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Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss
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Anonymous
Not PP...fine don't call them elite but it's a fact that some kids are better than others, much much better. Technically, tactically, etc. Many U9s and U10 can dribble with their head up and pass on the ground and trap aerial balls. Younger ages should be A LOT about building individual skill, but games matter. Winning mtters. Losing matters. They build character. To play under pressure with a medal on the line helps in the development of players. It teaches grit, not giving up, winning, losing, team work, sportsmanship. It's competition. When kids win a game, they win a game. I respect them. It's not always about who will be best at U20. Sometimes, we need to be in the present and respect what kids do and earn today even at these young ages. |
Anonymous
NP here. I disagree with you. I listened to the two of these gentlemen go at it pages and months ago, and the PP added a lot of useful info and does not beat a dead horse. This CCL guy is mocking and is now boring. He also seems to post from mutliple computers that DCUM can't trace. If he would just end the same diatribe, apologies, etc. and move on, we would all be better off. Dealing with the rants from CCL guy is a real PITA and the price you pay for being able to eventually gather useful info on here. So, I respectfully disagree with you about the PP. And I am not the PP, trust me!!!! |
Anonymous
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One of the reasons why we have so many leagues is because of league based philosophical difference. Club based versus Team based. CCL and NPL are more in line in terms of a club based philosophy than they are with NCSL.
This board can't even come to a consensus on what is better, club based or promotion/relegation models. And as long both sides have valid points we will likely see clubs and leagues that will align certain ways. And this is before we even get into the money part of it. We certainly have enough talent in the area to consolidate more but in order to do that one idea must win out over the other. I'm not convinced that results oriented promotion relegation and divisions make better players, and I'm not convinced that Clubs follow through on the player pass player pool club model either. There are pockets where clubs and teams get it right regardless of their league affiliation and others that just don't get it at all. So what we end up with is a alphabet soup of leagues, all which at the U littles DO NOT matter anyway, and a general confusion. But we often add to the confusion ourselves by trying to proclaim one true way and the "best" league when broken record as it may sound, we should just focus on finding the situation that is making our kid better. Perhaps the less we try and stratify our leagues and players the more likely scouts are willing to seek teams like the Cougars out in ODSL. |
Anonymous
| There may be more than one "CCL Guy." There are certainly multiple people who've been frustrated with him. |
Anonymous
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There is one legitimate reason for promotion/relegation and for some "elite" play, which is having at least a few balanced games. No, results don't matter at U9, but a 20-2 game serves neither team's development interest.
Maybe the NCSL/ODSL model of switching the top two and bottom two teams in each division is a little too rigid, though. Ideally, the non-DA teams (I say teams rather than clubs, because I'm including DA clubs' B/C/D teams here) would simply play in one big pyramid in which maybe 10 percent of the teams are selected for the top level, 30 percent play at the next level and the rest play at the next level. In reality, a bunch of teams that clobbered everyone at U11 in the fall NCSL season are going to go play each other -- in EDP. They could just as easily play each other in NCSL D1, but that fall season apparently convinced them they need better competition -- so they'll all go to EDP and play the same teams they'd play if EDP didn't exist. Go figure. |
Anonymous
"Non-CCL" guy thinks travel is bad or at least is not necessary. This is certainly true. "CCL guy" never said travel was good BUT perhaps one should be a educated consumer and look into the obligation before signing up in the first place. Basically, "Non-CCL Guy" went to a seafood restaurant and complained about their lack of good pizza afterwords on Yelp. Non-CCL guy was also very disparaging of the other clubs and competition by saying that these teams are beneath them and not worth their teams time. Ironically, "CCL Guy" simply wonders why, if the travel is so bad, and the competition so poor, people cling to CCL with such veracity when there are other options? That is it in a nutshell. |
Anonymous
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Below is a link to a site that has some stats to shed some light on the chances of playing in college and professionally. Are the DA and ECNL folks going to get a return on their investment?
