Boys - pre to early teen. |
Girls I think Bernie is excellent he's not everyones cup of tea but he will develop your DC. |
You should look at Burke AC for that age boys. BRYC is really a mess They will tell you anything to get your money. If you look at standings of the boys in that age range you'll see there is nothing Elite about them. |
Burke does not have ECNL. Interested in playing tough competition. Not fixated on winning trophies. |
For what it's worth, my son is 08 ECNL and we are happy with his team and coach. I feel his team has a lot of talent on it, just missing a few pieces. He loves both his team and coach and has been developing a lot as a player, so we plan on staying put next year. |
To be fair, Burke is not stellar either and doesn't rank highly. It depends on which one is closer to you and how competitive your kids are. If they are in the U9-11 crew, it honestly doesn't matter much where they are. Play time and getting practice in is what you're looking for and you can do that just about anywhere. Just go with closest club and save yourself the painful commutes. If your kids are older and more competitive, then do shop around, as BRYC doesn't rank highly in the older age groups and does have some issues recruiting talent. Burke wouldn't be strong there, either. If you can try out for one of the Bridge teams, that might be your best bet. We did BRYC in younger ages and were fine with it. Kid played a lot and spent more time on field and less time in car. |
We feel this way on the girls side too. Much happier here than our old club nearby. |
This season was a mess compared to last year on the boys’ side in terms of things seeming to be organized, communication with players and parents, etc. They were short a coach, so existing ones seemed to be spread thin. Hopefully next year will be back to the norm organizationally. I think like any club the type of coach you prefer will impact how happy your kid is/ how much he develops as a player under the coach you are assigned. My suggestion would be to focus on asking your kid about how what he thought of the coach’s style at the ID session and go from there. |
My DS played against BRYC this year. In my view the teams I saw (three age groups total) were poorly organized defensively. They sat deep rather than pressing high, but even so failed to close down space and still let players get in behind far too often. In essence they had no real idea of how to transition or play defense. There is no special skill required to do these things, and the fact that they weren't happening is an indication of poor coaching pure and simple. |
Thanks. Son was actually ID'd by the club through Super Y tryouts. He seems more comfortable with the BRYC coach than his current coach, who isn't very vocal and tends to give up with a lead or deficit - basically everything you don't want your kid to emulate. So, from your advice, I think BRYC is the better fit. |
I understand if ECNL is the dealbreaker then Burke is out. You may check out SYC MLS Next. and know SYC is partnering with McLEAN starting this year for ECNL. I would expect them to be much stronger going forward. |
What age groups? |
Trust me no disrespect but everyone gets IDed. Its all about the $$$$$ they are just trying to rope you in. |
Are you referencing the Bridge teams or the academy teams, boys or girls, and which age groups? I have seen similar issues on some of their teams but also have seen terrific shifting and field balancing from some of their teams. The academy teams were better organized than the bridge teams I've seen. |
ECNL teams. We had more space against BRYC than any other team we played all year. |