Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't people ever name clubs? It would make it waaayyy more interesting. Especially with the negative complaints and comparisons

Because when you start naming clubs people tend to get more defensive. The truth is ALL clubs have similar problems. All clubs have people that think their's is the best and others are crap. All clubs have people that think the club they left is awful or are currently in is awful.

No local club is perfect so there really is no point to naming the bad or good because it is just an opinion. What is useful is discussing the issues within the context of the issue alone. You will find that people share many of the same problems regardless of the club and discussing how best to navigate the issues is more useful than believing that only a handful of clubs have those problems. It is best to assume that they can all be bad subjectively.

In general clubs are coach driven. If you have a lousy coach no matter how great the club is it simply doesn't matter to you or your kid.

I agree with the main point you are making, but disagree that all clubs have similar problems (unless you just mean that all clubs have some percentage of clueless parents whose views should be disregarded). No club is perfect, but different clubs absolutely do have varying philosophies and training methods that can make them better or worse destinations for a particular type of player or parent. I'm fully in support of people talking about their experiences at particular clubs. You can usually tell pretty quickly whether a poster is worth listening to or not.

No, all the clubs share pretty much the same problems regardless of whatever the club "philosophy" is. Some clubs may be better than others at following through but again, knowing what a "club" is actually going to do versus the coach are two very different things and people have a hard time separating the two.

Things that I would designate as club issues are:

Field Space
League participation
Marketing
Hiring of coaches
Over arching development plan

Coach issues:

Actual practice plans
tournament applications
practices
player evaluations

Other than field space the coach is really responsible for 90% of your kids exposure and experience with the club. Coaches have training methods not clubs. Clubs may require training plans but they do not disseminate them. Coaches coach based on what they feel the team needs, not what they feel the club wants. If a club has four girls teams at the same age the coaching needs are going to be dramatically different.

If a club's philosophy is to "develop" all that means to the coaches, if the club really means it, is there is no club pressure to win games. Does that mean that parents do not put pressure on the coach to win games? No, is that the clubs fault if they do? No.

If you are having conversations with the clubs technical director it is for one of two reasons:
1. Your child is a prodigy.
2. You think your child is a prodigy and the club just does not see this yet.

But, regardless, in most instances it is certainly useful to talk about the experiences because in 99% of them they will likely be shared by someone regardless of club affiliation. These boards are full of the same bitching and moaning and the issues are always validated by somebody and I guarantee they are at different clubs. So no, naming the clubs just doesn't matter in most cases. Frankly, nobody's kid or experience is really truly unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't people ever name clubs? It would make it waaayyy more interesting. Especially with the negative complaints and comparisons

Because when you start naming clubs people tend to get more defensive. The truth is ALL clubs have similar problems. All clubs have people that think their's is the best and others are crap. All clubs have people that think the club they left is awful or are currently in is awful.

No local club is perfect so there really is no point to naming the bad or good because it is just an opinion. What is useful is discussing the issues within the context of the issue alone. You will find that people share many of the same problems regardless of the club and discussing how best to navigate the issues is more useful than believing that only a handful of clubs have those problems. It is best to assume that they can all be bad subjectively.

In general clubs are coach driven. If you have a lousy coach no matter how great the club is it simply doesn't matter to you or your kid.

I agree with the main point you are making, but disagree that all clubs have similar problems (unless you just mean that all clubs have some percentage of clueless parents whose views should be disregarded). No club is perfect, but different clubs absolutely do have varying philosophies and training methods that can make them better or worse destinations for a particular type of player or parent. I'm fully in support of people talking about their experiences at particular clubs. You can usually tell pretty quickly whether a poster is worth listening to or not.

No, all the clubs share pretty much the same problems regardless of whatever the club "philosophy" is. Some clubs may be better than others at following through but again, knowing what a "club" is actually going to do versus the coach are two very different things and people have a hard time separating the two.

Things that I would designate as club issues are:

Field Space
League participation
Marketing
Hiring of coaches
Over arching development plan

Coach issues:

Actual practice plans
tournament applications
practices
player evaluations

Other than field space the coach is really responsible for 90% of your kids exposure and experience with the club. Coaches have training methods not clubs. Clubs may require training plans but they do not disseminate them. Coaches coach based on what they feel the team needs, not what they feel the club wants. If a club has four girls teams at the same age the coaching needs are going to be dramatically different.

If a club's philosophy is to "develop" all that means to the coaches, if the club really means it, is there is no club pressure to win games. Does that mean that parents do not put pressure on the coach to win games? No, is that the clubs fault if they do? No.

