Best MLS-Next program in the area (other than DC United)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the Bethesda kids go to Ivy League schools on academic scholarship (at least partial) with that consideration given because they are playing soccer. Who cares what pot of money it comes from - take the funds, continue playing high level soccer, and get a good education.

What?

Ivy Leagues don't give athletic or academic scholarship.

Bethesda might send a couple kids a year to the Ivies. The majority of them are full pay but some will get need based aid. They also have kids who go to other schools, and kids who don't play in college at all, or who play club.

They have a player on every single Ivy League roster right now, sometimes two players. Two on Georgetown; two on Duke and several other ACC schools. Best record of taking kids to the next level in the area. It's really not even close.

And again, the academic background of those kids is NUMBER 1. They have great grades, good test scores and are coming from good high schools. And, yeah, many are white.

You cannot compare them against first gen immigrant families without the exposure to education and college path who also are looking for full financial scholarship.

My kid was told by every IVY/high academic D3 they will not even look at a player if they don’t have the grades to get in, or can’t handle the rigor of the school. I know many kids that failed pre-reads.

What are pre-reads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the Bethesda kids go to Ivy League schools on academic scholarship (at least partial) with that consideration given because they are playing soccer. Who cares what pot of money it comes from - take the funds, continue playing high level soccer, and get a good education.

What?

Ivy Leagues don't give athletic or academic scholarship.

Bethesda might send a couple kids a year to the Ivies. The majority of them are full pay but some will get need based aid. They also have kids who go to other schools, and kids who don't play in college at all, or who play club.

They have a player on every single Ivy League roster right now, sometimes two players. Two on Georgetown; two on Duke and several other ACC schools. Best record of taking kids to the next level in the area. It's really not even close.

And again, the academic background of those kids is NUMBER 1. They have great grades, good test scores and are coming from good high schools. And, yeah, many are white.

You cannot compare them against first gen immigrant families without the exposure to education and college path who also are looking for full financial scholarship.

My kid was told by every IVY/high academic D3 they will not even look at a player if they don’t have the grades to get in, or can’t handle the rigor of the school. I know many kids that failed pre-reads.

What are pre-reads?

The coach can have the admissions department look at an application and tell the kid whether or not they will get in. It looks really bad for the coach to offer a kid a spot, have the kid publicly commit and then have the kid get rejected. Pre-reads make sure that doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the Bethesda kids go to Ivy League schools on academic scholarship (at least partial) with that consideration given because they are playing soccer. Who cares what pot of money it comes from - take the funds, continue playing high level soccer, and get a good education.

Ivy Leagues don't give athletic or academic scholarship.

Bethesda might send a couple kids a year to the Ivies. The majority of them are full pay but some will get need based aid. They also have kids who go to other schools, and kids who don't play in college at all, or who play club.

They have a player on every single Ivy League roster right now, sometimes two players. Two on Georgetown; two on Duke and several other ACC schools. Best record of taking kids to the next level in the area. It's really not even close.

And again, the academic background of those kids is NUMBER 1. They have great grades, good test scores and are coming from good high schools. And, yeah, many are white.

You cannot compare them against first gen immigrant families without the exposure to education and college path who also are looking for full financial scholarship.

My kid was told by every IVY/high academic D3 they will not even look at a player if they don’t have the grades to get in, or can’t handle the rigor of the school. I know many kids that failed pre-reads.

What are pre-reads?

The coach can have the admissions department look at an application and tell the kid whether or not they will get in. It looks really bad for the coach to offer a kid a spot, have the kid publicly commit and then have the kid get rejected. Pre-reads make sure that doesn't happen.

Ah ok. Thank you! And they do this when? As a junior or senior?
What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ nor is the glaring economic differences of the players on ASA & SYC vs Bethesda. College soccer offers very little $$$ for male scholarships. $10k at a $40-85k school is just not doable.

I’ve wondered about the socioeconomic breakdown of these clubs top teams.

How many of the kids on each team at these clubs are on scholarship? Every club usually has a scholarship program for those who demonstrate need and I wonder how many are set aside for those on the top teams? Is that information publicly available?

Most of the kids on DC United young teams are loaded and connected. No hate, just the truth.

