Arlington DA

[Anonymous]

No NOVA discussion is complete without including this long time powerhouse. It will be interesting to see how their girls' DA does. I've heard a lot of good things about their boys' DA.

[Anonymous]

I was just on a Loudoun thread talking a lot about Arlington so I thought I should talk about it here. I noticed they have nice, developmentally sized rosters so everyone can get plenty of playing time. They are also getting good results in their DA match ups.

Does anyone know how much of their team is from the original club and how much comes from the outside? How welcoming are they with outsiders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just on a Loudoun thread talking a lot about Arlington so I thought I should talk about it here. I noticed they have nice, developmentally sized rosters so everyone can get plenty of playing time. They are also getting good results in their DA match ups.

Does anyone know how much of their team is from the original club and how much comes from the outside? How welcoming are they with outsiders?

Arlington will always accept an outsider over a home grown kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just on a Loudoun thread talking a lot about Arlington so I thought I should talk about it here. I noticed they have nice, developmentally sized rosters so everyone can get plenty of playing time. They are also getting good results in their DA match ups.

Does anyone know how much of their team is from the original club and how much comes from the outside? How welcoming are they with outsiders?

Arlington will always accept an outsider over a home grown kid.

I wouldn't say that, but if the outside player is better than the home grown kid, of course they will take them.

On DD's team about 5 girls are originals and 9 are outsiders. We lost a few of our originals to ECNL.

The small roster has its pros and cons. A pro, of course, is that everyone gets plenty of playing time, which is awesome for developing. The biggest con is injuries. We've had injuries all season, which has caused some players having to play different positions (including goalie!) that they may not be comfortable with.

Hope that helped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just on a Loudoun thread talking a lot about Arlington so I thought I should talk about it here. I noticed they have nice, developmentally sized rosters so everyone can get plenty of playing time. They are also getting good results in their DA match ups.

Does anyone know how much of their team is from the original club and how much comes from the outside? How welcoming are they with outsiders?

Arlington will always accept an outsider over a home grown kid.

I wouldn't say that, but if the outside player is better than the home grown kid, of course they will take them.

On DD's team about 5 girls are originals and 9 are outsiders. We lost a few of our originals to ECNL.

The small roster has its pros and cons. A pro, of course, is that everyone gets plenty of playing time, which is awesome for developing. The biggest con is injuries. We've had injuries all season, which has caused some players having to play different positions (including goalie!) that they may not be comfortable with.

Hope that helped.

That did help. That sounds fair. The team make up sounds like an interesting mix too. I have to say too, although the injuries situation is tough, I'd rather that be the issue than a lot of bench time. I wonder if Arlington has considered giving time to some of its top B team players? Certain age groups also seem to get harder hit by injuries. I've often wondered if that is a puberty issue?

[Anonymous]

What sort of soccer is being taught at Arlington? Like is it more possession? Are there a lot of through balls? Can you tell?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What sort of soccer is being taught at Arlington? Like is it more possession? Are there a lot of through balls? Can you tell?

Coaches encourage players to play ball forwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of soccer is being taught at Arlington? Like is it more possession? Are there a lot of through balls? Can you tell?

Coaches encourage players to play ball forwards.

Ahhh, so more through balls then? Are they big on one touch passing, or do they allow players - within reason - to take their space? What's the emphasis?

[Anonymous]

Do the same coaches that coach the boys DA coach the girls DA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the same coaches that coach the boys DA coach the girls DA?

No, of course not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the same coaches that coach the boys DA coach the girls DA?

No, of course not.

Really? I mean the "of course not" part? I actually liked the idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of soccer is being taught at Arlington? Like is it more possession? Are there a lot of through balls? Can you tell?

Coaches encourage players to play ball forwards.

Ahhh, so more through balls then? Are they big on one touch passing, or do they allow players - within reason - to take their space? What's the emphasis?

It’s not a possession style or one touch system. The practices at the u11 level are mostly speed of play drills with a little individual skills. The individual skill part you would have to develop outside of the practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of soccer is being taught at Arlington? Like is it more possession? Are there a lot of through balls? Can you tell?

Coaches encourage players to play ball forwards.

Ahhh, so more through balls then? Are they big on one touch passing, or do they allow players - within reason - to take their space? What's the emphasis?

There is no philosophy.

We found it varies from coach to coach over the years, often contradicting the previous year's coach. In the early years, definitely focus on athleticism and long balls. Their goalies are punting very early and by U11 the goalie punts into the other side's goal box while the striker chases it down.

I don't know about DA. I heard they have a decent older coach working more on tactical. But, if they wanted to play possession in the later years it would serve them better to get the ASA kids started on that early in the program. But, like many Clubs they focus on the wins young so in the later years many of their original players don't have the knowledge/skill set and fade out or get eclipsed by kids developed elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the same coaches that coach the boys DA coach the girls DA?

No, of course not.

Really? I mean the "of course not" part? I actually liked the idea.

It is just not logistically possible. That is why the "really" part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sort of soccer is being taught at Arlington? Like is it more possession? Are there a lot of through balls? Can you tell?

Coaches encourage players to play ball forwards.

Ahhh, so more through balls then? Are they big on one touch passing, or do they allow players - within reason - to take their space? What's the emphasis?

There is no philosophy.

We found it varies from coach to coach over the years, often contradicting the previous year's coach. In the early years, definitely focus on athleticism and long balls. Their goalies are punting very early and by U11 the goalie punts into the other side's goal box while the striker chases it down.

I don't know about DA. I heard they have a decent older coach working more on tactical. But, if they wanted to play possession in the later years it would serve them better to get the ASA kids started on that early in the program. But, like many Clubs they focus on the wins young so in the later years many of their original players don't have the knowledge/skill set and fade out or get eclipsed by kids developed elsewhere.

DA curriculum is more tightly controlled and audited by US Soccer. So, even with the younger age groups playing different styes based on coach, that should not carry through to the DA. If it does, they won't retain DA status.