Spring Travel Soccer Tryouts 2018

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:32 - re: playing on a lower color team. It kind of depends. We played on the "F" team last year, which ended up being the "E" team in terms of season record. During the tryouts for the second year, 4 girls stayed on F, 2 girls moved to E, and 4 girls moved to the B and C team. 1 girl was cut. Similar results on the E team. So there is movement available if you can stand out on a lower team. If you get noticed by a higher team, you can get asked to sub in for games when they have players absent.

As for playing on the F team, I feel like the level of training was in general better than rec or ADP, in part because of 3 weekly practices vs. 1-2 and a year-round training schedule. Plus all the coaches are pros, and some are VERY good.

Games were tough because most of the clubs do not have 6 teams at the same age like ASA does, so our 6th team was often playing some other club's 3rd team. We got creamed in most of our first season of games. In our second season, we won about 1/2 of our games, and the losses were close. We did ok in tournament play.

My daughter was the one who got cut, so we switched to ADP. Things I like about ADP: the cost - around $600/year vs. $2,400/year. Big difference. I like not having to give up all my holiday weekends for tournaments and I like not driving to Ellicott City or Haymarket. I like not having to get to Long Bridge park by 4:35 on a Monday for skills training. They're more casual about uniforms for games and practice, which is nice if you're scrambling to get out of the house with all the uniform parts.

Things I don't like: ADP schedules things last, after rec and travel, so you can have more conflicts with other activities. And the training can be uneven depending on the coaches you get - it's 1/2 volunteer coaching, 1/2 pro coaching. Teams are supposed to be evenly matched, but they do try to keep existing teams largely intact, so the teams that played together the year before have already gelled and a new team can have a hard time beating them. And the commitment level of the kids can be lower. Travel kids are mostly pretty committed.

Moving from F to E on a club where almost every girl makes a team is not really worth it. In that Club, if you are starting that far down---no matter how good you are--you won't get a second look or move more than one team at a time...which means you have 6 years to try to crack it---but as new players are recruited in and they never put you on a tryout field past the E or F team you might as well forget about it and do Rec or go to a new Club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about ASA tryouts (2009 Boys, if it matters). For the kids who make it through the "cattle call" tryouts, does ASA assign them a color team before the deadline to accept/decline the ASA travel roster spot?

DS tried out (with ASA) last year, made the first cut into the travel program, and attended the "sorting" tryout (I don't know what it's called, but the session for all the kids who had made it through the cattle call tryouts, and were now being sorted into the color teams). We were on the fence between doing travel and doing ADP, and ultimately decided on ADP. We declined the travel offer a couple of days before the deadline for decisions, and before DS had been assigned to a color team.

Now we're back in the same travel vs. ADP quandary again this year. DS has had a wonderful ADP experience, but is still interested in travel. If he were to make it through the travel tryouts, it might be helpful to know what team he would be on before deciding whether to accept the roster spot (and forgo ADP). Perhaps the weakest travel team isn't a big enough upgrade over his (rather good) ADP team to justify the increased cost and time commitment?

Does anyone know how this process works? We short-circuited it last year, and didn't get to see how the order of operations works at the tail end of the tryout process. Any thoughts on the relative merits of lower travel teams versus ADP?

Any age after U9 - you will be told the team color with offer.

Only U9s go through the second sorting/placement tryout.

I assume your kid is a U10 this year.

Since you are mentioning ADP I assume this is Arlington—guessing this isn’t ASA (Alexandria also ASA) or Annapolis.

Thanks, PP! Yes, I am asking about Arlington. Sorry for the confusion caused by mentioning ASA (I'm obviously new here!).

DS will be U10 this year, so thanks for explaining how things will differ from the U9 tryout process. It's good to know that the team color will come with the offer. I wonder how good a job the coaches do of "sorting" and placing the kids on to color teams during the tryouts, while also weeding out all of the kids who won't make the travel program at all? I suppose most of the kids who make it through the tryouts will already have played U9, so the coaches will already have a good idea of which color team they will assign them.

Any thoughts on how worthwhile the training/playing experience is on the lower Arlington teams?

I believe there were a few 2010s on the Arlington 4th or 5th team (black or silver) this year, and those kids playing up often play with their age group on top teams the following year - so there may be some openings on that team.