No - it's not the truth. There is a wide mix of kids on the DC United teams. I am only aware of one who is "loaded", and one who is "connected" - and both of them thoroughly deserve their spots. The vast majority are just kids who have been identified by DC United as good at soccer. By all means quibble about whether DC United identify the right kids - I don't think they always do - but it's not because kids are loaded and/or connected.

So you know that all those kids scouted from the major clubs (eg, BSC, Pipeline, Arlington, etc) were on scholarship at those clubs?

Anyone who can afford the fees at those clubs may not be loaded but they are certainly more well off than most other soccer players.

Playing at those clubs make you way more connected to DCU scouts than any other clubs in the area.

Besides Cerritos and Touch Kings, what other small clubs has DCU recruited from? At this point, seems like they’ve only consistently recruited from large clubs that can field a few teams for each age group.

Yes - plenty (although obviously not all) were on scholarships at some of the clubs you name. All of those clubs, and other similar level clubs, offer 4 or 5 (occasionally more) scholarships on their top teams - and they do a pretty good job of making sure that the best kids they can find, or that find them, get them. So it's not surprising that DCU finds those same kids and not the ones that weren't good enough to get those scholarship places at the larger local clubs first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the Bethesda kids go to Ivy League schools on academic scholarship (at least partial) with that consideration given because they are playing soccer. Who cares what pot of money it comes from - take the funds, continue playing high level soccer, and get a good education.

Ivy Leagues don't give athletic or academic scholarship.

Bethesda might send a couple kids a year to the Ivies. The majority of them are full pay but some will get need based aid. They also have kids who go to other schools, and kids who don't play in college at all, or who play club.

They have a player on every single Ivy League roster right now, sometimes two players. Two on Georgetown; two on Duke and several other ACC schools. Best record of taking kids to the next level in the area. It's really not even close.

And again, the academic background of those kids is NUMBER 1. They have great grades, good test scores and are coming from good high schools. And, yeah, many are white.

You cannot compare them against first gen immigrant families without the exposure to education and college path who also are looking for full financial scholarship.

My kid was told by every IVY/high academic D3 they will not even look at a player if they don’t have the grades to get in, or can’t handle the rigor of the school. I know many kids that failed pre-reads.

What are pre-reads?

The coach can have the admissions department look at an application and tell the kid whether or not they will get in. It looks really bad for the coach to offer a kid a spot, have the kid publicly commit and then have the kid get rejected. Pre-reads make sure that doesn't happen.

Ah ok. Thank you! And they do this when? As a junior or senior?
What?

When they think they might want to make you an offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ nor is the glaring economic differences of the players on ASA & SYC vs Bethesda. College soccer offers very little $$$ for male scholarships. $10k at a $40-85k school is just not doable.

I’ve wondered about the socioeconomic breakdown of these clubs top teams.

How many of the kids on each team at these clubs are on scholarship? Every club usually has a scholarship program for those who demonstrate need and I wonder how many are set aside for those on the top teams? Is that information publicly available?

Most of the kids on DC United young teams are loaded and connected. No hate, just the truth.

No - it's not the truth. There is a wide mix of kids on the DC United teams. I am only aware of one who is "loaded", and one who is "connected" - and both of them thoroughly deserve their spots. The vast majority are just kids who have been identified by DC United as good at soccer. By all means quibble about whether DC United identify the right kids - I don't think they always do - but it's not because kids are loaded and/or connected.

So you know that all those kids scouted from the major clubs (eg, BSC, Pipeline, Arlington, etc) were on scholarship at those clubs?

Anyone who can afford the fees at those clubs may not be loaded but they are certainly more well off than most other soccer players.

Playing at those clubs make you way more connected to DCU scouts than any other clubs in the area.

Besides Cerritos and Touch Kings, what other small clubs has DCU recruited from? At this point, seems like they’ve only consistently recruited from large clubs that can field a few teams for each age group.

Yes - plenty (although obviously not all) were on scholarships at some of the clubs you name. All of those clubs, and other similar level clubs, offer 4 or 5 (occasionally more) scholarships on their top teams - and they do a pretty good job of making sure that the best kids they can find, or that find them, get them. So it's not surprising that DCU finds those same kids and not the ones that weren't good enough to get those scholarship places at the larger local clubs first.

