Makeup of MLS Next teams

[Anonymous]

My kids are still quite young, and so we have not yet had experience with MLS Next teams coming into the picture. Wondering whether, for clubs like Alexandria, SYC and Bethesda, are the MLS Next teams (asking specifically about the younger teams (u13, u14) if it makes a difference) mostly made up of that particular club's best players who move up and into the MLS Next program, or are those MLS Next rosters a real mix of kids from all over? In other words, will Bethesda's MLS Next team typically be 80% Bethesda Soccer kids? Is it typically 50%? 20%? 5%? I'm trying to figure out the extent to which these clubs have holes to fill in their top non-MLS Next teams once the u13 year comes around. Thx

[Anonymous]

BSC’s U13 this year is 100% BSC kids or close to it. They kept all off the top u12 09s from the prior year and added 5 or so 09s from the prior year U12 BSC second team. Maybe a couple kids got added from outside the club—can’t say for sure. There tends to be more movement in MLSNext teams in older age groups at BSC and most clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BSC’s U13 this year is 100% BSC kids or close to it. They kept all off the top u12 09s from the prior year and added 5 or so 09s from the prior year U12 BSC second team. Maybe a couple kids got added from outside the club—can’t say for sure. There tends to be more movement in MLSNext teams in older age groups at BSC and most clubs.

So to answer the OP's question, there would be a lot of spots open for their U13 B team (non-MLSNext team)? Was that the info you were looking for, OP? Or were you interested in knowing whether BSC was open to taking non-BSC kids straight into their MLSNext teams?

[Anonymous]

Alexandria's U13's are made up of around 80+ percent previous Alexandria kids. One thing to keep in mind is the style of play that the different clubs teach. It is easier for an Alexandria kid to make the MLSNext team as they have been playing in the system for a few years and can get into the flow quicker and the coaches know him. That being said, Talent is key. If your kid is good enough, they don't care if you have been in the system for a while or not. For younger kids, I would say go somewhere where you have the shortest commute. I agree with the previous poster that the movement seems to be more prevalent in the older years.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for this info. Really helpful. I was asking because I'm guessing my kids won't be good enough to make the MLS Next teams and so was trying to figure out what league they'd be playing in once they were 12, 13, 14 etc. That depends on which academy team they're on (Academy 1, 2, 3, etc.) and was wondering if, say, they play on the 2 or 3 team when they're 10 or 11, they'd have a decent chance to move up to the academy 1 team when they're 12 or 13 because all of the former academy 1 players and a chunk of the 2 team would have left to play MLS Next. Sounds like the answer is "yes", that's sort of how the early stages of MLS Next work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BSC’s U13 this year is 100% BSC kids or close to it. They kept all off the top u12 09s from the prior year and added 5 or so 09s from the prior year U12 BSC second team. Maybe a couple kids got added from outside the club—can’t say for sure. There tends to be more movement in MLSNext teams in older age groups at BSC and most clubs.

So to answer the OP's question, there would be a lot of spots open for their U13 B team (non-MLSNext team)? Was that the info you were looking for, OP? Or were you interested in knowing whether BSC was open to taking non-BSC kids straight into their MLSNext teams?

This will differ by club and birth year, but the BSC U13 second team this year is also made up almost entirely of BSC kids.

OP, if you are looking for good club second teams for your kid, look at how many teams the club currently has at your kid’s age group. BSC tends to have a lot of boys’ teams at the younger age groups, and over time the 5 or 6 teams turn into 2 or 3. On the boys’ side at least, U13 is usually a tough year to break in to a higher level team at the club unless your son has some really eye-catching skills. At the point BSC or any other club has only two teams per age group, it usually becomes easier to break in to one of those teams from the outside because there is always attrition and there are no longer scores of kids who are known entities to the club trying to move up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are still quite young, and so we have not yet had experience with MLS Next teams coming into the picture. Wondering whether, for clubs like Alexandria, SYC and Bethesda, are the MLS Next teams (asking specifically about the younger teams (u13, u14) if it makes a difference) mostly made up of that particular club's best players who move up and into the MLS Next program, or are those MLS Next rosters a real mix of kids from all over? In other words, will Bethesda's MLS Next team typically be 80% Bethesda Soccer kids? Is it typically 50%? 20%? 5%? I'm trying to figure out the extent to which these clubs have holes to fill in their top non-MLS Next teams once the u13 year comes around. Thx

They really don't have holes to fill because at U13, the team # drops from 5 or 6 teams down to 3 teams. So not only is the roster size getting larger, but kids are still cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for this info. Really helpful. I was asking because I'm guessing my kids won't be good enough to make the MLS Next teams and so was trying to figure out what league they'd be playing in once they were 12, 13, 14 etc. That depends on which academy team they're on (Academy 1, 2, 3, etc.) and was wondering if, say, they play on the 2 or 3 team when they're 10 or 11, they'd have a decent chance to move up to the academy 1 team when they're 12 or 13 because all of the former academy 1 players and a chunk of the 2 team would have left to play MLS Next. Sounds like the answer is "yes", that's sort of how the early stages of MLS Next work out.

