2014 Boys - PAC, Villarreal, ADP? Others?

[Anonymous]

OP my kids are at Villarreal. The administrative director, CL, is phenomenal and the most organized person I've met. She is an amazing resource. I know what you mean though about it feeling a little disorganized. It's a smaller club that is growing a lot. If you do decide to give it a try your kid will learn a lot about soccer, have the opportunity to play against pre-ECNL teams (high competition), and the coaches and families are very positive and friendly. It's not a pressure cooker environment.

We did not do ADP and went straight to travel at VIVA. I asked a few families there who did do ADP if they thought ADP was better and they said they liked ADP but VIVA was better for competition and development. It's a 3x a week travel program.

So take that into consideration. I would truly let your child decide what he likes best though and go from there.

[Anonymous]

Edited: Administrative director is CM (not CL)

[Anonymous]

This thread is from 2023.

[Anonymous]

lol —it is and because I (OP) posted this back when the forum made you register, I just got a system email that it was revived. We ended up at Villarreal and have been there for two years. He’s suffered a lot of losses, but he has also improved so much, made great friends, and is still loving soccer. It’s a really supportive and nice group of parents as well, which I enjoy since we all spend so much time together.

[Anonymous]

soccermom316 wrote:I have a 2014 boy who loves soccer and is ready to move on from Rec, but we unfortunately missed the tryouts for several teams due to extenuating circumstances.

He has offers from PAC and Villarreal and is signed up for ADP tryouts. We're in the Falls Church area and have two working parents, so commuting to practices is a large consideration in where we've looked for teams. He said he had a better time at Villarreal tryouts than PAC, but they both felt really disorganized for his age group.

Should we just do ADP and tryout for Arlington next year? I'm loathe to spend $2K a year on travel if it's more of a money-grab at this level. If he does ADP, can he still do Arlington Rec with his current team?

Thanks for any advice!

Villarreal. No question. Good coaches and parents aren’t Arlington parents.

[Anonymous]

Jungas wrote:Unless your kid is a real standout, the chances of making an Arlington Travel team in future seasons are pretty low. That age group has huge numbers - more than 100 boys showed up to try out this year for the few spots that are open on the current teams, and only about 15-20 actually got a look from the coaches (they were known to the coaches before the tryouts).

Unfortunately, this age group and club are a prime example of the craziness around youth sports in general. If your boy didn't try out the first year tryouts were held (which I think was last year for this age), he's essentially boxed out, unless lots of kids already in the program drop the sport.

That said, if the goal is Arlington and Arlington only, ADP is probably your best shot. At least he'd be getting a few looks from ASA coaches through the season. Among the others, we've heard good things about PAC, though it's clearly a step down from ASA, intensity-wise, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective.

Don’t listen to this joker.