Best boys soccer players ever from Section IV

[Guest Guest]

But, for the players that are better than club soccer, there needs to be premier team in this area. Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo all have these academies, and produce D1 players (just see the signings in Feb) and I can't figure out why Binghamton can't figure out its a good thing for advanced players.

 

So, in essence, your argument is to hold back better players and not provide them with a challenging environment because WHY?

 

I never said hold them back, I agree we have some players that could move on but we don't have enough of them to have a premier team. Training with a group of kids that aren't at that level and saying its premier training is just wrong. If the top level players want to move on they need to find the club to go to, logically it would be Empire in Syracuse. Less than an hour away and far more top level talent to work with. You need to come to the realization we don't have that much talent here to train with, its just a simple fact. Look at a club like FC Delco the rosters of their premier teams have kids from 4-5 states (Pa, Del, NJ, Md, NY). Red Bull and NJPDA both have multiple state players also. Why? The better players want to train at a top level an hour to travel to get the best work is totally acceptable. An area with a population as small as ours does not have the player base to support a full premier set up. The reason Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse produce more D1 players is their population is much larger than ours. We'll get a player once in a while they get them year in and year out.

 

As for the person who questioned what top player went to Syracuse to train and went to a top 20 team, just look at Kylie Strom..Boston U went to the NCAA for its 7th straight time and she left this area at 14 to train in Syracuse to improve her game, seems to have worked out well.

[Guest The simple truth]

I never said hold them back, I agree we have some players that could move on but we don't have enough of them to have a premier team. Training with a group of kids that aren't at that level and saying its premier training is just wrong. If the top level players want to move on they need to find the club to go to, logically it would be Empire in Syracuse. Less than an hour away and far more top level talent to work with. You need to come to the realization we don't have that much talent here to train with, its just a simple fact. Look at a club like FC Delco the rosters of their premier teams have kids from 4-5 states (Pa, Del, NJ, Md, NY). Red Bull and NJPDA both have multiple state players also. Why? The better players want to train at a top level an hour to travel to get the best work is totally acceptable. An area with a population as small as ours does not have the player base to support a full premier set up. The reason Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse produce more D1 players is their population is much larger than ours. We'll get a player once in a while they get them year in and year out.

 

As for the person who questioned what top player went to Syracuse to train and went to a top 20 team, just look at Kylie Strom..Boston U went to the NCAA for its 7th straight time and she left this area at 14 to train in Syracuse to improve her game, seems to have worked out well.

 

 

 

I couldn't disagree with you more, and believe me I have way more knowledge in traveling for premier soccer than you could ever dream of.

 

The problem with soccer in this area in my opinion is the opposite of what you think it is. The problem in this area is too many club teams. Fusion's biggest sin is developing these premier teams when they became age eligible. At U14 and even U13 and heck even at U12 it is way too late to try and boast a premier team. The bigger clubs that you speak so highly of have bigger pools of players at the U9 and U10 levels. They have 3 years from this time to train them CORRECTLY and weed and sort out the players. These three years are critical in developing a players skills. We in this area, leave these age groups to parents who have no idea what they are doing. By the time BC United teams reach the U12 state cup tournament they are 2-3 years behind everyone else.

 

If this area would have a 30-40 player pool with the U9 boys and girls there is no doubt in my mind that they could compete with the Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo teams. No doubt in my mind! And don't tell me that there are not enough kids to support this. Go to the Dome early on Saturday mornings and you will see at least 10 teams of U10 eligible players. Some of these kids are amazing with a ton of talent. If you do a little research you will see that this area is presently providing some of these so called great programs with their BEST players.

 

BC United's board has been told the importance of having soccer academy's at younger ages for years now. Of course they have never done a thing about it, because the PARENTS on that board are more suited for club soccer than premier level leadership.

 

So in conclusion, you are dead wrong sir or madam. The new club hopes to change this atmosphere and develop bigger pools at the younger age groups. One need look no further than to field 5 every night between 5:30 and 8:30 to see what is in this area, and how much potential these kids have if they were all united.

[Guest Guest]

I never said hold them back, I agree we have some players that could move on but we don't have enough of them to have a premier team. Training with a group of kids that aren't at that level and saying its premier training is just wrong. If the top level players want to move on they need to find the club to go to, logically it would be Empire in Syracuse. Less than an hour away and far more top level talent to work with. You need to come to the realization we don't have that much talent here to train with, its just a simple fact. Look at a club like FC Delco the rosters of their premier teams have kids from 4-5 states (Pa, Del, NJ, Md, NY). Red Bull and NJPDA both have multiple state players also. Why? The better players want to train at a top level an hour to travel to get the best work is totally acceptable. An area with a population as small as ours does not have the player base to support a full premier set up. The reason Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse produce more D1 players is their population is much larger than ours. We'll get a player once in a while they get them year in and year out.

