of Soccer for Dummies. He was trying. And I'm giving him his props. Loved that guy and bought him a nice gift certificate at the end of the season.

So, we are not playing rec soccer. We are playing competitive soccer. No guarantee you even make the team. Well it turns out, in our case, after our first try-outs - everyone made the team. Twelve people tried out. Twelve people made the team. We played 6v6 which means six people could be on the field at a time. So, when we played in the six games of our first Fall season.... there were five people on the bench. No one got that much playing time - which made it nice because you couldn't ever tell if your kid made the mistake that caused one of those resounding goals as she was only in for like four minutes at a time.

So after those crazy six games that I will never ever forget (mostly because my girl won't let me), we added a few new players, enough to divide the team. So, how are we going to divide? Are we going to take the top nine players and put them on one team and the bottom nine on the second team - which I call "A/B". Or are we going to line kids up with similar ability and put them on the opposite teams to play "parity." (Sometimes called the "Academy" program.)

As it was explained to me, the good thing about parity is that in long run it's better for the team. If the kids with the most talent are constantly challenging the lesser kids, those kids will get better. So when we move from 6v6 to 8v8 or 11v11, we will have a larger pool of good soccer players to choose from. Good theory, right? Well - it is at least a theory.

Something didn't sit right with me about this theory. What about the kids with the most talent? Who is going to challenge them? Their counterpart is on the other team.

So those were my first thoughts. And since we have this lovely invention called the internet (Thanks Al Gore!) I thought I would just look it up.

Searching "parity soccer"
Searching "development of youth soccer players"
Searching "theories youth soccer"

Nothing, Nathan, Nada. I couldn't find anything written about the benefits of parity on the internet anywhere. I found the Youth Soccer Guidelines, which do recommend parity - but then I thought, "Yeah, but what's their motive?" How PC would it be if they recommended a cut-throat youth soccer program for seven-year-olds? Do you think Publix would nationally sponsor that organization?

So, my "research" continued by talking to some friends that have kids play on travel teams for other youth sports. Does baseball do that? Ummm, no. The parent I talked to said they actually have only one team and cut kids. And it's perfectly acceptable to say, "My kid didn't make it this year, so we're going to work hard and try again next year." Same with softball.

And guess what - when year-round swim teams put together two or more relay teams for a swim meet, they don't take the top two swimmers and have them compete against each other. You won't set any meet records that way.

When that was brought up, "they" said that you can't compare soccer to other competitive sports because it's so different. (???)

Okay - no worries. I'll look at the club's websites that won the Division I National Championship's and see what their clubs do.... well, guess what, it ain't parity.

Now, to be fair. The recommendations given by US Youth Soccer for parity are to go through the U11 age bracket and then the recommendation is to split to an "A" team and a "B" team. AND there are many, many clubs that have an Academy Program. And some of those Academies play parity - and some pretend they play parity.

And some have an Academy program and a Travel Program. In these cases, it seems (I don't really know, but from the websites, it seems) that the Academy teams play travel soccer in local areas and play in local tournaments while the Travel teams play anywhere and everywhere they can get a game or get accepted into a tournament.

So now, in case you haven't inferred my opinion about parity soccer, I'm just going to tell you. I don't like it. I think that they should group people of the same abilities.
Here's why:
1. If you play parity, the better players don't get challenged as much. (Can you strengthen the weak by weakening the strong?)
2. Playing parity, doesn't do anything to help the confidence of the lesser players and more times than not, a team that is confident in their abilities will win. (Especially, when they are playing a team that is OVER-confident.)
3. If you play A/B, it promotes leadership from players from all levels. And some teams are dying for leadership.

Now keep in mind, I am nothing but a soccer mom with an opinion. Take it or leave it, but now, you know what it is - maybe...