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:Additions noted! Thank you! I have no idea how I missed SYC and South County, having seen some of their teams in action. I **think** I also saw a Barca team during futsal season this winter.

Annandale, VA: Cougars Youth Club (TW)
Lorton, VA: South County Soccer (FB | TW)
Springfield, VA: Doradus (FB | IG | TW)
Springfield, VA: Springfield/South County Youth Club (FB | TW | YT)

Is it appropriate to list Lorton as the location for Gunston Soccer (per their "Contact Us" page)?

...

Maybe I'll add a few more VA and DC clubs (PWSI, Loudon, FC Virginia, NVSC, come to mind) and start a new thread with just the list. If I'm really feeling adventurous, I'll make a table (or Google spreadsheet) with these links and some league affiliations. I don't know if I'll hit all 75 NCSL clubs (which will hopefully cover nearly all of the clubs that also have teams in other leagues).

I love you.

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other then DC Stod. - can someone put up a complete list of clubs/teams in NW D.C. ...

Achilles ...
Washington Soccer Club ...
Jouons ...
DCYFC ...

Let's say I had this wild dream hitting the website/social media of every area club with some level soccer above house (... without listing specific leagues at the moment). Let's start with Ffx/Alex/Falls Ch/Arl on the VA side.

Area Teams/Associations:
Alexandria City, VA: Alexandria Soccer (FB | IG | TW | YT)
Alexandria-Ffx County, VA: Lee-Mount Vernon Sports Club (IG | YT )
Annandale, VA: Annandale United FC/Villareal Virginia (FB | IG | TW)
Arlington, VA: Arlington Soccer Association (TW)
Braddock Road-Fairfax, VA: Braddock Road Youth Club (TW)
Centreville, VA: Southwestern Youth Association (FB)
Chantilly, VA: CYA Soccer (Colors: Purple-Gold-Black | FB | IG | TW)
Fairfax City, VA: Fairfax Police Youth Club (Colors: Blue-?Gold?)
Falls Church, VA: Premier Athletics Club (FB)
Great Falls, VA: Great Falls Soccer (FB | TW)
Lorton, VA: Gunston Soccer (FB | TW)
McLean, VA: McLean Youth Soccer (FB | TW)
Reston, VA: Reston Soccer (FB | IG | TW )
Vienna, VA: Vienna Youth Soccer (Colors: Red-Black-White-Silver | FB | TW)

...

{Outlier well beyond the Beltway, but I'll list it ... for now} Winchester, VA: Shenandoah FC Elite (TW)

I fully realize that the Great Falls/Reston merger is in progress (I assume). Reading some other threads here hint at something possibly happening with SYA/CYA.

Before venturing into Loudoun, PW, DC (thanks for the initial list in a previous post), and MD, what else am I missing? I claim little knowledge of clubs beyond FPYC and as a non-NoVA native, I find general info on other clubs somewhat interesting.

Herndon?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about ASA tryouts (2009 Boys, if it matters). For the kids who make it through the "cattle call" tryouts, does ASA assign them a color team before the deadline to accept/decline the ASA travel roster spot?

DS tried out (with ASA) last year, made the first cut into the travel program, and attended the "sorting" tryout (I don't know what it's called, but the session for all the kids who had made it through the cattle call tryouts, and were now being sorted into the color teams). We were on the fence between doing travel and doing ADP, and ultimately decided on ADP. We declined the travel offer a couple of days before the deadline for decisions, and before DS had been assigned to a color team.

Now we're back in the same travel vs. ADP quandary again this year. DS has had a wonderful ADP experience, but is still interested in travel. If he were to make it through the travel tryouts, it might be helpful to know what team he would be on before deciding whether to accept the roster spot (and forgo ADP). Perhaps the weakest travel team isn't a big enough upgrade over his (rather good) ADP team to justify the increased cost and time commitment?

Does anyone know how this process works? We short-circuited it last year, and didn't get to see how the order of operations works at the tail end of the tryout process. Any thoughts on the relative merits of lower travel teams versus ADP?

Any age after U9 - you will be told the team color with offer.

Only U9s go through the second sorting/placement tryout.

I assume your kid is a U10 this year.

