Spring Travel Soccer Tryouts 2018

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just wanted to add another conversation to the mix of things to consider. We currently have a son on an Arlington top team and another that plays for Premier AC. My son did not make an arlington team when he tried out u9 year. While at first it was a little disappointing, in the end a smaller club that works hard to develop the kids they are given has been a much better fit for him. I think a good ADP team would have also been a decent fit, but it's important to note that's a relatively short term solution as the program goes away after a few years and also the coaching is very hit or miss depending on the volunteer coach and the paid pool coach. My son has really developed nicely at Premier AC and it is a huge relief for out family (and him) that the club keeps kids that generally come to practice and games and works hard. It is very nice not to stress about him being cut every single spring. I don't know if try-outs are posted yet, but when i do i will try and remember to come back and post. try outs are also low key affairs where you basically join practice.

We have had a great experience with Premier AC, too. The coaching is phenomenal.

FWIW, my kid and several of his friends DID get selected for other local teams (and not the bottom two) but chose PAC because of friendships. It is true that some of those friends did not make the Arlingtons and McLeans but they have developed into very solid players. In any case, there are plenty of excellent players at PAC, but it is a very small club that doesn't necessarily enter the elite leagues/tournaments/showcases. What I have seen over the years is numerous kids do PAC from pretravel age through U12 or U13 and then switch to top neighboring teams to get into leagues that get "looked at" more. Obviously the club is doing something right as far as player training and development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what do the u12 u11 boys teams team look like for next year at Braddock road ? any idea how many teams they are fielding that age? any feedback on particular coaches there?

2007 boys should have 2 teams. coaching and training is very good. I think they actually do a good job of developing talent so I could see why other clubs would try to recruit some players. Rosters are on the smaller side, I would think there are at least a few spots available.

[Anonymous]

On my son’s PAC team, the players aren’t bad, most of them are average, with a few who stand out as more skilled and a few who have less skill, but are making progress. A lot of the kids wouldn’t have or didn’t make even a lower team on one of the local big clubs at U9, but now just a year later play against those teams quite competitively, so that speaks for the coaching.

I would suggest taking a look at PAC if your child is on one of the lower teams in one of the big clubs to see if it would be a good fit. Especially because PAC isn’t big into cutting kids. I agree with others who posted that if you have a highly skilled player, PAC isn’t likely the best club for your kid, but most kids aren’t the top players.

[Anonymous]

If goal is development, PAC is superior then E and F teams. Why anyone stays in Arlington for that experience is mind boggling. If you are an A team player, you will hate PAC. The players are not skilled and not athletic enough. HOWEVER, in theory, a PAC like approach with top A level players will get you far more development, because Arlington wants wins even at U9. Team building and wins. PAC is development. But since you don't have that A level at PAC (often they have G, H, and I level players), stick with Arlington A or B team. But, you will not get better with that alone, trust what you hear. Train outside their offerings.

C and D teams think they will move up, but few do and No Man's Land is not worth it for development. But do not got to PAC unless your goal is to be a superstar on the team. Find a smaller club and go there. FPYC, BRYC, etc. come to mind. If you play for a small Club and supplement that with the right training, by U13 you will have better first touch on the ball and more skill then the majority of the B team players and at least half of the A team players.

That's the pro/con generalized comparison. Been there, done that, seen it, and generally? a starting point for making that choice "to just go to PAC."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If goal is development, PAC is superior then E and F teams. Why anyone stays in Arlington for that experience is mind boggling. If you are an A team player, you will hate PAC. The players are not skilled and not athletic enough. HOWEVER, in theory, a PAC like approach with top A level players will get you far more development, because Arlington wants wins even at U9. Team building and wins. PAC is development. But since you don't have that A level at PAC (often they have G, H, and I level players), stick with Arlington A or B team. But, you will not get better with that alone, trust what you hear. Train outside their offerings.

C and D teams think they will move up, but few do and No Man's Land is not worth it for development. But do not got to PAC unless your goal is to be a superstar on the team. Find a smaller club and go there. FPYC, BRYC, etc. come to mind. If you play for a small Club and supplement that with the right training, by U13 you will have better first touch on the ball and more skill then the majority of the B team players and at least half of the A team players.

That's the pro/con generalized comparison. Been there, done that, seen it, and generally? a starting point for making that choice "to just go to PAC."

I don’t know. I know kids that made the A and B teams and went elsewhere because of development. It’s not the “Golden ticket” like so many think it is. They end up playing a much more direct style and coaching can be inconsistent with no building on concepts from year to year. There also are way too many tournaments for those teams (esp. red). Not to mention, for some it’s too big and impersonal. U9 is too young to worry about anything other than development and fun. Not pressure from the sidelines as well.

I do agree about “no mans land” for the C-F teams.

