Unsure if we should switch clubs

[Anonymous]

OP here. My daughter is leaning to stay with current club. They are thinking of joining EDP, she will likely get more play time this year since the top 2 stars left, and my daughter has gotten taller and stronger. She has plenty to work on but has invested a few years at this club and has been with the same great coach the whole time. The more we discuss, she would be leaving her clubs top team for the 3rd (when you include academy) team in the big club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is leaning to stay with current club. They are thinking of joining EDP, she will likely get more play time this year since the top 2 stars left, and my daughter has gotten taller and stronger. She has plenty to work on but has invested a few years at this club and has been with the same great coach the whole time. The more we discuss, she would be leaving her clubs top team for the 3rd (when you include academy) team in the big club.

Get her some private training and see how this year goes. You will need about 8-10 private sessions to see results,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is leaning to stay with current club. They are thinking of joining EDP, she will likely get more play time this year since the top 2 stars left, and my daughter has gotten taller and stronger. She has plenty to work on but has invested a few years at this club and has been with the same great coach the whole time. The more we discuss, she would be leaving her clubs top team for the 3rd (when you include academy) team in the big club.

Sounds like a good decision. If she loves soccer, get private training and be sure is is working on her own. EDP scheduling is much better than CCL in my experience and makes it much more likely that she will play as many games as possible. As you mention, quality of CCL2 is inconsistent. There are clubs that might have their top team in CCL2 and others have their 3rd team. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Depends what club you are switching to. Really depends. Can you provide more intel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m literally the farthest from an insane soccer parent. I’m trying to learn from the more knowledgeable people if there is a reason to leave our small club and go to a large one. Or if we should stay with what we know. That’s it. As I said, my daughter is not college caliber (not a high level college anyhow), and she is a motivated and pretty good player. I don’t know the name of the position she typically plays.

Size of club does not really matter. It is the coach, the other players, and the logistics.

1) Coach - is he/she a good teacher of the game and a good person that loves working with kids? If so, then check that box.
2) Players - are they a good fit for your kid and are at least a third of them better at soccer than your kid currently? If so, check that box. You want your kid to be challenged but not totally overmatched.
3) Logisitcs - you said she is not super elite. Therefore, is the practice facility within 15-30 minutes drive? If so, then check that box.

Good luck and even if you do switch you can go back if it does not work out. Try it for a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Size of club does not really matter. It is the coach, the other players, and the logistics.

1) Coach - is he/she a good teacher of the game and a good person that loves working with kids? If so, then check that box.
2) Players - are they a good fit for your kid and are at least a third of them better at soccer than your kid currently? If so, check that box. You want your kid to be challenged but not totally overmatched.
3) Logisitcs - you said she is not super elite. Therefore, is the practice facility within 15-30 minutes drive? If so, then check that box.

Good luck and even if you do switch you can go back if it does not work out. Try it for a year.

Coach here:

From a league perspective, I'm not a fan of CCL (1 or 2) it does provide convenience in schedule for COACHES but other than that it's a mess. I've heard NCSL described as glorified rec by some posters here. While it's by no means the top league if you were playing in the top division I've seen good soccer played there. While the promotion/relegation system isn't perfect there due to the amount of churn, it's better than most.

That being said, I agree with the poster I quoted. Does your daughter enjoy playing for her coach? Is she progressing? Are the players on her team near her ability? If she's head and shoulders above the rest it might be a reason to move, or ask about playing up.

"Only" two teams per age group isn't bad - I know many clubs who would love to be in that situation right now.

If your only reason for change is a few good players left - I got news for you, that happens everywhere. Prestige shouldn't come into the picture. I've coached at big clubs that, frankly didn't have a good program, and small clubs that had fantastic programs (and vice versa of course).

Hope it helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is 13. 2007 year group.

Check out VRSC or LFC. VRSC just hired a coach that was fired from another local club mysteriously (rumors were flying about "misconduct"). Didn't one of their Board members previously embezzle money from another soccer club too? What league do they play in, NCSL or WAGS? LFC is very small and nobody hears about them much.

FCV is gone out of the area FCV is very much still in the area - they practice and play at Evergreen in Leesburg or Bles in Ashburn. Just not sure how many people will stick around now that the DA is gone, and they don't have any boys travel teams anymore...

LS is now notorious for adding theft and robbery to their core values.

LS is just like any other club. Did anyone get a refund? Core values are a joke I agree. If you want to play CCL or NCSL they could be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Size of club does not really matter. It is the coach, the other players, and the logistics.

1) Coach - is he/she a good teacher of the game and a good person that loves working with kids? If so, then check that box.
2) Players - are they a good fit for your kid and are at least a third of them better at soccer than your kid currently? If so, check that box. You want your kid to be challenged but not totally overmatched.
3) Logisitcs - you said she is not super elite. Therefore, is the practice facility within 15-30 minutes drive? If so, then check that box.

Good luck and even if you do switch you can go back if it does not work out. Try it for a year.

Coach here:

From a league perspective, I'm not a fan of CCL (1 or 2) it does provide convenience in schedule for COACHES but other than that it's a mess. I've heard NCSL described as glorified rec by some posters here. While it's by no means the top league if you were playing in the top division I've seen good soccer played there. While the promotion/relegation system isn't perfect there due to the amount of churn, it's better than most.