And how do you know all of this? Do the clubs make public the number of scholarship kids on their top teams? Like where can I get this information…besides on an anonymous soccer forum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the Bethesda kids go to Ivy League schools on academic scholarship (at least partial) with that consideration given because they are playing soccer. Who cares what pot of money it comes from - take the funds, continue playing high level soccer, and get a good education.

What?

Ivy Leagues don't give athletic or academic scholarship.

Bethesda might send a couple kids a year to the Ivies. The majority of them are full pay but some will get need based aid. They also have kids who go to other schools, and kids who don't play in college at all, or who play club.

They have a player on every single Ivy League roster right now, sometimes two players. Two on Georgetown; two on Duke and several other ACC schools. Best record of taking kids to the next level in the area. It's really not even close.

And again, the academic background of those kids is NUMBER 1. They have great grades, good test scores and are coming from good high schools. And, yeah, many are white.

You cannot compare them against first gen immigrant families without the exposure to education and college path who also are looking for full financial scholarship.

My kid was told by every IVY/high academic D3 they will not even look at a player if they don’t have the grades to get in, or can’t handle the rigor of the school. I know many kids that failed pre-reads.

Neither of the two kids at Duke from Bethesda are white. Neither of the two at Princeton are white. The Bethesda kids at Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, and Yale are not white. Many are from immigrant families. Did they get good grades? I'm sure they did. But, no need to invent victim narratives that don't exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ nor is the glaring economic differences of the players on ASA & SYC vs Bethesda. College soccer offers very little $$$ for male scholarships. $10k at a $40-85k school is just not doable.

I’ve wondered about the socioeconomic breakdown of these clubs top teams.

How many of the kids on each team at these clubs are on scholarship? Every club usually has a scholarship program for those who demonstrate need and I wonder how many are set aside for those on the top teams? Is that information publicly available?

Most of the kids on DC United young teams are loaded and connected. No hate, just the truth.

No - it's not the truth. There is a wide mix of kids on the DC United teams. I am only aware of one who is "loaded", and one who is "connected" - and both of them thoroughly deserve their spots. The vast majority are just kids who have been identified by DC United as good at soccer. By all means quibble about whether DC United identify the right kids - I don't think they always do - but it's not because kids are loaded and/or connected.

So you know that all those kids scouted from the major clubs (eg, BSC, Pipeline, Arlington, etc) were on scholarship at those clubs?

Anyone who can afford the fees at those clubs may not be loaded but they are certainly more well off than most other soccer players.

Playing at those clubs make you way more connected to DCU scouts than any other clubs in the area.

Besides Cerritos and Touch Kings, what other small clubs has DCU recruited from? At this point, seems like they’ve only consistently recruited from large clubs that can field a few teams for each age group.

Yes - plenty (although obviously not all) were on scholarships at some of the clubs you name. All of those clubs, and other similar level clubs, offer 4 or 5 (occasionally more) scholarships on their top teams - and they do a pretty good job of making sure that the best kids they can find, or that find them, get them. So it's not surprising that DCU finds those same kids and not the ones that weren't good enough to get those scholarship places at the larger local clubs first.

And how do you know all of this? Do the clubs make public the number of scholarship kids on their top teams? Like where can I get this information…besides on an anonymous soccer forum?

A few years ago, I was the team manager/treasurer on one such team, and was thus privy to knowledge of who was and wasn't on a scholarship because I was responsible for chasing any unpaid team dues.

We had six scholarship kids one year, and five in other years. I don't know if that was because that was the amount of money available, or that the club just gave scholarships to any kid they felt was good enough.

I don't know what each club makes public - I imagine that you might well be able to find this information by looking at public filings. If not perhaps the clubs would happily tell you if you were interested and asked nicely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the Bethesda kids go to Ivy League schools on academic scholarship (at least partial) with that consideration given because they are playing soccer. Who cares what pot of money it comes from - take the funds, continue playing high level soccer, and get a good education.

What?

Ivy Leagues don't give athletic or academic scholarship.

Bethesda might send a couple kids a year to the Ivies. The majority of them are full pay but some will get need based aid. They also have kids who go to other schools, and kids who don't play in college at all, or who play club.

