Need info on the top team and which club
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Anonymous
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OP, I can understand that if you are coming from the Netherlands and your son is already a strong player, you are looking for the undisputed top club. I think the problem with your question is that assumes that "top team" will mean "top training." There is no La Masia here or even close.
If you go by rankings, you will discover some of the largest programs who draw from a huge pool and benefit constantly from their reputation. However, these clubs are not necessarily known to develop players--in some cases they are known to be weak in developing their players. They remain strong because a) again they draw from a huge pool and b) as kids get older, they expand the pool farther by taking players developed by other clubs. If you want to see what I mean, check out Arlington Soccer Association and see who is in their 06 or 05 Development Academy team (the highest level). I did one day and was surprised by how few were from Arlington! If I were you I would rephrase the question to what clubs do the best job developing players. Then you might get a healthy debate. It is very likely that the answer to your question is a small club, which may or may not be highly ranked. |
Anonymous
Where will you be living? |
Anonymous
| Once your son is older, if he is really good, you will want him to play in the US Development Academy program. There are several clubs in the area that participate in this program. DC United (based in Loudoun County, VA), Arlington, VA, Bethesda,MD, and Virginia Development Academy (VDA based in Prince William/Haymarket). Not sure where you live but you can look these up on a map. The above clubs, except for DC United, have programs for younger kids and are decent clubs. In addition, Barcelona has a program which is good for early development based out of Leesburg, VA. Once the kids get older it hasn’t proved to be a great program, but at the younger levels they provide a consistent technical base of training. Good luck and hope you like traffic as the DC Metro area is one of the “best” at traffic jams. |
Anonymous
This is a fabulous post and completely on the money. There are also two resources with connections both to this area and Holland. One is Bernard Hartog, who runs Dutch Soccer School and Ajax camps in the area. The other is Kephern Fuller/James Myers and Joga, who have trained and mentored a number of local kids, including a uS YNT player currently playing in Holland. They recently started their own Dutch football club. Either or both of them are easy to find online and are probably happy to give some views on this. |
Anonymous
Beware. Poorly managed data on this site. I took a look and found several errors within 5 seconds. Missing teams, wrong team names, teams that no longer exist, competition results associated to the wrong team, and teams in the wrong state. |
Anonymous
If you watch or follow the top teams in this group, you know the top 5 or so in each state for U11 boys are about right. |
Anonymous
| Winning the most games != best club for developing YOUR kid. |
Anonymous
RE: YouthSocerRankings site
What are the errors (not a U11 boys parent)? The site is an aggregator of sorts, so it's data is only as good as the sources (which are linked on each team page). I believe there is even a link on each team page for submitting errors for correction. Have you submitted? (Yes, I have submitted for teams relevant to me and my player.) |
Anonymous
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If your baseline criteria is "top team at best club," then there's a very real chance that your child, however technically skilled, aware of space, and intelligent in the game will just get blasted off the ball by big, fast kids who are running as hard as they can to score goals. In Northern Virginia, Alexandria, maybe McLean, and Barca, if you're out towards Loudoun way, are the big clubs that teach kids how to play soccer. Avoid SYC, VIVA, Arlington. Maybe smaller clubs like Sporting CP and Olimpiacos would work out as well. But go and see. |
Anonymous
I reported the errors already. The errors were not in the U11 boys age group or gender. In the group I looked at there was a team in the wrong state, an NPL team that had their club’s DA’s team’s results, a missing team, an incorrectly named team, and missing state cup results. |
Anonymous
| We have programs here where you can go pay some $$$ for your kid to train in the Netherlands! |
Anonymous
| probably just go with DC United or Bethesda. |
Anonymous
Best club in DMV for a 2008 is the one that he can get to without killing mom/dad in traffic. At U12 it is still 9v9 and although you may still see glimpses of future greatness, it is still a glimpse. Focus on where you can get he most touches and with a good coach, that coach you are seeking may be a power club or he/she could be at a small club. If you want consistency and just focused on development. not just wins/exposure. It's hard to argue that Barca is a good environment. |
Anonymous
| Vienna is the top club in the area. Start there. hehhehe |
Anonymous
No. |