That being said, I agree with the poster I quoted. Does your daughter enjoy playing for her coach? Is she progressing? Are the players on her team near her ability? If she's head and shoulders above the rest it might be a reason to move, or ask about playing up.

"Only" two teams per age group isn't bad - I know many clubs who would love to be in that situation right now.

If your only reason for change is a few good players left - I got news for you, that happens everywhere. Prestige shouldn't come into the picture. I've coached at big clubs that, frankly didn't have a good program, and small clubs that had fantastic programs (and vice versa of course).

Hope it helps.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is leaning to stay with current club. They are thinking of joining EDP, she will likely get more play time this year since the top 2 stars left, and my daughter has gotten taller and stronger. She has plenty to work on but has invested a few years at this club and has been with the same great coach the whole time. The more we discuss, she would be leaving her clubs top team for the 3rd (when you include academy) team in the big club.

EDP is a good move. They will get a lot more teams with all of the ex-DA/GAL and ECNL movement. Hopefully we will see a Fall season on the pitch at any rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My daughter is leaning to stay with current club. They are thinking of joining EDP, she will likely get more play time this year since the top 2 stars left, and my daughter has gotten taller and stronger. She has plenty to work on but has invested a few years at this club and has been with the same great coach the whole time. The more we discuss, she would be leaving her clubs top team for the 3rd (when you include academy) team in the big club.

EDP is a good move. They will get a lot more teams with all of the ex-DA/GAL and ECNL movement. Hopefully we will see a Fall season on the pitch at any rate.

We're considering leaving our club to find an EDP team. DD currently is in a CCL club, but several girls have left these past two years, and now it's looking like we'll be missing several teams again. What clubs/ages are good for EDP in the Alexandria area? We would go to Alexandria, but we'd like to see if EDP is a better league than CCL.

[Anonymous]

Alexadria is CCL as you know. Several of their teams also play EDP as part of their yearly schedule. In their case its not one or the other as some teams play both

[Anonymous]

EDP > CCL

for those of us who both like and understand this beautiful game there is absolutely no comparison.

Whoever tells you otherwise is lying through their teeth. We’ve see a lot of that lately due to covid and masks off (no pun intended) in regards to keeping people’s money.

CCL is basically appealing to coaches and their schedules but as a league it’s a joke.

Imagine... you pay 2000 or more in a year and play like 5 games in fall and luckily almost 8 in spring. It’s pathetic.

EDP on the other hand has a genuine system of promotion/relegation which naturally makes talent flow up and less-skilled go down but it is organized well and smoothly. On top of that EDP’s exposure is better than CCL. I’ve met college coaches in EDP high profile matches.

How do I know you ask?

I have coached both.

[Anonymous]

Thank you to both? Can either of you recommend a club? Alexandria sounds great since we're already in Alexandria (we're leaving Lee-Mt. Vernon), but we'd be willing to drive around 30 minutes for training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:EDP > CCL

for those of us who both like and understand this beautiful game there is absolutely no comparison.

Whoever tells you otherwise is lying through their teeth. We’ve see a lot of that lately due to covid and masks off (no pun intended) in regards to keeping people’s money.

CCL is basically appealing to coaches and their schedules but as a league it’s a joke.

Imagine... you pay 2000 or more in a year and play like 5 games in fall and luckily almost 8 in spring. It’s pathetic.

EDP on the other hand has a genuine system of promotion/relegation which naturally makes talent flow up and less-skilled go down but it is organized well and smoothly. On top of that EDP’s exposure is better than CCL. I’ve met college coaches in EDP high profile matches.

How do I know you ask?

I have coached both.

you might have coached both but you are only telling part of the story. for the $2000 or more for pathetic 13 games you mention how do you calculate my daughters team that plays both CCL and EDP for no additional cost to me as a parent?
Maybe consider the club, what they offer, how well its fit for you kid, the value you get for your money and so on versus take a "coach" perspective on one league being pathetic because a club charges $2000 for 13 games. how that has anything to do with the actual league itself is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EDP > CCL

for those of us who both like and understand this beautiful game there is absolutely no comparison.

Whoever tells you otherwise is lying through their teeth. We’ve see a lot of that lately due to covid and masks off (no pun intended) in regards to keeping people’s money.

CCL is basically appealing to coaches and their schedules but as a league it’s a joke.

Imagine... you pay 2000 or more in a year and play like 5 games in fall and luckily almost 8 in spring. It’s pathetic.

EDP on the other hand has a genuine system of promotion/relegation which naturally makes talent flow up and less-skilled go down but it is organized well and smoothly. On top of that EDP’s exposure is better than CCL. I’ve met college coaches in EDP high profile matches.

How do I know you ask?

I have coached both.

you might have coached both but you are only telling part of the story. for the $2000 or more for pathetic 13 games you mention how do you calculate my daughters team that plays both CCL and EDP for no additional cost to me as a parent?
Maybe consider the club, what they offer, how well its fit for you kid, the value you get for your money and so on versus take a "coach" perspective on one league being pathetic because a club charges $2000 for 13 games. how that has anything to do with the actual league itself is beyond me.

PP poster from comment above here... this is precisely why we are leaving. On top of the 13 CCL league games, imagine not getting blown out in them (we're honestly not even competitive). As you said, we're looking at the entirety of the club.