Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

To the OP, don't worry about numbers at tryouts. If your kid wants to play travel they will find a spot. You might need to go to a couple of clubs to find the right fit but many of the parents that show up to a Arlington or Loudoun tryout only know if those clubs because of their huge rec program. And by this I mean they literally do not know that other clubs even exist.

Fine, perhaps your kid isn't the top 20 at Arlington but who cares, there is a team for your kid somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Totally agree with you. That's why I even said that if you are kid 30-60 at Arlington it is worth your time to explore other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the OP, don't worry about numbers at tryouts. If your kid wants to play travel they will find a spot. You might need to go to a couple of clubs to find the right fit but many of the parents that show up to a Arlington or Loudoun tryout only know if those clubs because of their huge rec program. And by this I mean they literally do not know that other clubs even exist.

Fine, perhaps your kid isn't the top 20 at Arlington but who cares, there is a team for your kid somewhere.

+1 one of the benefits of the OP's list was his IDing of so many local clubs. parents get that email from arlington about trvael tryouts and have no idea that they can do travel anywhere they want. there is always a club take will take a payign customer. rec doesn't fill the void anymore like it used to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the OP, don't worry about numbers at tryouts. If your kid wants to play travel they will find a spot. You might need to go to a couple of clubs to find the right fit but many of the parents that show up to a Arlington or Loudoun tryout only know if those clubs because of their huge rec program. And by this I mean they literally do not know that other clubs even exist.

Fine, perhaps your kid isn't the top 20 at Arlington but who cares, there is a team for your kid somewhere.

+1 one of the benefits of the OP's list was his IDing of so many local clubs. parents get that email from arlington about trvael tryouts and have no idea that they can do travel anywhere they want. there is always a club take will take a payign customer. rec doesn't fill the void anymore like it used to.

I made the initial list, and yes, I fully agree with that.

There are plenty of options. You may be a giant club with no way of realizing you have other options. Or you may be at a small club that takes nearly everybody, which has its advantages and disadvantages.

I also agree with the people who've noted big tryouts are a good way of finding the top 20 and bottom 20 but not so much in between. A lot of kids move up from low travel or rec up to a good A team -- sometimes it's good coaching, sometimes it's just developing on a different time frame, and sometimes it's simply being overlooked at a big tryout.

[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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

[Anonymous]

Well, APS schools are facing crisis over-capacity issues. It goes to follow that a great majority of these kids also play soccer. Like the school issue--other options in the County would be the way to go. Once something gets too big, it faces a host of challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

Were those players that signed up for U8 Academy the same ones that Arlington made special U8 winter camp sessions for and that were invite-only?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

Were those players that signed up for U8 Academy the same ones that Arlington made special U8 winter camp sessions for and that were invite-only?

The U8 academy does a Fall and Spring session and does pick around 22 or so kids for a separate indoor winter session. Not all of the kids that do the winter session end up in the top 22. As far as I know, the tryouts run interdependent of the Academy. There are many kids that make it that never did the Academy training is not a requirement. It does improve the kids' ball skills and it can help a kid get noticed since some of the evaluators are the same. However, sometimes it has the opposite effect. They see the kid for a full year and some of the traits they see work against them and they might have been better showing up as a 'wild card' at tryouts. Again, if you only care about personal development of your own kids (which is the only thing you should be concerned about)---do the training if it fits in your schedule and don't look into the future or over-think this or that. Everyone knows everyone in these groups so it is easy to get caught up focusing on the wrong things and playing the game of comparison when you really should only be worried about your OWN child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

Were those players that signed up for U8 Academy the same ones that Arlington made special U8 winter camp sessions for and that were invite-only?

The U8 academy does a Fall and Spring session and does pick around 22 or so kids for a separate indoor winter session. Not all of the kids that do the winter session end up in the top 22. As far as I know, the tryouts run interdependent of the Academy. There are many kids that make it that never did the Academy training is not a requirement. It does improve the kids' ball skills and it can help a kid get noticed since some of the evaluators are the same. However, sometimes it has the opposite effect. They see the kid for a full year and some of the traits they see work against them and they might have been better showing up as a 'wild card' at tryouts. Again, if you only care about personal development of your own kids (which is the only thing you should be concerned about)---do the training if it fits in your schedule and don't look into the future or over-think this or that. Everyone knows everyone in these groups so it is easy to get caught up focusing on the wrong things and playing the game of comparison when you really should only be worried about your OWN child.

I meant 'yes'. The winter training is the same academy. They select from the Fall academy groups. Indoor space is limited so they work with a smaller group.

[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.

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.

Not the pp but some on "the soccer tryout thread" had the same attitude. Oh you can just google all the teams in the area. Not if you do not know anything about youth soccer. Many people are just not into travel soccer, but their kids are or want to play more than rec. There are many options - travel, travel lite, academy. Many kids need or should go to a developmental academy. There is no pressure to perform(i.e. score goals). Let's face it that's what many of the parent on the side want and reward. If you only know one way to score(maybe poke and chase) that's what you are going to do when the pressure is on. Most of the kids who go through an academy for 6 months and work at it come out much better players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

Were those players that signed up for U8 Academy the same ones that Arlington made special U8 winter camp sessions for and that were invite-only?