If you are having conversations with the clubs technical director it is for one of two reasons:
1. Your child is a prodigy.
2. You think your child is a prodigy and the club just does not see this yet.

But, regardless, in most instances it is certainly useful to talk about the experiences because in 99% of them they will likely be shared by someone regardless of club affiliation. These boards are full of the same bitching and moaning and the issues are always validated by somebody and I guarantee they are at different clubs. So no, naming the clubs just doesn't matter in most cases. Frankly, nobody's kid or experience is really truly unique.

If it doesn't matter, people on this thread might as well name what club they're talking about, correct? It can't hurt . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't people ever name clubs? It would make it waaayyy more interesting. Especially with the negative complaints and comparisons

Because when you start naming clubs people tend to get more defensive. The truth is ALL clubs have similar problems. All clubs have people that think their's is the best and others are crap. All clubs have people that think the club they left is awful or are currently in is awful.

No local club is perfect so there really is no point to naming the bad or good because it is just an opinion. What is useful is discussing the issues within the context of the issue alone. You will find that people share many of the same problems regardless of the club and discussing how best to navigate the issues is more useful than believing that only a handful of clubs have those problems. It is best to assume that they can all be bad subjectively.

In general clubs are coach driven. If you have a lousy coach no matter how great the club is it simply doesn't matter to you or your kid.

I agree with the main point you are making, but disagree that all clubs have similar problems (unless you just mean that all clubs have some percentage of clueless parents whose views should be disregarded). No club is perfect, but different clubs absolutely do have varying philosophies and training methods that can make them better or worse destinations for a particular type of player or parent. I'm fully in support of people talking about their experiences at particular clubs. You can usually tell pretty quickly whether a poster is worth listening to or not.

No, all the clubs share pretty much the same problems regardless of whatever the club "philosophy" is. Some clubs may be better than others at following through but again, knowing what a "club" is actually going to do versus the coach are two very different things and people have a hard time separating the two.

Things that I would designate as club issues are:

Field Space
League participation
Marketing
Hiring of coaches
Over arching development plan

Coach issues:

Actual practice plans
tournament applications
practices
player evaluations

Other than field space the coach is really responsible for 90% of your kids exposure and experience with the club. Coaches have training methods not clubs. Clubs may require training plans but they do not disseminate them. Coaches coach based on what they feel the team needs, not what they feel the club wants. If a club has four girls teams at the same age the coaching needs are going to be dramatically different.

If a club's philosophy is to "develop" all that means to the coaches, if the club really means it, is there is no club pressure to win games. Does that mean that parents do not put pressure on the coach to win games? No, is that the clubs fault if they do? No.

If you are having conversations with the clubs technical director it is for one of two reasons:
1. Your child is a prodigy.
2. You think your child is a prodigy and the club just does not see this yet.

But, regardless, in most instances it is certainly useful to talk about the experiences because in 99% of them they will likely be shared by someone regardless of club affiliation. These boards are full of the same bitching and moaning and the issues are always validated by somebody and I guarantee they are at different clubs. So no, naming the clubs just doesn't matter in most cases. Frankly, nobody's kid or experience is really truly unique.

If it doesn't matter, people on this thread might as well name what club they're talking about, correct? It can't hurt . . .

Its a free country, but just understand that it also does not really make a difference. In most cases, people are locked geographically to a few clubs anyway so it just doesn't matter it just starts a flame war versus dealing with the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't people ever name clubs? It would make it waaayyy more interesting. Especially with the negative complaints and comparisons

Because when you start naming clubs people tend to get more defensive. The truth is ALL clubs have similar problems. All clubs have people that think their's is the best and others are crap. All clubs have people that think the club they left is awful or are currently in is awful.

No local club is perfect so there really is no point to naming the bad or good because it is just an opinion. What is useful is discussing the issues within the context of the issue alone. You will find that people share many of the same problems regardless of the club and discussing how best to navigate the issues is more useful than believing that only a handful of clubs have those problems. It is best to assume that they can all be bad subjectively.

In general clubs are coach driven. If you have a lousy coach no matter how great the club is it simply doesn't matter to you or your kid.

I agree with the main point you are making, but disagree that all clubs have similar problems (unless you just mean that all clubs have some percentage of clueless parents whose views should be disregarded). No club is perfect, but different clubs absolutely do have varying philosophies and training methods that can make them better or worse destinations for a particular type of player or parent. I'm fully in support of people talking about their experiences at particular clubs. You can usually tell pretty quickly whether a poster is worth listening to or not.

