We are done with stoddert travel soccer

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately this year for stoddert travel soccer has been terrible for our high school age kids. We are committed for this year but are looking for new club for next year. I can only imagine how they will botch the transition to birth year age band teams. Any suggestions on clubs or how we can get them considered for other travel teams? It seems harder to break in once they are older to new teams.

[Anonymous]

Well, what happened? You know we all want the dirt or you wouldn't have posted. No one will be able to give you suggestions without knowing what pissed you off.

[Anonymous]

It's actually pretty easy to break into new teams in high school because so many kids start to drop travel soccer. My DC was on a Div1 NCSL team that ended up with a lot of turnover during high school. If you are in NCSL just take a look at the other teams in your division or the division your DC wants to play in and start contacting the ones that are geographically convenient. Don't wait a year, start tryouts now - in our experience many teams did tryouts around this time because they wanted kids to do the winter training/leagues and be ready for the spring season. My DS joined a new team in December after trying out for 3 teams in October/November. Most of the tryouts at this age were just showing up for a few regular practices. That helps get a feel for the team and the coach as well.

Don't rule out Virginia teams - depending on where you live Arlington and McLean may not be too bad in terms of commute. Our club had high school practices quite late sometimes (like 8:30 pm) so traffic was not an issue.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP who said it's often fairly easy to break into new teams in HS, unless you are aiming for very top teams.

In terms of what teams might be good prospects, it depends on the level the kids want to play at, whether they are boys/girls/both and how far you are willing to travel. I'd note that Bethesda can be a good option for boys' teams at the middle and older ages since kids move up onto the DA and pre-academy teams (and switch among clubs offering DA and pre-academy teams) which leaves a fairly large number of openings on the non-academy teams, some of which are quite good.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't Stoddert always birth year age bands?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually pretty easy to break into new teams in high school because so many kids start to drop travel soccer. My DC was on a Div1 NCSL team that ended up with a lot of turnover during high school. If you are in NCSL just take a look at the other teams in your division or the division your DC wants to play in and start contacting the ones that are geographically convenient. Don't wait a year, start tryouts now - in our experience many teams did tryouts around this time because they wanted kids to do the winter training/leagues and be ready for the spring season. My DS joined a new team in December after trying out for 3 teams in October/November. Most of the tryouts at this age were just showing up for a few regular practices. That helps get a feel for the team and the coach as well.

Don't rule out Virginia teams - depending on where you live Arlington and McLean may not be too bad in terms of commute. Our club had high school practices quite late sometimes (like 8:30 pm) so traffic was not an issue.

I am not the OP, but this is very interesting and helpful as we are in a similar situation. We always looked at travel soccer as a year-long commitment so didn't realize there would be options at this time of year.... If I can ask, did you feel any guilt about leaving the current team? It seems like leaving mid-year leaves the team at a real disadvantage and could have a domino effect leading to teams following apart, etc. But maybe mid-year movement is more common and considered "acceptable" at high school level? I guess coaches are okay with it?? -- In the sense that I'm sure they hate to have players leave but then they accept players from other teams? I'm pretty sure CCL has strict rulings about "recruiting" or moving mid-year, but maybe NCSL does not? Or maybe the rules are not followed or enforced? Anyway, we are not the savviest when it comes to the "real world" of the soccer scene, so getting input like yours is very helpful. Thanks again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately this year for stoddert travel soccer has been terrible for our high school age kids. We are committed for this year but are looking for new club for next year. I can only imagine how they will botch the transition to birth year age band teams. Any suggestions on clubs or how we can get them considered for other travel teams? It seems harder to break in once they are older to new teams.

We have younger kids in Stoddert travel soccer and I'm also curious about the specific issues. I have heard about some possible inferior coaching in the middle age groups (haven't experienced yet so am reserving judgment), but it sounds like your kids are past that. Stoddert Soccer definitely has logistical issues, but these have seemed so far to stem mostly from dealing with DC Parks and Rec.

To the PP: No, Stoddert travel has not used birth-year age cutoffs. Looks like they will make the switch only for the travel teams, not the rec teams. http://www.stoddert.com/home/896171.html

[Anonymous]

Not Stoddert, but we are done with our Club this year too.

We are going to suck it up for Spring, but 2nd year in confirms what we thought after our first year: this club sucks and the training is inferior. They may win games, but player development is for the shits.

Very horrible at team morale boosting at the younger years. They segregate the kids and mark them at 8/9. None of their teams scrimmage or associate with the other ones in the same age group. It's disgusting.

[Anonymous]

My child left in mid year.

Ask yourself if you feel the club upheld their end of the bargain.

In our case, the answer was easy because the coach was someone I wanted influencing my child. There were plenty of other kids, so the team would manage and some kids would get more playing time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's actually pretty easy to break into new teams in high school because so many kids start to drop travel soccer. My DC was on a Div1 NCSL team that ended up with a lot of turnover during high school. If you are in NCSL just take a look at the other teams in your division or the division your DC wants to play in and start contacting the ones that are geographically convenient. Don't wait a year, start tryouts now - in our experience many teams did tryouts around this time because they wanted kids to do the winter training/leagues and be ready for the spring season. My DS joined a new team in December after trying out for 3 teams in October/November. Most of the tryouts at this age were just showing up for a few regular practices. That helps get a feel for the team and the coach as well.

