Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

asksoccernova wrote:I help organize pickup soccer on fridays 5:30-7:00 at Draper Drive Park in fairfax, for boys and girls. Anyone who reads this is invited to come out tonight.

Most of the kids are U12 and younger but kids slightly older than that are certainly welcome to play also. All ability levels welcome.

Arlington Soccer Association has a pretty good Drop-in Soccer program.

During the Summer and Winter, plus days off school, it runs scrimmages between kids - basically with no rules. Parents not allowed to comment, coaches just keep kids playing and not fighting. I'm amazed not more parents don't advantage of this. You don't even need to be an Arlington resident.

http://www.arlingtonsoccer.com/otherasaprograms/street-soccer/

That is pretty cool

How many kids usually come out to Arlington drop in soccer? How many came out to Draper Drive Park last night?

I'm curious about this too. So, so many people rant and moan about the state of soccer around here without seeming to make an effort to find the many great training opportunities available.

Curious, Did you take your kid?

No, my kids play for Bethesda. We have a lot of extra free or cheap training options available. My youngest trains 5 times a week in the winter and loves it. But if I were in NoVa, and didn't feel like my kid was getting great training, I'd absolutely take advantage of both of the options listed above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The partnership will work. Just ask the Directors what they think about their partner club . I am curious to find out if they will tell you the truth!

why not partner with wash. spirit as planned? why a need to go to FCV? loudoun would still have the top FCV boys coming over for DA tryouts, and wouldn't spirit be a better partner for girls side? was a drive to fairfax really out of the question for parents out here in loudoun?

loudoun will still have a team in CCL, you can call it an A team or b team, doesn't matter, but it won't be as good as in the past if the true A girls are now going over to fcv for next year

Those top players always left to play in ECNL anyways, regardless of whether it was McLean or FCV.

So the elite will leave for FCV, the top leave for ECNL at McLean or Braddock Road, and the rest play in CCL. CCL play gets watered down in the end.

CCL was always watered down at U14 and older. Accept CCL for what it is, a great U9-U13 league.

Not even at the younger ages. At U9 and 10 my kids team won almost every game by double digits. Then when they'd go to a tournament with teams not in CCL they'd lose big. On the boys side that age there are only 2 semi-decent teams.

That happens in every league. The greatest disparity of talent/experience occurs at U9-U10. This is not a CCL thing but a U9, they are eight years old thing.

So it's "watered down 14 and over" and not competitive U9-u12. So when is it good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The partnership will work. Just ask the Directors what they think about their partner club . I am curious to find out if they will tell you the truth!

why not partner with wash. spirit as planned? why a need to go to FCV? loudoun would still have the top FCV boys coming over for DA tryouts, and wouldn't spirit be a better partner for girls side? was a drive to fairfax really out of the question for parents out here in loudoun?

loudoun will still have a team in CCL, you can call it an A team or b team, doesn't matter, but it won't be as good as in the past if the true A girls are now going over to fcv for next year

Those top players always left to play in ECNL anyways, regardless of whether it was McLean or FCV.

So the elite will leave for FCV, the top leave for ECNL at McLean or Braddock Road, and the rest play in CCL. CCL play gets watered down in the end.

CCL was always watered down at U14 and older. Accept CCL for what it is, a great U9-U13 league.

Not even at the younger ages. At U9 and 10 my kids team won almost every game by double digits. Then when they'd go to a tournament with teams not in CCL they'd lose big. On the boys side that age there are only 2 semi-decent teams.

That happens in every league. The greatest disparity of talent/experience occurs at U9-U10. This is not a CCL thing but a U9, they are eight years old thing.

So it's "watered down 14 and over" and not competitive U9-u12. So when is it good?

No people just don't understand that U9-U10 soccer is intended to be developmental not competitive. Using metrics like scores to compare a league or clubs at these ages is fruitless.

[Anonymous]

So who is going to play for Washington Spirit Da?.....whose fields are going to be used? ?

[Anonymous]

everyone pontificating on girls.da vs. ECNL

really interesting out westin region IV

Socal is all in on Girls DA, they run the show out there and are betting on US soccer

NorCal trying to do its thing; lots of rationalization, but they are hanging out with hopes that ecnl can last. but they seem a lot more worried, even though most good clubs there opted out of da

They have message boards out there far more crzy then this one; not anonymous either.

