Post Tryouts- The 2 Hardest Weeks

                 

A pretty Soccer Rainbow I offer as apology

Unfortunately, you have all learned the hard way the reality of  the life of a Youth Soccer Coach and broken promises/intentions every June.  I promised you my "Soccer Summer Camps on Long Island" special as well the much anticipated "Coachra v. Momzilla" posts.  They are still on the way, but I should have known better than to make you promises the Toughest 2 Weeks for any Soccer Coach. 
                   We have made it through the end of the season and we should be taking and giving our players and families a few weeks to regroup.  Unfortunately, it is June and the Fall Registration Deadline is just a few weeks away in July.  This means that instead of laying by the pool, we were at the soccer fields running or attending tryouts, and for us coaches, we then face what we dread, the soccer tryout call backs AND even worse, the registration process.  For me, this was the first year in many that we not only had only a small number of open spots on my roster, but we had a few in-house issues to address with a few players and their families, AND we had 26 players show to tryout for basically 18 open spots.  Reality being that all 16 of my players returned to tryout and at this age, we do not cut returning players due to lack of skill, but we will not invite them back for lack of commitment, which is an issue we had to deal with this year.  So not only would I be having a difficult conversation with 1-2 of my players and their parents, but I would be calling about 8 players to notify them they did not make our team. This is the part that we rarely think about or talk about as coaches.
                 

                 Once we make it past the difficult conversations and phone calls, we then get to enjoy the calls we make to the players we are inviting to return to the team and the few new players we are adding to the team.  These phone calls are the fun ones.  As a coach, I got to enjoy about 15 minutes of good news until my next dreaded Youth Soccer Timeframe began- REGISTRATION...a DREADED time for most coaches as we must chase down players and parents and make sure they have PROPERLY registered online at the Youth Soccer Club Website, provided all the necessary pictures, notarized birth certificates, and signed releases.  THEN we get to play collection agent and track down parents to pay the registration fee.  Just because 16-18 players and parents TELL you they are registering for the next year, but all coaches will tell you we do not breathe easy until all registrations are complete, paperwork in our hands, and registration money paid.
                     

                 Basically, the point of this post is one big excuse as to why I have been MIA the last 2 weeks ;).  It is also my personal vent as I dealt with my personal guilt yesterday while I made the difficult phone calls and may have broken a young soccer players heart, while I also take deep breaths and deal with the hundreds of phone calls and texts that I will deal with the next week until registration is complete and I have walked each player and parent through the ritual 6 billion times, the SAME process we have done every year for the last 4 years...not that I am complaining...
                   
                   Please- share your Tryout or registration story or rant below.  Also check back soon for the promised Summer Series AND I will be reviewing the Rough Riders FREE Goalkeeper Clinic and Tournament this weekend!