MSI Classic vs. MSI Academy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s very helpful! Does Classic have equal playing time?

Long time parent coach for MSI Classic (several children). In U10-12, every player is supposed to play 50%. Older than U12, not necessary. Advantages: cost - so much less than BSC, PSC, and games in Montgomery County (we have several children, no way for all of them to do travel, the kids outnumber the parents).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MSI classic plays against other MSI classic teams. Games are within Moco, very convenient. MSI Academy teams play in different leagues so there may be al of driving. At this age I don't think it's worth it. There are decent teams in MSI Classic and the professionally coached ones do very well. I think they were Brit-Am teams I saw that were passing very nicely at that age and it looked more like real soccer than the kick and run games I saw that were "travel."

Yeah, though Classic is really such a crapshoot of both the kids and the coaches. I've seen some Brit Am teams with very good coaches (who also coach travel with Potomac, as some do) be terrible and I've seen some very good Brit Am teams with less known coaches. The worst Classic team I've seen at u10/11 boys is a Juventus team so not all professionally coached teams do well. MD Fusion seems to consistently have at least one or two strong teams per year that play well. There's so many little clubs that do Classic nowadays, and lots of professional coaches. A lot of parent led teams do well in the standings, and are perfectly fine for many kids, but I do think that unless those parents really know the game of soccer, you do lose out on some development. There's a lot more to developing technical skills and learning to play the tactical game that isn't just reflected in wins and losses at young ages, where you can win "kickball" style with a few fast athletic kids. Some parent coaches do really get it, and those are great finds. And if soccer isn't your kids first sport/love, it may not even matter. Play, have fun, and winning helps.

Btw, this isn't to diss parent coaches. I'd be the first to raise my hand as a parent coach who has coached many dominant rec teams but really doesn't know soccer since I stopped playing as a young teenager and only followed the more traditional US fan sports back in the day, and am learning more now through my kids playing travel. I was asked to take my team to Classic, and I'm sure I could have had a good winning team, but I wouldn't have gotten the most out of the players development.