Since you are mentioning ADP I assume this is Arlington—guessing this isn’t ASA (Alexandria also ASA) or Annapolis.

Thanks, PP! Yes, I am asking about Arlington. Sorry for the confusion caused by mentioning ASA (I'm obviously new here!).

DS will be U10 this year, so thanks for explaining how things will differ from the U9 tryout process. It's good to know that the team color will come with the offer. I wonder how good a job the coaches do of "sorting" and placing the kids on to color teams during the tryouts, while also weeding out all of the kids who won't make the travel program at all? I suppose most of the kids who make it through the tryouts will already have played U9, so the coaches will already have a good idea of which color team they will assign them.

Any thoughts on how worthwhile the training/playing experience is on the lower Arlington teams?

I believe there were a few 2010s on the Arlington 4th or 5th team (black or silver) this year, and those kids playing up often play with their age group on top teams the following year - so there may be some openings on that team.

There certainly are. It is those kids who got the high fives and pep talks from the coaches before and during the U9 tryouts this past weekend.

[Anonymous]

^^well-known Type A Arlington parent strategy.

Start ‘em in travel in first/second grade to get ‘em seen.

[Anonymous]

Would you count VSA in that?

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:Additions noted! Thank you! I have no idea how I missed SYC and South County, having seen some of their teams in action. I **think** I also saw a Barca team during futsal season this winter.

Annandale, VA: Cougars Youth Club (TW)
Lorton, VA: South County Soccer (FB | TW)
Springfield, VA: Doradus (FB | IG | TW)
Springfield, VA: Springfield/South County Youth Club (FB | TW | YT)

Is it appropriate to list Lorton as the location for Gunston Soccer (per their "Contact Us" page)?

...

Maybe I'll add a few more VA and DC clubs (PWSI, Loudon, FC Virginia, NVSC, come to mind) and start a new thread with just the list. If I'm really feeling adventurous, I'll make a table (or Google spreadsheet) with these links and some league affiliations. I don't know if I'll hit all 75 NCSL clubs (which will hopefully cover nearly all of the clubs that also have teams in other leagues).

I live in Lorton and I would relate Guston more to Alexandria/Mount Vernon. They practice at Grist Mill park and/or Mount Vernon High School if I recall correctly. Dang we have alot of clubs in NOVA!!

[Anonymous]

New poster here, need some advice please. My son (U13) is in his first year of travel soccer and had historically played goalie in rec soccer. This is his first year in both travel as well as in the position of striker. He's had a steep learning curve playing in the field, and it's obvious to me and his coach that he's still apprehensive when players come running up to him with the ball, or when he's expected to be aggressive in taking command of the ball when it's with him. He's gotten better, but his coach doesn't given much direct feedback to him. Tryouts are coming up after Memorial Day, and I just have this knot in my stomach thinking of the possibility that he won't be asked back. He's got so many of his good friends on the team, too.

The coach has given me some good feedback, stating that he's made progress but still has some of the same original concerns. At least there's progress, right? I just don't want him (my son) to be demoralized if he's not asked back, ug. I'm letting him decide if he wants to do tryouts again, and I'll preface it with walking him through the possibility of not making the team and some of the emotions that would come from that, too. I'm also thinking of having him try out with BRYC, since that's closest to where we live.

Anyone who has BTDT, advice would be really appreciated, thanks.

[Anonymous]

This is probably out of date...

Alexandria: Red, White, Blue, Black, Silver
Arlington: Red, White, Blue, Black, Silver, Gold
Beach FC: Red, Black
Bethesda: Blue, Green, White
BRYC: Elite, Blue, Black
Chantilly (CYA): Purple, Gold, Silver, Black (also White)
DC Stoddert: Blue, Red, White
Ellicott City Black, White
Fairfax Police (FPYC): Blue, Gold
Great Falls: Blue, White, Gold
FC Virginia (FCV): ECNL, Elite, Premier
Gunston SC (GSC): Red, White
Herndon: Black, Red, White
LMVSC: Red, White, Blue
Loudon: Red, Black, White, Silver and Gray - Green after Gray at some older ages
Maryland Rush Blue, Gold
Maryland United: Red, White
McLean: Green, White, Gold, Silver
Northern Virginia (NVSC): Blue, White
Premier Athletics (PAC): Navy, White (then Gold and Silver in ODSL)
PWSI: Red, White
Potomac: Blue, White, Black
Reston: Blue, White, Yellow, Green
Richmond Kickers: Red, Black, White
Richmond Strikers: Elite, Black
SAC: Blue, White
SCAA (South County): Green, Classic
Severna Park Green
St. Mary’s Soccer: Black, Red
Sterling: Orange, White
SYA: Red, White, Black
SYC: Blue, Orange, White, Green
Virginia SA (VSA): Red, Blue, Select, Gold, White
Vienna YS (VYS): Red, Black, White (also Silver in ODSL)
Waldorf Soccer Club: Orange

