Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss Part II

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way to get evaluated for a DA way team now? Or are roster full and tryouts just once a year? Can you email a DA coach and ask to come to a practice? This is for u12 boy

You can ask. Are you coming from another club or from out of town? Why didn't you try out in the spring - did you move here from another area and you were on a top competitive team there? Tryouts are generally once a year but some teams might have space for someone who moves to the areas. I would be surprised if they would put a new kid in DA now but it can't hurt to ask.

I thought the majority of DA tryouts were closed and by invite only. At least that is how it worked at our Club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way to get evaluated for a DA way team now? Or are roster full and tryouts just once a year? Can you email a DA coach and ask to come to a practice? This is for u12 boy

You can ask. Are you coming from another club or from out of town? Why didn't you try out in the spring - did you move here from another area and you were on a top competitive team there? Tryouts are generally once a year but some teams might have space for someone who moves to the areas. I would be surprised if they would put a new kid in DA now but it can't hurt to ask.

I thought the majority of DA tryouts were closed and by invite only. At least that is how it worked at our Club.

They don't have open tryouts for the most part, but you can always contact the club to ask to attend training and be evaluated.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of DA, what do you consider the optimal age for joining and what do you see as the trade-offs? In particular, do you consider that competing with good players makes up for so-so coaching and/or that getting in DA early (i.e. U12/U13) increase substantially your chances to be there at the U17/U18 level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of DA, what do you consider the optimal age for joining and what do you see as the trade-offs? In particular, do you consider that competing with good players makes up for so-so coaching and/or that getting in DA early (i.e. U12/U13) increase substantially your chances to be there at the U17/U18 level?

Each team in NOVA, except for DC United, has two teams for DA at U12. With the amount of practices and kids in the practices, I would say if your DS club has good training, your DS is getting plenty of minutes in NSCL, VPL, CCL, EDP then stick with the select team. If you see the DA clubs move from U12 to U13 the teams are cut in half, so for most players it was a way for clubs to bolster their resources and get paid for having a one-year tryout.

That being said, I think a player and his parent's, if they're serious about joining DA at U13-U16(virtually impossible at U17 imho), should keep on signing up for separate training and the player should practice by himself every day he doesn't have practice to reach a level that they would stand out above the players already on a DA team.

I think it's possible, but for most that have the discretionary income they will pay the $2,500+fees per year to join at U12 in hopes of having a leg-up in the U13 and on tryouts.

[Anonymous]

DCU also has two squads at U12. Unless you meant that they are outside of NOVA.

The way I see it is that the kids are basically having a year long tryout. A kid at McLean will play DCU, Arlington and Bethesda four times and all the games will be filmed. The coaches will know if they want him long before any official tryout in the spring. I think it just gives the kids already in the DA program a huge advantage over a kid with a non-DA team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCU also has two squads at U12. Unless you meant that they are outside of NOVA.

The way I see it is that the kids are basically having a year long tryout. A kid at McLean will play DCU, Arlington and Bethesda four times and all the games will be filmed. The coaches will know if they want him long before any official tryout in the spring. I think it just gives the kids already in the DA program a huge advantage over a kid with a non-DA team.

Or disadvantage/labeling.

I know several DCU academy players that came straight from travel teams --zero "pre-Academy".

My answer is where do you think your kid will develop the best and get the most for his individual needs at 1112/13/14/15 years old. A lot of top players don't feel it's in the Academy setting.

[Anonymous]

It may not be in the Academy setting. If any scenario were on the table, I'd ship my 06B overseas in a heartbeat. But my job is here and I'm not going to uproot my other kids to chase football glory in England or Portugal. We like our life here in the States even though it blows from a football perspective. So we'll take our chances with the DA system and see where it gets him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It may not be in the Academy setting. If any scenario were on the table, I'd ship my 06B overseas in a heartbeat. But my job is here and I'm not going to uproot my other kids to chase football glory in England or Portugal. We like our life here in the States even though it blows from a football perspective. So we'll take our chances with the DA system and see where it gets him.

The notion that things are so much better in "Europe" is incredibly overblown. The streets of every European city are littered with people brought in from Africa and elsewhere into an academy system in which only a handful of people actually make it.

It's simple math. A professional club may have 25-30 players on its first team. Its academy graduates maybe 20 players each year.

The really good academies will manage to sell most of those players to other professional clubs, usually farther down the ladder. You can spend six years at Chelsea and end up playing for MK Dons making less than you'd make in MLS. If you're in the MK Dons academy and don't make the first team (because all those Chelsea washouts took all the spots), you're hosed.

And actually, a considerable number of Euro academy grads see the writing on the wall and come over here ... to play college soccer!

