Coppermine vs. Baltimore Armour

[Anonymous]

Coppermine gonna wipe up the other MD clubs now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love this rarely seen Baltimore based bickering after so many hours of VA centric posturing.

SAME! Need some variety in here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love this rarely seen Baltimore based bickering after so many hours of VA centric posturing.

SAME! Need some variety in here

You can’t even imagine how crazy the hoco vibes are

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It hasn't been officially announced yet, but everyone in the BA area believes that Coppermine will get HG this upcoming season. In the past, SAC/BA have usually coasted by having their younger teams be less competitive than Coppermine, Celtic, Pipeline, etc, and then when the boys get to be MLSNext age, BA brings in players from all those clubs to fill their MLS Next teams and moves their internal boys down to lower teams. What's everyone thinking will happen this year when Coppermine gets mlsn hg? It's hard to see BA keeping up.

Keeping up in what way?

I assume having competitive teams at the highest level. If they've been poor at developing and just recruit to fill spots and now the spigot is turned off due to Coppermine getting top level.

Every single MLS Next team has players that come from outside the club

Yes, but 75% of the team is homegrown at other MD MLS Next I clubs. I don’t know about BA though and their history.

Turnover is not that significant. Most of the kids came at U13 to BA. About 5 from SAC as the above poster said and the rest from other clubs ( not mlsn1 because they are u12 at that time they come to armour). Over the years they do drop the weakest few players but not half the team.

* from a younger armour parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Competition is good. Armour has coasted for the past few years as the only MLS Next team in the Baltimore area. Their coaches are known to phone it in sometimes. They will need to improve to remain competitive.

Coppermine has a larger travel program, more fields, and coaches that are more involved. They will surpass Armour in a few years.

You all are crazy if you think that many people are driving up to Copperplex.

Armour is more centrally located in Columbia and feeds from players in the Germantown, Potomac, Bethesda, Silverspring, rockville, Chevy chase and north.

Most of those cities aside from silver spring are not driving to Copperplex in rush hour traffic.

The only competition are families that live north of the dmv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia MLS Next parent. Currently, the MD teams which are the best competition in order: Pipeline, Bethesda, Coppermine, BA. Bethesda and Coppermine are probably on par so that order could switch easily. In the short term, this probably boosts Coppermine. Over the long term, MLS Next is becoming just another league, unless they start kicking out or relegating to the second division low performing clubs/teams. So, short term boost to Coppermine which tapers off as MLS Next continues to dilute it's elite positioning.

Nice try ECNL guy

😂😂😂

[Anonymous]

Ew gross is this thread about Maryland? Are you all as bad at soccer as you are at driving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, but 75% of the team is homegrown at other MD MLS Next I clubs. I don’t know about BA though and their history.

Turnover is not that significant. Most of the kids came at U13 to BA. About 5 from SAC as the above poster said and the rest from other clubs ( not mlsn1 because they are u12 at that time they come to armour). Over the years they do drop the weakest few players but not half the team.

* from a younger armour parent

Does Armour allow players to play up if they are skilled enough? and do they also play-down (biobanding)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competition is good. Armour has coasted for the past few years as the only MLS Next team in the Baltimore area. Their coaches are known to phone it in sometimes. They will need to improve to remain competitive.

Coppermine has a larger travel program, more fields, and coaches that are more involved. They will surpass Armour in a few years.

You all are crazy if you think that many people are driving up to Copperplex.

Armour is more centrally located in Columbia and feeds from players in the Germantown, Potomac, Bethesda, Silverspring, rockville, Chevy chase and north.

Most of those cities aside from silver spring are not driving to Copperplex in rush hour traffic.

The only competition are families that live north of the dmv.

Right? You have to be local to understand how inconvenient and dreadful a drive this truly is from Baltimore and further south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competition is good. Armour has coasted for the past few years as the only MLS Next team in the Baltimore area. Their coaches are known to phone it in sometimes. They will need to improve to remain competitive.