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about ASA tryouts (2009 Boys, if it matters). For the kids who make it through the "cattle call" tryouts, does ASA assign them a color team before the deadline to accept/decline the ASA travel roster spot?

DS tried out (with ASA) last year, made the first cut into the travel program, and attended the "sorting" tryout (I don't know what it's called, but the session for all the kids who had made it through the cattle call tryouts, and were now being sorted into the color teams). We were on the fence between doing travel and doing ADP, and ultimately decided on ADP. We declined the travel offer a couple of days before the deadline for decisions, and before DS had been assigned to a color team.

Now we're back in the same travel vs. ADP quandary again this year. DS has had a wonderful ADP experience, but is still interested in travel. If he were to make it through the travel tryouts, it might be helpful to know what team he would be on before deciding whether to accept the roster spot (and forgo ADP). Perhaps the weakest travel team isn't a big enough upgrade over his (rather good) ADP team to justify the increased cost and time commitment?

Does anyone know how this process works? We short-circuited it last year, and didn't get to see how the order of operations works at the tail end of the tryout process. Any thoughts on the relative merits of lower travel teams versus ADP?

Stick with ADP unless he's good enough to make red/white. Talk to people who know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about ASA tryouts (2009 Boys, if it matters). For the kids who make it through the "cattle call" tryouts, does ASA assign them a color team before the deadline to accept/decline the ASA travel roster spot?

DS tried out (with ASA) last year, made the first cut into the travel program, and attended the "sorting" tryout (I don't know what it's called, but the session for all the kids who had made it through the cattle call tryouts, and were now being sorted into the color teams). We were on the fence between doing travel and doing ADP, and ultimately decided on ADP. We declined the travel offer a couple of days before the deadline for decisions, and before DS had been assigned to a color team.

Now we're back in the same travel vs. ADP quandary again this year. DS has had a wonderful ADP experience, but is still interested in travel. If he were to make it through the travel tryouts, it might be helpful to know what team he would be on before deciding whether to accept the roster spot (and forgo ADP). Perhaps the weakest travel team isn't a big enough upgrade over his (rather good) ADP team to justify the increased cost and time commitment?

Does anyone know how this process works? We short-circuited it last year, and didn't get to see how the order of operations works at the tail end of the tryout process. Any thoughts on the relative merits of lower travel teams versus ADP?

Any age after U9 - you will be told the team color with offer.

Only U9s go through the second sorting/placement tryout.

I assume your kid is a U10 this year.

Since you are mentioning ADP I assume this is Arlington—guessing this isn’t ASA (Alexandria also ASA) or Annapolis.

Thanks, PP! Yes, I am asking about Arlington. Sorry for the confusion caused by mentioning ASA (I'm obviously new here!).

DS will be U10 this year, so thanks for explaining how things will differ from the U9 tryout process. It's good to know that the team color will come with the offer. I wonder how good a job the coaches do of "sorting" and placing the kids on to color teams during the tryouts, while also weeding out all of the kids who won't make the travel program at all? I suppose most of the kids who make it through the tryouts will already have played U9, so the coaches will already have a good idea of which color team they will assign them.

Any thoughts on how worthwhile the training/playing experience is on the lower Arlington teams?

Any coming in from ADP at u10 will make blue at best, probably black if good, and the rest gold/silver. ADP is a great program, unless you are red/white level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about ASA tryouts (2009 Boys, if it matters). For the kids who make it through the "cattle call" tryouts, does ASA assign them a color team before the deadline to accept/decline the ASA travel roster spot?

