Arlington Tournament Seeding-Rant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Alexandria also has 5 or 6 teams per age group. How big are the rec programs to have so many kids make travel teams?

They aren’t playing in ASIST.

I think the point was in response to questions about which clubs have that many teams. Vienna is five and sometimes six deep at younger ages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Don't you feel a little silly paying for travel soccer for your child to be on your clubs 3rd, 4th, or 5th team (in one age group!). Are there any kids left in the rec program ?

A little bit lol, but Arlington has such a monopoly because of the large area it covers there isn't much of a choice unless you want to drive forever. I've seen a few, including my own, that moved from Silver/Gold to Red/White and even (rarely) DA over the course of 3 years. For the 09s, even with 5 travel teams there are 24 or so rec/ADP teams. Plus on a social level because they all practice on the same field, the 70 kids really get to know each other. It definitely has it's faults (practices for 2 teams run by 1 coach!!!) but people love to dump on it without knowing anything about it.

[Anonymous]

Two teams with 1 coach at practice?? Yikes. Practices/training are THE most important part of development. That would be a total deal breaker. Did they solve the field space issue or are the lower teams still shoved into a tiny parcel of the practice field?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Don't you feel a little silly paying for travel soccer for your child to be on your clubs 3rd, 4th, or 5th team (in one age group!). Are there any kids left in the rec program ?

A little bit lol, but Arlington has such a monopoly because of the large area it covers there isn't much of a choice unless you want to drive forever. I've seen a few, including my own, that moved from Silver/Gold to Red/White and even (rarely) DA over the course of 3 years. For the 09s, even with 5 travel teams there are 24 or so rec/ADP teams. Plus on a social level because they all practice on the same field, the 70 kids really get to know each other. It definitely has it's faults (practices for 2 teams run by 1 coach!!!) but people love to dump on it without knowing anything about it.

DP. Arlington covers a large area? Isn't it one of the smallest counties in the country by geographical size?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Don't you feel a little silly paying for travel soccer for your child to be on your clubs 3rd, 4th, or 5th team (in one age group!). Are there any kids left in the rec program ?

A little bit lol, but Arlington has such a monopoly because of the large area it covers there isn't much of a choice unless you want to drive forever. I've seen a few, including my own, that moved from Silver/Gold to Red/White and even (rarely) DA over the course of 3 years. For the 09s, even with 5 travel teams there are 24 or so rec/ADP teams. Plus on a social level because they all practice on the same field, the 70 kids really get to know each other. It definitely has it's faults (practices for 2 teams run by 1 coach!!!) but people love to dump on it without knowing anything about it.

DP. Arlington covers a large area? Isn't it one of the smallest counties in the country by geographical size?

For the population and geographic area covered, there should be many more Clubs. My nieces/nephews in Fairfax County have a choice of four decent Clubs near their home- with fields only a few miles apart. There is choice that kids living in Arlington do not have. ASA is too damn big and traffic patterns preclude going elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Don't you feel a little silly paying for travel soccer for your child to be on your clubs 3rd, 4th, or 5th team (in one age group!). Are there any kids left in the rec program ?

A little bit lol, but Arlington has such a monopoly because of the large area it covers there isn't much of a choice unless you want to drive forever. I've seen a few, including my own, that moved from Silver/Gold to Red/White and even (rarely) DA over the course of 3 years. For the 09s, even with 5 travel teams there are 24 or so rec/ADP teams. Plus on a social level because they all practice on the same field, the 70 kids really get to know each other. It definitely has it's faults (practices for 2 teams run by 1 coach!!!) but people love to dump on it without knowing anything about it.

DP. Arlington covers a large area? Isn't it one of the smallest counties in the country by geographical size?

For the population and geographic area covered, there should be many more Clubs. My nieces/nephews in Fairfax County have a choice of four decent Clubs near their home- with fields only a few miles apart. There is choice that kids living in Arlington do not have. ASA is too damn big and traffic patterns preclude going elsewhere.

There are multiple clubs surrounding Arlington, and lots of kids in Arlington play for non-ARL clubs.

[Anonymous]

So are there clubs that have more travel teams in an age group than rec teams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So are there clubs that have more travel teams in an age group than rec teams?

Lots of clubs don't have rec teams. We have a great set up in MoCo where there is a massive volunteer organized rec program (MSI).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are there clubs that have more travel teams in an age group than rec teams?

Lots of clubs don't have rec teams. We have a great set up in MoCo where there is a massive volunteer organized rec program (MSI).

Yep, also the SFL in Nova.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I'm with OP.
My son is on BSC's 3rd team and is in the top division with Arlington Red, among others, in the U11.
That's their top team, yes?

[Anonymous]

Arlington wants to win their own tournament. I'm not sure why this surprises anyone, yet it happens every year, and every year we still play ASIST. And every year I get annoyed at the seeding. Like Groundhog's Day. I guess we play it because it is very close and played on nice fields. And it gets them all some game touches before the regular season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington wants to win their own tournament. I'm not sure why this surprises anyone, yet it happens every year, and every year we still play ASIST. And every year I get annoyed at the seeding. Like Groundhog's Day. I guess we play it because it is very close and played on nice fields. And it gets them all some game touches before the regular season.

Yes. That and the gotscoccer points. For Clubs that play a lot of tournaments, compared to some that only enter 1 or 2 a season, you can move up the gotsoccer rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, I'm with OP.
My son is on BSC's 3rd team and is in the top division with Arlington Red, among others, in the U11.
That's their top team, yes?

U11: Yes. U12: No. U12 has pre DA1, pre DA2 and then Red.

[Anonymous]

Weak field this year in U11B. It's Arlington Red and SYC in the top bracket, the other 6 teams of the top bracket could be interchanged with most of the teams in the second bracket.
http://events.gotsport.com/events/results.aspx?EventID=74605&Gender=Boys&Age=11.
Not sure what the organizers could've done differently, they were dealt a pretty weak hand. Must be some other tourneys pulling the typical MD teams elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, I'm with OP.
My son is on BSC's 3rd team and is in the top division with Arlington Red, among others, in the U11.
That's their top team, yes?

U11: Yes. U12: No. U12 has pre DA1, pre DA2 and then Red.

And what's Arlington White in U11? 2nd team?