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Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss
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Anonymous
| At U8, it's less important what league your child plays in and more important that he gets good training, especially if you think he's ready for the challenge of travel soccer at U9. Per PP's recommendation, PWSI is a strong club for player development. So are Arlington, BRYC, FPYC, McLean, Annandale, and SYA but no reason to drive a long distance when PWSI is right there. At U8 and U9 the focus should be on foot skills not game tactics. Make sure your child is good with training 2-3x a week as that's what travel will entail. |
Anonymous
But also consider the time of day ... to get to PWSI for weeknight training you'll be heading south during rush hour so you will spend a lot of time sitting in traffic. You can get to BRYC from Lorton in 15 min that time of day because you're going against traffic. BRYC has a great program for the young ages and really worth checking out. |
Anonymous
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Thank you to everyone that replied this is some great information and feedback. We attended the PWSI training last night since we were going to be out of town during the tryouts. I was highly impressed with the program and with the skills of the other children. They all seemed focused and I would say 80% of the training was footwork, some 1v1 then a shark and minnows type game to close out for some fun. Best of all my son came out saying "I really like this practice." We were invited back for another session (not sure if thats good or bad) but will consider it if accepted.
Yes I am concerned with the crappy rush hour traffic and I didnt sign up for this program last season because of this. The one benefit I saw was that the U8 kids practiced later in the day than U7 so for next season I am less concerned with commuting. Will it still suck? Maybe. I will definitely check out BRYC. Just searched and saw something in regards to an Elite Academy. |
Anonymous
| FYI: FPYC rising U9 Boys travel tryouts are May 26th at Kutner Park 5:30-7pm and May 28th at Lanier 5:30-7pm. |
Anonymous
| Anyone have experience balancing multiple travel sports who would be kind enough to offer some advice about pitfalls, etc.? We see the writing on the wall for DD (12) to play two, honest-to-god travel sports (soccer and lacrosse) with out-of-neighborhood tournaments and practices basically year round. She likes both sports. Feeder teams have already formed and we're actually a year behind in lacrosse. Maybe it's best to opt out of the rat race and just pick one (duh)? Thoughts? Has anyone made double or triple or ten travel sports work well for their child? |
Anonymous
We do travel level baseball and travel soccer (my son is 11). The coaches are both aware, and both are willing for our son to miss some games and some practices, but they are often conflicting head to head and we have to make a decision. We try not to leave the teams short on either side, but that means sacrificing practices for games, and that kind of misses the point of paying for training. I can't see this lasting much longer though - he's missing too much of both sports to really make the large payments worth it. We are considering dropping travel baseball and going back to rec, where it won't matter as much if he misses here or there, and then committing more to soccer, but it's his call to make. |
Anonymous
Are they still not doing any ODSL teams? I've noticed Reston doesn't, either. |
Anonymous
We didn't balance two travel sports, but our kids played travel soccer from 8 onward and always had rec sports (basketball, baseball, lacross and swimming) depending on the season because they wanted to do different things. Even without two travel commitments we found ourselves constantly apologizing or explaining to this or that coach why our kids needed to miss a game/practice/whatever. After awhile this got old -- unless your kids are athletic prodigies, why should they get special consideration. I think the last year we doubled up was age 12. I know some kids who continued to do soccer/lacrosse, ultimately had to choose or found their playing time limited -- and there were some injuries that likely came from overuse. By middle school, kids' interests and abilities become clearer. Good athletes often move between sports with no problem. I've seen 14-year-olds new to travel soccer, for example, come to dominate a team. At the same time, I've seen kids who have done travel from 8 really not develop into much. So I really don't buy the argument that you'll fall hopelessly behind if you're not doing travel. The kids who do lose ground, are typically the ones who wouldn't have stood out in the sport by high school anyway. The girls and boys I know who did the soccer/lacrosse combo, generally did travel soccer and rec lacrosse. Two dropped soccer for lacrosse and then went with a travel team. Another girl - a travel soccer player never played lacrosse till her sophomore year, at which point she made the Varisty team as a starter. You didn't mention if your daughter likes one sport better than the other. That's where I'd start before I'd commit my family to two travel teams. It is a fallacy that you can't get decent training if you're not doing travel -- particularly for lacrosse. |
Anonymous
Not at the younger ages. |
Anonymous
My 14 year old DC has done travel soccer as the primary sport (team is a VA state cup finalist) and lax as a "second" sport (a league champion NVYLL "A" team). Due to the year round nature of high level travel soccer DC has not played "club team" lacrosse, but has played on ad hoc summer and fall tournament lax teams in addition to the NVYLL season in the spring. The key is to be honest with the "second sport" coach about the primary sport obligations and hope that your child is such a good player that the second sport coach can accept the inevitable missed practices and games. I would not recommend treating both as primary sports in the same season because you will upset both coaches. Many coaches will be OK with being the second choice sport coach, but some will not. You need a bit of luck to find an understanding coach. My DC plans to play both sports in HS as lax and soccer are different seasons in private/catholic schools. It is impossible to do lax and soccer in public HS in VA as they are both spring season. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| To chime in on the excellent advice being given about playing two travel sports: we have also found it much more manageable to pair a travel with a house or house-plus sport (like NVYLL) in the same season. With two travel sports we had to try to attend two tournaments in different places the same weekend. Didn't work. Another option which I wish we could convince my son to do would be a travel sport and an individual sport like swimming. Anyway, good luck. Things will work out if you do what's best for your child and no one else's. |
Anonymous
| Two travel sports in the same season -- please don't. Injuries, no time for school, family stress. Even if you have the cash to spend season after season, it's not worth the trouble. |
Anonymous
I had that situation. In short, I think your DD needs to pick one over the other. Like you yourself say, they both go year-round. Sounds like you want to fully support your kids and their interests, but 2 travel sports for 1 kid is a TON. Both money, time, logistics, the travel. I would guess that when conflicts arise between the two, you will try to balance them as best you can. And yet I think neither travel team will be happy hearing about the other, nor with your DD spotty attendance. We at one time have had our 3 kids do 5 sports. It was overwhelming. |
Anonymous
The house league is not immense. VYS had trouble finding coaches and commissioners this spring and I'm sure it will get worse next year. |
Anonymous
Lack of volunteers does not equal lack of players. I run a school organization (not soccer) that has record-high registration numbers and record-low volunteering. U9 boys league has 14 teams. U10 also has 14. U11 has 12. U12 has 10. For better and for worse, VYS attracts a lot of kids, and quite often, their parents aren't really involved beyond dropping them off at practice. What do you do? Kick them all out? |