DS tried out (with ASA) last year, made the first cut into the travel program, and attended the "sorting" tryout (I don't know what it's called, but the session for all the kids who had made it through the cattle call tryouts, and were now being sorted into the color teams). We were on the fence between doing travel and doing ADP, and ultimately decided on ADP. We declined the travel offer a couple of days before the deadline for decisions, and before DS had been assigned to a color team.

Now we're back in the same travel vs. ADP quandary again this year. DS has had a wonderful ADP experience, but is still interested in travel. If he were to make it through the travel tryouts, it might be helpful to know what team he would be on before deciding whether to accept the roster spot (and forgo ADP). Perhaps the weakest travel team isn't a big enough upgrade over his (rather good) ADP team to justify the increased cost and time commitment?

Does anyone know how this process works? We short-circuited it last year, and didn't get to see how the order of operations works at the tail end of the tryout process. Any thoughts on the relative merits of lower travel teams versus ADP?

Any age after U9 - you will be told the team color with offer.



Only U9s go through the second sorting/placement tryout.

I assume your kid is a U10 this year.

Since you are mentioning ADP I assume this is Arlington—guessing this isn’t ASA (Alexandria also ASA) or Annapolis.

Thanks, PP! Yes, I am asking about Arlington. Sorry for the confusion caused by mentioning ASA (I'm obviously new here!).

DS will be U10 this year, so thanks for explaining how things will differ from the U9 tryout process. It's good to know that the team color will come with the offer. I wonder how good a job the coaches do of "sorting" and placing the kids on to color teams during the tryouts, while also weeding out all of the kids who won't make the travel program at all? I suppose most of the kids who make it through the tryouts will already have played U9, so the coaches will already have a good idea of which color team they will assign them.

Any thoughts on how worthwhile the training/playing experience is on the lower Arlington teams?

Any coming in from ADP at u10 will make blue at best, probably black if good, and the rest gold/silver. ADP is a great program, unless you are red/white level.

Think this basically: one maybe makes Blue, two make Black, and the rest go to Gold / Silver, even if they are better then that. Lots of ADP just die on the bottom field and get nothing. ALL ADP players will be put on the bottom filed with existing Gold/Silver and spend the entire tryout there. You will know where the bottom field is.

[Anonymous]

FPYCparent wrote:Another addition ... and it's one I should have already had! I'm not that good at this. (:

Herndon, VA: Herndon Soccer (FB)

...

Someone help me out. There is a post in one of the large soccer threads that attempts to list the colors used by each club. I want to say it was on one of the pages in the 90s. I haven't been able to find it again. I'll see if I can find a way to incorporate that info.

Thanks in advance!

I tried to get people to post on this before, but the sidetracking and snark was a detriment to th thread. But I’m glad there’s interest now because I find it as valuable, if not more, knowing the color of the team and what that means in addition to the name.

FPYC: Blue, Gold
HERN: Black, Red, White
REST: Blue, White, Yellow, Green
GRFL: Blue, White, Gold (sometimes with some other names thrown in, like Lazio or Estudiantes)
LOUD: Red, Black, White, Silver (I also see Gray and Green in ODSL)
MCLN: Green, White, Gold, Silver, White
VYS: Red, Black, White (also Silver in ODSL. CYA: Purple, Gold, Silver, Black (also White)
NVSC: Blue, White
PAC: Navy, White (then Gold and Silver in ODSL. Also, girls teams are starting to go by Gold)
STER: Orange, White
LMVSC: Red, White, Blue
ARL: Red, White, Blue, Black, Silver, Gold
PWSI: Red, White (that can't be all)
POT: Blue, White, Black
SYA: Red (also Black)
VSA: Blue, Gold, White
BRYC: Elite, Blue, White (note: most ODSL teams are run out of separate rec department)
GSC: Red, White
BETH: Blue, Green (gets very confusing when they move up to DA, EDP, etc.)
DCST: Blue, White, Red
WALD: Orange
SMS: Gold, Red
ALEX: Red, White, Blue, Black, Silver
ACH:No color designations

People may be able to fill in gaps.

[Anonymous]

DC Stoddert is blue then red then white (then black).