 

As for the person who questioned what top player went to Syracuse to train and went to a top 20 team, just look at Kylie Strom..Boston U went to the NCAA for its 7th straight time and she left this area at 14 to train in Syracuse to improve her game, seems to have worked out well.

 

 

It's nice that Boston U made the big dance 7 straight years but do you see who they compete against in their league? It's embarrassing if they DON"t make it! And what happened when they played against a decent team? Top 20....on what list is that?

[Guest Guest]

I couldn't disagree with you more, and believe me I have way more knowledge in traveling for premier soccer than you could ever dream of.

 

The problem with soccer in this area in my opinion is the opposite of what you think it is. The problem in this area is too many club teams. Fusion's biggest sin is developing these premier teams when they became age eligible. At U14 and even U13 and heck even at U12 it is way too late to try and boast a premier team. The bigger clubs that you speak so highly of have bigger pools of players at the U9 and U10 levels. They have 3 years from this time to train them CORRECTLY and weed and sort out the players. These three years are critical in developing a players skills. We in this area, leave these age groups to parents who have no idea what they are doing. By the time BC United teams reach the U12 state cup tournament they are 2-3 years behind everyone else.

 

If this area would have a 30-40 player pool with the U9 boys and girls there is no doubt in my mind that they could compete with the Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo teams. No doubt in my mind! And don't tell me that there are not enough kids to support this. Go to the Dome early on Saturday mornings and you will see at least 10 teams of U10 eligible players. Some of these kids are amazing with a ton of talent. If you do a little research you will see that this area is presently providing some of these so called great programs with their BEST players.

 

BC United's board has been told the importance of having soccer academy's at younger ages for years now. Of course they have never done a thing about it, because the PARENTS on that board are more suited for club soccer than premier level leadership.

 

So in conclusion, you are dead wrong sir or madam. The new club hopes to change this atmosphere and develop bigger pools at the younger age groups. One need look no further than to field 5 every night between 5:30 and 8:30 to see what is in this area, and how much potential these kids have if they were all united.

 

From what I understand, the new club is actually just a result of more vestal players, combining with GBSA to form United FC. It has bought all the time from 5:30 - 8:30 to force all other club to join (thank you Darpino, Purtell, and Cook) to join them or else. United FC is forcing the premier teams of Fusion to come under their umbrella.

 

And, this new club is bragging about how its coaching staff that will improve soccer in this region. But, if anyone looks at this list, it' comprised of all the same old coaches who will be doing the same thing. So, how will this structure improve things. Oh, it's because Darpino (club coach), Purtell (former college soccer player & club coach) and Cook will be in charge.

 

The success of the academies in Rochester, Buffalo, Syrcuse and Albany and elsewhere is due to the heavy reliance of them to use PROFESSIONAL soccer coaches from the D1-D3 schools in those regions. We just don't have that many college level coaches here to fill in the gaps. Fusion has helped by providing a premier level for advanced players and enabled families not to have to drive to Rochester, etc. The girls side here has always been weak, and even with Cook here to coach, many players (Strom) preferred to go elsewhere. This exodus will continue with the new club.

[Guest Guest]

I couldn't disagree with you more, and believe me I have way more knowledge in traveling for premier soccer than you could ever dream of.

 

The problem with soccer in this area in my opinion is the opposite of what you think it is. The problem in this area is too many club teams. Fusion's biggest sin is developing these premier teams when they became age eligible. At U14 and even U13 and heck even at U12 it is way too late to try and boast a premier team. The bigger clubs that you speak so highly of have bigger pools of players at the U9 and U10 levels. They have 3 years from this time to train them CORRECTLY and weed and sort out the players. These three years are critical in developing a players skills. We in this area, leave these age groups to parents who have no idea what they are doing. By the time BC United teams reach the U12 state cup tournament they are 2-3 years behind everyone else.

 

If this area would have a 30-40 player pool with the U9 boys and girls there is no doubt in my mind that they could compete with the Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo teams. No doubt in my mind! And don't tell me that there are not enough kids to support this. Go to the Dome early on Saturday mornings and you will see at least 10 teams of U10 eligible players. Some of these kids are amazing with a ton of talent. If you do a little research you will see that this area is presently providing some of these so called great programs with their BEST players.

 

BC United's board has been told the importance of having soccer academy's at younger ages for years now. Of course they have never done a thing about it, because the PARENTS on that board are more suited for club soccer than premier level leadership.

 

So in conclusion, you are dead wrong sir or madam. The new club hopes to change this atmosphere and develop bigger pools at the younger age groups. One need look no further than to field 5 every night between 5:30 and 8:30 to see what is in this area, and how much potential these kids have if they were all united.