Coppermine has a larger travel program, more fields, and coaches that are more involved. They will surpass Armour in a few years.

You all are crazy if you think that many people are driving up to Copperplex.

Armour is more centrally located in Columbia and feeds from players in the Germantown, Potomac, Bethesda, Silverspring, rockville, Chevy chase and north.

Most of those cities aside from silver spring are not driving to Copperplex in rush hour traffic.

The only competition are families that live north of the dmv.

Right? You have to be local to understand how inconvenient and dreadful a drive this truly is from Baltimore and further south.

This seems to be fundamentally missing the point of this discussion. It’s obviously unlikely that anyone from the Maryland suburbs of DC would drive to the Copperplex.

But aren’t there kids currently at BA who come to Columbia from Baltimore and would be ok with the Copperplex? There must be players in the Coppermine area who went to BA in the past even though it was a long drive because it was the only possible MLSN team. Despite what people think, there is not a big pool of players who want to play mls next and are truly high level.

In the DC area you have a lot of MLs next options already, including NoVa clubs. But in Baltimore the only MLSN option was BA. Now that changes, which potentially changes BA, which changes the equation for families in the DMV who are weighing BA against their other options here.

[Anonymous]

For current Coppermine families: if your kid is in the top team for their age group, how many times per week do they practice? how many of those are at Copperplex?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competition is good. Armour has coasted for the past few years as the only MLS Next team in the Baltimore area. Their coaches are known to phone it in sometimes. They will need to improve to remain competitive.

Coppermine has a larger travel program, more fields, and coaches that are more involved. They will surpass Armour in a few years.

You all are crazy if you think that many people are driving up to Copperplex.

Armour is more centrally located in Columbia and feeds from players in the Germantown, Potomac, Bethesda, Silverspring, rockville, Chevy chase and north.

Most of those cities aside from silver spring are not driving to Copperplex in rush hour traffic.

The only competition are families that live north of the dmv.

Right? You have to be local to understand how inconvenient and dreadful a drive this truly is from Baltimore and further south.

This seems to be fundamentally missing the point of this discussion. It’s obviously unlikely that anyone from the Maryland suburbs of DC would drive to the Copperplex.

But aren’t there kids currently at BA who come to Columbia from Baltimore and would be ok with the Copperplex? There must be players in the Coppermine area who went to BA in the past even though it was a long drive because it was the only possible MLSN team. Despite what people think, there is not a big pool of players who want to play mls next and are truly high level.

In the DC area you have a lot of MLs next options already, including NoVa clubs. But in Baltimore the only MLSN option was BA. Now that changes, which potentially changes BA, which changes the equation for families in the DMV who are weighing BA against their other options here.

The problem is you all think that kids would come from DC suburbs of MD. There a kids further north of Baltimore that will come. As someone said, an entire coppermine team went to Pipeline. Those kids can play locally. It wouldn't surprise me if Penn Fusion or Keystone loses players.
There's a big hole between Baltimore and the ECNL teams in PA. This is going to be good for Coppermine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competition is good. Armour has coasted for the past few years as the only MLS Next team in the Baltimore area. Their coaches are known to phone it in sometimes. They will need to improve to remain competitive.

Coppermine has a larger travel program, more fields, and coaches that are more involved. They will surpass Armour in a few years.

You all are crazy if you think that many people are driving up to Copperplex.

Armour is more centrally located in Columbia and feeds from players in the Germantown, Potomac, Bethesda, Silverspring, rockville, Chevy chase and north.

Most of those cities aside from silver spring are not driving to Copperplex in rush hour traffic.

The only competition are families that live north of the dmv.

Right? You have to be local to understand how inconvenient and dreadful a drive this truly is from Baltimore and further south.

This seems to be fundamentally missing the point of this discussion. It’s obviously unlikely that anyone from the Maryland suburbs of DC would drive to the Copperplex.