Don't rule out Virginia teams - depending on where you live Arlington and McLean may not be too bad in terms of commute. Our club had high school practices quite late sometimes (like 8:30 pm) so traffic was not an issue.

I am not the OP, but this is very interesting and helpful as we are in a similar situation. We always looked at travel soccer as a year-long commitment so didn't realize there would be options at this time of year.... If I can ask, did you feel any guilt about leaving the current team? It seems like leaving mid-year leaves the team at a real disadvantage and could have a domino effect leading to teams following apart, etc. But maybe mid-year movement is more common and considered "acceptable" at high school level? I guess coaches are okay with it?? -- In the sense that I'm sure they hate to have players leave but then they accept players from other teams? I'm pretty sure CCL has strict rulings about "recruiting" or moving mid-year, but maybe NCSL does not? Or maybe the rules are not followed or enforced? Anyway, we are not the savviest when it comes to the "real world" of the soccer scene, so getting input like yours is very helpful. Thanks again

CCL has a different season so that is a year commitment. NCSL has 2 distinct seasons and some teams don't do both because it conflicts with high school soccer (so some MD teams take off the fall and VA take off the spring). In our club you paid separately for fall and spring (which covered winter and summer too). Some clubs have annual fees.

There seemed to be plenty of turnover from season to season. Plus teams fold and some of their players move to other teams. It's much more fluid in high school.

[Anonymous]

Oops. Someone I DIDNT want influencing, or even near, my child

[Anonymous]

We were looking to switch clubs (currently U-10 male) and logistically Stoddert makes the most sense. Is there a problem at this age group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately this year for stoddert travel soccer has been terrible for our high school age kids. We are committed for this year but are looking for new club for next year. I can only imagine how they will botch the transition to birth year age band teams. Any suggestions on clubs or how we can get them considered for other travel teams? It seems harder to break in once they are older to new teams.

Since Stoddert is a CCL club, make sure you're familiar with the league rules if you want to change mid-season. As I read the rules, you can't transfer from one CCL club to play for a CCL team at another CCL club. However, it seems the rules allow a player to move to a non-CCL team at a CCL club. Does anyone know if this is right?

http://www.clubchampionsleague.com/wp-content/uploads/CCL-Rules-and-Procedures-Amended-06102015-Approved-061012015.pdf

Could make a difference to the OP as McLean and Arlington are both CCL clubs. Bethesda is not CCL so you could avoid that issue altogether with them, again assuming you might want to move between the Fall and Spring seasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately this year for stoddert travel soccer has been terrible for our high school age kids. We are committed for this year but are looking for new club for next year. I can only imagine how they will botch the transition to birth year age band teams. Any suggestions on clubs or how we can get them considered for other travel teams? It seems harder to break in once they are older to new teams.

Since Stoddert is a CCL club, make sure you're familiar with the league rules if you want to change mid-season. As I read the rules, you can't transfer from one CCL club to play for a CCL team at another CCL club. However, it seems the rules allow a player to move to a non-CCL team at a CCL club. Does anyone know if this is right?

http://www.clubchampionsleague.com/wp-content/uploads/CCL-Rules-and-Procedures-Amended-06102015-Approved-061012015.pdf

Could make a difference to the OP as McLean and Arlington are both CCL clubs. Bethesda is not CCL so you could avoid that issue altogether with them, again assuming you might want to move between the Fall and Spring seasons.

Does that apply to the whole club or team specific? McLean, for example, generally has teams in both NCSL and CCL at each age group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately this year for stoddert travel soccer has been terrible for our high school age kids. We are committed for this year but are looking for new club for next year. I can only imagine how they will botch the transition to birth year age band teams. Any suggestions on clubs or how we can get them considered for other travel teams? It seems harder to break in once they are older to new teams.

Since Stoddert is a CCL club, make sure you're familiar with the league rules if you want to change mid-season. As I read the rules, you can't transfer from one CCL club to play for a CCL team at another CCL club. However, it seems the rules allow a player to move to a non-CCL team at a CCL club. Does anyone know if this is right?

http://www.clubchampionsleague.com/wp-content/uploads/CCL-Rules-and-Procedures-Amended-06102015-Approved-061012015.pdf

Could make a difference to the OP as McLean and Arlington are both CCL clubs. Bethesda is not CCL so you could avoid that issue altogether with them, again assuming you might want to move between the Fall and Spring seasons.

Does that apply to the whole club or team specific? McLean, for example, generally has teams in both NCSL and CCL at each age group.

The rules state:

II.B.2 Movement of players registered with a CCL club prior to being registered/ rostered with VYSA or MSYSA.
. . .
b. Another CCL club may register the player but may not use the player in the following seasonal year of CCL play.

That says it's club-based. So it seems you can't move from Stoddert's NCSL (or CCl) team to McLean's CCL team, but I think you could move to McLean's NCSL team.