 

What BS--anyone can go up to the Dome any night of the week and to see the potential. It's the same players. How with the same club coaches coaching the same club teams and players will anything change?

 

No, the founding of a new club team is being driven purely by selfish egotiscal reasons--mainly by Cook who never got over his loss of Flames team. Yet, isn't it amazing how well those girls did without him?

[Guest Guest]

I couldn't disagree with you more, and believe me I have way more knowledge in traveling for premier soccer than you could ever dream of.

 

The problem with soccer in this area in my opinion is the opposite of what you think it is. The problem in this area is too many club teams. Fusion's biggest sin is developing these premier teams when they became age eligible. At U14 and even U13 and heck even at U12 it is way too late to try and boast a premier team. The bigger clubs that you speak so highly of have bigger pools of players at the U9 and U10 levels. They have 3 years from this time to train them CORRECTLY and weed and sort out the players. These three years are critical in developing a players skills. We in this area, leave these age groups to parents who have no idea what they are doing. By the time BC United teams reach the U12 state cup tournament they are 2-3 years behind everyone else.

 

If this area would have a 30-40 player pool with the U9 boys and girls there is no doubt in my mind that they could compete with the Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo teams. No doubt in my mind! And don't tell me that there are not enough kids to support this. Go to the Dome early on Saturday mornings and you will see at least 10 teams of U10 eligible players. Some of these kids are amazing with a ton of talent. If you do a little research you will see that this area is presently providing some of these so called great programs with their BEST players.

 

BC United's board has been told the importance of having soccer academy's at younger ages for years now. Of course they have never done a thing about it, because the PARENTS on that board are more suited for club soccer than premier level leadership.

 

So in conclusion, you are dead wrong sir or madam. The new club hopes to change this atmosphere and develop bigger pools at the younger age groups. One need look no further than to field 5 every night between 5:30 and 8:30 to see what is in this area, and how much potential these kids have if they were all united.

 

First and foremost if you claim to be all-knowledgable about developing premier soccer then why are you advocating against what the USSF and US National Staff coaches have asked for? The top development clubs have been told not to start group training until u13/14 age group and to let kids develop with smaller programs until then. Read the mission statements from US Soccer about that if you need a refresher. The Academy group frowns upon premier training at too early an age at u12 and below they just want as many kids getting as many touches on the ball as they can and developing a love for the game..

 

Here's a link to the article; http://www.baltimorebays.net/documents/U.S.SoccerDevelopmentAcademyOrigins.pdf you can clearly see that the leaders want to wait until u13 to start the process of working towards the bigger goal. Any earlier you are going to destroy the sport by cutting out too many players too early. Yes in some huge areas like Baltimore/Raleigh etc the super clubs have development academies but then again they have 5-10x the player base we do. They can afford to have elite training and still have a huge youth feeder system to catch the players they miss. In Binghamton we don't if you eliminate the top 25% (which would be 40-50 kids in the u10 age group) of the players at u10 many teams will just end up folding and kids will be forced from the game.

 

The point you use to try and support your argument shows that. You want to take a 30-40 player pool for the club at u9-u10. Well currently there are over 100-200 players in your talent pool that feeds Fusion in the u9/u10 league at the dome. Why do you want to possibly eliminate the other 150 kids? They are all training at different levels because at that age there are too many factors in growth and development to actually say who is the top player, and who will be great. There is actually a push worldwide to try and stop this by splitting the ages even more to train more effectively, actually splitting kids into 6 month brackets so kids aren't forced out of the game just because they mature more slowly.

 

10 years ago Freddy Adu was going to change the face of American soccer because he was the best young player ever. Clint Dempsey was a no-one coming from a trailer park in Texas playing Division 1 soccer at that same time. Which one ended up better, who would you want for your team the 14 year old wonderkind or the guy who didn't hit his maturation until a bit later and developed on a different timeline? I know what my choice would be.

 

If your coaching staff can't identify and train players in less than 3 years than you have a piss poor staff. Don't cite the parent-coach problem because Shane Cook one of your leaders is a parent coach who went on to learn more soccer. I've seen great players who were at best average coaches and I've seen parent coaches who were great trainers of young kids. This doesn't even mention that anymore I'd wager 70+% of parent coaches actually played soccer as a youth themselves now. We aren't in the 1970's when soccer was the new fad of America almost everyone played the game as a kid anymore.

[Guest the truth]

First and foremost if you claim to be all-knowledgable about developing premier soccer then why are you advocating against what the USSF and US National Staff coaches have asked for? The top development clubs have been told not to start group training until u13/14 age group and to let kids develop with smaller programs until then. Read the mission statements from US Soccer about that if you need a refresher. The Academy group frowns upon premier training at too early an age at u12 and below they just want as many kids getting as many touches on the ball as they can and developing a love for the game..

