Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

I'm not the OP, but just wanted to take a moment to thank the very knowledgeable coach for posting here. Your comments are so thoughtful. I would love to see more youth soccer threads on DCUM (I miss the old days when Potomacsoccerwire had forums), and I hope you continue to post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

He has zero chance of playing in Europe. Don't kid yourself.

If they move to Europe he will play in Europe, how is that hard to understand. If I move to VA, my kids will play for a league in VA.

Thanks, PP for understanding, yes, if we move to Europe in the next couple of years, and it has to be before my son is 13, otherwise there will be no chance and league will accept him; the skill and level of playing in Europe is much more advanced than it is here in the US, I understand that. I'm not talking high school or college level.

If I recall from my own years in Europe, the local clubs are very, very deep, with a team for every skill level. Don't be so sure your kid can't play. Yeah, it may be too late for a more elite experience there, but there's always a way to play.

"Europe" is a big place. And within each country and even each city, you'll find all levels of play for pros, semipros, amateur and youth.

A few die-hards have tried to track every American player who's with an overseas team. The national teamers (Tim Howard, Geoff Cameron, Brad Guzan, Jozy Altidore, etc.) are the easy ones. After a while, you start finding people happily kicking about for a fourth-division team in a town few Americans could find on a map.

We used to think anyone playing in "Europe" should get a look on the national team. We're way, way past that point.

[Anonymous]

New Parent: How do the NCSL divisions work? Is Division 1 the most competitive?

[Anonymous]

Yes, but there are other leagues besides NCSL, and some are more and less competitive than NCSL. But after U11 Fall, when the divisions are numbered, the idea is that the teams in the top divisions are better teams than the teams in the lower divisions. That said, it takes a few years for the divisions to get sorted out since the initial placement is based on one season's record and also in part on club reputation.

[Anonymous]

NCSL is the main league. The more elite ones involve too much schlepping for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be honest I am not surprised at what you describe. I have been a paid coach in this area for over a decade and that is what I usually see from Vienna players - they are the same players at 11 that they were at 9. The trainer + parent coach scenario usually does not work. 9-11 is a very important part of a player's development. To put a player with a disinterested trainer and then send him to matches with a well intentioned but inappropriate coach will not provide the player the development they need. These players should be playing with flair, taking players on, taking risks - it should be taught in training and reinforced/encouraged in the matches. Even if the trainer is teaching them foot skill at training, chances are the parent coach is discouraging it at the match, which makes it worthless.

Vienna is a place for decent coaches to grab an extra check - no real commitment, no real expectations, just show up, run a session, get paid. They have multiple coaching companies that provide coaches for different age groups, no real plan, vision, or cohesion.

Bethesda is the place to be right now - good coaches, best opportunities (until DCU at 12), largest player pool. Behind them, Loudoun, PWSI, and Arlington. All three have good coaches, a plan, stability, and good opportunities for players of every level. Arlington is really the only one from that group that may be doable for you.

The next step down would be McLean or BRYC (or Ashburn, but they are too far from you). Both have had a lot of turnover recently at the younger ages as far as coaches, so it is hard to see where they are headed. McLean has been a mess the past couple years politically, but the appointment of KK should bring a lot of positives into the situation.

If I were you I would take your son to Arlington, mclean, and BRYC for some training sessions (tell the coach you are unhappy with your current club, you would like to attend a training session to see if their club is a better fit prior to tryouts). Watch the session carefully - are they encouraging the boys to dribble and take chances? Are they constantly active and organized? Did your son learn anything in the session? Did he have fun? Watch the coach at a match - is it a screaming kickball fest or are the players creative with the ball? Is the coach telli.g the kids what decision to make on the field while they play or are the players making their own decisions and the coach provides feedback and guidance? Are the parents losing their minds giving instruction to the players?

Vienna has been a mess for a long time, it will not change any time soon. They are as big a club as McLean or BRYC and get similar, even better athletes, but the training and environment is such that those players either don't develop or they leave. The club has a ton of potential given the location and the players that start there, but there is no vision or leadership to bring about positive change - it's more about the parents, politics, and the money than the kids. There aren't enough parents that understand the game and youth development to know any better, so anyone with an accent can sell them a story.

As an aside - it's not about a college scholarship or making 50k in MLS. You want your kid to find a sport that they love and can keep for life. Sports build character and provide exercise, they teach you to manage time, push yourself, work with others, and deal with failure and feedback. Soccer can be that sport - but if the player isn't having fun and isn't getting the training to develop into a better player, they will stop having success, they will stop having fun, and they will stop playing.

How does Stoddert compare? Worthwhile, or do city dwellers have to head to the burbs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does Stoddert compare? Worthwhile, or do city dwellers have to head to the burbs?

Stoddert's a fine program, run by an actual Hall of Famer in Len Oliver. No need to head outside. If your kid is an 0.01 percenter, then maybe D.C. United's Academy when the time comes.

Bottom line -- the club-shopping some people suggest in this thread is a little silly. This region has terrific clubs every couple of miles. I'd only change clubs if (A) your child is at the Developmental Academy/ECNL level, (B) your child wants to play travel but doesn't make the cut at his town's club, or (C) you have a legitimately awful coach who's making it no fun for anyone.

Still, even compared with the others, Stoddert is a strong program for all levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Stoddert compare? Worthwhile, or do city dwellers have to head to the burbs?

Stoddert's a fine program, run by an actual Hall of Famer in Len Oliver. No need to head outside. If your kid is an 0.01 percenter, then maybe D.C. United's Academy when the time comes.

