Small Club A Team vs Big Club C/D team

[Anonymous]

The smaller club will have a wider variety of skill levels on their top team. It can be frustrating for the player if others are far below their level and if they are outperforming there is no option to move up. I'd say coaching matters a lot here. If you post age/club you might get some guidance.

Kids do move up a larger clubs. Seen a few at DDs club go from 4th to 1st, 4th to 2nd, etc.

It can be true that your DD is as good or almost as good as some on a higher team but doesn't get moved up. Kids have to be clearly better before they will make room and start moving someone down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

being on their 3rd team is akin to being on the top team at most clubs because they are that strong.

I think that is wishful thinking for 3rd team. I would say being on the 2nd team of a top club like Loudoun, McLean, VDA, Arlington, Bethesda is akin to being on the top team at smaller clubs, but not 3rd or 4th team. Before NVA being on Loudoun Red was the jam, being on Loudoun Black was good - you could of been on Loudoun Black and probably make the top team on any other club in the area. Once you get into Loudoun White/Silver/whatever that is where the level of play really dropped off, because most of those 3rd team and 4th team players ended up taking a top team spot on a different club.

Once you're labeled as a 3rd/4th team player at a top club, it's very hard to shake that stigma and often times, the big clubs are looking externally to fill their top team - it's a tale as old as time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're assuming that there is any organizational continuity between the top teams and bottom teams at large clubs. The D team is not practicing with the A team. The A team coach will not even know your kid exists. The technical director and any age group coordinators do not care about that team. When you kid shows up for tryouts the next year, they are already labeled. Meanwhile, smaller clubs care about their teams and if the team happens to be one of their better teams, they will get attention from the TD. They aren't automatically slotted (can't have the C team rising above the B team), so they'll play as high as they are capable of playing both in league play and in tournament brackets

Agreed. A lot of it is just neglect. Too much hard work for one person to get to know a large age group. Too much hard work for the coaches to actually communicate with each other (in a large organization they don't even know each other that well) on a regular basis regarding placement. When tryouts come along, the A-team coach doesn't have any idea about most of the players in the age group.

There are exceptions. I've seen A-team coaches occasionally observe lower teams. Also, adjacent tiers often practice together.

You would think that there would be a least one person (age group TD?) whose job it was to get at least a brief eyes on all the players in an age-group to make sure the placements are still making sense, but....no. Just think how much the parents would appreciate seeing the age group TD get out to the team practices once in a while. Most families (not all of course) are just looking for the opportunity to get looks here and there, it would go a long way.

Having said all this, is it a good idea for DC to get placed onto an A-team? So much stress can be avoided by avoiding that goal based on a realistic assessment of DC's developmental status/potential/interest etc. I know some parents on this forum disagree, but playing on a well-managed and decent C or D team can be a good experience for the child (although expensive!).

I think that by the time you get to the D team, the club just want travel fees. With a few exceptions most clubs are all but no cut, they just create additional teams to meet demand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The smaller club will have a wider variety of skill levels on their top team. It can be frustrating for the player if others are far below their level and if they are outperforming there is no option to move up. I'd say coaching matters a lot here. If you post age/club you might get some guidance.

Kids do move up a larger clubs. Seen a few at DDs club go from 4th to 1st, 4th to 2nd, etc.

It can be true that your DD is as good or almost as good as some on a higher team but doesn't get moved up. Kids have to be clearly better before they will make room and start moving someone down.

The small club is a wide variety of skill levels, but the big club D team will probably be equivalent to the worst of the small club A team at best, if the small club has a B team, then the A team is probably better than the big club D team. If my kid made big club D team and small club A team, I'd rather them practicing with the small club A team because there are likely more talented players who will push them

[Anonymous]

Loudoun C team or FCV top team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She is u9 so this is the first year for travel period. Does this make a difference at all or is it still once you’re labeled a C/D player that’s it? Again I truly don’t believe she is that level and would be “ranked” higher if she had more than 2 hours of scrimmages to showcase herself.