[Anonymous]

I have had a kid at one of the lower teams in Arlington and a kid at PAC, who didn't make a team in Arlington. The PAC training and experience for the little kids was superior in every way. It can be unpleasant in a lot of ways to be at the bottom of a big club! After one year the PAC kid tried out for Arlington, made a mid-level team, but chose to stay with his team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what do the u12 u11 boys teams team look like for next year at Braddock road ? any idea how many teams they are fielding that age? any feedback on particular coaches there?

2007 boys should have 2 teams. coaching and training is very good. I think they actually do a good job of developing talent so I could see why other clubs would try to recruit some players. Rosters are on the smaller side, I would think there are at least a few spots available.

I would agree they do a great job of developing talent and have seen both coaches for the 2007s both are young very energetic soccer passionate coaches

[Anonymous]

Has BRYC given out any offers to their returning players for U-12 next yr ?

[Anonymous]

SCAA (South County in Fairfax County) is having tryouts this week.
http://www.scaasoccer.net/Default.aspx?tabid=903258

We have had a great experience with the club. Good coaches and a lot of focus on skills. It is small so the coaches know the kids.

[Anonymous]

So here's the deal with PAC ...

As others have said, they're quite good at developing players. They'll take most, if not all, of the players who show up and demonstrate that they at least have a positive attitude.

I've seen them take players who were stuck on C and D teams elsewhere spend a couple of years at PAC and move on to Bethesda South, Braddock Road or a top Arlington team. I've seen players who wouldn't have made a travel team at all in Arlington, McLean or Vienna turn into half-decent mid-level NCSL players.

The downsides:

- They take "development over winning" to extremes. Depending on who shows up to tryouts and how NCSL pools its teams at U9 and U10, you can expect to be drilled for a couple of seasons. Tournaments provide little relief -- the coaches often manage to get the teams into brackets that are too challenging. It does get better -- at least if you're on a Navy team (or possibly a boys' Gold team playing in ODSL). But they don't seem to realize a lot of kids lose interest if they're blown out all the time. (Granted, a lot of that is simply the flipside of taking most kids who try out -- some of the players who don't have basic athletic coordination at U9 still haven't developed it at U12, and all the coaching in the world isn't going to make them any better than an average rec player.)

- Club founder Sully Hamid seems to be taking less of an active role these days. He used to be a big presence at training for all ages, and you could see him lurking at games, keeping an eye on the teams. He's getting older, and his son Bill (who would occasionally turn up to visit during his D.C. United days) is playing in Europe now. Then in a stroke of bad luck, the guy they were grooming to take a more active role was called to Puerto Rico with FEMA for hurricane relief. So you're relying more on individual coaches, MOST of whom are good but not all.

In general, PAC ends up with a lot of nice kids who aren't particularly athletic but love to play. Again, in the long run, a lot of them will turn out to maximize their potential -- they'll learn a lot of skills. But until then, expect some of what you might call "PAC plays":

- A kid makes a nice pullback move to beat one defender, then gets swarmed and dispossessed by bigger, faster kids before he can do anything else.

- An opponent slips, leaving a PAC player with a breakaway. Rather than taking the ball and racing toward goal, the PAC player stops to ask the opponent if he's OK.

So if your DS or DD is a hotshot U11 ready to enter his or her third year with the top team at a big club, there's no reason for you to switch to PAC. But if you think your kid isn't developing on Big Club's C, D, E or F teams, PAC is certainly an option worth exploring.

If nothing else, you'll find far fewer psycho parents at PAC than you will elsewhere. These kids are nice because their parents are nice. The rare psycho parents leave anyway -- they see their kids winning a few games in the NCSL top divisions, so they figure they HAVE to go an EDP or CCL team somewhere. (Maybe one day, PAC will get the message and take a Navy team into EDP. Or even if it stays in NCSL, perhaps that team will get college-showcase exposure by qualifying for Jefferson Cup. Weirder things have happened.)

And the training atmosphere is simply wonderful. Stop by Luther Jackson on Tuesday or Thursday nights and just listen to dozens of kids out having fun. If you're lucky, you might hear Sully's voice ringing out -- the man was born to coach. Pity all the big clubs that have coaches nowhere near his level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SCAA (South County in Fairfax County) is having tryouts this week.
http://www.scaasoccer.net/Default.aspx?tabid=903258

We have had a great experience with the club. Good coaches and a lot of focus on skills. It is small so the coaches know the kids.

We are looking into SCAA but it does seem rather small. Do you happen to know how many boys U10 teams they field? (We have a rising U11 boy.)

[Anonymous]

They have one team per year right now at U9 and U10. I thought the same thing about the size. There are some really good players though. The kids get a ton of attention from the coaches. I actually am ok with smaller rosters because the kids get to play a lot. And overall there has been a lot of improvement in the kids' play over the course of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SCAA (South County in Fairfax County) is having tryouts this week.
http://www.scaasoccer.net/Default.aspx?tabid=903258

We have had a great experience with the club. Good coaches and a lot of focus on skills. It is small so the coaches know the kids.