Bottom line -- the club-shopping some people suggest in this thread is a little silly. This region has terrific clubs every couple of miles. I'd only change clubs if (A) your child is at the Developmental Academy/ECNL level, (B) your child wants to play travel but doesn't make the cut at his town's club, or (C) you have a legitimately awful coach who's making it no fun for anyone.

Still, even compared with the others, Stoddert is a strong program for all levels.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Stoddert compare? Worthwhile, or do city dwellers have to head to the burbs?

Stoddert's a fine program, run by an actual Hall of Famer in Len Oliver. No need to head outside. If your kid is an 0.01 percenter, then maybe D.C. United's Academy when the time comes.

Bottom line -- the club-shopping some people suggest in this thread is a little silly. This region has terrific clubs every couple of miles. I'd only change clubs if (A) your child is at the Developmental Academy/ECNL level, (B) your child wants to play travel but doesn't make the cut at his town's club, or (C) you have a legitimately awful coach who's making it no fun for anyone.

Still, even compared with the others, Stoddert is a strong program for all levels.

Happens a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Footskill and confidence on the ball are difficult to teach properly. Any one can't reach a technique or a move, but in order for it to really work it has to be taught, practiced, and reinforced.

A player should not only be taught the proper technique for a move or turn, but when to use it, why they should use it, and what result they are looking for.

The player should be practicing the on their own time, working until they can do it at speed and until such time that they go from occasionally doing it right to occasionally doing it wrong to doing it right every time.

Thanks again, Coach. What's happening at VYS at least on my son's team is they are taught for 30 minutes (if that, 2x/wk) with Trainers on foot skills and technique, then the next week they learn something else. I've asked my son, what he thinks the trainers can do better and the said, they can show us the same skills a couple of times, before showing us something else, because then we forget it. I have a letter out to the Director to get this view point. Again, Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Footskill and confidence on the ball are difficult to teach properly. Any one can't reach a technique or a move, but in order for it to really work it has to be taught, practiced, and reinforced.

A player should not only be taught the proper technique for a move or turn, but when to use it, why they should use it, and what result they are looking for.

The player should be practicing the on their own time, working until they can do it at speed and until such time that they go from occasionally doing it right to occasionally doing it wrong to doing it right every time.

Thanks again, Coach. What's happening at VYS at least on my son's team is they are taught for 30 minutes (if that, 2x/wk) with Trainers on foot skills and technique, then the next week they learn something else. I've asked my son, what he thinks the trainers can do better and the said, they can show us the same skills a couple of times, before showing us something else, because then we forget it. I have a letter out to the Director to get this view point. Again, Thanks.

That's pretty much what they teach in USSF licensing courses. Each season is almost like an academic course in which you cover a new topic each week and structure the practice around it.

I don't really like it, either. I'm hoping to push for a reality check at the USSF level.

[Anonymous]

That's pretty much what they teach in USSF licensing courses. Each season is almost like an academic course in which you cover a new topic each week and structure the practice around it.

I don't really like it, either. I'm hoping to push for a reality check at the USSF level.

IMO the USSF courses don't spend enough time on session planning or flow and they certainly don't go into enough detail to teach the technique for foot skill, it's importance, or how to reinforce it. BUT - what is happening here is not "cover a new topic each week and structure the practice around it", it sounds like they are simply doing a new topic each week with the typical trainer attitude - show up, throw our some discs, do some demos, pack up and move on.

Just like academics, each week should build off of the previous weeks, so there should be some review, but the real problem is that the session is not truly built around the skills they are taught. It is just 30 minutes of technique and then they are handed back to the parent coach who probably has them work on throwins, passing, and set plays. The session should be technique review and introduction of new skills, game/activity to use the skills under light pressure (either fewer defenders than players with balls, or defenders with conditions), another activity with increased pressure (1v1 structures to focus on the skills they were taught), then small sided games with an active reinforcement of the skills they are supposed to be using - helping the players identify situations to use the skills.

[Anonymous]

^^ sorry for the above, the quotes for the first two paragraphs didn't come across.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks again, Coach. What's happening at VYS at least on my son's team is they are taught for 30 minutes (if that, 2x/wk) with Trainers on foot skills and technique, then the next week they learn something else. I've asked my son, what he thinks the trainers can do better and the said, they can show us the same skills a couple of times, before showing us something else, because then we forget it. I have a letter out to the Director to get this view point. Again, Thanks.

I would be very interested in what kind of response you received. Hope he doesn't tell you to just find another club but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. That wouldn't be all bad though as VYS is known for having a very weak boys program; most of the good boys move to McLean or BRYC when travel starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks again, Coach. What's happening at VYS at least on my son's team is they are taught for 30 minutes (if that, 2x/wk) with Trainers on foot skills and technique, then the next week they learn something else. I've asked my son, what he thinks the trainers can do better and the said, they can show us the same skills a couple of times, before showing us something else, because then we forget it. I have a letter out to the Director to get this view point. Again, Thanks.

I would be very interested in what kind of response you received. Hope he doesn't tell you to just find another club but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. That wouldn't be all bad though as VYS is known for having a very weak boys program; most of the good boys move to McLean or BRYC when travel starts.

Funny. My son's VYS team is playing and beating those boys now in high school. It varies by age, so let your son play where he is most comfortable. The super-talented ones will be recruited by more competitive clubs, some who are bright lights from U-9 to U12 will return to Vienna from lofty perches or be burnt out and no longer playing soccer. Another group will club-shop for years and still end up at the same place as kids who stayed local from U-8. Most will be lucky to play for their high school.