No, all the clubs share pretty much the same problems regardless of whatever the club "philosophy" is. Some clubs may be better than others at following through but again, knowing what a "club" is actually going to do versus the coach are two very different things and people have a hard time separating the two.

Things that I would designate as club issues are:

Field Space
League participation
Marketing
Hiring of coaches
Over arching development plan

Good list.

And I think it'd be helpful to discuss these actual issues. Those discussions get shut down far too quickly or overrun by people with an ax to grind for or against Club A or Club B.

Looking at a couple of these:

Field space: Big advantage for the clubs farther from D.C., including Loudoun and SYA. That's just where the land is. You're not going to see Stoddert build a "soccerplex" within D.C. Arlington has some good resources, and yet I've seen an adult pickup game sharing a small patch of dirt with a U-Little girls practice. Vienna is squeezed.

[Anonymous]

Oops ... hit "send" too soon.

League participation: Big clubs will have something for everyone -- CCL, NCSL, VPL, SFL, ODSL, EDP, etc. Smaller clubs may be mostly NCSL with the occasional good team in EDP.

Development plan: Everyone says they have one. Most people say theirs is in line with the U.S. Soccer curriculum and other popular "best practices" lists. How well they implement it is more difficult to judge. I went to the national championships a couple of years ago and was stunned to see tons of "joystick coaching" all over the place. The dude from California and the dude from New Jersey might as well have stayed home and played FIFA online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No, all the clubs share pretty much the same problems regardless of whatever the club "philosophy" is. Some clubs may be better than others at following through but again, knowing what a "club" is actually going to do versus the coach are two very different things and people have a hard time separating the two.

Things that I would designate as club issues are:

Field Space
League participation
Marketing
Hiring of coaches
Over arching development plan

Coach issues:

Actual practice plans
tournament applications
practices
player evaluations

Other than field space the coach is really responsible for 90% of your kids exposure and experience with the club. Coaches have training methods not clubs. Clubs may require training plans but they do not disseminate them. Coaches coach based on what they feel the team needs, not what they feel the club wants. If a club has four girls teams at the same age the coaching needs are going to be dramatically different.

If a club's philosophy is to "develop" all that means to the coaches, if the club really means it, is there is no club pressure to win games. Does that mean that parents do not put pressure on the coach to win games? No, is that the clubs fault if they do? No.

If you are having conversations with the clubs technical director it is for one of two reasons:
1. Your child is a prodigy.
2. You think your child is a prodigy and the club just does not see this yet.

But, regardless, in most instances it is certainly useful to talk about the experiences because in 99% of them they will likely be shared by someone regardless of club affiliation. These boards are full of the same bitching and moaning and the issues are always validated by somebody and I guarantee they are at different clubs. So no, naming the clubs just doesn't matter in most cases. Frankly, nobody's kid or experience is really truly unique.

Again, I agree with much of what you've written, but I think you underestimate the impact a club's leadership can have on a player's experience for good or for ill. If you are observant and spend some time at a club, you start to see that there are many more "club" issues than the ones you've outlined above. These include:

Does the club have a philosophy of having coaches move up in age groups with particular teams, or do the coaches stay in an age group while teams rotate in and out?
Are the coaches at the club happy, or do they have concerns about club management? Is the club able to attract and retain a significant number of dedicated and talented coaches?
Do parents that are financial contributors or ingratiating managers get special favors for their kids?
Which coaches do the club leaders value (i.e., which ones get the plum, high profile teams)? Is it based on whether the coach is buddies with the leadership, or on coaching ability?
Is there upward mobility within the club for kids on lower level teams? Does the TD observe teams throughout the year? Does he know some/most/all players at the club?
Does the club have open board meetings or other special sessions that are open to members?
What is the club's record for placing kids in top college programs, on youth and senior national teams, or in the pros? If a smaller club, what is its record for placing kids at DAs or other destination clubs?
Does the club offer special training sessions, and if so, how expensive are they? Do they have club wide social events or do other things to try to foster relationships among families?
Does the club have a reliable communications system to keep families informed of logistical and other info?
How helpful is the club with college recruiting?

This is just a partial list of factors that have made us happier or less happy with area clubs as our kids and friends have gone through them. No club is perfect or can serve all families, but club structure and management will eventually have an impact on your child's soccer experience unless you just stay with one or two coaches all the way through.

