U9 Boys Club offers

[Hickoryhill2]

PPA 2nd level team (of 3) - will practice 2x/week

Bethesda Soccer - 4th level team (of 6) - practice 2 days a week

Potomac Soccer - 2nd level team (of 5) - will practice 3x a week

All 3 organizations offered both boys a spot on the same team.

I don't know a ton about soccer and youth development within the sport, but I want to be supportive to my twins who love it! They are fairly athletic boys who like doing lots of sports currently - baseball, flag football, summer swim etc. I don't want them to get hurt or burn out after all they are only turning 8 in a couple of weeks. I would like to put them somewhere where they will learn the most, improve, and have fun with teammates. They are very focused and hard working kids so far but I want them to be challenged but not over faced with little playing time. We are not parents who think our kids will become pro soccer players but it would be awesome if they could play varsity in high school (Whitman)! I realize that's far ahead, but I want to make sure I'm having them take the best path.

I would like advice from others who are more knowledgeable about these clubs and boys' soccer in general. I will mention that they played better at the Potomac tryout than they did at Bethesda where I think they were intimidated by playing in a game with older kids as soon as they arrived. For what that's worth.

TIA!

[realdmv]

Hickoryhill2 wrote:PPA 2nd level team (of 3) - will practice 2x/week

Bethesda Soccer - 4th level team (of 6) - practice 2 days a week

Potomac Soccer - 2nd level team (of 5) - will practice 3x a week

All 3 organizations offered both boys a spot on the same team.

I don't know a ton about soccer and youth development within the sport, but I want to be supportive to my twins who love it! They are fairly athletic boys who like doing lots of sports currently - baseball, flag football, summer swim etc. I don't want them to get hurt or burn out after all they are only turning 8 in a couple of weeks. I would like to put them somewhere where they will learn the most, improve, and have fun with teammates. They are very focused and hard working kids so far but I want them to be challenged but not over faced with little playing time. We are not parents who think our kids will become pro soccer players but it would be awesome if they could play varsity in high school (Whitman)! I realize that's far ahead, but I want to make sure I'm having them take the best path.

I would like advice from others who are more knowledgeable about these clubs and boys' soccer in general. I will mention that they played better at the Potomac tryout than they did at Bethesda where I think they were intimidated by playing in a game with older kids as soon as they arrived. For what that's worth.

TIA!

Do the boys have any friends on the teams? Do you live near the DC border? If not, it may be tough getting to PPA practice. Since Bethesda is only two days a week, i would choose the other two options.

[Cruzado]

Bethesda is very well known as one of the best youth soccer clubs in the DMV; their top teams are always very strong.

I know less about PPA and Potomac, but I'm pretty sure one of my boys or another have played both of those teams in soccer and/or futsal over the years. I think they are both good clubs but I'll let others comment as to any material differences between the two of them. Certainly neither are at the level of Bethesda overall in terms of club strength, but the same can be said for most other clubs in the DMV as well.

Honestly, given how young your kids are and the fact that soccer is just one sport among many that they enjoy playing, for me at this age I would focus on what practice locations/times will work best with your schedule.

[akindc]

Cruzado wrote:l.

Honestly, given how young your kids are and the fact that soccer is just one sport among many that they enjoy playing, for me at this age I would focus on what practice locations/times will work best with your schedule.

Entirely true, but I imagine they'll have to commit to a team before they know when/where the practices will be.
Obviously, if you live in Potomac, I'd go with Potomac.
Between the other two, it's a toss up. PPA has rapidly grown and improved over the last few years, but they've become more like Bethesda as well, heavily recruiting from outside the program to improve their top teams instead of promoting from within.
I've had kids in both programs, and we've preferred the coaches and other parents in PPA, but it's really a tossup depending on what team you're on. You'll get good training at both.

[Cruzado]

akindc wrote:

Cruzado wrote:l.

Honestly, given how young your kids are and the fact that soccer is just one sport among many that they enjoy playing, for me at this age I would focus on what practice locations/times will work best with your schedule.

Entirely true, but I imagine they'll have to commit to a team before they know when/where the practices will be.
Obviously, if you live in Potomac, I'd go with Potomac.
Between the other two, it's a toss up. PPA has rapidly grown and improved over the last few years, but they've become more like Bethesda as well, heavily recruiting from outside the program to improve their top teams instead of promoting from within.
I've had kids in both programs, and we've preferred the coaches and other parents in PPA, but it's really a tossup depending on what team you're on. You'll get good training at both.

Not at all - it's easy enough to call the club and ask where the team will be practicing. It might vary slightly year to year, but generally they can tell you WHERE the practices will be, and usually they can tell you WHEN as well.

[akindc]

Cruzado wrote:

akindc wrote:

Cruzado wrote:l.