 

Here's a link to the article; http://www.baltimorebays.net/documents/U.S.SoccerDevelopmentAcademyOrigins.pdf you can clearly see that the leaders want to wait until u13 to start the process of working towards the bigger goal. Any earlier you are going to destroy the sport by cutting out too many players too early. Yes in some huge areas like Baltimore/Raleigh etc the super clubs have development academies but then again they have 5-10x the player base we do. They can afford to have elite training and still have a huge youth feeder system to catch the players they miss. In Binghamton we don't if you eliminate the top 25% (which would be 40-50 kids in the u10 age group) of the players at u10 many teams will just end up folding and kids will be forced from the game.

 

The point you use to try and support your argument shows that. You want to take a 30-40 player pool for the club at u9-u10. Well currently there are over 100-200 players in your talent pool that feeds Fusion in the u9/u10 league at the dome. Why do you want to possibly eliminate the other 150 kids? They are all training at different levels because at that age there are too many factors in growth and development to actually say who is the top player, and who will be great. There is actually a push worldwide to try and stop this by splitting the ages even more to train more effectively, actually splitting kids into 6 month brackets so kids aren't forced out of the game just because they mature more slowly.

 

10 years ago Freddy Adu was going to change the face of American soccer because he was the best young player ever. Clint Dempsey was a no-one coming from a trailer park in Texas playing Division 1 soccer at that same time. Which one ended up better, who would you want for your team the 14 year old wonderkind or the guy who didn't hit his maturation until a bit later and developed on a different timeline? I know what my choice would be.

 

If your coaching staff can't identify and train players in less than 3 years than you have a piss poor staff. Don't cite the parent-coach problem because Shane Cook one of your leaders is a parent coach who went on to learn more soccer. I've seen great players who were at best average coaches and I've seen parent coaches who were great trainers of young kids. This doesn't even mention that anymore I'd wager 70+% of parent coaches actually played soccer as a youth themselves now. We aren't in the 1970's when soccer was the new fad of America almost everyone played the game as a kid anymore.

 

 

 

Your rebuttal is pure rubbish. I can go cut and paste an article that fits my needs also. Is US Soccer so successful that you swear by it and everything it says to do? Do you want me to cut and paste what the European clubs are doing to fit my argument?

 

All I'm saying is, that of the 150 kids or so that you speak of, maybe 30-40 would like to train more than once a week in a gym with some clueless mom. They will now have that option. The others that want to play solely for fun and social aspect, that's fine too. Nobody ever said anything about leaving them out in the cold. That's called club soccer.

 

I'm done arguing with you because your obsession with Cook clouds your judgement. Seek help immediately, your not mentally healthy!

[Guest Guest]

First off everyone on here is dumb and has know idea what they are talking about... 1)We (including Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester) live in NYW. NYW is absolutely terrible at soccer, it hasn't been good for a while besides some teams that have slipped through the cracks. So no matter what, the teams will not be as good as the teams from Maryland, EPA, ENY, and NJ because of the environment, pop., and quality coaches. 2)Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester arent sending players to any better D1 programs than fusion is. They might be send more players to D1 but that is because of paul and the BU program not allowing other D1 programs to watch the fusion teams play. 3) everyone talks about how fusion ruined the flames girls team... anyone wonder that maybe the competition got better.. yeah the girls were good and had lots of talented players but they were very young and other girls and teams were developing faster... so its not that its fusions fault its that other teams got better.. now people are going to argue that its fusions job to make the players better and yes it is.. but it also comes down to the individual if they want to put the work in to get better and how they respond to the training. 4)lastly what would be great for everyone in NYW( except for probably Buffalo and Rochester because they would lose players), but also a huge project and a lot A LOT of cooperation would be for Elmira, Binghamton, and Syracuse to form an academy and then each of those cities would have there own individual club teams/rec leagues. So it would be the Empire academy in Buffualo and Rochester and then a different academy for Elmira, Binghamton, and Syracuse. That is a huge pop. of players and coaches, and not too mcuh travel (and hour if the teams trained in binghamton.) this way the best players who want to get better and challenge themselves has the academy which competes against the best teams in the coutnry and then the worse players or players that dont want a fututre in soccer that just want to have fun can play in the club/travel teams. that would be the solution for soccer in the NYW, but it will neever happen because of politics, greetiness, egos, and no cooperation.

[Guest Guest]

Your rebuttal is pure rubbish. I can go cut and paste an article that fits my needs also. Is US Soccer so successful that you swear by it and everything it says to do? Do you want me to cut and paste what the European clubs are doing to fit my argument?

