Youth Soccer in DC area - a primer.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

We are moving to DC from overseas and are really confused about the structure and setup of youth soccer in the USA. I hear various terms like "Development Academy" and "Travel" and some other terms, but I haven't really been able to find a good primer on the structure of youth soccer and where we should be aiming to place our boys once we move to Washington DC.

Does anyone have a list, from top to bottom, of how the leagues are setup and some of the teams in the DC area we should be contacting? We don't arrive until the late Summer so not sure how we will squeeze into a team, but at this point I don't even know who to start talking to.

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids? It depends on age.

[Anonymous]

What area in DC? That is the biggest factor. Traffic is real. You need to assess evening commute timed to clubs. 15 miles can take 1 hour depending on where you are living.

[Anonymous]

The original "Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss" thread has a lot of good information. It is 524 pages and a lot of it is arguing about stupid stuff and pissing matches, but there is also a lot of good info about soccer in the area. Page 227 has a good summary of what the different colors of teams means. Some of it might be slightly dated, but is still mostly good info. I doubt many people would read all 524 pages, but skimming through some of the posts, might be useful. There is also a part II, but that is almost 100% arguing about stupid stuff.

For leagues on the boys side, the Development Academy (DA) is the clear cut top league. After that there are CCL and NPL, which are both a group of clubs who put their top teams in that league. Then there is NCSL, which unlike the other leagues, has relegation, so if your team is in Division 1 and maybe 2, you are probably equal to or better than several (but probably not all) of the teams in CCL or NPL. In Virginia, there is ODSL, which is mostly clubs bottom teams, but there are a couple small clubs that put ok teams in this league. For girls, there is also a league ECNL which right now is about equivalent to the DA. Girls DA is new and only time will tell if it replaces ECNL as the top league (there is a whole thread with 42 pages dedicated to stupid arguing about this). The rest that is said about the boys applies to the girls.

[Anonymous]

It all depends on where you are moving. There are hundreds of clubs in the wider 'DC area.' ...What neighborhood are you moving to? Then we can tell you exactly which clubs to contact.

[Anonymous]

As others have noted, it depends where you live and your commute and time constraints. The other thread is a sh!tshow. It’s essentially a bunch of parents who think their kid is the next Messi, and lets be honest they’re not.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

Thanks for the reply. I tried to dig into that mega-thread but it's kind of a dumpster fire.

We don't have a house yet but are looking for places around Woodley/Cleveland/AU Park areas. I have two boys, U13 and U11 next year.

I looked at some of the DA details and while I think my kid can play at that level, of course , I'm not sure about the time commitment of 4 practices a week + games + commuting hell and whatnot. We are on 4 practices a week now but live in a convenient town where everything is 10-20 minutes away even with traffic. We're also arriving 'late'--just before school starts so there is really no way to make the tryouts that seem to be in May and June, so we'll probably have to play at a lower level and hope we get scouted.

[Anonymous]

if your boys are good enough during a train session or 2, i’m sure the coaches will find a spot for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're also arriving 'late'--just before school starts so there is really no way to make the tryouts that seem to be in May and June, so we'll probably have to play at a lower level and hope we get scouted.

One of the not so hidden secrets of soccer around here is that tryouts are whenever you want them to be.
Find a program you're interested in, tell them your situation, and I guarantee they'll invite you to practice with them to see the skill levels of the kids, and then they'll be placed accordingly.

[Anonymous]

A lot of teams don't fill their rosters in May because of movement and late additions over the summer. Some do but I'm sure you'll find a place.

[Anonymous]

In the location you're looking, you're probably closest to Bethesda Soccer Club for the quality you're looking for...no offense to Stoddard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the location you're looking, you're probably closest to Bethesda Soccer Club for the quality you're looking for...no offense to Stoddard.

Yes try Bethesda. They have a lot of teams which gives them a lot of flexibility. I know some kids who are on a lower team roster but practice with a higher team because they joined mid season. You can come out for a visit and attend a few practices. The coach will usually let you know what they think.

http://www.bethesdasoccer.org

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the location you're looking, you're probably closest to Bethesda Soccer Club for the quality you're looking for...no offense to Stoddard.

Yes try Bethesda. They have a lot of teams which gives them a lot of flexibility. I know some kids who are on a lower team roster but practice with a higher team because they joined mid season. You can come out for a visit and attend a few practices. The coach will usually let you know what they think.

http://www.bethesdasoccer.org

Another competitive but very small club in the area you’re looking is Achilles. www.salsoccer.com There are a good number of players there who weren’t happy at the biggest clubs. They don’t even do tryouts like most clubs, but they’re always open to good players. The whole club is different, but the training is excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the location you're looking, you're probably closest to Bethesda Soccer Club for the quality you're looking for...no offense to Stoddard.

Yes try Bethesda. They have a lot of teams which gives them a lot of flexibility. I know some kids who are on a lower team roster but practice with a higher team because they joined mid season. You can come out for a visit and attend a few practices. The coach will usually let you know what they think.

http://www.bethesdasoccer.org

Another competitive but very small club in the area you’re looking is Achilles. www.salsoccer.com There are a good number of players there who weren’t happy at the biggest clubs. They don’t even do tryouts like most clubs, but they’re always open to good players. The whole club is different, but the training is excellent.

Where do they practice? Do you have an example of the Leagues they put their teams in? There is not much on the website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the location you're looking, you're probably closest to Bethesda Soccer Club for the quality you're looking for...no offense to Stoddard.

Yes try Bethesda. They have a lot of teams which gives them a lot of flexibility. I know some kids who are on a lower team roster but practice with a higher team because they joined mid season. You can come out for a visit and attend a few practices. The coach will usually let you know what they think.

http://www.bethesdasoccer.org

Another competitive but very small club in the area you’re looking is Achilles. www.salsoccer.com There are a good number of players there who weren’t happy at the biggest clubs. They don’t even do tryouts like most clubs, but they’re always open to good players. The whole club is different, but the training is excellent.

Where do they practice? Do you have an example of the Leagues they put their teams in? There is not much on the website.

Achilles mostly practices at St. Johns College High School in NW DC in fall, spring and summer; then Sidwell or Wilson HS for indoor. Depending on the team they play at the MD Soccerplex (mid level) or EDP (high level) and at the main tournaments based on the team's ability.

For Achilles, you really need to contact the main coach Sal, he'd tell you how/if your sons would fit in and how he runs things in your sons' age groups. Achilles is very different from the big clubs because it's small but still really good soccer and lots of he families are soccer people. The small size means that every coach knows all the kids and that most of the families know one another too, even across ages. The size and quality of coaching is the reason a number of kids have moved from the best known clubs in the area to Achilles. But the size makes it different with a decent amount of playing up, and not many teams at an age, which might be what you want.

We're very happy with Achilles. But I'd recommend that you contact all the teams within a certain commute. Then visit the ones that sound most promising with your kids and when you get there- especially if they can practice or play with the teams, you'll know which is the right fit.