Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are going to see entire teams leaving big clubs. There is so much dissatisfaction out there and the big clubs don't care. Each player is soley seen as $. They figure if a player leaves because he/she is unhappy-so what--they are the problem--not us. With so many kids in the area they can just plug the spot with the next $.

The personal attention to player development is for the shits. Parents with no prior knowledge of the sport/travel soccer have the wool pulled over their eyes. Those that have moved through the system themselves see it for what it is.

Some of the coaching is truly horrid. The factory style-system is not the way to run things.

It always takes a shake-up/revolt to make change. Some of the best teams in the area came about by reforming elsewhere--branching off and starting with a new club. Some clubs really need a split.

The smugness needs to stop.

Look what happened to the FIFA officials that thought they were untouchable

[Anonymous]

Which club(s) is/are you referring to? You must have one in mind when you're saying this stuff. You can't be referring to all big clubs. You couldn't possibly have personal experience with that many clubs. So you're either referring to one or two clubs or just making very sweeping generalizations based on experience with one or two clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are going to see entire teams leaving big clubs. There is so much dissatisfaction out there and the big clubs don't care. Each player is soley seen as $. They figure if a player leaves because he/she is unhappy-so what--they are the problem--not us. With so many kids in the area they can just plug the spot with the next $.

The personal attention to player development is for the shits. Parents with no prior knowledge of the sport/travel soccer have the wool pulled over their eyes. Those that have moved through the system themselves see it for what it is.

Some of the coaching is truly horrid. The factory style-system is not the way to run things.

It always takes a shake-up/revolt to make change. Some of the best teams in the area came about by reforming elsewhere--branching off and starting with a new club. Some clubs really need a split.

The smugness needs to stop.

If they go as a majority group they can retain their standing in their current league. They don't have to start from the bottom. They just have to be accepted by a club that already has a team playing in the league. Smaller clubs with just 1 team in a league would love to add an additional one so its not as insurmountable as the clubs would have you believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are going to see entire teams leaving big clubs. There is so much dissatisfaction out there and the big clubs don't care. Each player is soley seen as $. They figure if a player leaves because he/she is unhappy-so what--they are the problem--not us. With so many kids in the area they can just plug the spot with the next $.

The personal attention to player development is for the shits. Parents with no prior knowledge of the sport/travel soccer have the wool pulled over their eyes. Those that have moved through the system themselves see it for what it is.

Some of the coaching is truly horrid. The factory style-system is not the way to run things.

It always takes a shake-up/revolt to make change. Some of the best teams in the area came about by reforming elsewhere--branching off and starting with a new club. Some clubs really need a split.

The smugness needs to stop.

If they go as a majority group they can retain their standing in their current league. They don't have to start from the bottom. They just have to be accepted by a club that already has a team playing in the league. Smaller clubs with just 1 team in a league would love to add an additional one so its not as insurmountable as the clubs would have you believe.[/quote

Seriously, soccer is just like every sport and costs less in DC Metro than any where we have lived, yet DC Metro costs 10 x's more than any city we have lived. Travel soccer consists of many hours traveling to games via car or plane starting at U9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are going to see entire teams leaving big clubs. There is so much dissatisfaction out there and the big clubs don't care. Each player is soley seen as $. They figure if a player leaves because he/she is unhappy-so what--they are the problem--not us. With so many kids in the area they can just plug the spot with the next $.

The personal attention to player development is for the shits. Parents with no prior knowledge of the sport/travel soccer have the wool pulled over their eyes. Those that have moved through the system themselves see it for what it is.

Some of the coaching is truly horrid. The factory style-system is not the way to run things.

It always takes a shake-up/revolt to make change. Some of the best teams in the area came about by reforming elsewhere--branching off and starting with a new club. Some clubs really need a split.

The smugness needs to stop.

If they go as a majority group they can retain their standing in their current league. They don't have to start from the bottom. They just have to be accepted by a club that already has a team playing in the league. Smaller clubs with just 1 team in a league would love to add an additional one so its not as insurmountable as the clubs would have you believe.[/quote

Seriously, soccer is just like every sport and costs less in DC Metro than any where we have lived, yet DC Metro costs 10 x's more than any city we have lived. Travel soccer consists of many hours traveling to games via car or plane starting at U9.

U9 plane travel? You've got to ditch that club. No reason for that.

[Anonymous]

If rather plane travel to a tournament in Florida than drive

[Anonymous]

I'd rather plane travel to a tournament in Florida than drive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather plane travel to a tournament in Florida than drive

I think they are questioning the need for that at age 9. A 9-year old does not need to fly from DC-FL to find competition.

[Anonymous]

Living in SC my sons club team played two tournaments in Florida in consecutive seasons so we did drive.

Living in PA my sons club team plays in tournament in OH, KY, NY, IN and have teams come from Canada to play

[Anonymous]

I should add NJ to the list as well

[Anonymous]

It's U9! We're talking about 8-year-olds! Why are you flying to Florida??!!

If you're going on a Disney vacation and just happen to be playing a couple of games, fine. Other than that, this is delusional.