They have a player on every single Ivy League roster right now, sometimes two players. Two on Georgetown; two on Duke and several other ACC schools. Best record of taking kids to the next level in the area. It's really not even close.

And again, the academic background of those kids is NUMBER 1. They have great grades, good test scores and are coming from good high schools. And, yeah, many are white.

You cannot compare them against first gen immigrant families without the exposure to education and college path who also are looking for full financial scholarship.

My kid was told by every IVY/high academic D3 they will not even look at a player if they don’t have the grades to get in, or can’t handle the rigor of the school. I know many kids that failed pre-reads.

Neither of the two kids at Duke from Bethesda are white. Neither of the two at Princeton are white. The Bethesda kids at Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, and Yale are not white. Many are from immigrant families. Did they get good grades? I'm sure they did. But, no need to invent victim narratives that don't exist.

You are correct on all except your last point. It is always necessary for some people to invent victim narratives, because they like to stir the pot. Since this form of pot stirring has now become an official policy of government (both parties), some people are actually paid to run around the internet shit-posting on random message boards and cause problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ nor is the glaring economic differences of the players on ASA & SYC vs Bethesda. College soccer offers very little $$$ for male scholarships. $10k at a $40-85k school is just not doable.

I’ve wondered about the socioeconomic breakdown of these clubs top teams.

How many of the kids on each team at these clubs are on scholarship? Every club usually has a scholarship program for those who demonstrate need and I wonder how many are set aside for those on the top teams? Is that information publicly available?

Most of the kids on DC United young teams are loaded and connected. No hate, just the truth.

No - it's not the truth. There is a wide mix of kids on the DC United teams. I am only aware of one who is "loaded", and one who is "connected" - and both of them thoroughly deserve their spots. The vast majority are just kids who have been identified by DC United as good at soccer. By all means quibble about whether DC United identify the right kids - I don't think they always do - but it's not because kids are loaded and/or connected.

It was my understanding that in order to qualify for a scholarship you also had to qualify for free lunch at school.

So you know that all those kids scouted from the major clubs (eg, BSC, Pipeline, Arlington, etc) were on scholarship at those clubs?

Anyone who can afford the fees at those clubs may not be loaded but they are certainly more well off than most other soccer players.

Playing at those clubs make you way more connected to DCU scouts than any other clubs in the area.

Besides Cerritos and Touch Kings, what other small clubs has DCU recruited from? At this point, seems like they’ve only consistently recruited from large clubs that can field a few teams for each age group.

Yes - plenty (although obviously not all) were on scholarships at some of the clubs you name. All of those clubs, and other similar level clubs, offer 4 or 5 (occasionally more) scholarships on their top teams - and they do a pretty good job of making sure that the best kids they can find, or that find them, get them. So it's not surprising that DCU finds those same kids and not the ones that weren't good enough to get those scholarship places at the larger local clubs first.

And how do you know all of this? Do the clubs make public the number of scholarship kids on their top teams? Like where can I get this information…besides on an anonymous soccer forum?

A few years ago, I was the team manager/treasurer on one such team, and was thus privy to knowledge of who was and wasn't on a scholarship because I was responsible for chasing any unpaid team dues.

We had six scholarship kids one year, and five in other years. I don't know if that was because that was the amount of money available, or that the club just gave scholarships to any kid they felt was good enough.

I don't know what each club makes public - I imagine that you might well be able to find this information by looking at public filings. If not perhaps the clubs would happily tell you if you were interested and asked nicely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the Bethesda kids go to Ivy League schools on academic scholarship (at least partial) with that consideration given because they are playing soccer. Who cares what pot of money it comes from - take the funds, continue playing high level soccer, and get a good education.

What?

Ivy Leagues don't give athletic or academic scholarship.

Bethesda might send a couple kids a year to the Ivies. The majority of them are full pay but some will get need based aid. They also have kids who go to other schools, and kids who don't play in college at all, or who play club.

They have a player on every single Ivy League roster right now, sometimes two players. Two on Georgetown; two on Duke and several other ACC schools. Best record of taking kids to the next level in the area. It's really not even close.

And again, the academic background of those kids is NUMBER 1. They have great grades, good test scores and are coming from good high schools. And, yeah, many are white.

You cannot compare them against first gen immigrant families without the exposure to education and college path who also are looking for full financial scholarship.