Our large/well established club moved one person from D to B, one person from C to B, moved a few from C to D to make room for new kids who were not as good... (this was going to U10)... so in theory, your kid has a chance even in a prominent/large club

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

being on their 3rd team is akin to being on the top team at most clubs because they are that strong.

I think that is wishful thinking for 3rd team. I would say being on the 2nd team of a top club like Loudoun, McLean, VDA, Arlington, Bethesda is akin to being on the top team at smaller clubs, but not 3rd or 4th team. Before NVA being on Loudoun Red was the jam, being on Loudoun Black was good - you could of been on Loudoun Black and probably make the top team on any other club in the area. Once you get into Loudoun White/Silver/whatever that is where the level of play really dropped off, because most of those 3rd team and 4th team players ended up taking a top team spot on a different club.

Once you're labeled as a 3rd/4th team player at a top club, it's very hard to shake that stigma and often times, the big clubs are looking externally to fill their top team - it's a tale as old as time.

Agreed. Recently went through tryouts for my child and wound up with first team offers at two smaller clubs and a second team offer from one of the clubs listed above. Going with one of the smaller clubs based on the specific coach and players, with an eye toward developing further and trying for first teams at the big clubs again next year (assuming that that's what my kid still wants at that point).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left the big club's 3rd team to be on the mid-size club's top team.
At games and tournaments we played against the big club that we left the B team and they beat us every time with high scores, that sucks!

Make me realize kids in this small club was all the kids who didn't make it to the big club the A, B, or C team but parents willing to pay for THE TOP TEAM!

That seems common, but how does your Kid's new team compare to the 3rd team that you left... loosing to the B team might suck, but it's likely that you are now playing in a higher tier league - something the 3rd team would not have been doing

[Anonymous]

Sometimes a small club's top team is equal to a big club's third or fourth team. That's just reality. With younger teams, look at your NCSL structure (list of teams you played) since they don't have divisions yet. My son's top team just barely best a neighboring club's fourth team 2-1 a couple of weeks ago. The problem we have had is we love the coach and the team in general and its the one where he played rec, but its also very clear that the disparity among the players is wide. He actually tried out at the other club and made their second team. So being on a first team may or may not be the best "level", and the coaching varies from team to team at very club. Where was he happiest, leaving the level of the team out of it? Did he like both groups and both coaches?

[Anonymous]

would be hard to judge if the kid would be happy on a new team... tryouts are not really comparable to team practice/game/coaching

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The smaller club will have a wider variety of skill levels on their top team. It can be frustrating for the player if others are far below their level and if they are outperforming there is no option to move up. I'd say coaching matters a lot here. If you post age/club you might get some guidance.

Kids do move up a larger clubs. Seen a few at DDs club go from 4th to 1st, 4th to 2nd, etc.

It can be true that your DD is as good or almost as good as some on a higher team but doesn't get moved up. Kids have to be clearly better before they will make room and start moving someone down.

I still see mixed levels on teams at big clubs.
May just be less of a gap between the top 5 and bottom 5

[Anonymous]

Take a look at the parents on the team. That should help you make your decision. Smaller club more laid-back parents. Bigger club has competitive parents who thinks their c/d player belongs on a team. They will complain and are very judgemental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She is u9 so this is the first year for travel period. Does this make a difference at all or is it still once you’re labeled a C/D player that’s it? Again I truly don’t believe she is that level and would be “ranked” higher if she had more than 2 hours of scrimmages to showcase herself.

U9? Pick the best coach. Go to some training sessions, watch some games. Not too late to do that. Big club or small club, you're paying for the coaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Loudoun C team or FCV top team?

Loudoun or Revolution, not FCV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She is u9 so this is the first year for travel period. Does this make a difference at all or is it still once you’re labeled a C/D player that’s it? Again I truly don’t believe she is that level and would be “ranked” higher if she had more than 2 hours of scrimmages to showcase herself.

Everybody thinks their u9 player should have been placed higher. Name your choices and people can give you specific advice.