We are looking into SCAA but it does seem rather small. Do you happen to know how many boys U10 teams they field? (We have a rising U11 boy.)

They have one U10 boys team. We are looking to check this team out as well and went to watch them play yesterday at South County Middle School. They play from the back well, distribute the ball, and have a few very skillful players. Blew the other team out 8-0. Seems to be a team that can hold their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here's the deal with PAC ...

As others have said, they're quite good at developing players. They'll take most, if not all, of the players who show up and demonstrate that they at least have a positive attitude.

I've seen them take players who were stuck on C and D teams elsewhere spend a couple of years at PAC and move on to Bethesda South, Braddock Road or a top Arlington team. I've seen players who wouldn't have made a travel team at all in Arlington, McLean or Vienna turn into half-decent mid-level NCSL players.

The downsides:

- They take "development over winning" to extremes. Depending on who shows up to tryouts and how NCSL pools its teams at U9 and U10, you can expect to be drilled for a couple of seasons. Tournaments provide little relief -- the coaches often manage to get the teams into brackets that are too challenging. It does get better -- at least if you're on a Navy team (or possibly a boys' Gold team playing in ODSL). But they don't seem to realize a lot of kids lose interest if they're blown out all the time. (Granted, a lot of that is simply the flipside of taking most kids who try out -- some of the players who don't have basic athletic coordination at U9 still haven't developed it at U12, and all the coaching in the world isn't going to make them any better than an average rec player.)

- Club founder Sully Hamid seems to be taking less of an active role these days. He used to be a big presence at training for all ages, and you could see him lurking at games, keeping an eye on the teams. He's getting older, and his son Bill (who would occasionally turn up to visit during his D.C. United days) is playing in Europe now. Then in a stroke of bad luck, the guy they were grooming to take a more active role was called to Puerto Rico with FEMA for hurricane relief. So you're relying more on individual coaches, MOST of whom are good but not all.

In general, PAC ends up with a lot of nice kids who aren't particularly athletic but love to play. Again, in the long run, a lot of them will turn out to maximize their potential -- they'll learn a lot of skills. But until then, expect some of what you might call "PAC plays":

- A kid makes a nice pullback move to beat one defender, then gets swarmed and dispossessed by bigger, faster kids before he can do anything else.

- An opponent slips, leaving a PAC player with a breakaway. Rather than taking the ball and racing toward goal, the PAC player stops to ask the opponent if he's OK.

So if your DS or DD is a hotshot U11 ready to enter his or her third year with the top team at a big club, there's no reason for you to switch to PAC. But if you think your kid isn't developing on Big Club's C, D, E or F teams, PAC is certainly an option worth exploring.

If nothing else, you'll find far fewer psycho parents at PAC than you will elsewhere. These kids are nice because their parents are nice. The rare psycho parents leave anyway -- they see their kids winning a few games in the NCSL top divisions, so they figure they HAVE to go an EDP or CCL team somewhere. (Maybe one day, PAC will get the message and take a Navy team into EDP. Or even if it stays in NCSL, perhaps that team will get college-showcase exposure by qualifying for Jefferson Cup. Weirder things have happened.)

And the training atmosphere is simply wonderful. Stop by Luther Jackson on Tuesday or Thursday nights and just listen to dozens of kids out having fun. If you're lucky, you might hear Sully's voice ringing out -- the man was born to coach. Pity all the big clubs that have coaches nowhere near his level.

This post and previous posts about PAC is quite true to me.

We seriously considered to join PAC at U11 year. DS was in big club A team but didn't like it.

He attended one practice and also one tryout session. We liked the practice/coach and also saw quite a few skilled/creative players (their skill is at least at same level with most big club A team players)

At last we didn't join PAC simply because PAC told us we will have to start with their second team. I was too obsessed with A or B at that time, lol.

[Anonymous]

My son played on a PAC team that did have good athletes and they were quite competitive in NCSL division 1 and did go to Jefferson Cup (where they had a respectable performance). At U14, several of those kids made moves away from PAC (including to DA). I think it took a critical mass of kids for this to happen, but PAC can also be a great place for a Arlington Red kind of kid at the younger ages.

Highly recommend considering PAC if you are in Falls Church/north Arlington area.

Tryouts for boys :- May 17,22,24,31 June 5, 7
Tuesdays and Thursdays at Luther Jackson Middle School

2006-2010 age groups at 5:00-6:30 pm
2004-2005 from 6:30 -8.

At the older ages there are usually 2-3 teams per age group, but for rising u11 and under, I believe there is only one. Would love to have more kids come out so they could field two teams.