http://scholarshipstats.com/soccer.html http://scholarshipstats.com/odds-of-going-pro.htm |
Anonymous
I'm not certain that many people really believe the scholarship is the end game though. BUT I do think that the ability to play in college opens doors to schools that kids otherwise might not consider or even in some cases be accepted into. I think it is well understood that the money spent on soccer would be better saved ofr college. |
Anonymous
Why do so many people think it's about going to college and/or going pro? I just want my kid to play in as high as competition as he is able to/wants to and that I am able to afford. Personally, yes, I can probably take my kid to Cougars and make the team, but I don't think he'd be as happy beating the crap out of Vienna's D's team and neither would I. So I am NOT looking for a return on my investment. It's like a car. You buy and enjoy it while it lasts. It's up to you to decide how much money you want to pay. You don't have to tell me that I'm not going to get a return on my investment. Do you chase all the people with BMWs and tell them they should have bought a Kia? and lastly, even if they are able to play in college, it's not like they get full scholarships normally. We know that too. |
Anonymous
Completely agree with this. When my older boys were growing up playing soccer in MoCo, I think the pyramid was pretty well shaped. Massive numbers of kids play MSI rec (which covers all of MoCo) starting in K or 1st, paying around $80 per season. MSI is not club-based, and is a volunteer-run not-for-profit, so there is not the money motive that drives clubs. Ones who wanted more competition, but didn't have time/money/interest in travel, could play MSI Classic starting in 3rd grade--cost was around $200-$500 per year depending on whether the team wanted to hire a professional coach or trainer, or enter tournaments. If you outgrew Classic or wanted more, then you joined a travel program that played in NCSL, where you and virtually all of the serious teams in the local region fought to reach/stay in the top divisions (or were content to face good completion at the right level in the lower divisions). From there you could move upward to Colonial league or Region 1, then up to the National League, or (later) a DA team, then on to the national team for a few, or college. CCL entering NoVa really disrupted this model. I don't believe most of the people who worked to expand it here did so because they thought a club-centric model was the answer to helping more kids become better soccer players. It was more a reaction to the threat posed by clubs with DAs (non-DA clubs needed to claim they offered a prestigious product) and squabbles with NCSL and WAGS leadership. (This is not at all to say that some of the member clubs are insincere when they talk about the perceived benefits of the club-centric model) I do think CCL south developed for the right reasons, because those kids didn't have a system in place that guaranteed them good travel competition. And I think NPL serves a similar function in parts of the country where there might be no other decent travel leagues. I wish we could open the pyramid back up, but there are probably too many clubs now invested in claiming that their product or league are superior. At the end of the day, it won't matter as much if you are a soccer savvy family and know how to seek out the best training and coaches, but unfortunately I don't think the majority of parents fall into that category. |
Anonymous
+1 For some reason a lot of people seem to promote the idea that winning and development are at odds with each other. With a good coach, they should go hand in hand. |
Anonymous
What makes you think your kid would make the Cougars squad. What makes you think they are happy beating Vienna's D Team. What makes you think they are not looking for better competition. What makes you think their end goal is to beat up on weak competition. If what is said before that they are competitive with other strong teams and if it's true that their fees are low, then wouldn't their return on investment be higher than yours where your paying top dollar for meh results? Maybe their coach is doing more with less than others with big resources. Maybe your kid couldn't hang in practice. Don't assume you are better just because you're at a top club. Maybe their kids could walk into your practice and relegate your kid to the B team. So much for that BMW. |
Anonymous
100% agree with that last part. Can you give more specifics though? Which DA team are you taking about, and which NCSL and ODSL teams did the players come from. I think the information would be useful because there are so many parents with players in U9-U12 age groups who obsess over getting their kid on a competitively successful team at that age because they worry that otherwise they won't develop properly or get good opportunities later. |
Anonymous
You are right. Maybe my kid couldn't make the team. Maybe that D team would beat my kid's current team. All I'm saying is that I don't care about the return of investment. I care that my kid is enjoying playing at the highest level he can. I used Cougars as an example because apparently they are destroying people and my point was that my son wouldn't be happy on a team that crushed their competition week in and week out even though it cost less money. It's not about the return on investment. |
Anonymous
I get you and not trying to sound harsh but that's a scenario that we don't know much about. Yes they have beat teams by a lot in their league but maybe they aren't happy with that. A previous poster mentioned that they were seeking to get into NCSL but couldn't. They played Futsal against strong teams. That tells me they are looking to challenge their players. Maybe they are scrimmaging other teams to get exposure to better competition. Maybe the kids understand that those games don't matter much. Who knows. Unfortunately not many know too much about that specific team but if there was an open system then teams like this would have the opportunity to climb up the pyramid. As previously mentioned by others, not currently possible. |