Is Sterling Youth Soccer club a good option?

[Anonymous]

We are somewhat new to the area. My kid is 2017 and we live in Sterling. My kid is interested in doing travel in the Fall however I am blown away by the amount of things I see these clubs promise. I got this email from Sterling Youth Soccer, can someone give me more info if they really do what they promise. I couldn’t find anything online on what they claim:

Tryouts for the 2025/2026 Travel Soccer Year begins this upcoming week. We will host tryouts in March and April to assess the current player and new players for the upcoming Season beginning in July 2025.
Existing Sterling Travel players do not need to register for the Tryouts but all players are required to attend the tryouts, similar to regular training days so that existing players can be evaluated against the new players that come to try out.
This season we have over 100 new players who have registered to attend our tryouts. This is a result of the positive impact that our Players, Parents and our Club is making in Northern VA.
Our Club is recognized as one of the best developing Clubs in the areas providing valuable training programs, unlike other clubs who overcharge and under deliver.
We continue our progress of becoming the top Development Academy in Virginia that places players at professional Academies within the United States and Internationally through the development of our dedicated Coaches and the addition of qualified Coaches to join our unified Team.

[Anonymous]

SO your son is playing Sterling rec soccer this spring?
It seems like a good, convenient option for you if you live in Sterling. For a 2017, no point driving all over the place.

[Anonymous]

I know however I also see Loudoun and TSJFCV in Sterling as well. Trying to weight my options as all of it sounds non-sense for youth soccer.

[Anonymous]

Start as local as possible. If you dont like it you have time to switch. But try out for the league you are playing rec in first as it's kind of a known quantity and games and practices will be close.

[Anonymous]

Loudoun East is launching this fall for players in the Sterling area. Good technical and developmental coaches that my son started with when he was young.

https://www.loudounsoccer.com/loudoun-east

Register for tryouts at a few local clubs and choose the one that you and your son like best.

[Anonymous]

Not sure what you see being promised in that email that you think they are claiming?? It is standard come to our tryouts language.

Regarding whether or not it is good...It depends on age of your child and what team they end up on just like any club. We started out at Sterling and moved to more competitive clubs. And at our age group, Sterling almost always beats us for half the cost soooo haha. If your child is already in rec there then you know about the club already. STJ is also a great option. Pay attention to the league they are playing games in as well. If they are playing NCSL (most likely), then there isn't a whole lot of difference at that point since all the competition is the same. Sterling is a good value IF you have a good coach. Some of the coaches are amazing and some are not and that is what happens at every single club.

[Anonymous]

Smaller club with 1 or 2 teams per age group on boys side and 1 team on the girls side.

Their 2012 boys team is very good compared to the rest of the club.

I think it would be good to start there, but the claim that they will put your player in a professional academy down the road is really lofty and they are overselling it. But most clubs in the area oversell their programs...on paper we look like the Ajax Youth training program! In reality, the coach arrives 5 minutes before practice starts, puts some Pugg Goals and pennies out and they scrimmage a lot.

[Anonymous]

My son has been playing travel with Sterling for 2 years. Coach Leonard (main man who runs everything) is outstanding... knows all the kids and is hands on with all the teams. Coach Danilo (technical director) is also hands on, knows the kids, and is very responsive in general.

The organization as a whole tries to focus on player development but you still get a few coaches with a win at all costs mentality where some kids fall through the cracks while the favorites get all the attention and playing time. The price is much much less than other nearby clubs, plus you generally get more for your money: 3 practices/wk + agility training sessions + winter indoor sessions 2x/wk. The 2012 boys team is very good and plays in EDP, but because of this, the club leadership focuses resources and attention and top coaching talent on that team---the other teams not so much. Parking at Potomac Lakes Sportsplex can be rough, and with Loudoun East starting up next season and sharing the space, it's only going to get worse. I've noticed a slight bias in favor of Latino and South American players, which may work for or against you. We've had bad luck with the coaches, so we're moving on next season along with a few other families from our team. My advice would be to learn as much as you can about the future coach of the team and his/her leadership style before committing to a full year. Sterling tries to sell the idea of a unified methodology with their practice drills, but it's still a night and day difference between the coaches who truly care and those who don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are somewhat new to the area. My kid is 2017 and we live in Sterling. My kid is interested in doing travel in the Fall however I am blown away by the amount of things I see these clubs promise. I got this email from Sterling Youth Soccer, can someone give me more info if they really do what they promise. I couldn’t find anything online on what they claim:

Tryouts for the 2025/2026 Travel Soccer Year begins this upcoming week. We will host tryouts in March and April to assess the current player and new players for the upcoming Season beginning in July 2025.
Existing Sterling Travel players do not need to register for the Tryouts but all players are required to attend the tryouts, similar to regular training days so that existing players can be evaluated against the new players that come to try out.
This season we have over 100 new players who have registered to attend our tryouts. This is a result of the positive impact that our Players, Parents and our Club is making in Northern VA.
Our Club is recognized as one of the best developing Clubs in the areas providing valuable training programs, unlike other clubs who overcharge and under deliver.
We continue our progress of becoming the top Development Academy in Virginia that places players at professional Academies within the United States and Internationally through the development of our dedicated Coaches and the addition of qualified Coaches to join our unified Team.

This is dubious at best. No, they are not recognized by anyone as one of the best developing clubs.... that is such a general statement. I'll tell you, practically all clubs claim this type of non-sense. Who recognized them and when exactly? -Which players did they grow, develop and place in professional academies? Were they placed there or did those players once play for Sterling and then leave and go play elsewhere and eventually make it to a DC United Academy for example? All clubs like to say this exact thing when one of their 8 or 9 year olds, who played for them for a year or two in the past, eventually developed and "made-it" somewhere.

Your player will get a lot better in just 1 year playing for them or anyone else. That comes with the territory of practicing 2-2 times per week for 8 months of the year. Wherever you decide to play and you want to help yourself on the development path, make sure to get extra training and look for ball-mastery clinics and programs. You will likely find these offered by other clubs. Be sure to do some of those sessions and check out the other clubs.

Also, you will start to gain a sense of how "development" is going once you compete in the end of year Spring Tournaments and see how other local teams fare. Then ask the coach or team manager, if you are on the top team at Sterling (or whatever club you are at), did we just compete in the Top Bracket of the tournament or did you compete in the middle or bottom bracket of the tournament? Then ask yourself of that is where you want to be? Because things likely won't change much. Top Bracket Teams/ Clubs do a better job with development and present opportunities for the players to compete against the best around and later showcase their skills in tournaments where it matters.

By the start of year 3 at my old club, I got tired of getting beat by everyone in the middle bracket of every tournament and then we switched clubs. Also, we saw how top teams did compete and it was a ton better than our club.

So, it might not be apparent at first, but eventually you will pick up on how good your club is, or is not, at the tournaments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smaller club with 1 or 2 teams per age group on boys side and 1 team on the girls side.

Their 2012 boys team is very good compared to the rest of the club.

I think it would be good to start there, but the claim that they will put your player in a professional academy down the road is really lofty and they are overselling it. But most clubs in the area oversell their programs...on paper we look like the Ajax Youth training program! In reality, the coach arrives 5 minutes before practice starts, puts some Pugg Goals and pennies out and they scrimmage a lot.

That 2012 boys team is losing players - heading to other clubs with national pathways.