Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's apparently a new "block scheduling" league in the works. You know -- where they say you can take your U12 and U14 kid on the same trip two hours away and grow up through the club, as long as your team keeps winning and they don't recruit over you. Anyone know who's in it?

The WAGS president just sent an email to all members talking about something like this for younger age groups (including boys for the first time in WAGS history I think), but she said they hadn't fully settled on which clubs would be involved. She makes disparaging remarks about CCL in the letter, but acknowledges that ECNL offers top competition. They have a piece about it up on Potomacsoccerwire, with some interesting comments: http://www.soccerwire.com/news/exclusive-wags-to-join-with-u-s-club-soccer-add-boys-divisions/?loc=psw

[Anonymous]

Great stuff on this thread - thanks everyone! DS is on a "B" travel team at CYA with an excellent coach! Our also excellent manager sent around this video the other day - it's good for a laugh. Thought I'd share:

Soccer Mom video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETP14z515Q

[Anonymous]

Worth noting for those who obsess over their DC's training environment at age 9 -- you're about to see a player in a World Cup starting lineup who was discovered playing pickup soccer outside Edison High School in his teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worth noting for those who obsess over their DC's training environment at age 9 -- you're about to see a player in a World Cup starting lineup who was discovered playing pickup soccer outside Edison High School in his teens.

If you are talking about Andy Najar who plays for Honduras, he came to the US at age 13 and by 15 was playing at DC United Academy. He grew up in a soccer obsessed nation, not in the US with rec soccer and trophies for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth noting for those who obsess over their DC's training environment at age 9 -- you're about to see a player in a World Cup starting lineup who was discovered playing pickup soccer outside Edison High School in his teens.

If you are talking about Andy Najar who plays for Honduras, he came to the US at age 13 and by 15 was playing at DC United Academy. He grew up in a soccer obsessed nation, not in the US with rec soccer and trophies for all.

Exactly. Who was his funny-accented coach at age 9? How good was his travel league in Honduras? Did they do a good job of making sure they kept the riff-raff out of that league?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth noting for those who obsess over their DC's training environment at age 9 -- you're about to see a player in a World Cup starting lineup who was discovered playing pickup soccer outside Edison High School in his teens.

If you are talking about Andy Najar who plays for Honduras, he came to the US at age 13 and by 15 was playing at DC United Academy. He grew up in a soccer obsessed nation, not in the US with rec soccer and trophies for all.

Exactly. Who was his funny-accented coach at age 9? How good was his travel league in Honduras? Did they do a good job of making sure they kept the riff-raff out of that league?

Well said my friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: A phenom from Arlington, or one from elsewhere?

Not sure how recruiting phenoms helps my good but not spectacular kid.

Exactly..lets just keep the talent out of the league, so the average and not so spectacular kid can shine. Most parents jump to travel at the earliest age possible to get a slot on a team, unless you are a top D1 team it is pretty much a legacy program. Once you are on the team you are there to stay. So lets just call it what it is pay for play.
There is no paid coaching in Football/Basketball and it seems to work out just fine.
What do we feel the need to pay these fees for soccer when there is no endline.

Good God. I am perfectly fine with keeping the out-of-county-scholarship talent out of my local club if
a) my county is subsidizing the fields for the club so that rec and others get short shrift,
b) my ridiculous fees are subsidizing out of county players...

I don't give a hoot about having a nationally ranked team. All I want is a good experience for my own kid, at whatever level team he can make in our local club. If he stops growing, or loses the good attitude, then drop him. However, good kids get dropped to lower teams or out due to recruiting from out of county. Again, not sure how it helps my perfectly talented but truly phenomenal kid to know that the A-team can play on a national level.

[Anonymous]

What athletic, technical, tactical, etc., skills does an eight-year-old boy need to excel in travel soccer? When you see great young players around NoVa, what do they do especially well? Excuse the ignorance, but kicking the ball with power isn't that important for younger kids, is it?

[Anonymous]

I think they look for: good footwork/comfort handling the ball, speed, understanding of where to be on the field, willingness to play cooperatively. and general coachability (ability to listen and focus and not be disruptive).

Power does become more of a factor in U9, because the field is a lot bigger than U8 and below.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: A phenom from Arlington, or one from elsewhere?

Not sure how recruiting phenoms helps my good but not spectacular kid.

Exactly..lets just keep the talent out of the league, so the average and not so spectacular kid can shine. Most parents jump to travel at the earliest age possible to get a slot on a team, unless you are a top D1 team it is pretty much a legacy program. Once you are on the team you are there to stay. So lets just call it what it is pay for play.
There is no paid coaching in Football/Basketball and it seems to work out just fine.
What do we feel the need to pay these fees for soccer when there is no endline.

Good God. I am perfectly fine with keeping the out-of-county-scholarship talent out of my local club if
a) my county is subsidizing the fields for the club so that rec and others get short shrift,
b) my ridiculous fees are subsidizing out of county players...

I don't give a hoot about having a nationally ranked team. All I want is a good experience for my own kid, at whatever level team he can make in our local club. If he stops growing, or loses the good attitude, then drop him. However, good kids get dropped to lower teams or out due to recruiting from out of county. Again, not sure how it helps my perfectly talented but truly phenomenal kid to know that the A-team can play on a national level.

Your fees are subsidizing every player who is not paying full-price, whether they are from inside your county or not. Also, typically, out of county players pay an additional field use fee. In our county, the field use fee for out of county players is 3x as much as for in-county players. And rec teams play almost 10x as many games on county fields as travel teams. I don't think they're getting short shrift - they are getting great value for their fees.

[Anonymous]

You know what else they're looking for? Kids who aren't playing other sports at a high level. Thou shalt not have an Idol higher than Lord Soccer.

Your kid will be dropped or downgraded. See it all the time, at least in McLean.

[Anonymous]

Exactly why my kids don't play for McLean.

[Anonymous]

don't give a hoot about having a nationally ranked team. All I want is a good experience for my own kid, at whatever level team he can make in our local club. If he stops growing, or loses the good attitude, then drop him. However, good kids get dropped to lower teams or out due to recruiting from out of county. Again, not sure how it helps my perfectly talented but truly phenomenal kid to know that the A-team can play on a national level.

Thats the problem, this is all driven by the coaches. They want a high level team to build thier business off of. Take Soccer the Brazilian way for example, they jump from club to club every year and expect you to take your kid from thier home club of say Sterling to Annandale, who does that benefit?

[Anonymous]

anyone tryout for Arlington's ADP? how did that go?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any experience with SYC girls soccer?