 

All I'm saying is, that of the 150 kids or so that you speak of, maybe 30-40 would like to train more than once a week in a gym with some clueless mom. They will now have that option. The others that want to play solely for fun and social aspect, that's fine too. Nobody ever said anything about leaving them out in the cold. That's called club soccer.

 

I'm done arguing with you because your obsession with Cook clouds your judgement. Seek help immediately, your not mentally healthy!

 

The guy owned you in every facet of the argument and this is your best comeback? I read the start of the article and its was an admission from US Soccer that things need to change because the job wasn't getting done, change was needed. Don't use European club models because we aren't in Europe and our systems are totally incompatible. Is every member of the town going to join a club and have it host all youth sports? Thats a key component of the European models, also Europe has not been producing the best talent for years, its been Brazil and S. America where there is little to no organization like Europe kids play for the love of the game far more. It was even called that you would cite parent coaches your "clueless soccer mom" quote fell right into it. Just like he said your main coach is a parent coach, so you can't say those people can't do it and use him as a quality coach. Maybe that next "clueless soccer mom" will stumble upon the next great team and be anointed the next great coach.

[Guest Guest]

First off everyone on here is dumb and has know idea what they are talking about... 1)We (including Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester) live in NYW. NYW is absolutely terrible at soccer, it hasn't been good for a while besides some teams that have slipped through the cracks. So no matter what, the teams will not be as good as the teams from Maryland, EPA, ENY, and NJ because of the environment, pop., and quality coaches. 2)Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester arent sending players to any better D1 programs than fusion is. They might be send more players to D1 but that is because of paul and the BU program not allowing other D1 programs to watch the fusion teams play. 3) everyone talks about how fusion ruined the flames girls team... anyone wonder that maybe the competition got better.. yeah the girls were good and had lots of talented players but they were very young and other girls and teams were developing faster... so its not that its fusions fault its that other teams got better.. now people are going to argue that its fusions job to make the players better and yes it is.. but it also comes down to the individual if they want to put the work in to get better and how they respond to the training. 4)lastly what would be great for everyone in NYW( except for probably Buffalo and Rochester because they would lose players), but also a huge project and a lot A LOT of cooperation would be for Elmira, Binghamton, and Syracuse to form an academy and then each of those cities would have there own individual club teams/rec leagues. So it would be the Empire academy in Buffualo and Rochester and then a different academy for Elmira, Binghamton, and Syracuse. That is a huge pop. of players and coaches, and not too mcuh travel (and hour if the teams trained in binghamton.) this way the best players who want to get better and challenge themselves has the academy which competes against the best teams in the coutnry and then the worse players or players that dont want a fututre in soccer that just want to have fun can play in the club/travel teams. that would be the solution for soccer in the NYW, but it will neever happen because of politics, greetiness, egos, and no cooperation.

 

You really don't know much about the academies or programs up north. They do send more to D1 schools, especially on the boys side. The Empire teams and Rochester FC are excellent programs. But, I agree the population and envirnoment are huge factors for MD, pop for EPA and ENY and NJ. And, again, they have more college coaches to pull from. Paul can only do so much, why? Because he does have a day job, and his # 1 priority is BU Men's soccer.

 

The part about BU/Paul not letting other coaches watch the players really doesn't wash. The teams go to college showcases all the time. The players are watched, and hard to believe, but most are just not college material. Players also have to advocate for themselves. Players need to call, email and email some more to the coaches they want to be seen by. It's not Paul's job to go around and ask coaches to come watch. If you have ever been in the recruiting process, you would know that coaches come out of the wood work for great players, and excellent players have to work at getting their names out their and getting coaches to see them. It's eamils to coaches, its attending camps, its playing well in every single game.

 

What I really can't believe it people think it's anyone's fault that the sacred, and holiest of holy teams--the Flames was destroyed by Fusion. The team was loaded with talent and yes, they were beating all the other CLUB teams. Oh boy! But, to be in line with NYW guidelines and good soccer coaching, the players were put in their appropriate levels. The team was going to have break up sooner rather then later, if not by age, then by parents getting sick of Cook, and yes, families left the team because of him.

 

I really need to know why Cook still needs to avenge this loss? Why do parents of the players who are all now in college feel the need to make amends to Cook? If he were any type of professional coach, he would have moved on, but his anger at Fusion to taking his team away is pathological (at this point, laughable, really, his claim to fame is his U14 Flames?) and I can't understand why people fail to recognize his motivation at attacking Fusion and Paul Marco. The bottom line for Cook is his coaching record, and so far, it's not much.