[Anonymous]

The reality is teams need less space than parents believe is necessary for practice. What really matters is the quality of the space but the smaller the space the more kids can practice under pressure. So there is a silver lining but make no mistake many clubs have space issues and some far worse than others. Clubs use their rec numbers as a way to squeeze out space away from neighboring competing clubs. GenerLly those battles are always won by the biggest clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, all the clubs share pretty much the same problems regardless of whatever the club "philosophy" is. Some clubs may be better than others at following through but again, knowing what a "club" is actually going to do versus the coach are two very different things and people have a hard time separating the two.

Things that I would designate as club issues are:

Field Space
League participation
Marketing
Hiring of coaches
Over arching development plan

Coach issues:

Actual practice plans
tournament applications
practices
player evaluations

Other than field space the coach is really responsible for 90% of your kids exposure and experience with the club. Coaches have training methods not clubs. Clubs may require training plans but they do not disseminate them. Coaches coach based on what they feel the team needs, not what they feel the club wants. If a club has four girls teams at the same age the coaching needs are going to be dramatically different.

If a club's philosophy is to "develop" all that means to the coaches, if the club really means it, is there is no club pressure to win games. Does that mean that parents do not put pressure on the coach to win games? No, is that the clubs fault if they do? No.

If you are having conversations with the clubs technical director it is for one of two reasons:
1. Your child is a prodigy.
2. You think your child is a prodigy and the club just does not see this yet.

But, regardless, in most instances it is certainly useful to talk about the experiences because in 99% of them they will likely be shared by someone regardless of club affiliation. These boards are full of the same bitching and moaning and the issues are always validated by somebody and I guarantee they are at different clubs. So no, naming the clubs just doesn't matter in most cases. Frankly, nobody's kid or experience is really truly unique.

Again, I agree with much of what you've written, but I think you underestimate the impact a club's leadership can have on a player's experience for good or for ill. If you are observant and spend some time at a club, you start to see that there are many more "club" issues than the ones you've outlined above. These include:

Does the club have a philosophy of having coaches move up in age groups with particular teams, or do the coaches stay in an age group while teams rotate in and out?
Are the coaches at the club happy, or do they have concerns about club management? Is the club able to attract and retain a significant number of dedicated and talented coaches?
Do parents that are financial contributors or ingratiating managers get special favors for their kids?
Which coaches do the club leaders value (i.e., which ones get the plum, high profile teams)? Is it based on whether the coach is buddies with the leadership, or on coaching ability?
Is there upward mobility within the club for kids on lower level teams? Does the TD observe teams throughout the year? Does he know some/most/all players at the club?
Does the club have open board meetings or other special sessions that are open to members?
What is the club's record for placing kids in top college programs, on youth and senior national teams, or in the pros? If a smaller club, what is its record for placing kids at DAs or other destination clubs?
Does the club offer special training sessions, and if so, how expensive are they? Do they have club wide social events or do other things to try to foster relationships among families?
Does the club have a reliable communications system to keep families informed of logistical and other info?
How helpful is the club with college recruiting?

This is just a partial list of factors that have made us happier or less happy with area clubs as our kids and friends have gone through them. No club is perfect or can serve all families, but club structure and management will eventually have an impact on your child's soccer experience unless you just stay with one or two coaches all the way through.

Ummm, that is over thinking it. Is your current coach teaching the game the right way? In nearly all instances your child's experience is predicated by that simple question.

[Anonymous]

^^It's not overthinking it at all. I don't go into any new travel soccer experience demanding any specific things from a club, but over a decade into the travel soccer experience I can say that some of the factors listed above make a huge difference in how easy it is for a kid to reach his potential. That's why I think it's odd for anyone to suggest that it's never helpful to name specific clubs.

If you are new to travel soccer I agree you should count yourself lucky if you find a good coach at a convenient and affordable place. Other factors, including the competence of a club's leadership, come into play if your child is playing at a high level when he is older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^It's not overthinking it at all. I don't go into any new travel soccer experience demanding any specific things from a club, but over a decade into the travel soccer experience I can say that some of the factors listed above make a huge difference in how easy it is for a kid to reach his potential. That's why I think it's odd for anyone to suggest that it's never helpful to name specific clubs.

If you are new to travel soccer I agree you should count yourself lucky if you find a good coach at a convenient and affordable place. Other factors, including the competence of a club's leadership, come into play if your child is playing at a high level when he is older.

Sure many of the things you list could be predictive of your child's experience but they are lousy predictors of your possible results. The reality is sports is a result based pastime. People look at the checkboxes that a club markets and they go in with certain results based expectations and in 95% of all cases those expectations will never be met.