From socal message brd:

"Also just going to throw this one out there ECNL is dead. When the
ECNL teams are low level B teams at clubs I think we can say it's dead. All top talent at 03 and 04 going to DA. Have not met one family of a great player "choosing to stay on ECNL". Also clubs are offering scholarships BIG TIME for DA. The clubs with the deepest pockets are LAGSB, Pats and Legends so far.
High sticker price and low level B team I wish this clubs were being more honest about this it's a consumer lie. Sad to see parents excited about "being on ECNL" but have no idea the sticker price and the caliber of their team"

Girls 2017-18 season is a fuckin' show . . .

[Anonymous]

Psss.....I have a secret to tell you

This is all a scam. Stealing a bunch of clubs from the ECNL League and putting them in the DA league only achieved in transferring the flow of money from US Club Soccer to US Soccer.

The DA will not be anymore elite or special than ECNL. In some cases, DA will actually be a whole lot worse for development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Euro soccer academies do recruit in the U.S. Have they "taken" any families in NOVA lately to anyone's knowledge?

Yes. My 11-year old. He was there 2 weeks this Fall after getting Id' last summer and they contacted and want to fly him back to Spain for an official tryout this Spring.

Plays for a C team in this area. At least they know what to look for.

Btw, yes he can easily juggle over 1,000.

Are you citizens of Spain or another European country?

Not pp but the club pays to relocate the entire family to Spain. They are investing in the player to make money down the line when the player is worth millions. It is a business.

For the pp above, how did they scout your son on a C team? Did someone recommend him as worth a look?

I can't imagine a European club would pay to relocate the entire family of an American 11 year old with no Eoropean passport. Even if they did, how would they get around FIFA rule 19? It seems likely either that the family of this particular 11 year old has Euro passports, or they have misunderstood what the club is offering, or they have been mislead.

Also truly cannot imagine a kid who is so good that he is getting serious looks from overseas scouts being stuck on a C team in this area. If that is true, seems like the family could parlay the info about the overseas interest into a spot on one of the local DAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Psss.....I have a secret to tell you

This is all a scam. Stealing a bunch of clubs from the ECNL League and putting them in the DA league only achieved in transferring the flow of money from US Club Soccer to US Soccer.

The DA will not be anymore elite or special than ECNL. In some cases, DA will actually be a whole lot worse for development.

Interesting conspiracy theory, but please explain what money will flow from DA clubs to US Soccer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Psss.....I have a secret to tell you

This is all a scam. Stealing a bunch of clubs from the ECNL League and putting them in the DA league only achieved in transferring the flow of money from US Club Soccer to US Soccer.

The DA will not be anymore elite or special than ECNL. In some cases, DA will actually be a whole lot worse for development.

How could it be worse for development ? ECNL teams have too many games, tournaments, showcases and playoffs. How could cutting down on all that junk and increasing training time not help ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Euro soccer academies do recruit in the U.S. Have they "taken" any families in NOVA lately to anyone's knowledge?

Yes. My 11-year old. He was there 2 weeks this Fall after getting Id' last summer and they contacted and want to fly him back to Spain for an official tryout this Spring.

Plays for a C team in this area. At least they know what to look for.

Btw, yes he can easily juggle over 1,000.

Are you citizens of Spain or another European country?

Not pp but the club pays to relocate the entire family to Spain. They are investing in the player to make money down the line when the player is worth millions. It is a business.

For the pp above, how did they scout your son on a C team? Did someone recommend him as worth a look?

I can't imagine a European club would pay to relocate the entire family of an American 11 year old with no Eoropean passport. Even if they did, how would they get around FIFA rule 19? It seems likely either that the family of this particular 11 year old has Euro passports, or they have misunderstood what the club is offering, or they have been mislead.

Also truly cannot imagine a kid who is so good that he is getting serious looks from overseas scouts being stuck on a C team in this area. If that is true, seems like the family could parlay the info about the overseas interest into a spot on one of the local DAs.

NP. I don't know about the rest of it, but the part about being on the C team but being one of the most promising players is certainly possible. Just look at the comparative sizes of the kids on A versus C teams. For most clubs, size and speed and not ball control, game sense, etc. are what gets kids onto the top teams at under U14 or so. It's not really as much about ball skills and game sense, at least for most clubs. There are exceptions, but just looking at the average kid sizes should tell you something. If it were really mostly about soccer skills, there would be a more even size distribution.