[Guest AADD]

The guy owned you in every facet of the argument and this is your best comeback? I read the start of the article and its was an admission from US Soccer that things need to change because the job wasn't getting done, change was needed. Don't use European club models because we aren't in Europe and our systems are totally incompatible. Is every member of the town going to join a club and have it host all youth sports? Thats a key component of the European models, also Europe has not been producing the best talent for years, its been Brazil and S. America where there is little to no organization like Europe kids play for the love of the game far more. It was even called that you would cite parent coaches your "clueless soccer mom" quote fell right into it. Just like he said your main coach is a parent coach, so you can't say those people can't do it and use him as a quality coach. Maybe that next "clueless soccer mom" will stumble upon the next great team and be anointed the next great coach.

 

 

 

You read the start of the article? That's all I need to know dipshit. You have the attention span of a 6 year old if you think he owned that poster in every aspect.

 

US Soccer is a joke and NYSW is an even bigger joke. They change their mind every two years on what is best for the youth soccer programs. Because much like soccer in this area it is run by people who have no clue. These two clubs are like the FDA. One year aspirin is bad for you, two years later they say to take it because it's good for you.

 

Go back to your video games and try not to get distracted by the TV. That will be tough to do with your attention span. Baby steps my friend. Baby steps.

[Guest mommy dearest]

First and foremost if you claim to be all-knowledgable about developing premier soccer then why are you advocating against what the USSF and US National Staff coaches have asked for? The top development clubs have been told not to start group training until u13/14 age group and to let kids develop with smaller programs until then. Read the mission statements from US Soccer about that if you need a refresher. The Academy group frowns upon premier training at too early an age at u12 and below they just want as many kids getting as many touches on the ball as they can and developing a love for the game..

 

Here's a link to the article; http://www.baltimorebays.net/documents/U.S.SoccerDevelopmentAcademyOrigins.pdf you can clearly see that the leaders want to wait until u13 to start the process of working towards the bigger goal. Any earlier you are going to destroy the sport by cutting out too many players too early. Yes in some huge areas like Baltimore/Raleigh etc the super clubs have development academies but then again they have 5-10x the player base we do. They can afford to have elite training and still have a huge youth feeder system to catch the players they miss. In Binghamton we don't if you eliminate the top 25% (which would be 40-50 kids in the u10 age group) of the players at u10 many teams will just end up folding and kids will be forced from the game.

 

The point you use to try and support your argument shows that. You want to take a 30-40 player pool for the club at u9-u10. Well currently there are over 100-200 players in your talent pool that feeds Fusion in the u9/u10 league at the dome. Why do you want to possibly eliminate the other 150 kids? They are all training at different levels because at that age there are too many factors in growth and development to actually say who is the top player, and who will be great. There is actually a push worldwide to try and stop this by splitting the ages even more to train more effectively, actually splitting kids into 6 month brackets so kids aren't forced out of the game just because they mature more slowly.

 

10 years ago Freddy Adu was going to change the face of American soccer because he was the best young player ever. Clint Dempsey was a no-one coming from a trailer park in Texas playing Division 1 soccer at that same time. Which one ended up better, who would you want for your team the 14 year old wonderkind or the guy who didn't hit his maturation until a bit later and developed on a different timeline? I know what my choice would be.

 

If your coaching staff can't identify and train players in less than 3 years than you have a piss poor staff. Don't cite the parent-coach problem because Shane Cook one of your leaders is a parent coach who went on to learn more soccer. I've seen great players who were at best average coaches and I've seen parent coaches who were great trainers of young kids. This doesn't even mention that anymore I'd wager 70+% of parent coaches actually played soccer as a youth themselves now. We aren't in the 1970's when soccer was the new fad of America almost everyone played the game as a kid anymore.

 

 

 

This is the dumbest thing I have ever read in my life. This is what is wrong with soccer in this area. Idiots like yourself who have never played the game that think you have it all figured out because you read the manual and a few articles.

 

Pay attention mommy, the best clubs in this country, yes the USA, have competitive teams playing in U11 and U12 major tournaments.

 

Sorry, now your going to have to find a new magazine to learn from.

[Guest Guest]

This is the dumbest thing I have ever read in my life. This is what is wrong with soccer in this area. Idiots like yourself who have never played the game that think you have it all figured out because you read the manual and a few articles.

 

Pay attention mommy, the best clubs in this country, yes the USA, have competitive teams playing in U11 and U12 major tournaments.

 

Sorry, now your going to have to find a new magazine to learn from.