But aren’t there kids currently at BA who come to Columbia from Baltimore and would be ok with the Copperplex? There must be players in the Coppermine area who went to BA in the past even though it was a long drive because it was the only possible MLSN team. Despite what people think, there is not a big pool of players who want to play mls next and are truly high level.

In the DC area you have a lot of MLs next options already, including NoVa clubs. But in Baltimore the only MLSN option was BA. Now that changes, which potentially changes BA, which changes the equation for families in the DMV who are weighing BA against their other options here.

The problem is you all think that kids would come from DC suburbs of MD. There a kids further north of Baltimore that will come. As someone said, an entire coppermine team went to Pipeline. Those kids can play locally. It wouldn't surprise me if Penn Fusion or Keystone loses players.
There's a big hole between Baltimore and the ECNL teams in PA. This is going to be good for Coppermine.

This is a solid point. Southern PA and even Western MD players may make the drive. We were playing FC Delco and one of their players was driving in from Harrisburg. FC Delco is definitely a much better club than Coppermine, but the point is the same. Provide a quality platform and people will make all kinds of drives to get there if their player is decent and doesn't have a better option close by. Trust me, I'm no fan of Coppermine for various, longstanding reasons, but I do think this is good for their club and good for MD soccer players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competition is good. Armour has coasted for the past few years as the only MLS Next team in the Baltimore area. Their coaches are known to phone it in sometimes. They will need to improve to remain competitive.

Coppermine has a larger travel program, more fields, and coaches that are more involved. They will surpass Armour in a few years.

You all are crazy if you think that many people are driving up to Copperplex.

Armour is more centrally located in Columbia and feeds from players in the Germantown, Potomac, Bethesda, Silverspring, rockville, Chevy chase and north.

Most of those cities aside from silver spring are not driving to Copperplex in rush hour traffic.

The only competition are families that live north of the dmv.

Right? You have to be local to understand how inconvenient and dreadful a drive this truly is from Baltimore and further south.

This seems to be fundamentally missing the point of this discussion. It’s obviously unlikely that anyone from the Maryland suburbs of DC would drive to the Copperplex.

But aren’t there kids currently at BA who come to Columbia from Baltimore and would be ok with the Copperplex? There must be players in the Coppermine area who went to BA in the past even though it was a long drive because it was the only possible MLSN team. Despite what people think, there is not a big pool of players who want to play mls next and are truly high level.

In the DC area you have a lot of MLs next options already, including NoVa clubs. But in Baltimore the only MLSN option was BA. Now that changes, which potentially changes BA, which changes the equation for families in the DMV who are weighing BA against their other options here.

Both pipeline and BA are much easier commutes to Baltimore, probably half the commute. I live in north Baltimore and the drive to Copperplex is an hour. The 95 stretch is usually bumper to bumper. It would be more convenient for families that live around Bel Air and North. There are some very good kids there but it’s obviously a smaller population base.

My kid is aged out now but has played for both Pipeline and Coppermine (before Copperplex when they still practiced around the city). With a few exceptions, the coaching is just better at Pipeline. The Coppermine model has a few coaches with many teams.

I just don’t see this causing a sea change. Pipeline may be limited to ENCL but their teams tend to make and sometimes win nationals. Their top players are getting seen by scouts and the college recruiting is definitely, at a minimum, on par with BA, if not better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, but 75% of the team is homegrown at other MD MLS Next I clubs. I don’t know about BA though and their history.

Turnover is not that significant. Most of the kids came at U13 to BA. About 5 from SAC as the above poster said and the rest from other clubs ( not mlsn1 because they are u12 at that time they come to armour). Over the years they do drop the weakest few players but not half the team.

* from a younger armour parent

Does Armour allow players to play up if they are skilled enough? and do they also play-down (biobanding)?

Only a couple of kids did this and they were doing it at sac so they were grandfathered in. So the answer is no. At U13 U14 and U15 the current teams are extremely close to skill to where the year younger could tie or win a scrimmage on any given day. So being skilled enough , they would just play on age.

There is 1 bio banded player on a couple teams.