What makes a youth soccer club great?

[Anonymous]

Some starter characteristics that all clubs espouse but few actually deliver on .... but what's a good balance amongst these? Rate the below in order of importance and feel free to add additional criteria.

-Good parents (soccer educated, rational, realistic)
-Good, deep pool of players
-Good technical director who hires and trains good coaches
-Good fields / facilities (i.e. enough so that teams aren't practicing on postage stamp sized plots of turf)
-Good administration and communication
-Good access to college programs / coaches
-Focus on player development and not the club's brand, the coaches cache, or making lots of money
-Multiple layers of competition, i.e. at least three of the following: Rec, ODSL/NCSL, CCL/NPL, EDP, ECNL/DA
-A sense of community and belonging
-Tie into a pro team
-Good physical trainers (strength, conditioning, agility, injury prevention, etc.)
-Good nutritionist

[Anonymous]

1) Coaching and training/development
2) Facilities
3) No prima donnas/good group of kids/team focused
4) No excessive tournament travel
5) Parents

These are what we look for in my house.

People try to tell my oh the big Clubs have such great college attention--blah, blah. You look at commitments and it's another story---academically shitty schools. And, very few kids get any degree of substantial $. I also know that so many offers do not come directly from the teams/Club. Many is the work the family does reaching out on their own.

[Anonymous]

Good looking moms on the sidelines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good looking moms on the sidelines.

A true rarity in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

If taco trucks and eloteros pull into the parking lot.

[Anonymous]

1) Fun
2) Convenience
3) All of that listed in the other posts.

[Anonymous]

Great question. Our family is at risk of being perceived as insane club hoppers, but the truth is most clubs don't deliver on what our family is looking for. Most clubs deliver on some, but not all of objectives.
Pretty much every club we have been with is seriously deficient in communication, both between the club and parents and between coaches and players, so that'a biggie.

I think the answers you will get also depend on what each player/family is looking for. The parents who think their kids are future national team players might have different priorities, but here are mine for our kids who love soccer, want to play with other competitive players, are motivated and committed to improving, but who are not necessarily focused on playing beyond high school:

1) Good coaches who communicate with players and establish realistic goals, letting players know regularly where they stand and what they need to improve upon.
2) A deep enough talent pool so that each team is made up of players with similar levels and abilities (which in turn fosters respect and unity between teammates).
3) Effective and engaging training and appropriate game competition, without over-scheduling. The kids should be having fun!
4) Good communication between administrators and parents in terms of scheduling, expectations, coaching changes, etc.
5) Availability of facilities so that there is adequate space for practices and for games to be played each week (can you tell I'm bitter that one of my kids' teams barely practiced all fall due to rain?)
6) An established culture that encourages the development of players as human beings and values and motivates character development off and on the pitch.
7) Realistic roster numbers on each team allowing, at least below u-15, all players on the roster get a decent amount of playing time.
8) Some level of commitment to the development of existing players as opposed to constant efforts to draw players from other clubs, leaving existing players to sit on the bench for entire games.
9) A club culture that trains and values all players and all teams (boys and girls alike) rather than the "super teams" in one or two particular age groups.
10) Reasonable and supportive parents.

I guess I could condense all of this to say that the great club is one where kids have fun, improve as players and human beings, and where players and families are treated with respect by coaches and administrators.

It shouldn't be too hard to find a club like that, right?

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great question. Our family is at risk of being perceived as insane club hoppers, but the truth is most clubs don't deliver on what our family is looking for. Most clubs deliver on some, but not all of objectives.
Pretty much every club we have been with is seriously deficient in communication, both between the club and parents and between coaches and players, so that'a biggie.