I sometimes think if you can get a good C team coach who works on teaching a love of the game and skills, you're better off there than on the A team for under u14 or so. The parents aren't as crazy so the kids get a chance to experiment with complex touches rather than getting yelled by a nutty parent for not "sending it" or other terrible sideline coaching. You aren't spending the time traveling all over the place. It's more relaxed and so for the kid who is driven and interested in soccer, you can get more of a chance to focus on learning. I've also found that some of the best coaches I've encountered are the younger C team coaches -- they aren't as tied to the system so don't care as much about what the parents think. The A team coaches are often just the ones who have been around the longest.

Anyhow I don't know about the rest of what PP wrote, but I certainly can believe that the C team players could be the most promising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Euro soccer academies do recruit in the U.S. Have they "taken" any families in NOVA lately to anyone's knowledge?

Yes. My 11-year old. He was there 2 weeks this Fall after getting Id' last summer and they contacted and want to fly him back to Spain for an official tryout this Spring.

Plays for a C team in this area. At least they know what to look for.

Btw, yes he can easily juggle over 1,000.

Are you citizens of Spain or another European country?

Not pp but the club pays to relocate the entire family to Spain. They are investing in the player to make money down the line when the player is worth millions. It is a business.

For the pp above, how did they scout your son on a C team? Did someone recommend him as worth a look?

I can't imagine a European club would pay to relocate the entire family of an American 11 year old with no Eoropean passport. Even if they did, how would they get around FIFA rule 19? It seems likely either that the family of this particular 11 year old has Euro passports, or they have misunderstood what the club is offering, or they have been mislead.

Also truly cannot imagine a kid who is so good that he is getting serious looks from overseas scouts being stuck on a C team in this area. If that is true, seems like the family could parlay the info about the overseas interest into a spot on one of the local DAs.

NP. I don't know about the rest of it, but the part about being on the C team but being one of the most promising players is certainly possible. Just look at the comparative sizes of the kids on A versus C teams. For most clubs, size and speed and not ball control, game sense, etc. are what gets kids onto the top teams at under U14 or so. It's not really as much about ball skills and game sense, at least for most clubs. There are exceptions, but just looking at the average kid sizes should tell you something. If it were really mostly about soccer skills, there would be a more even size distribution.

I sometimes think if you can get a good C team coach who works on teaching a love of the game and skills, you're better off there than on the A team for under u14 or so. The parents aren't as crazy so the kids get a chance to experiment with complex touches rather than getting yelled by a nutty parent for not "sending it" or other terrible sideline coaching. You aren't spending the time traveling all over the place. It's more relaxed and so for the kid who is driven and interested in soccer, you can get more of a chance to focus on learning. I've also found that some of the best coaches I've encountered are the younger C team coaches -- they aren't as tied to the system so don't care as much about what the parents think. The A team coaches are often just the ones who have been around the longest.

Anyhow I don't know about the rest of what PP wrote, but I certainly can believe that the C team players could be the most promising.

I won't dismiss this entirely but, in most cases, a C team player is a C team player except for the U littles. As long as your kid is in the "top 40" at their club anything can happen and often does. But, if you are on the C team at 11v11, sorry but there are at least 40 kids better than you at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
NP. I don't know about the rest of it, but the part about being on the C team but being one of the most promising players is certainly possible. Just look at the comparative sizes of the kids on A versus C teams. For most clubs, size and speed and not ball control, game sense, etc. are what gets kids onto the top teams at under U14 or so. It's not really as much about ball skills and game sense, at least for most clubs. There are exceptions, but just looking at the average kid sizes should tell you something. If it were really mostly about soccer skills, there would be a more even size distribution.

I sometimes think if you can get a good C team coach who works on teaching a love of the game and skills, you're better off there than on the A team for under u14 or so. The parents aren't as crazy so the kids get a chance to experiment with complex touches rather than getting yelled by a nutty parent for not "sending it" or other terrible sideline coaching. You aren't spending the time traveling all over the place. It's more relaxed and so for the kid who is driven and interested in soccer, you can get more of a chance to focus on learning. I've also found that some of the best coaches I've encountered are the younger C team coaches -- they aren't as tied to the system so don't care as much about what the parents think. The A team coaches are often just the ones who have been around the longest.

Anyhow I don't know about the rest of what PP wrote, but I certainly can believe that the C team players could be the most promising.