[Anonymous]

I had no idea how difficult it was to get placed on a decent (read WAGS, CCL, VPL) travel team in this area at u10(g). Just endured tryout season at two major VA clubs and got an eyeful. Both clubs seemed intent on keeping all of their u9 players on the top teams with no real change (assuming politics are playing a major role here). One club even structured the tryout in a way such that the top three teams didn't even tryout on the same fields with the unwashed masses, unless a coach specifically selected one or two to move to the "field of dreams." At both, it didn't seem to matter if the new kids showed more technical ability, speed, drive, <insert your favorite player attributes here> than some (or many) of the established kids. I got a strong sense that if a girl didn't show far superior skills, hands down above all existing players, forget it. Or, better yet, at the same cost, join our ODSL team which plays at a level on par with Rec.

Is this common throughout the area or was this just a warped, bad experience?

Note, I just want my kid to progress. I have no illusions about her being the top player in her age group, but I've played and watched a lot of soccer and she's not Rec/5th travel team material either. It's very hard to improve when you play with/against kids that are not nearly at the same skill level, at least in my experience. This makes it even harder for the next tryout in a year. Any recommended strategies/professional training programs that we can use to supplement our next year of Rec level play?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea how difficult it was to get placed on a decent (read WAGS, CCL, VPL) travel team in this area at u10(g). Just endured tryout season at two major VA clubs and got an eyeful. Both clubs seemed intent on keeping all of their u9 players on the top teams with no real change (assuming politics are playing a major role here). One club even structured the tryout in a way such that the top three teams didn't even tryout on the same fields with the unwashed masses, unless a coach specifically selected one or two to move to the "field of dreams." At both, it didn't seem to matter if the new kids showed more technical ability, speed, drive, <insert your favorite player attributes here> than some (or many) of the established kids. I got a strong sense that if a girl didn't show far superior skills, hands down above all existing players, forget it. Or, better yet, at the same cost, join our ODSL team which plays at a level on par with Rec.

Is this common throughout the area or was this just a warped, bad experience?

Note, I just want my kid to progress. I have no illusions about her being the top player in her age group, but I've played and watched a lot of soccer and she's not Rec/5th travel team material either. It's very hard to improve when you play with/against kids that are not nearly at the same skill level, at least in my experience. This makes it even harder for the next tryout in a year. Any recommended strategies/professional training programs that we can use to supplement our next year of Rec level play?

Which 2 clubs? If she is going to be 5th- I am assuming she would be trying out for a U-11 team? 3rd graders/rising 4th are U-10; 4th grade/rising 5th are mostly U-11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea how difficult it was to get placed on a decent (read WAGS, CCL, VPL) travel team in this area at u10(g). Just endured tryout season at two major VA clubs and got an eyeful. Both clubs seemed intent on keeping all of their u9 players on the top teams with no real change (assuming politics are playing a major role here). One club even structured the tryout in a way such that the top three teams didn't even tryout on the same fields with the unwashed masses, unless a coach specifically selected one or two to move to the "field of dreams." At both, it didn't seem to matter if the new kids showed more technical ability, speed, drive, <insert your favorite player attributes here> than some (or many) of the established kids. I got a strong sense that if a girl didn't show far superior skills, hands down above all existing players, forget it. Or, better yet, at the same cost, join our ODSL team which plays at a level on par with Rec.

Is this common throughout the area or was this just a warped, bad experience?

Note, I just want my kid to progress. I have no illusions about her being the top player in her age group, but I've played and watched a lot of soccer and she's not Rec/5th travel team material either. It's very hard to improve when you play with/against kids that are not nearly at the same skill level, at least in my experience. This makes it even harder for the next tryout in a year. Any recommended strategies/professional training programs that we can use to supplement our next year of Rec level play?

Which 2 clubs? If she is going to be 5th- I am assuming she would be trying out for a U-11 team? 3rd graders/rising 4th are U-10; 4th grade/rising 5th are mostly U-11.

This area/Northern VA is tough. There are so many kids playing the sport. It comes down to a numbers game. People outside the DC Metro area are often shocked. I know some really great players that don't make it the first or second time around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had no idea how difficult it was to get placed on a decent (read WAGS, CCL, VPL) travel team in this area at u10(g). Just endured tryout season at two major VA clubs and got an eyeful. Both clubs seemed intent on keeping all of their u9 players on the top teams with no real change (assuming politics are playing a major role here). One club even structured the tryout in a way such that the top three teams didn't even tryout on the same fields with the unwashed masses, unless a coach specifically selected one or two to move to the "field of dreams." At both, it didn't seem to matter if the new kids showed more technical ability, speed, drive, <insert your favorite player attributes here> than some (or many) of the established kids. I got a strong sense that if a girl didn't show far superior skills, hands down above all existing players, forget it. Or, better yet, at the same cost, join our ODSL team which plays at a level on par with Rec.

Is this common throughout the area or was this just a warped, bad experience?

Note, I just want my kid to progress. I have no illusions about her being the top player in her age group, but I've played and watched a lot of soccer and she's not Rec/5th travel team material either. It's very hard to improve when you play with/against kids that are not nearly at the same skill level, at least in my experience. This makes it even harder for the next tryout in a year. Any recommended strategies/professional training programs that we can use to supplement our next year of Rec level play?

Which 2 clubs? If she is going to be 5th- I am assuming she would be trying out for a U-11 team? 3rd graders/rising 4th are U-10; 4th grade/rising 5th are mostly U-11.

She's a rising u10 player, 9yo going into 4th grade next year.