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Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss
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Anonymous
That's a tricky one, especially if you don't know the coaches or their philosophy on playing time very well. If the 2d team offers significant playing time to all the kids on the team, then generally speaking he's more likely to improve on the second team because he'll be pushed, and he's also more likely to be noticed and get the attention of the club. But it's no good to sit on the bench the majority of games, especially for kids who are at all sensitive. |
Anonymous
Makes sense. Under German's leadership, Arlington has been transformed into the home of the former TD-DOC-ATDs of other clubs: German Peri (McLean), Ken Krieger (PWSI/McLean), Sam Bader (Great Falls), Grant Smith (Loudoun), Eduardo Lima (Vienna), and so on and so on. The club will be rewarded by the soccer powers-that-be for it, and apparently has been with the DA, but what about the players? Did anyone at Arlington even look into why Krieger is no longer with McLean or PWSI? Ask anyone at McLean who played on the boys' side, and they will tell you that Krieger was a disaster on multiple levels. The fact that he departed so shortly after his arrival should have been a huge red flag. |
Anonymous
LOL. German was part of the reason why McLean lost the DA a few years ago and Krieger was then hired to lead McLean's unsuccessful efforts to get it back. Now, they both are in Arlington, which has been awarded DA. Irony. |
Anonymous
Tryouts have been a disaster. It looks like it does not bode well for the future of the Club. The new evaluators brought in by this crew at the tryout fields were clueless. Coaches have very little say over their own rosters. Watch a team like Louduon play Arlington. Arlington players look like a bunch of monkeys in the middle as they switch the ball around them. Big and straight works for them in the younger years, but lack of development gets them down the road. It's not a pretty brand of soccer. |
Anonymous
+100 |
Anonymous
What do you mean coaches have very little say over their own roster? Who is picking the rosters? |
Anonymous
Technical staff and evaluators that did not see the kids play over the past year. |
Anonymous
I could not DISAGREE more. This is not the proper advice for younger kids. Stressing out a 9-10 year old is the worst approach. Best advice I received: At the youngest levels, enthusiasm, and proper structure (activities that kids enjoy and give each child the opportunity to have plenty of time with a ball) are most important. So in the right environment, with the right direction, coaches of the youngest kids (U8 and below) don't need to be great soccer players, they just need to be good with kids and have the right direction (so it should not be expensive to play at the early ages). The next ages, U10-U14 or so, you need to have coaches that know proper technique and can demonstrate it, as well as having the right approach (focused on skill, ball possession, etc.). [/b]But they do not have to be in the most competitive leagues, nor do they have to have the most skilled teammates; learning technique is more important.[b] Above U14 players who want to improve need to play with and against the best players they can. So at the U14+ level, playing with and against better players may be more important than having the best coach (not that coaching is not important, but an adequate coach with great players in a competitive league maybe better for the player than staying on a team with an excellent coach who is stuck in a less competitive league). |
Anonymous
+100 Younger years building confidence is most important. Much better to be top player on lower team---gets confidence to try things out, is not stressed out, becomes a leader. As the blurb above stated, kid can't focus on technique and fun when he is in a pressure-cooker environment in the younger years. This is why players drop the sport. |
Anonymous
Wow. The tech staff at ASA is very interesting... |
Anonymous
I coach travel soccer (U13), and have also had two of my own kids go through this exact situation. My kid used the promotion to a better team as motivation to continue to improve. Yes there was stress, but that is always part of playing a competitive sport. I would encourage the kid to practice and play with the better players. At U11 the kid has already had 2 or 3 years of travel soccer. Unless there is some specific concrete reason (i.e. horrible coach or very limited game time) to avoid training and playing with better players, it will do more to further the kids development to train with better kids (all else being equal). |
Anonymous
I agree with this. It's a hard question to answer without knowing much about the kid, potential coaches, or teams, but I don't see why people assume a kid would automatically have his confidence hurt just because he's not a star on a team. Many kids of all ages thrive with the sort of new challenges a step up in competition brings. |
Anonymous
| What do you all make of this.... U12 boys tryouts. Know a child that was offered space on a CCL2 team for one club and ODSL on another. This seems like quite a disparity (or maybe not?). |
Anonymous
CCL2 is of the same level as ODSL. Our kids team wins every game in CCL 10-0. Only 1 team offers competition. |
Anonymous
I think some of the upcoming tournaments have some CCL2 teams mixed in with ODSL teams. Then again, some ODSL teams are monsters. |