 

What is it with this mommy stuff. You really need to stop insulting the soccer moms by putting them in the same low category as the soccer dads/little league dads. The biggest PITAs in the Binghamton soccer world are the weekend warrior dads who think they know how to coach soccer because they a) played it in high school or played it in college 20 year ago

[Guest Guest]

What is it with this mommy stuff. You really need to stop insulting the soccer moms by putting them in the same low category as the soccer dads/little league dads. The biggest PITAs in the Binghamton soccer world are the weekend warrior dads who think they know how to coach soccer because they a) played it in high school or played it in college 20 year ago

 

Its not all bad, there is a positive. Its certainly going to make the Elmira and Syracuse teams stronger. you have to figure that every fusion group will lose a few players because of this and they cant afford that. They certainly arent going to replace them with players from Vestal FC or GBSA

[Guest Guest]

First off everyone on here is dumb and has know idea what they are talking about... 1)We (including Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester) live in NYW. NYW is absolutely terrible at soccer, it hasn't been good for a while besides some teams that have slipped through the cracks. So no matter what, the teams will not be as good as the teams from Maryland, EPA, ENY, and NJ because of the environment, pop., and quality coaches. 2)Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester arent sending players to any better D1 programs than fusion is. They might be send more players to D1 but that is because of paul and the BU program not allowing other D1 programs to watch the fusion teams play. 3) everyone talks about how fusion ruined the flames girls team... anyone wonder that maybe the competition got better.. yeah the girls were good and had lots of talented players but they were very young and other girls and teams were developing faster... so its not that its fusions fault its that other teams got better.. now people are going to argue that its fusions job to make the players better and yes it is.. but it also comes down to the individual if they want to put the work in to get better and how they respond to the training. 4)lastly what would be great for everyone in NYW( except for probably Buffalo and Rochester because they would lose players), but also a huge project and a lot A LOT of cooperation would be for Elmira, Binghamton, and Syracuse to form an academy and then each of those cities would have there own individual club teams/rec leagues. So it would be the Empire academy in Buffualo and Rochester and then a different academy for Elmira, Binghamton, and Syracuse. That is a huge pop. of players and coaches, and not too mcuh travel (and hour if the teams trained in binghamton.) this way the best players who want to get better and challenge themselves has the academy which competes against the best teams in the coutnry and then the worse players or players that dont want a fututre in soccer that just want to have fun can play in the club/travel teams. that would be the solution for soccer in the NYW, but it will neever happen because of politics, greetiness, egos, and no cooperation.

 

That certainly makes more sence than the united FC theory but if that happened how would Suzybobs dad load his club team up so he can spend 90% of his life patting himself on the back?

[Guest Guest]

I never said hold them back, I agree we have some players that could move on but we don't have enough of them to have a premier team. Training with a group of kids that aren't at that level and saying its premier training is just wrong. If the top level players want to move on they need to find the club to go to, logically it would be Empire in Syracuse. Less than an hour away and far more top level talent to work with. You need to come to the realization we don't have that much talent here to train with, its just a simple fact. Look at a club like FC Delco the rosters of their premier teams have kids from 4-5 states (Pa, Del, NJ, Md, NY). Red Bull and NJPDA both have multiple state players also. Why? The better players want to train at a top level an hour to travel to get the best work is totally acceptable. An area with a population as small as ours does not have the player base to support a full premier set up. The reason Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse produce more D1 players is their population is much larger than ours. We'll get a player once in a while they get them year in and year out.

 

As for the person who questioned what top player went to Syracuse to train and went to a top 20 team, just look at Kylie Strom..Boston U went to the NCAA for its 7th straight time and she left this area at 14 to train in Syracuse to improve her game, seems to have worked out well.

 

In this example, Kylie Strom left because the girls program was pretty weak here, and it was a logical choice for her to go to Syracuse. But, the boys side in Binghamton was stronger and had a deeper pool. Plus, there really wasn't a strong boys team in Syracuse except for the Blitz. So why travel to Syracuse when one had a comparable team in Binghamton? The coaches who are fighting the presence of a premier team in this region do not have the players best interest at heart. Again, it all goes back to ego, and lack of vision on the part of the club coaches.

[Guest Guest]

In this example, Kylie Strom left because the girls program was pretty weak here, and it was a logical choice for her to go to Syracuse. But, the boys side in Binghamton was stronger and had a deeper pool. Plus, there really wasn't a strong boys team in Syracuse except for the Blitz. So why travel to Syracuse when one had a comparable team in Binghamton? The coaches who are fighting the presence of a premier team in this region do not have the players best interest at heart. Again, it all goes back to ego, and lack of vision on the part of the club coaches.

 

Kylie Strom left a team that would go on to win 2 NYSW State Cups back to back (but the team was going to be forced to split), she left to go to an older team that was a National Championship level team.

