It is cool when a coach feels comfortable enough in their place in the world to allow their players to guest play without having to worry if they will be recruited. This generally works if you are putting out a good product and if you are not going to guest for a team in purple who has a specific coach known for recruiting. For example, Billy Crook used to allow his players to play for whoever no matter what the team. And there team just won state at U18.
I wonder how many times the following type of situation happens - probably more times than a coach actually "trying" to recruit a player that is guesting for him. What do you all think? Here is the example:
A team is missing players so they get some guest players from other teams to fill voids (maybe it's a temp void, or maybe they are just short on a particular position for whatever reason). Meanwhile, kid from team X is thinking they would like to play in some more tournaments and get some more time on the field during the long summer (maybe they are sitting a bit too much on their normal team), so they decide to guest play with the team needing players. Coach for Team X is respectfully asked if it's okay, and he/she is fine with it, so all is good. But, when player guest plays with other team she finds out she has a little better fit on that team, maybe the possibility of more playing time exists, maybe she just really likes the difference in coaching styles, etc. Next thing you know, the kid ends up changing teams. In this case nobody was recruited, and the kid wasn't trying to seek out a spot on another team....it just sort of happened. Coach X gets pissed off because he thinks other coach recruited his player away.
This example goes to show you there's a possibility that a kid decides to leave on their own, without it having to always be a matter of a coach trying to recruit the player. It also goes to show you that it's not right to assume the kid had it in their minds all along to change teams. But, one thing is for sure, guest playing may indeed lead to player movement even if nobody had those intentions to begin with. Let's look at that. Is it good for the player? Probably. Good for the team she goes to? Probably. Good for the team she left? Probably not, but that's the breaks I guess. A coach is always rolling the dice in my opinion anytime he allows a player to run with other herds, but really what choice does he have? If the coach says no, then my guess is that players won't want to play for him long anyway. People just need to realize it's just part of what happens in youth soccer I guess, and it doesn't always have to be a matter of a coach recruiting players.
Author
Topic: U-14 player ready to play as a guest (Read 1626 times)