Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Club soccer is worthless for developing a young player.

We have pulled our kids out of Club (and they were at a 'selective' club) for academy style training and they have developed light years over their peers that used to be at a somewhat similar technical level.

What's even more idiotic is the a**hole that keeps coming on here to list 'selective' Clubs. This is all for parental bragging rights. Yet--many players made those clubs and turned them down. Training is what matters. Period.

Some of the clubs listed as 'non-selective' have crushed our 'selective' club in games. Size of player pool tells you nothing. In fact, the larger it is, often the least amount of personal attention is devoted to any single player in the Club. If your kid is further down the totem pole at a selective club, you are better placing them somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe we could crowd-source a rough count of who's most selective and who's least selective at U9-U12?

(Note: Just talking about sheer numbers here. I am not going to go out and try to gauge the overall talent level of every club's U9 tryouts)

VERY SELECTIVE (80+ people trying out; more than half won't make a team)
Arlington
Vienna (boys -- girls will be lower)
McLean
Alexandria
Loudoun?

MEDIUM SELECTIVE (top team tough to make; maybe a third of those trying out won't make a team)
Braddock Road (wild card with ECNL causing shakeup)
Chantilly (CYA)
FPYC
PWSI

NOT SELECTIVE (will try to take most applicants)
Great Falls
Premier AC
Lee Mount Vernon (based on info above)
Burke? (or is there another reason they only have 1 team)
Cugini? (do they still exist?)
Team America?
SCAA? (new-ish)

NO IDEA
Herndon
Gunston
Annandale
SYC
SYA
FC Virginia
Reston
Barca
VSA
NVSC

More than half the kids make all of these clubs. Loudoun and Arlington will go 5-6 teams deep if need be at U9. That is hardley selective.

And the selections are largely based on physical traits.

...of course, but that is not the OP's inquiry. talking about selectivity

[Anonymous]

^^ what you are selecting for is HUGELY important. Yes--it does matter. If you aren't selecting on technical skills---in most soccer minds---this is NOT selective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Club soccer is worthless for developing a young player.

We have pulled our kids out of Club (and they were at a 'selective' club) for academy style training and they have developed light years over their peers that used to be at a somewhat similar technical level.

What's even more idiotic is the a**hole that keeps coming on here to list 'selective' Clubs. This is all for parental bragging rights. Yet--many players made those clubs and turned them down. Training is what matters. Period.

-1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe we could crowd-source a rough count of who's most selective and who's least selective at U9-U12?

(Note: Just talking about sheer numbers here. I am not going to go out and try to gauge the overall talent level of every club's U9 tryouts)

VERY SELECTIVE (80+ people trying out; more than half won't make a team)
Arlington
Vienna (boys -- girls will be lower)
McLean
Alexandria
Loudoun?

MEDIUM SELECTIVE (top team tough to make; maybe a third of those trying out won't make a team)
Braddock Road (wild card with ECNL causing shakeup)
Chantilly (CYA)
FPYC
PWSI

NOT SELECTIVE (will try to take most applicants)
Great Falls
Premier AC
Lee Mount Vernon (based on info above)
Burke? (or is there another reason they only have 1 team)
Cugini? (do they still exist?)
Team America?
SCAA? (new-ish)

NO IDEA
Herndon
Gunston
Annandale
SYC
SYA
FC Virginia
Reston
Barca
VSA
NVSC

Arlington at the top is correct. In 2015, they had 180 boys and 135 girls. http://www.arlingtonsoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ASABoardMeetingD20150518.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Club soccer is worthless for developing a young player.

We have pulled our kids out of Club (and they were at a 'selective' club) for academy style training and they have developed light years over their peers that used to be at a somewhat similar technical level.

What's even more idiotic is the a**hole that keeps coming on here to list 'selective' Clubs. This is all for parental bragging rights. Yet--many players made those clubs and turned them down. Training is what matters. Period.

Some of the clubs listed as 'non-selective' have crushed our 'selective' club in games. Size of player pool tells you nothing. In fact, the larger it is, often the least amount of personal attention is devoted to any single player in the Club. If your kid is further down the totem pole at a selective club, you are better placing them somewhere else.

very true. one main coach in arlington heads red and white, and if your player is not one of those ~20 youngsters, you might as well play for a less selctive club at u9. you will get more attention and development.

- so it should be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Club soccer is worthless for developing a young player.

We have pulled our kids out of Club (and they were at a 'selective' club) for academy style training and they have developed light years over their peers that used to be at a somewhat similar technical level.

What's even more idiotic is the a**hole that keeps coming on here to list 'selective' Clubs. This is all for parental bragging rights. Yet--many players made those clubs and turned them down. Training is what matters. Period.

When you say academy style do you mean they train and only compete against each other with no competitive play? If that is the case what is the ultimate goal for your child? Now that we are entering the world of travel soccer I see sort of 2 worlds of thought. Developing your player to be the best, which I can only assume is to play college/professional and parents just in it for the kid that needs more competitive games and better training to go along with it. Not with a goal to develop a D1 player. Is that fair assessment? Is there an in between?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ what you are selecting for is HUGELY important. Yes--it does matter. If you aren't selecting on technical skills---in most soccer minds---this is NOT selective.

OP: "(Note: Just talking about sheer numbers here. I am not going to go out and try to gauge the overall talent level of every club's U9 tryouts)"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Club soccer is worthless for developing a young player.

We have pulled our kids out of Club (and they were at a 'selective' club) for academy style training and they have developed light years over their peers that used to be at a somewhat similar technical level.

What's even more idiotic is the a**hole that keeps coming on here to list 'selective' Clubs. This is all for parental bragging rights. Yet--many players made those clubs and turned them down. Training is what matters. Period.

