Potomac Soccer vs MSI Premier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Explain how the hundreds of hours of cumulative technical training which happends during u9-u12, the "golden years of development", is a waste.

Because you can get the same level of training with the right coach in classic or on an independent team. People get so caught up on playing for Bethesda or Potomac and don't mund spending thousands on spending hours traveling to pointless games. You find find great cooaching and training experiences for your kid in many different places. Travel becomes more critical at u12/u13. I have seen it over 15 years of kids who have done travel soccer at the elite level. If you want to spend thousands so that you feel that you are "in" then feel free to join a Potomac or Bethesda or McLean but if you want to save your money and time until it matters, then relax. Most of the top clubs usually pulltheir best players from others teams who start to migrate to these clubs at u13/u14. They end up forcing out kids that have been with the club since u8/u9. It is a constant theme.

You make some fair points. However, it also can be very difficult to find the right coach in classic or on an independent team. In our case, we didn't got to one of the big clubs you mention to feel that we were "in." We did it because the club's reputation led us believe that the club had quality standards and oversight of its coaches such that the odds of getting a good coach there would be better. The results have been mixed and there's still a lot of luck involved in getting a good coach even at the big clubs. We would leave if we could find the right classic or independent coach, but thus far we haven't been able to do that.

Agree that you are much more likely to end up with a good coach at Bethesda or Potomac than MSI in the younger age groups unless you do a lot of research or are very knowledgeable and organize your own team. If you are able to teach your kid all the skills he needs to be a good player at home, or you can arrange for an MSI team that is skill-based, then great, save your money. But if you are not a soccer player and don't have the ability to help with skills, you can be assured the kid with get them from Bethesda or Potomac, or another serious club team. If you wait until U13, it will be too late. Your kid will never catch up skill-wise to his peers.

[Anonymous]

How do you find those "right" coaches in Classic or on an independent team? How different is the level of play in Classic is similar to the lower level travel leagues?

I don't think the professionally coached Classic teams are much cheaper than Bethesda or Potomac for U8 or U9 are they? So it's just a matter of having to drive less to games?

[Anonymous]

Check the rankings and then talk to the coaches of the top five or so coaches. Ask around. You will find a team that plays better than most travel teams. The play in the top half of D1 classic is better than any NCSL division below D1 or D2.