 

The Binghamton Boys side did not have a deeper or stronger pool that is a load of BS that is being fed because Fusion won a State Cup on the boys side for the first time in almost 20 years with that group. The truth of the matter is that the Boys Side in Syracuse and Rochester is far deeper than Binghamton. Syracuse area alone placed players at 7 different D1 schools last season, Binghamton wasn't even close to that number. Those players were split amongst different clubs and 2 or 3 of the players weren't even training for State Cup as they focused on US Teams (Gale A., Zander E. etc) Our clubs have never put out multiple national team level candidates in the same year

[Guest Guest]

Kylie Strom left a team that would go on to win 2 NYSW State Cups back to back (but the team was going to be forced to split), she left to go to an older team that was a National Championship level team.

 

The Binghamton Boys side did not have a deeper or stronger pool that is a load of BS that is being fed because Fusion won a State Cup on the boys side for the first time in almost 20 years with that group. The truth of the matter is that the Boys Side in Syracuse and Rochester is far deeper than Binghamton. Syracuse area alone placed players at 7 different D1 schools last season, Binghamton wasn't even close to that number. Those players were split amongst different clubs and 2 or 3 of the players weren't even training for State Cup as they focused on US Teams (Gale A., Zander E. etc) Our clubs have never put out multiple national team level candidates in the same year

 

Call me ignorant, but why was the beloved Flames team forced to split? Was it because it was a multi-age team? Also, from what I've heard, parents left because of Cook--it wasn't the perfect team. But, even better, it was YEARS ago, how long are parents and Cook going to belabor that point. Time to move on.

 

And, why the hell didn't Cook and the parents just leave Fusion and keep their team together? There were parents who wanted another coach, I know, hard to believe.

 

Yes, Rochester/Buffalo definitely have a deeper pool of talent, but Syracuse was in the same boat as Binghamton but it re-organized itself with the Empire academy. I'm not seeing any new organization like an academy down here with professional college coaches. There is just Fusion, and it has worked for the boys better than the girls. But, why keep going after the Fusion if you have nothing better to replace it?

[Guest Guest]

Kylie Strom left a team that would go on to win 2 NYSW State Cups back to back (but the team was going to be forced to split), she left to go to an older team that was a National Championship level team.

 

The Binghamton Boys side did not have a deeper or stronger pool that is a load of BS that is being fed because Fusion won a State Cup on the boys side for the first time in almost 20 years with that group. The truth of the matter is that the Boys Side in Syracuse and Rochester is far deeper than Binghamton. Syracuse area alone placed players at 7 different D1 schools last season, Binghamton wasn't even close to that number. Those players were split amongst different clubs and 2 or 3 of the players weren't even training for State Cup as they focused on US Teams (Gale A., Zander E. etc) Our clubs have never put out multiple national team level candidates in the same year

 

 

That girl's team that won 2 state cups was based in Syracuse but drew players from not only Binghamton but the Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo areas, to name a few, so it's not surprising that they won twice.

[Guest Guest]

That girl's team that won 2 state cups was based in Syracuse but drew players from not only Binghamton but the Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo areas, to name a few, so it's not surprising that they won twice.

 

So, it wasn't the Flames that won State Cup twice? So what's the big deal then?

[Guest Guest]

So, it wasn't the Flames that won State Cup twice? So what's the big deal then?

 

 

The Flames, as far as I know, never played for the State Cup.

[Guest Guest]

The Flames, as far as I know, never played for the State Cup.

 

I just checked, the wonder team didn't any state cup titles, so what did the Flames do that was so great and different tham any other team? And, why did't they win a State Cup?

[Guest Guest]

I just checked, the wonder team didn't any state cup titles, so what did the Flames do that was so great and different tham any other team? And, why did't they win a State Cup?

 

 

 

The youngest age group for State Cup is U12 and I am quite sure the Flames started as a U9 or U10 team so they would have been too young for State Cup competition. Not sure how long they were together but with the talent they had in the early years they would've certainly been good enough to compete for the State Cup if, in fact, those age groups were State Cup eligible.

[Guest stalkers]

LOL at you Cook haters obsessed with how good or bad his U9 team was 10 years ago. Get a life. I'm sorry that you always lost to him, or that he cut your daughter in Fusion U12, or that he didn't start your daughter in a game 7 years ago. It's time to move on people.

[Guest Guest]

ok now this is getting ridiculous... Zander is not even good, neither is gino, or gianluca... come on no matter what, you will only be able to name a small list of players that are "good". thoughs 3 kids would not be on the list... if you ask me i would say that fusion has had some of the best player in their respected age group 1991: Gale obviously the best but hes gone, then the next top players would be Mike reidy from rochester and Tyler Bailey who played fusion. 1992: Tommy Moon by far the best player in NYW. for the age groups coming up mike rood is a top player in NYW and so is Ethan Kutler. Binghamton has had great individuals but its hard to find a team that is good