Arlington and MLS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the '09 group, they have sent one kid to Charlotte, two to Austin FC, one to New England Revolution, one to Philly Union, at least one to DCU (probably more earlier), and another kid is moving to Colombia to play. That's a pretty good track record of helping kids get to the next level.

Now do every other year group. Arlington’s success rate at placing academies dropped like a lead balloon 3-4 years ago. Why? MLSNext.

Ok, let's do the 07s and 06s. They beat DCU 3-0 mid season, have a kid who willingly moved from DCU to Arlington. And have sent at least 15 boys on to play college soccer...at least 8 of them are D1. Oh, and the kids actually got an education, not some online school.

I think PP meant you should highlight the Arlington players who went to MLS academies after MLS Next started in 2020

Uhm- those already referenced went this year (in like the past 6 months)--5 full years after MLS Next started. They could have moved/played at any point across the past 5 years to Bethesda, Alexandria or SYC. They didn't. Perhaps the best proof point is that all these players got developed in house at the younger years and are attractive outside of the DMV--circumventing the lackluster process DCU has to identify and recruit local talent. The odds were against them and yet...

So 4 went to DCU but DCU is also missing them?

I think the point is that Arlington is either pulling or developing talent that is equivalent to DCU. It's understandable that DCU is only going to take so many kids from one club and each age group is different in terms of depth. But, DCU has their pick of kids in the area (for the most part). They are not developing talent or creating teams that exceeds the local clubs such as Arlington. There are no DCU players in the national pool. Some of those kids have the talent. DCU might be a good fit for some kids. It is not for everyone. There are scenarios where Arlington is a better situation for a kid than DCU, particularly if they want to play in high school like many do or are high academic kids. And there are DCU kids still playing in high school and for other teams - against the rules.

Arlington being a higher caliber developer of players to the highest levels over Achilles, Bethesda, SAC/Baltimore Armor, Pipeline, Alexandria, SYC etc is surprising news

I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise as much as a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the '09 group, they have sent one kid to Charlotte, two to Austin FC, one to New England Revolution, one to Philly Union, at least one to DCU (probably more earlier), and another kid is moving to Colombia to play. That's a pretty good track record of helping kids get to the next level.

Arlington 09 Boys has always been an extremely strong age group. It's top 3 teams have always been fairly competitive.

But there is a lot of drama about movement between the teams where some players have been misplaced for years, and there is not a free flow between teams, and it just makes you scratch your head about some of the placement decisions. It drives away many qualified players due to frustration.

That is the Arlington way

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the '09 group, they have sent one kid to Charlotte, two to Austin FC, one to New England Revolution, one to Philly Union, at least one to DCU (probably more earlier), and another kid is moving to Colombia to play. That's a pretty good track record of helping kids get to the next level.

Arlington 09 Boys has always been an extremely strong age group. It's top 3 teams have always been fairly competitive.

But there is a lot of drama about movement between the teams where some players have been misplaced for years, and there is not a free flow between teams, and it just makes you scratch your head about some of the placement decisions. It drives away many qualified players due to frustration.

That is the Arlington way

Yes. Yes it is…

[Anonymous]

Honestly, this is the same at a lot of clubs. Kid on the second team might be as good as one on the top team, but not necessarily better. Do you drop the existing kid to give the second team kid a chance? He might improve dramatically with better competition in training, but he might not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, this is the same at a lot of clubs. Kid on the second team might be as good as one on the top team, but not necessarily better. Do you drop the existing kid to give the second team kid a chance? He might improve dramatically with better competition in training, but he might not.

This is the same with tryouts. You can kick ass in tryouts and practices, but come MLSNext/ECNL competition, the player may struggle. Ideally, they struggle only in the beginning but definitely some players can’t jump fast enough into the groove of higher competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the '09 group, they have sent one kid to Charlotte, two to Austin FC, one to New England Revolution, one to Philly Union, at least one to DCU (probably more earlier), and another kid is moving to Colombia to play. That's a pretty good track record of helping kids get to the next level.

Now do every other year group. Arlington’s success rate at placing academies dropped like a lead balloon 3-4 years ago. Why? MLSNext.

Ok, let's do the 07s and 06s. They beat DCU 3-0 mid season, have a kid who willingly moved from DCU to Arlington. And have sent at least 15 boys on to play college soccer...at least 8 of them are D1. Oh, and the kids actually got an education, not some online school.

Focus. Don’t move the goal post. Try again.

Loser. Learn to read English or self deport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the '09 group, they have sent one kid to Charlotte, two to Austin FC, one to New England Revolution, one to Philly Union, at least one to DCU (probably more earlier), and another kid is moving to Colombia to play. That's a pretty good track record of helping kids get to the next level.

Now do every other year group. Arlington’s success rate at placing academies dropped like a lead balloon 3-4 years ago. Why? MLSNext.

Ok, let's do the 07s and 06s. They beat DCU 3-0 mid season, have a kid who willingly moved from DCU to Arlington. And have sent at least 15 boys on to play college soccer...at least 8 of them are D1. Oh, and the kids actually got an education, not some online school.

I think PP meant you should highlight the Arlington players who went to MLS academies after MLS Next started in 2020

Uhm- those already referenced went this year (in like the past 6 months)--5 full years after MLS Next started. They could have moved/played at any point across the past 5 years to Bethesda, Alexandria or SYC. They didn't. Perhaps the best proof point is that all these players got developed in house at the younger years and are attractive outside of the DMV--circumventing the lackluster process DCU has to identify and recruit local talent. The odds were against them and yet...

So 4 went to DCU but DCU is also missing them?

I think the point is that Arlington is either pulling or developing talent that is equivalent to DCU. It's understandable that DCU is only going to take so many kids from one club and each age group is different in terms of depth. But, DCU has their pick of kids in the area (for the most part). They are not developing talent or creating teams that exceeds the local clubs such as Arlington. There are no DCU players in the national pool. Some of those kids have the talent. DCU might be a good fit for some kids. It is not for everyone. There are scenarios where Arlington is a better situation for a kid than DCU, particularly if they want to play in high school like many do or are high academic kids. And there are DCU kids still playing in high school and for other teams - against the rules.

Arlington being a higher caliber developer of players to the highest levels over Achilles, Bethesda, SAC/Baltimore Armor, Pipeline, Alexandria, SYC etc is surprising news

I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise as much as a joke.

Very sorry your kid is still rotting away on the third team at your club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, this is the same at a lot of clubs. Kid on the second team might be as good as one on the top team, but not necessarily better. Do you drop the existing kid to give the second team kid a chance? He might improve dramatically with better competition in training, but he might not.

I hear this a lot - I think a lot of parents on the second team underestimate the gap of competition between the first and second teams.
Have seen first hand kids drop from first team to second team and suddenly are playing a lot better. It’s really because they couldn’t handle the top team speed and competition. Sure, a lot of kids get unfairly stuck on second or even third teams, but for most part, wouldn’t be able to hang on a top team.