[Anonymous]

I think open board meetings can be good. I'm surprised more VYS parents don't turn out at their meetings. I can't speak to any other clubs.

A communications system also is important.

And yes, coaches (or staff) leaving in droves can be a red flag. Maybe the technical director is new and is trying to get "his people" in place. Or maybe he's just incompetent.

"Does the TD observe lower-tier teams" is a question that speaks in part to league affiliation. CCL and VPL are set up so that TDs see all the A teams but maybe not anyone else. In contrast, I used to see Eddie Lima at HOUSE games. (They're on Saturday, most travel games are on Sunday, so it's not as if he was missing travel games to see U10 rec players.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^It's not overthinking it at all. I don't go into any new travel soccer experience demanding any specific things from a club, but over a decade into the travel soccer experience I can say that some of the factors listed above make a huge difference in how easy it is for a kid to reach his potential. That's why I think it's odd for anyone to suggest that it's never helpful to name specific clubs.

If you are new to travel soccer I agree you should count yourself lucky if you find a good coach at a convenient and affordable place. Other factors, including the competence of a club's leadership, come into play if your child is playing at a high level when he is older.

Sure many of the things you list could be predictive of your child's experience but they are lousy predictors of your possible results. The reality is sports is a result based pastime. People look at the checkboxes that a club markets and they go in with certain results based expectations and in 95% of all cases those expectations will never be met.

I think it's almost impossible to predict what a given young child's results will be starting at club A vs. club B, and I'm personally not interested in that sort of evaluation.

I'm more focused on what happens once your child has been playing for a few years, and you have both a good sense of his talent level and goals for the sport and a good sense of the type of environment you like to be in as a parent. At that point you are looking at which soccer programs are a good "fit" the same way you will be a few years down the road when you consider which colleges or careers might be a good fit for your child. You will want to evaluate both potential teams/coaches and clubs at that point, and since we are all here to discuss specifics...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^It's not overthinking it at all. I don't go into any new travel soccer experience demanding any specific things from a club, but over a decade into the travel soccer experience I can say that some of the factors listed above make a huge difference in how easy it is for a kid to reach his potential. That's why I think it's odd for anyone to suggest that it's never helpful to name specific clubs.

If you are new to travel soccer I agree you should count yourself lucky if you find a good coach at a convenient and affordable place. Other factors, including the competence of a club's leadership, come into play if your child is playing at a high level when he is older.

Sure many of the things you list could be predictive of your child's experience but they are lousy predictors of your possible results. The reality is sports is a result based pastime. People look at the checkboxes that a club markets and they go in with certain results based expectations and in 95% of all cases those expectations will never be met.

I think it's almost impossible to predict what a given young child's results will be starting at club A vs. club B, and I'm personally not interested in that sort of evaluation.

I'm more focused on what happens once your child has been playing for a few years, and you have both a good sense of his talent level and goals for the sport and a good sense of the type of environment you like to be in as a parent. At that point you are looking at which soccer programs are a good "fit" the same way you will be a few years down the road when you consider which colleges or careers might be a good fit for your child. You will want to evaluate both potential teams/coaches and clubs at that point, and since we are all here to discuss specifics...

And I agree but if you are contemplating changing clubs the first thing you ask parents at another club is "how's the coach?" not "how are the board meetings?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^It's not overthinking it at all. I don't go into any new travel soccer experience demanding any specific things from a club, but over a decade into the travel soccer experience I can say that some of the factors listed above make a huge difference in how easy it is for a kid to reach his potential. That's why I think it's odd for anyone to suggest that it's never helpful to name specific clubs.

If you are new to travel soccer I agree you should count yourself lucky if you find a good coach at a convenient and affordable place. Other factors, including the competence of a club's leadership, come into play if your child is playing at a high level when he is older.

Sure many of the things you list could be predictive of your child's experience but they are lousy predictors of your possible results. The reality is sports is a result based pastime. People look at the checkboxes that a club markets and they go in with certain results based expectations and in 95% of all cases those expectations will never be met.

I think it's almost impossible to predict what a given young child's results will be starting at club A vs. club B, and I'm personally not interested in that sort of evaluation.

I'm more focused on what happens once your child has been playing for a few years, and you have both a good sense of his talent level and goals for the sport and a good sense of the type of environment you like to be in as a parent. At that point you are looking at which soccer programs are a good "fit" the same way you will be a few years down the road when you consider which colleges or careers might be a good fit for your child. You will want to evaluate both potential teams/coaches and clubs at that point, and since we are all here to discuss specifics...

