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Clubs should decide on a player's status within three training sessions. If they don't, ask the coach directly how many more they need, then get offers from other teams to create leverage and move on.
Clubs should decide on a player's status within three training sessions. If they don't, ask the coach directly how many more they need, then get offers from other teams to create leverage and move on.
If you're playing MLS NEXT and you're on trial or you're trying out for the team, do not make this mistake. They should be able to make a decision about you within 3 training sessions. If after the 3rd training session they're like, we're not really sure, or we'll get back to you soon, then you have a problem. This is when you may need to look for another team to leverage against them and say, hey look, I've also been invited to play for this team, you're the team I want to play for, but I have to come to a decision soon. If they specifically say to you, hey, we've seen you at 3 training sessions, we need one more, great, no problem. Then if they don't say that, you need to go up to them at training and say, hey coach, I understand it's been a few sessions, I understand you may need to see me more, may I ask how many more times you would like to see me? You need to get an answer out of them. Otherwise what they'll do is they'll just drag you on and they'll just let you train with the team because they need the numbers. And just in case somebody else gets injured, they'll have a player. Remember, club coaches just want to win games. Yeah, they're supposed to care about you as a person, but they're judged on whether or not they win or lose, even at a very young age. So if it helps them to have you as a training player, they'll just stick— keep you around even if you're never going to be on the team. We had a case where a student was training with this ECNL team and the coach was like, we like you, we'll have you be a training player, why don't you just keep coming to training? And I said to them, look, we gotta look elsewhere, this is not a team for us. And the kid kept saying to me, you know what, I feel really good that I can break into the team. So then eventually the coach made the kid an offer, then said, you know what, you're not gonna play any minutes for us, like, we don't want you anymore. But luckily we had emailed a bunch of other teams, so we told them, I made this team but I don't wanna be here any longer, could I try out for your team? They said yes, he made the team, so on. If you want more help, call me.