If your kids aren't even 10 or 11- you can't predict it. Let them play, give them extra training if they are asking for it, and you will be surprised at what a difference a year can make ( from a mom whose dc jumped multiple teams at bsc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for this info. Really helpful. I was asking because I'm guessing my kids won't be good enough to make the MLS Next teams and so was trying to figure out what league they'd be playing in once they were 12, 13, 14 etc. That depends on which academy team they're on (Academy 1, 2, 3, etc.) and was wondering if, say, they play on the 2 or 3 team when they're 10 or 11, they'd have a decent chance to move up to the academy 1 team when they're 12 or 13 because all of the former academy 1 players and a chunk of the 2 team would have left to play MLS Next. Sounds like the answer is "yes", that's sort of how the early stages of MLS Next work out.

Love this - Academy 1, 2 and 3. It's like calling the girls u9 -u 12 ECNL 1 and 2. They don't exist. There is always room for a great player at any club.

[Anonymous]

Remember that are always holes to fill. Not 1 team is full of top talent. If you can play there is a spot for you at any club. I think the problem is there are too many holes and not enough talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for this info. Really helpful. I was asking because I'm guessing my kids won't be good enough to make the MLS Next teams and so was trying to figure out what league they'd be playing in once they were 12, 13, 14 etc. That depends on which academy team they're on (Academy 1, 2, 3, etc.) and was wondering if, say, they play on the 2 or 3 team when they're 10 or 11, they'd have a decent chance to move up to the academy 1 team when they're 12 or 13 because all of the former academy 1 players and a chunk of the 2 team would have left to play MLS Next. Sounds like the answer is "yes", that's sort of how the early stages of MLS Next work out.

Love this - Academy 1, 2 and 3. It's like calling the girls u9 -u 12 ECNL 1 and 2. They don't exist. There is always room for a great player at any club.

They do exist. It's literally what some clubs call their various teams. [Insert Club] Academy 1 is a better team than Academy 2, which is better than Academy 3. Why is that so shocking or hard to follow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BSC’s U13 this year is 100% BSC kids or close to it. They kept all off the top u12 09s from the prior year and added 5 or so 09s from the prior year U12 BSC second team. Maybe a couple kids got added from outside the club—can’t say for sure. There tends to be more movement in MLSNext teams in older age groups at BSC and most clubs.

So to answer the OP's question, there would be a lot of spots open for their U13 B team (non-MLSNext team)? Was that the info you were looking for, OP? Or were you interested in knowing whether BSC was open to taking non-BSC kids straight into their MLSNext teams?

This will differ by club and birth year, but the BSC U13 second team this year is also made up almost entirely of BSC kids.

OP, if you are looking for good club second teams for your kid, look at how many teams the club currently has at your kid’s age group. BSC tends to have a lot of boys’ teams at the younger age groups, and over time the 5 or 6 teams turn into 2 or 3. On the boys’ side at least, U13 is usually a tough year to break in to a higher level team at the club unless your son has some really eye-catching skills. At the point BSC or any other club has only two teams per age group, it usually becomes easier to break in to one of those teams from the outside because there is always attrition and there are no longer scores of kids who are known entities to the club trying to move up.

I'm pretty sure BSC's MLSNext team is 100% BSC kids and that the second team is also 100% BSC kids. I don't know about the third team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BSC’s U13 this year is 100% BSC kids or close to it. They kept all off the top u12 09s from the prior year and added 5 or so 09s from the prior year U12 BSC second team. Maybe a couple kids got added from outside the club—can’t say for sure. There tends to be more movement in MLSNext teams in older age groups at BSC and most clubs.

So to answer the OP's question, there would be a lot of spots open for their U13 B team (non-MLSNext team)? Was that the info you were looking for, OP? Or were you interested in knowing whether BSC was open to taking non-BSC kids straight into their MLSNext teams?

This will differ by club and birth year, but the BSC U13 second team this year is also made up almost entirely of BSC kids.

OP, if you are looking for good club second teams for your kid, look at how many teams the club currently has at your kid’s age group. BSC tends to have a lot of boys’ teams at the younger age groups, and over time the 5 or 6 teams turn into 2 or 3. On the boys’ side at least, U13 is usually a tough year to break in to a higher level team at the club unless your son has some really eye-catching skills. At the point BSC or any other club has only two teams per age group, it usually becomes easier to break in to one of those teams from the outside because there is always attrition and there are no longer scores of kids who are known entities to the club trying to move up.

I'm pretty sure BSC's MLSNext team is 100% BSC kids and that the second team is also 100% BSC kids. I don't know about the third team.

So they don’t even hold tryouts then? Or they do but never bring on any from outside?

[Anonymous]

You can always try a ECNL boys club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So they don’t even hold tryouts then? Or they do but never bring on any from outside?

Covid has really put a halt to most 'open tryouts', but all clubs including BSC will look at outside players and roster them if they are strong enough. This is usually done by contacting the coach or age group director for the club and arranging your player to join some practices for evaluation.