Hi, I'm the a**hole who made the list of clubs by selectivity. I agree with you that there's little to no correlation between selectivity and quality of training.

You misunderstand why I made the list.

A lot of families are looking for places where their kids can play. Maybe these kids don't have the athleticism to stand out among 180 players at Arlington or 100 at Vienna. (And I seriously doubt Vienna is going to repeat the "five teams in one age group" thing -- it didn't go over well.) But maybe they love the game, have some skills and want to play at a more serious level than they're going to get in the chaos that is U9 rec soccer at many clubs.

So it's helpful to know that there are places for their kids. And where those places are.

And to get back a few pages in this thread -- this is the sort of information you're not going to get from clubs posting their tryout information. You're not going to see, "Hey, is your kid too small and slow to make it at Loudoun or Arlington? Bring them here!"

And that's what an anonymous message board SHOULD be for. I'll never understand people who want to brag on this board (and yes, some of them are). Being anonymous means we can talk about clubs without pissing off our coaches.

[Anonymous]

And to follow up -- you're not going to see a club that draws 100+ kids trying out post, "Hey, look, if we don't already know your kid from one of our U8 training programs, and he's not big and fast, it's going to be difficult to stand out in our tryout."

Anonymous parents can say that. Coaches can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Club soccer is worthless for developing a young player.

We have pulled our kids out of Club (and they were at a 'selective' club) for academy style training and they have developed light years over their peers that used to be at a somewhat similar technical level.

What's even more idiotic is the a**hole that keeps coming on here to list 'selective' Clubs. This is all for parental bragging rights. Yet--many players made those clubs and turned them down. Training is what matters. Period.

Some of the clubs listed as 'non-selective' have crushed our 'selective' club in games. Size of player pool tells you nothing. In fact, the larger it is, often the least amount of personal attention is devoted to any single player in the Club. If your kid is further down the totem pole at a selective club, you are better placing them somewhere else.

very true. one main coach in arlington heads red and white, and if your player is not one of those ~20 youngsters, you might as well play for a less selctive club at u9. you will get more attention and development.

- so it should be

So it is really 180 boys for 22 spots.

[Anonymous]

Hear my now and believe me later. A 180 kids at tryouts does not mean selective. If you can't crack the top 60 at Arlington then you should look for a smaller club anyways. Hell, if you are kid 30-60 the same would apply. But kids 100-180 are simply not ready and would likely not be ready for travel at many places either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Club soccer is worthless for developing a young player.

We have pulled our kids out of Club (and they were at a 'selective' club) for academy style training and they have developed light years over their peers that used to be at a somewhat similar technical level.

What's even more idiotic is the a**hole that keeps coming on here to list 'selective' Clubs. This is all for parental bragging rights. Yet--many players made those clubs and turned them down. Training is what matters. Period.

Some of the clubs listed as 'non-selective' have crushed our 'selective' club in games. Size of player pool tells you nothing. In fact, the larger it is, often the least amount of personal attention is devoted to any single player in the Club. If your kid is further down the totem pole at a selective club, you are better placing them somewhere else.

very true. one main coach in arlington heads red and white, and if your player is not one of those ~20 youngsters, you might as well play for a less selctive club at u9. you will get more attention and development.

- so it should be

So it is really 180 boys for 22 spots.

No, it is really 30 kids for 22 slots. At younger ages the tiers gradiate into some obvious groupings. The largest grouping is the 3rd and 4th teams where kids have something and are missing something. It could be physical attributes or skills but they don't have all the pieces yet that the top 20 kids have but the overall level graduates lower. By the time you get to kid 100? Good luck.

But you are mistaken if you think that it is a 180 kids who are at all close in skill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And to follow up -- you're not going to see a club that draws 100+ kids trying out post, "Hey, look, if we don't already know your kid from one of our U8 training programs, and he's not big and fast, it's going to be difficult to stand out in our tryout."

Anonymous parents can say that. Coaches can't.

Well said. That summary of Arlington tryouts a few pages back is actually pretty helpful. If one is trying to take a lot of teams because so many boys tryout, then I am not sure what else these coaches can do. Parents should step back from analyzing every touch their kid makes, and walk around the tryouts and look at the 180+ boys. With the majority of them as unknowns, you then have 4.5 hours (3 tryout sessions) to try to figure out who to take and who to cut. Try it yourself on some random boys and watch them as they get moved around. Other then the top 20 and bottom maybe 30, it is impossible. You can take 50 of those boys and they all seem like diamonds in the rough at times during those few hours. At least they have a 4th tryout for just the kids selected where they try to make the best color team determination for each player. I don't understand all the disgruntled parents. Set your expectations for reality . . . or skip those tryouts and go up to McLean or VYS where the tryout numbers are far lower. I hear BRYC and Premier AC are taking everyone at U9 this year. The U9 tryout process is often not a fun one for anyone. Agree that websites and coaches can't help with what the OP is after. Best of luck to you OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hear my now and believe me later. A 180 kids at tryouts does not mean selective. If you can't crack the top 60 at Arlington then you should look for a smaller club anyways. Hell, if you are kid 30-60 the same would apply. But kids 100-180 are simply not ready and would likely not be ready for travel at many places either.

somewhat agree, somewhat disagree.
if you don't crack the top 20, and get a known good coach alloted to head your age group, then why get caught up in all this.
but it is selective in the sense that the sheer numbers work against you as OP notes.
but many boys and girls between 60 and 150 will inevitably be better then some in the top 60. proof is the demand for the ADP program that they have where many overlooked players do that for 1-2 years and can leapfrog boys and girls in the top 60. ADP has its own tryouts which come after and unfortunately the boys and girls who get cut are often in no mood for more tryouts.
be realistic from the outset and tryout for the club/program tjhat makese sense based on what you know.