And I agree but if you are contemplating changing clubs the first thing you ask parents at another club is "how's the coach?" not "how are the board meetings?"

Right, but if you are a sophisticated parent, you might want to ask: How's the coach? Is he likely to be around for a while? Does he call the shots on what tournaments we'll go to, or does the TD or age group coordinator do it? Does the coach have good connections with x, y or z college coaches, or am I going to look to the TD to put in a good word for my kid? Will he, or will I be on my own? Do you know if the club has a policy of videotaping showcase games, or does the team, or do I need to figure that out on my own? Also, will we be practicing with the A team or separately? How often do they move kids up? Will they take it out on my kid if I don't volunteer for their tournament? Etc.

I threw the board meeting factor in there because I actually know a parent who left one club for another because she was irked that she didn't have an open forum to discuss what she saw as club problems. I'll also note that I put the communications system factor in there because I know many families that left our club because they couldn't deal with how lackadaisical the communication was--there seemed to be little understanding that parents with full time jobs couldn't, on two hours notice, get their kid to a practice that started an hour earlier than scheduled 20 miles from the original site. For my family this was not a concern, because we have multiple drivers available and will put up with a lot of aggravation to continue to get excellent training. But it is a club-specific factor that was key for many people's decision making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^It's not overthinking it at all. I don't go into any new travel soccer experience demanding any specific things from a club, but over a decade into the travel soccer experience I can say that some of the factors listed above make a huge difference in how easy it is for a kid to reach his potential. That's why I think it's odd for anyone to suggest that it's never helpful to name specific clubs.

If you are new to travel soccer I agree you should count yourself lucky if you find a good coach at a convenient and affordable place. Other factors, including the competence of a club's leadership, come into play if your child is playing at a high level when he is older.

Sure many of the things you list could be predictive of your child's experience but they are lousy predictors of your possible results. The reality is sports is a result based pastime. People look at the checkboxes that a club markets and they go in with certain results based expectations and in 95% of all cases those expectations will never be met.

I think it's almost impossible to predict what a given young child's results will be starting at club A vs. club B, and I'm personally not interested in that sort of evaluation.

I'm more focused on what happens once your child has been playing for a few years, and you have both a good sense of his talent level and goals for the sport and a good sense of the type of environment you like to be in as a parent. At that point you are looking at which soccer programs are a good "fit" the same way you will be a few years down the road when you consider which colleges or careers might be a good fit for your child. You will want to evaluate both potential teams/coaches and clubs at that point, and since we are all here to discuss specifics...

And I agree but if you are contemplating changing clubs the first thing you ask parents at another club is "how's the coach?" not "how are the board meetings?"

Right, but if you are a sophisticated parent, you might want to ask: How's the coach? Is he likely to be around for a while? Does he call the shots on what tournaments we'll go to, or does the TD or age group coordinator do it? Does the coach have good connections with x, y or z college coaches, or am I going to look to the TD to put in a good word for my kid? Will he, or will I be on my own? Do you know if the club has a policy of videotaping showcase games, or does the team, or do I need to figure that out on my own? Also, will we be practicing with the A team or separately? How often do they move kids up? Will they take it out on my kid if I don't volunteer for their tournament? Etc.

I threw the board meeting factor in there because I actually know a parent who left one club for another because she was irked that she didn't have an open forum to discuss what she saw as club problems. I'll also note that I put the communications system factor in there because I know many families that left our club because they couldn't deal with how lackadaisical the communication was--there seemed to be little understanding that parents with full time jobs couldn't, on two hours notice, get their kid to a practice that started an hour earlier than scheduled 20 miles from the original site. For my family this was not a concern, because we have multiple drivers available and will put up with a lot of aggravation to continue to get excellent training. But it is a club-specific factor that was key for many people's decision making.

All of what you posted only applies to 5-10% of kids playing. For 90-95% of parents it is really sufficient to just ask "how do you like the coach?"

College recruiting is the responsibility of the player, not the parent or the club.

I have never known a single year of soccer that didn't result in practice time and locations changing at the "last minute" for a variety of reasons among them would be weather others are to accommodate scrimmages. With days getting shorter field spaces gets tighter fit in practices due lack of daylight if the fields lack lights. Lighted fields are a premium and a club can hardly be blamed for their limited availability. However to blame schedule changes on a club is misplaced and exactly why in most cases it is best to just leave the club name out of it. It is not a unique phenomena.