The U8 academy does a Fall and Spring session and does pick around 22 or so kids for a separate indoor winter session. Not all of the kids that do the winter session end up in the top 22. As far as I know, the tryouts run interdependent of the Academy. There are many kids that make it that never did the Academy training is not a requirement. It does improve the kids' ball skills and it can help a kid get noticed since some of the evaluators are the same. However, sometimes it has the opposite effect. They see the kid for a full year and some of the traits they see work against them and they might have been better showing up as a 'wild card' at tryouts. Again, if you only care about personal development of your own kids (which is the only thing you should be concerned about)---do the training if it fits in your schedule and don't look into the future or over-think this or that. Everyone knows everyone in these groups so it is easy to get caught up focusing on the wrong things and playing the game of comparison when you really should only be worried about your OWN child.

I would be irked if my kids' club had an academy-style system and pulled some kids out to get the benefit of extra training, especially if the fees for all the kids are the same. Seems like it would make more sense to have the kids who are more advanced attend some trainings with older groups.

[Anonymous]

^^it was an additional fee. I saw nothing wrong with it, but maybe that's because my kids were selected. At 8, you have many kids that just can't focus in training yet or are way behind in the level of skill so it makes sense to group the kids into a special training group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

Were those players that signed up for U8 Academy the same ones that Arlington made special U8 winter camp sessions for and that were invite-only?

The U8 academy does a Fall and Spring session and does pick around 22 or so kids for a separate indoor winter session. Not all of the kids that do the winter session end up in the top 22. As far as I know, the tryouts run interdependent of the Academy. There are many kids that make it that never did the Academy training is not a requirement. It does improve the kids' ball skills and it can help a kid get noticed since some of the evaluators are the same. However, sometimes it has the opposite effect. They see the kid for a full year and some of the traits they see work against them and they might have been better showing up as a 'wild card' at tryouts. Again, if you only care about personal development of your own kids (which is the only thing you should be concerned about)---do the training if it fits in your schedule and don't look into the future or over-think this or that. Everyone knows everyone in these groups so it is easy to get caught up focusing on the wrong things and playing the game of comparison when you really should only be worried about your OWN child.

I would be irked if my kids' club had an academy-style system and pulled some kids out to get the benefit of extra training, especially if the fees for all the kids are the same. Seems like it would make more sense to have the kids who are more advanced attend some trainings with older groups.

Exactly what older kids should they be practicing with when they are 7 to 8 years old? A travel team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

Were those players that signed up for U8 Academy the same ones that Arlington made special U8 winter camp sessions for and that were invite-only?

The U8 academy does a Fall and Spring session and does pick around 22 or so kids for a separate indoor winter session. Not all of the kids that do the winter session end up in the top 22. As far as I know, the tryouts run interdependent of the Academy. There are many kids that make it that never did the Academy training is not a requirement. It does improve the kids' ball skills and it can help a kid get noticed since some of the evaluators are the same. However, sometimes it has the opposite effect. They see the kid for a full year and some of the traits they see work against them and they might have been better showing up as a 'wild card' at tryouts. Again, if you only care about personal development of your own kids (which is the only thing you should be concerned about)---do the training if it fits in your schedule and don't look into the future or over-think this or that. Everyone knows everyone in these groups so it is easy to get caught up focusing on the wrong things and playing the game of comparison when you really should only be worried about your OWN child.

I would be irked if my kids' club had an academy-style system and pulled some kids out to get the benefit of extra training, especially if the fees for all the kids are the same. Seems like it would make more sense to have the kids who are more advanced attend some trainings with older groups.

Exactly what older kids should they be practicing with when they are 7 to 8 years old? A travel team?

Aren't we talking about a travel soccer program? That was my assumption, and in that case, the advanced 7 or 8 year olds (U8s) could spend some of their time practicing with a U9 team. A poster above clarified that there was an additional fee for the extra training, which makes it somewhat less odd in my view.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not all of the 22 selected accept their spot. I know kids that moved into that upper group when some players in the top 22 chose to develop elsewhere. There can be a lot of shuffling in the week following first offers. It helps if your kid did the academy training the year before--unless they had severe behavior issues which became evident and then it could actually have the opposite effect.

They are 8 though. Relax everyone. This means very little for what they'll turn out to be by 16. It's been pointed out repeatedly that a good majority of A team kids aren't there a few years down the road.

Were those players that signed up for U8 Academy the same ones that Arlington made special U8 winter camp sessions for and that were invite-only?

The U8 academy does a Fall and Spring session and does pick around 22 or so kids for a separate indoor winter session. Not all of the kids that do the winter session end up in the top 22. As far as I know, the tryouts run interdependent of the Academy. There are many kids that make it that never did the Academy training is not a requirement. It does improve the kids' ball skills and it can help a kid get noticed since some of the evaluators are the same. However, sometimes it has the opposite effect. They see the kid for a full year and some of the traits they see work against them and they might have been better showing up as a 'wild card' at tryouts. Again, if you only care about personal development of your own kids (which is the only thing you should be concerned about)---do the training if it fits in your schedule and don't look into the future or over-think this or that. Everyone knows everyone in these groups so it is easy to get caught up focusing on the wrong things and playing the game of comparison when you really should only be worried about your OWN child.

I would be irked if my kids' club had an academy-style system and pulled some kids out to get the benefit of extra training, especially if the fees for all the kids are the same. Seems like it would make more sense to have the kids who are more advanced attend some trainings with older groups.

Exactly what older kids should they be practicing with when they are 7 to 8 years old? A travel team?

I think he's talking about the 22 kids that were selected for the winter indoor training from the Fall U8 Academy. Latter was open to all, former obvioulsy was not, but did have to pay extra. The latter could easily have attended an older age rec winter camp, but what difference would it make. They were still ID'd and selected.