Some countries are better than others at making sure academy players also go to school. Germany is traditionally very good. England is not. So if you wash out of your local pro club, you've got limited options going forward.

I wouldn't send an 06 kid to Europe unless he was going to Ajax or a similar academy with (A) a good track record of placing its players elsewhere if they don't make the senior roster AND (B) a good partnership with a local school. (Which, incidentally, a few MLS clubs are developing. See Philadelphia.)

[Anonymous]

Do young players (U9 boys) switch teams over the winter? My kid doesn't seem too happy with the current situation. I thought the program was going to be different than it is. Wondering if it makes sense to reach out to some other teams that he tried out for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It may not be in the Academy setting. If any scenario were on the table, I'd ship my 06B overseas in a heartbeat. But my job is here and I'm not going to uproot my other kids to chase football glory in England or Portugal. We like our life here in the States even though it blows from a football perspective. So we'll take our chances with the DA system and see where it gets him.

The notion that things are so much better in "Europe" is incredibly overblown. The streets of every European city are littered with people brought in from Africa and elsewhere into an academy system in which only a handful of people actually make it.

It's simple math. A professional club may have 25-30 players on its first team. Its academy graduates maybe 20 players each year.

The really good academies will manage to sell most of those players to other professional clubs, usually farther down the ladder. You can spend six years at Chelsea and end up playing for MK Dons making less than you'd make in MLS. If you're in the MK Dons academy and don't make the first team (because all those Chelsea washouts took all the spots), you're hosed.

And actually, a considerable number of Euro academy grads see the writing on the wall and come over here ... to play college soccer!

Some countries are better than others at making sure academy players also go to school. Germany is traditionally very good. England is not. So if you wash out of your local pro club, you've got limited options going forward.

I wouldn't send an 06 kid to Europe unless he was going to Ajax or a similar academy with (A) a good track record of placing its players elsewhere if they don't make the senior roster AND (B) a good partnership with a local school. (Which, incidentally, a few MLS clubs are developing. See Philadelphia.)

At U9, unless the coach is abusive I would just ride it out. Unless you have had other kids go through the process your expectations might be a tad on the naive side. I'm not saying there isn't a problem but a mid season change without knowing how you really hope to improve the situation is more disruptive. Instead, use the spring season to explore other clubs and contact coaches directly and have your son join practices. See how he likes the kids and coach. See if you like the coaching as well. This is also a better way to view a program before tryouts. Tryouts are about the worst way to evaluate a potential team as you don't really know what the team makeup actually is or how the coach actually coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And when BRYC and Mclean decide to go DA....where do they go....hmmmmmm

Spirit VA would be the more logistical option for McLean and BRYC kids.

Exactly. Give it time.

Girls inside the beltway in VA are choosing ECNL over DA because the coaches are better, the practice sites are much more convenient and they're getting the same exposure for college recruiting. As long as those things don't change then they're not going to switch to DA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do young players (U9 boys) switch teams over the winter? My kid doesn't seem too happy with the current situation. I thought the program was going to be different than it is. Wondering if it makes sense to reach out to some other teams that he tried out for.

How is it different from what you (and more importantly, your kid) thought it would be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And when BRYC and Mclean decide to go DA....where do they go....hmmmmmm

Spirit VA would be the more logistical option for McLean and BRYC kids.

Exactly. Give it time.

Girls inside the beltway in VA are choosing ECNL over DA because the coaches are better, the practice sites are much more convenient and they're getting the same exposure for college recruiting. As long as those things don't change then they're not going to switch to DA.

Um OK

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And when BRYC and Mclean decide to go DA....where do they go....hmmmmmm

Spirit VA would be the more logistical option for McLean and BRYC kids.

Exactly. Give it time.

Girls inside the beltway in VA are choosing ECNL over DA because the coaches are better, the practice sites are much more convenient and they're getting the same exposure for college recruiting. As long as those things don't change then they're not going to switch to DA.

Every Spirit practice location is within five minutes of the Toll Road. Certainly, anyone who lives inside the beltway can afford the Toll Road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And when BRYC and Mclean decide to go DA....where do they go....hmmmmmm

Spirit VA would be the more logistical option for McLean and BRYC kids.

Exactly. Give it time.

Girls inside the beltway in VA are choosing ECNL over DA because the coaches are better, the practice sites are much more convenient and they're getting the same exposure for college recruiting. As long as those things don't change then they're not going to switch to DA.

Every Spirit practice location is within five minutes of the Toll Road. Certainly, anyone who lives inside the beltway can afford the Toll Road.

4 times a week? Come on, not every person in travel soccer is pulling down $200k/yr