I think the answers you will get also depend on what each player/family is looking for. The parents who think their kids are future national team players might have different priorities, but here are mine for our kids who love soccer, want to play with other competitive players, are motivated and committed to improving, but who are not necessarily focused on playing beyond high school:

1) Good coaches who communicate with players and establish realistic goals, letting players know regularly where they stand and what they need to improve upon.
2) A deep enough talent pool so that each team is made up of players with similar levels and abilities (which in turn fosters respect and unity between teammates).
3) Effective and engaging training and appropriate game competition, without over-scheduling. The kids should be having fun!
4) Good communication between administrators and parents in terms of scheduling, expectations, coaching changes, etc.
5) Availability of facilities so that there is adequate space for practices and for games to be played each week (can you tell I'm bitter that one of my kids' teams barely practiced all fall due to rain?)
6) An established culture that encourages the development of players as human beings and values and motivates character development off and on the pitch.
7) Realistic roster numbers on each team allowing, at least below u-15, all players on the roster get a decent amount of playing time.
8) Some level of commitment to the development of existing players as opposed to constant efforts to draw players from other clubs, leaving existing players to sit on the bench for entire games.
9) A club culture that trains and values all players and all teams (boys and girls alike) rather than the "super teams" in one or two particular age groups.
10) Reasonable and supportive parents.

I guess I could condense all of this to say that the great club is one where kids have fun, improve as players and human beings, and where players and families are treated with respect by coaches and administrators.

It shouldn't be too hard to find a club like that, right?

Great post. I agree with just about everything here. Especially #1. Amazing how many coaches don't communicate and realize that their primary job is to teach, not to win or recruit (and that by teaching well, they probably will end up winning most of the time).

[Anonymous]

There are too many clubs in DMV for any club to have truly great teams at all age levels. Just being the best locally does not make you the best nationally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are too many clubs in DMV for any club to have truly great teams at all age levels. Just being the best locally does not make you the best nationally.

Perhaps greatness requires defining success more broadly than consistent national excellence in tournaments. There are too many teams within clubs and too many clubs across the United States for this to matter as much as serving the players well as human beings and athletes. You can talk about this at the collegiate level where there are fewer teams and players but anything earlier is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great question. Our family is at risk of being perceived as insane club hoppers, but the truth is most clubs don't deliver on what our family is looking for. Most clubs deliver on some, but not all of objectives.
Pretty much every club we have been with is seriously deficient in communication, both between the club and parents and between coaches and players, so that'a biggie.

I think the answers you will get also depend on what each player/family is looking for. The parents who think their kids are future national team players might have different priorities, but here are mine for our kids who love soccer, want to play with other competitive players, are motivated and committed to improving, but who are not necessarily focused on playing beyond high school:

1) Good coaches who communicate with players and establish realistic goals, letting players know regularly where they stand and what they need to improve upon.
2) A deep enough talent pool so that each team is made up of players with similar levels and abilities (which in turn fosters respect and unity between teammates).
3) Effective and engaging training and appropriate game competition, without over-scheduling. The kids should be having fun!
4) Good communication between administrators and parents in terms of scheduling, expectations, coaching changes, etc.
5) Availability of facilities so that there is adequate space for practices and for games to be played each week (can you tell I'm bitter that one of my kids' teams barely practiced all fall due to rain?)
6) An established culture that encourages the development of players as human beings and values and motivates character development off and on the pitch.
7) Realistic roster numbers on each team allowing, at least below u-15, all players on the roster get a decent amount of playing time.
8) Some level of commitment to the development of existing players as opposed to constant efforts to draw players from other clubs, leaving existing players to sit on the bench for entire games.
9) A club culture that trains and values all players and all teams (boys and girls alike) rather than the "super teams" in one or two particular age groups.
10) Reasonable and supportive parents.

I guess I could condense all of this to say that the great club is one where kids have fun, improve as players and human beings, and where players and families are treated with respect by coaches and administrators.

It shouldn't be too hard to find a club like that, right?

I would also add affordability ($$$$) to this list. Another one is clear identity. Unfortunately, most clubs in metro DC area do not represent any particular community and are cookie cutter results of the pay to play model. You have Bethesda teams with kids who live in McLean. Loudoun has kids from Sterling, Arlington has kids from Hernndon, FCV has kids from Haymarket, etc. Aside from uniform colors, there is very little that distinguishes big clubs in terms of identity and, frankly, smaller clubs are not much better.

[Anonymous]

Great coaches who know how to get the best out of their players and turn them into a synchronous unit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great coaches who know how to get the best out of their players and turn them into a synchronous unit.

I think a great coach makes or breaks a team. And all the clubs have great coaches. And all the clubs make major mistakes with regard to hiring.

[Anonymous]

Director of Soccer that is willing to have the buck stop with him.