Honestly, given how young your kids are and the fact that soccer is just one sport among many that they enjoy playing, for me at this age I would focus on what practice locations/times will work best with your schedule.

Entirely true, but I imagine they'll have to commit to a team before they know when/where the practices will be.
Obviously, if you live in Potomac, I'd go with Potomac.
Between the other two, it's a toss up. PPA has rapidly grown and improved over the last few years, but they've become more like Bethesda as well, heavily recruiting from outside the program to improve their top teams instead of promoting from within.
I've had kids in both programs, and we've preferred the coaches and other parents in PPA, but it's really a tossup depending on what team you're on. You'll get good training at both.

Not at all - it's easy enough to call the club and ask where the team will be practicing. It might vary slightly year to year, but generally they can tell you WHERE the practices will be, and usually they can tell you WHEN as well.

As I said, I've had kids in both programs. Not only can coaches/coordinators not tell you when or where practices will be before the season starts with any accuracy (a few times they've known the days of the week), we've also had locations change during the season multiple times.

[Size5Balls]

Go to where your kid can get quality training and play in games the most. My son's ECNL U15 team only has 6 players that were there in U9. So 2/3rds of the team have come in from elsewhere. It's not about where you start, but where you finish.

[westsidesoccer]

Size5Balls wrote:Go to where your kid can get quality training and play in games the most. My son's ECNL U15 team only has 6 players that were there in U9. So 2/3rds of the team have come in from elsewhere. It's not about where you start, but where you finish.

No doubt. And where you don't want to finish is being Captain Cliche dispensing wisdom based on his 14-year-old's long and arduous trek to the ECNL mid-atlantic. A moment in honor of the departed (who probably decided to play other sports, moved to better clubs, or who were wrongly selected based on preposterously bad instincts present at a few ECNL club U9 boys coaches - it's pretty easy to guess who).

I generally agree with the sentiment, but advise to pay more attention to where you are likely to get the best coaching at U9-12.

[Size5Balls]

westsidesoccer wrote:

Size5Balls wrote:Go to where your kid can get quality training and play in games the most. My son's ECNL U15 team only has 6 players that were there in U9. So 2/3rds of the team have come in from elsewhere. It's not about where you start, but where you finish.

No doubt. And where you don't want to finish is being Captain Cliche dispensing wisdom based on his 14-year-old's long and arduous trek to the ECNL mid-atlantic. A moment in honor of the departed (who probably decided to play other sports, moved to better clubs, or who were wrongly selected based on preposterously bad instincts present at a few ECNL club U9 boys coaches - it's pretty easy to guess who).

I generally agree with the sentiment, but advise to pay more attention to where you are likely to get the best coaching at U9-12.

Actually, none of them play for better clubs that I have seen. Most are on the second team or gave up in pursuit of drop out sports like lacrosse or track. Also, please find me a club that doesn't have bad instincts on some of the U9 players.

[DCUdad]

All things being equal, I'd go with Potomac 2nd team. If you knew one had a great coach, then that would help decide it. But at the 4th team, you aren't getting Bethesda's best. My nephew played on one of those teams at these ages the last two years, and it wasn't great. I don't know much about PPA. But 3x a week practice is better than 2x; and being on the 2nd team of 5 is better than 2nd of 3. You want to be in striking distance of the top team on a decent club. 2nd team at Potomac fits the bill. After 2-3 seasons, you can reevaluate for the next phase of their development.

[Wishiwasatthebeach]

PPA is a great option. The 2 times a week will give you time to play your other sports. My ds is a u little and has played both clubs this year. PPA puts up a much better fight than Potomac in regards to competition. They seem well coached (referring to the top teams) At the older ages, their teams seem to do very well and compete in top brackets. Potomac has alot of teams and players but don't seem to play well compared with other clubs.

[SoccerRef]

Wishiwasatthebeach wrote:PPA is a great option. The 2 times a week will give you time to play your other sports. My ds is a u little and has played both clubs this year. PPA puts up a much better fight than Potomac in regards to competition. They seem well coached (referring to the top teams) At the older ages, their teams seem to do very well and compete in top brackets. Potomac has alot of teams and players but don't seem to play well compared with other clubs.

Potomac seems far more uneven than other programs.
They have some age groups that are excellent, and some that are really sub-par.
This happens to all programs to some extent, but not as much as it seems to happen to them.

[drewster711]

Not sure who you choose but of those options, I would choose Potomac 2 but I would have had them try out for one or 2 of the local classic teams a year up first. A classic team will practice 2 times a week, you will get to meet the coach at practice and they will never leave the county to play any games. At this age, the kids need to be playing at home more and being creative they having a structured practice environment. And to not travel 2 hours about 3 or 4 Sundays in the fall would be well worth it as well.