Who is SMAC. They are a good program
SMAC is San Mateo out of Serra HS, just south of San Francisco. Story is that a Stanford youth coach was trolling the Serra pool deck to recruit 12u players away from SMAC.
SJ Express is a very large club. They get athletes from Stanford and loss athletes to Stanford. Stanford has about 200 athletes and I donāt think their success is due to SJX and SMAC (who is SMAC). I donāt think a Stanford coach would drive an hour to try and recruit a SMAC player. Funny.
I think there is a difference between players leaving their club to find a better situation, canāt knock a family for doing that, and a club that openly combines with other clubs. Recruitment at a youth level is crazy, but if the situation is better and there is truth behind it, it makes sense. For example if a super talented player is a a lower level club and looking to improve their skill, they should find a club that better suits their needs, Players club hop all the time.
Championās Cup is special owing to the one seed per zone format and age cut rules that allow 15u 8th graders to be rostered. It takes place at an odd time of the year in an age group where some teams are anticipating gaining players when CIF wraps up, and others are anticipating losing players to 16u when CIF wraps up. Even without alliances, the 14A team for a club competing at Championās Cup is often not the same roster as will play at JOs.
So long as it is different then Iām all for leaning into the differences. I want to see what Diablo can build, and I was all for SCAR last year. Iām also a fan of coaching friendships built over years can circumvent, and even snub, the ODP establishment. I really like that kids with Q4 birthdays arenāt told they arenāt welcome to play like ODP does.
To any SPA staff reading this: What are you waiting for? What can you build in the next nine days? The deadline for registration is October 1st at 9 PM. As of this morning, there are only two SPA boyās teams and two SPA girlās teams registered.
I can confirm that there was no Stanford coach on the SMAC pool deck recruiting players. Thatās a wild take. Every player who has left SMAC for Stanford has done so on their own accord.
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I am sure the exchange of goods with significant monetary value is customary when going after 11 year olds. 
Totally joking if it wasnāt obvious.
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At the younger ages, itās the parents doing to recruiting
Of course the parents be doing a lot of that behind the scenes. But as someone said earlier, Stanford coaches arenāt driving 30-45 mins to go watch other club practices.