MSI or Bethesda Academy

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Just don't get caught in the "Bethesda is great" trap. Yes, Bethesda is good but your player might be better off playing MSC/MSI than playing on Bethesda's B or C team. On the girls side, MSI produced a team a few years back that won the national title and has a half dozen girls from that team playing at major DI schools and one or two currently on the U23 team. Bethesda does not have one team with such success. I am less familiar with the boys' side but I would send my DS to DC United first before going to Bethesda and would consider MSC/MSI if the team had a strong coach.

OP here. This is exactly the boat we’re in. Had a great year at Bethesda but are not sure about next year’s coaches, and so thinking about a move. The problem with MSI is how on earth to figure out which teams have good coaches and committed players. I have no intention of making my DS try out for a bajillion differing classic teams.

I noticed that people are still confused with MSI’s structure. MSI has three programs:

1. Recreation
2. Classic which is Select
3. Academy which is Travel program for 2002 and younger. (For 2001 and older, it is called Premier)

There aren’t “bajillion” MSI Academy Teams. Only a few in each age bracket.

Within MSI academy are there different color teams and what is the order from best to worst?

Most of the Academy Teams only have 1 team in each age group. Hence, which gender and age group are you interested in so I can answer you.

Girls u11. Thank you!

I assume you mean rising Girls U11. In this case, the coach is AJ DeLaurentis. I believe he only has 1 team at that age group. But even if he has two teams, he doesn’t do an “A, B Team”. He spreads the players equally based upon talent and playing with friends. Basically, he doesn’t load one team with the best players and place bad players on a second team. He is more focused on development, hence why he does it this way. Some may like this strategy, some may not.

Also, he doesn’t require existing players to re-tryout every year. They are on the team unless they leave the club.

What do you think of the coach?

The parents love him. He’s a very seasoned coach of at least 20+ years of coaching. His own children were former college players too.

He a very calm person and never yells/screams at his players during practices and/or games. Also interesting is that he never gives directions while the kids are playing in a game. He waits for them to be on the bench before giving them pointers. Hence, all of the parents follow this philosophy and never yells instructions to their kids.....only cheers them on. It’s best for you to to a practice or game to watch him in action.

Sounds like he doesn’t “joystick” control his players during that game unlike some other coaches. This allows the players to learn decision making on their own. This approach will force the existing players to talk & yell out directions to the new players of their position responsibilities.

This is a great approach for the kids to learn and interact with each other during the game. But I’m sure there are some parents that will complain that the coach is not doing his job by not constantly yelling out directions during the game cause all some parents care about is the winning rather than player development and enjoyment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda does not have one team with such success. I am less familiar with the boys' side but I would send my DS to DC United first before going to Bethesda and would consider MSC/MSI if the team had a strong coach.

Bethesda's entire U17 Academy roster gets D1 offers and for the lower age Academy teams have numerous call ups to the Youth National Teams for both the US and other countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda does not have one team with such success. I am less familiar with the boys' side but I would send my DS to DC United first before going to Bethesda and would consider MSC/MSI if the team had a strong coach.

Bethesda's entire U17 Academy roster gets D1 offers and for the lower age Academy teams have numerous call ups to the Youth National Teams for both the US and other countries.

Couldn’t we just all get along? LOL. Let’s not be like the Virginia parents. LOL.

Like any consumer of food & services, we need the all various clubs to exist otherwise there will be a monopoly. If we think travel soccer is expensive now, can you imagine how much BSC or any other club would charge us or badly treat us if they were the only “game” in town?

BSC serves its purpose, so does MSI. As long as they continue to serve its customers (parents) and develop their players (our DCs), it shouldn’t matter one way or another. Not every kid will play for D1 soccer. Would it be great if my DD is good enough for D1? Of course. Do I support her if she quits and wants to pursue other interests? Of course. We all love our kids.

Soccer has taught my DD hard work, respect, responsibility, hard work and self worth.

I learned a lot from this forum. Hence, I’m hoping the advise & information can continue to flow without the unnecessary bashing, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda does not have one team with such success. I am less familiar with the boys' side but I would send my DS to DC United first before going to Bethesda and would consider MSC/MSI if the team had a strong coach.

Bethesda's entire U17 Academy roster gets D1 offers and for the lower age Academy teams have numerous call ups to the Youth National Teams for both the US and other countries.

Couldn’t we just all get along? LOL. Let’s not be like the Virginia parents. LOL.

Like any consumer of food & services, we need the all various clubs to exist otherwise there will be a monopoly. If we think travel soccer is expensive now, can you imagine how much BSC or any other club would charge us or badly treat us if they were the only “game” in town?

BSC serves its purpose, so does MSI. As long as they continue to serve its customers (parents) and develop their players (our DCs), it shouldn’t matter one way or another. Not every kid will play for D1 soccer. Would it be great if my DD is good enough for D1? Of course. Do I support her if she quits and wants to pursue other interests? Of course. We all love our kids.

Soccer has taught my DD hard work, respect, responsibility, hard work and self worth.

I learned a lot from this forum. Hence, I’m hoping the advise & information can continue to flow without the unnecessary bashing, etc.

YES!