Definitely agree with this post. In some of the FCV teams at least I think this is true. There are some B team players who have better overall skills but lack size and/or speed. 'B' might be a better development environment for some of the fringe A team players for the reasons you state. It will be interesting to watch what happens when some of the top Loudoun girls come in and displace these girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Psss.....I have a secret to tell you

This is all a scam. Stealing a bunch of clubs from the ECNL League and putting them in the DA league only achieved in transferring the flow of money from US Club Soccer to US Soccer.

The DA will not be anymore elite or special than ECNL. In some cases, DA will actually be a whole lot worse for development.

Interesting conspiracy theory, but please explain what money will flow from DA clubs to US Soccer?

Conspiracy?.....Maybe I'm confused and you can educate me. How does USSF generate revenue?

My guess was that USSF generated money from people...more paying people = more money...more money = more investments....more investments = more money...No?

Did I wrongfully assume that revenue is generated via profit? OR is the USSF a federally subsidized agency being propped up by the Federal Gov't? Lets ask Sean Spicer at the next WH press conference

In Layman's terms: The bigger the paying customer base the bigger the profits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
NP. I don't know about the rest of it, but the part about being on the C team but being one of the most promising players is certainly possible. Just look at the comparative sizes of the kids on A versus C teams. For most clubs, size and speed and not ball control, game sense, etc. are what gets kids onto the top teams at under U14 or so. It's not really as much about ball skills and game sense, at least for most clubs. There are exceptions, but just looking at the average kid sizes should tell you something. If it were really mostly about soccer skills, there would be a more even size distribution.

I sometimes think if you can get a good C team coach who works on teaching a love of the game and skills, you're better off there than on the A team for under u14 or so. The parents aren't as crazy so the kids get a chance to experiment with complex touches rather than getting yelled by a nutty parent for not "sending it" or other terrible sideline coaching. You aren't spending the time traveling all over the place. It's more relaxed and so for the kid who is driven and interested in soccer, you can get more of a chance to focus on learning. I've also found that some of the best coaches I've encountered are the younger C team coaches -- they aren't as tied to the system so don't care as much about what the parents think. The A team coaches are often just the ones who have been around the longest.

Anyhow I don't know about the rest of what PP wrote, but I certainly can believe that the C team players could be the most promising.

Definitely agree with this post. In some of the FCV teams at least I think this is true. There are some B team players who have better overall skills but lack size and/or speed. 'B' might be a better development environment for some of the fringe A team players for the reasons you state. It will be interesting to watch what happens when some of the top Loudoun girls come in and displace these girls.

Oh yeah...what age group would you be referring too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
NP. I don't know about the rest of it, but the part about being on the C team but being one of the most promising players is certainly possible. Just look at the comparative sizes of the kids on A versus C teams. For most clubs, size and speed and not ball control, game sense, etc. are what gets kids onto the top teams at under U14 or so. It's not really as much about ball skills and game sense, at least for most clubs. There are exceptions, but just looking at the average kid sizes should tell you something. If it were really mostly about soccer skills, there would be a more even size distribution.

I sometimes think if you can get a good C team coach who works on teaching a love of the game and skills, you're better off there than on the A team for under u14 or so. The parents aren't as crazy so the kids get a chance to experiment with complex touches rather than getting yelled by a nutty parent for not "sending it" or other terrible sideline coaching. You aren't spending the time traveling all over the place. It's more relaxed and so for the kid who is driven and interested in soccer, you can get more of a chance to focus on learning. I've also found that some of the best coaches I've encountered are the younger C team coaches -- they aren't as tied to the system so don't care as much about what the parents think. The A team coaches are often just the ones who have been around the longest.

Anyhow I don't know about the rest of what PP wrote, but I certainly can believe that the C team players could be the most promising.

Definitely agree with this post. In some of the FCV teams at least I think this is true. There are some B team players who have better overall skills but lack size and/or speed. 'B' might be a better development environment for some of the fringe A team players for the reasons you state. It will be interesting to watch what happens when some of the top Loudoun girls come in and displace these girls.

I agree...some very talented girls from Loudoun and FCV will be displaced with this merger because the level of talent will be high along with the politics that comes with taking kids from both clubs....and there will also be those kids who get cut who are actually better than the kids who made the Academy team (There is always one or two kids every year that get shafted is this regard). In some case, you may just be replacing a good player for a good player...without even making the team better.

At the end of the day, the remaining top level kids who do not get picked for the DA will leave their clubs and head for another DA or ECNL club.