My U13s Are Ranked, My U13s Are Ranked!!!

Dear Rob,

I hope you see how ridiculous that sounds. Some of my parents asked me one time how not winning a certain tournament would effect our rankings. In my mind, I answered by saying, "Are you seriously asking me about our ranking at U12?" Out loud, I said, "I don't know. It's not important."

So, I had some free time today (big shock) so I went to Gotsoccer's rankings and checked it out. Yep, we're ranked. Pretty high too. Now, I completely understand what a crock these rankings are. Ranked below us (way below us in somce cases) are three teams that finished ahead of his in the league last spring. We beat two of them and tied one. Ranked below us but pretty close is a US Club team that 6 of my players played for, so some of my girls have the distinction of being ranked on two teams in the top 15.

There are also a collection of Challenge teams ranked ahead of Classic teams because they won their groups in tournaments against Challenge teams when Classic teams didn't win their groups against Classic teams.

I will admit the top 5 looks pretty accurate, based on my experience playing against them. Maybe they should stop there. Better yet, maybe they should stop ranking U12 and U13 teams altogether. What's the point? It gives parents something to get all worked up about and gives the players a false sense of their ability.