Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be interested to hear what the Arlington families think of bringing in another player mid-year. Obviously, this kid is a strong player, but his presence will result in less touches and less playing time for some of the current players.

Oh dear God, a kid is joining mid season, what does it mean!?!?!?

Seriously?

I'll bite my tongue and not guess who this is.

[Anonymous]

Good ole Arlington is at it again, I see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

With a player pool the size of Iceland (much bigger than virtually any local club), it's odd that they have to rely on recruiting so much.

It is not odd they just do not care about development. If they were developing every player in that pool to their potential they would have very deep teams and have no need to recruit.

[Anonymous]

Oh please, can we not talk about little kids like they are professional free agents? Pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the Annual Fees you pay include Futsal/Indoor league fees or is that separate? What if only doing Winter training with the team, is that extra?

Depends on your club. Our annual fees include futsal. Others may not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At U9/U10 it is important that the kids develop good foot skills (basic ball control, agility, quickness, fakes, and 1v1 moves) so they can execute automatically.
I'm not a big fan of telling HOW your players to play the game at the younger ages, expose them to the right habits and let them create their own individual / team style

1v1 is the foundation of the game and is an important element to develop, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. At that age, coaches should spend some time on:

3v1, 3v2, 3v3, 2v3, 2v2, 2v1, 1v3, 1v2, 1v1

You can't expect the kids to get it right every time (and its hard for them to understand things like exact spacing and timing of combination play at the younger ages), but its important that they understand the concepts of numbers up, numbers down, and numbers even situations.

Yes, that includes 1v3 and 1v2... I know a player has a mastery of foot skills when they can be successful once in a while taking on 2 or even 3 players at once on the dribble. You know those players when you see them.



Also, risk vs. reward is important.

In the attacking third, go for it... see if you can score or create an easy goal for someone else
Midfield third, go for it if there's enough space around you, but then look to pass after you've beaten the player and you start to get swarmed by defenders.
Defensive third, better to use a speed dribble or look to pass than try to go 1v1 in the traditional sense.

I agree with the above poster.

This is why players need to be rotated through the positions in the early years (even if you might lose a game!). Different skills are required for all positions and you want to develop into a player that can be inserted anywhere in a line-up. Granted, you will eventually as you age have a dominant position--let's not pigeonhole young.

My older son was striker the entire U9 and U10 seasons and my younger son has been primarily center back this season at U9. My younger son used to have incredible ball skill and was a prolific goal scorer---now the very few times he gets put up front he has such a defensive mind sent. He hangs way back and has lost a lot of his former drive to goal. Also, in the defensive position primarily he doesn't get the ability to use his ball skill. His passing and reading the field has grown--but nobody wants anyone taking on players in the back 1/3. Unfortunately, when he's in back the opposing team never scores---they pull him out and other team rack up a few goals so he goes right in the back again. They say they can't trust anyone else back there. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

My older son, thankfully, moved to a team this year (had to jump from U10 to U12--damn birth year!) where the coach really has him playing the entire field. It has improved his game tremendously. While every kid loves striker, to be stuck there primarily from age 8-10 hinders the overall development. Not to mention pissed a lot of other parents off.

Unfortunately, it's hard for big clubs to be a one-stop shop. No club can provide a player with every thing they need to develop properly. Most importantly is how much a player does on his own time.

Do you expect your older son to play in the DA?

[Anonymous]

^^Not a fan of DA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Not a fan of DA.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^Not a fan of DA.

Why?

I think the most common concern is that it's too restrictive. I'm not sure of all the restrictions and I might not be even correct with the ones I think I might know so feel free to correct me but I don't think you can play HS soccer, you can't do supplemental training, can't do ODP (or any supplemental teams such as Super Y), you can't guest play on other teams...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^Not a fan of DA.

Why?

I think the most common concern is that it's too restrictive. I'm not sure of all the restrictions and I might not be even correct with the ones I think I might know so feel free to correct me but I don't think you can play HS soccer, you can't do supplemental training, can't do ODP (or any supplemental teams such as Super Y), you can't guest play on other teams...

You can do supplemental training if you play DA, and plenty of kids do. You just can't play in other soccer leagues or on other teams. I believe you can play high school sports as long as they are not soccer, but it's hard with the DA time commitment. I'm not clear on why anyone would want to play ODP or super Y if they had the opportunity to play on a DA team. Those seem like things you do for fun or in hopes of getting noticed if you are on a not great team. If you just want to have fun, there's no reason to do DA, and if you are serious and want to improve a lot and get noticed, DA is much better for that than Super Y or ODP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^Not a fan of DA.

Why?

If you want to learn how to play like an American, go for it.

[Anonymous]

Also the DA has not been successful as far as producing international level talent. FIFA world rankings came out today, USA is ranked 28th, one behind Bosnia and Herzegovina and right ahead of Iran. The DA system could be done away with and would it really make a difference for our national team ?

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index.html

[Anonymous]

Do the best youth academy systems in the world allow their players to play for their high schools or guest play in local tournaments? I think the only reason the players would be released would be to train with their national team. And even then, they are reluctant to release players. Did Portugal and Brazil's absolute top players play in the Nike Friendlies recently? I doubt it, considering Hackworth says "we're making steps in the right direction" and not "we just beat the world's best U17s".

[Anonymous]

I love how Wales (population 3 million) is 16 places ahead of the US. We're making progress, guys.

[Anonymous]

The USA"s results were certainly better when most of the players all played in high school and college. But there are other factors at play as well.

Some of the DA ideas are sound -- more training, fewer games, etc. -- and there are some outstanding programs (Dallas especially). Bur as a whole, is it an improvement? Jury's still out.