My kid was told by every IVY/high academic D3 they will not even look at a player if they don’t have the grades to get in, or can’t handle the rigor of the school. I know many kids that failed pre-reads.

Neither of the two kids at Duke from Bethesda are white. Neither of the two at Princeton are white. The Bethesda kids at Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, and Yale are not white. Many are from immigrant families. Did they get good grades? I'm sure they did. But, no need to invent victim narratives that don't exist.

DP - Some of those kids aren’t white - not sure why the PP threw that in - but are from families of means and have access to the right college pathways. For instance, 1 Duke player’s Dad played at Georgetown and the other’s was the president at Howard and both went to “elite” high schools (G.Prep and St Albans). Those avenues aren’t available to a lot of kids, just based on finances.

[Anonymous]

Shame on Bethesda for attracting good students. There are elite schools in Virginia too, such as Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria. In soccer and life, there comes a time when you have to stop making excuses and go out and get the grades while doing the work on the pitch. We all realize that soccer is not football or basketball where you can be an average student and get a scholarship. Being a good student is part of the equation, and you can be a good student at a public school. At some point, results matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shame on Bethesda for attracting good students. There are elite schools in Virginia too, such as Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria. In soccer and life, there comes a time when you have to stop making excuses and go out and get the grades while doing the work on the pitch. We all realize that soccer is not football or basketball where you can be an average student and get a scholarship. Being a good student is part of the equation, and you can be a good student at a public school. At some point, results matter.

Being a good student at a public school in Woodbridge or Manassas isn’t going to put you on equal footing with even “below average” kids from St. Alban’s and Georgetown Prep. Enough with the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” bullshit and recognize that there are large economic disparities in this area and country. Bethesda is a better club than VDA - probably not that close, imo - but the reason Bethesda sends kids to Ivy League schools and VDA doesn’t, isn’t because of Bethesda’s training, it’s because of the parent’s standing on the sidelines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shame on Bethesda for attracting good students. There are elite schools in Virginia too, such as Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria. In soccer and life, there comes a time when you have to stop making excuses and go out and get the grades while doing the work on the pitch. We all realize that soccer is not football or basketball where you can be an average student and get a scholarship. Being a good student is part of the equation, and you can be a good student at a public school. At some point, results matter.

Being a good student at a public school in Woodbridge or Manassas isn’t going to put you on equal footing with even “below average” kids from St. Alban’s and Georgetown Prep. Enough with the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” bullshit and recognize that there are large economic disparities in this area and country. Bethesda is a better club than VDA - probably not that close, imo - but the reason Bethesda sends kids to Ivy League schools and VDA doesn’t, isn’t because of Bethesda’s training, it’s because of the parent’s standing on the sidelines.

Plenty of wealthy parents and private school kids in Arlington and Alexandria. Have to agree with poster above that Bethesda has strong networking and goes to bat for their kids. Not every player getting on D1 roster at Bethesda is rich or attending a private school. The club reputation is one of the best. Travel the country and you'll be hard pressed to find a college coach who hasn't heard of Bethesda. The theme of the thread was which MLS Next club is best. If you want to play in college, it's not even close...it's Bethesda. But that doesn't mean the club is the best for everyone. Every club has issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shame on Bethesda for attracting good students. There are elite schools in Virginia too, such as Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria. In soccer and life, there comes a time when you have to stop making excuses and go out and get the grades while doing the work on the pitch. We all realize that soccer is not football or basketball where you can be an average student and get a scholarship. Being a good student is part of the equation, and you can be a good student at a public school. At some point, results matter.

Being a good student at a public school in Woodbridge or Manassas isn’t going to put you on equal footing with even “below average” kids from St. Alban’s and Georgetown Prep. Enough with the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” bullshit and recognize that there are large economic disparities in this area and country. Bethesda is a better club than VDA - probably not that close, imo - but the reason Bethesda sends kids to Ivy League schools and VDA doesn’t, isn’t because of Bethesda’s training, it’s because of the parent’s standing on the sidelines.

In my experience, this is patently false. Students with comparable est scores and skills from a public vs. a private school and comparable soccer abilitiy would almost certainly be preferred, ceteris paribus. Do you serve on admisssions committees or recruiting/hiring committees?