Feedback on ARL girls travel program
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Anonymous
| DD has been playing soccer for ASA from Je academy and we are considering trying out for Arl next season. Can't say we are happy about coaching decisions or way program is run - the practices don't seem to address why we always get blown out in every game. She's on White but they flip her back and forth on white/red but will not let her be on reds roster/practice although they always send her to red scrimmages. It's all very demoralizing and confusion for DD as they keep telling her she's good but then pull her back. What's ARL club like? |
Anonymous
| WELCOME TO ARLINGTON |
Anonymous
Is she already on white team? And thinking of trying out? |
Anonymous
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1: white team is the stepchild. team losing is not surprising. 2: you should be happy she could play for red. 3: apparently she is not good enough in red yet, there is no confusion about it. 4: you could always decline to play for red. You have every chance. |
Anonymous
| I would have a discussion with her and try to change her perspective. Instead of being demoralizing think of it as an opportunity. Come on she’s playing on one of the top two teams… |
Anonymous
|
Well there’s that gap between the top team and 2nd team in every club. Their 2nd team plays in CCL and for the most part blow everyone away in the games. They usually have a couple of tough games but nothing more. The fact that they pulling her to practice could be she’s good and they keeping an eye on her and likely will move her up to red when there’s a spot/ opportunity. If she’s a clear cut obvious they will move her at the following year (hardly move anyone mid-year) usually.
It comes down to if your daughter likes it or not. We are happy with our team (both the parents and the kids) we are happy with the coaches and all. I can’t say the same about some of my friends who have kids on different teams with different coaches. Honestly the travel soccer gives us some sanity during the pandemic. I don’t know how my kiddo would have survived last year without it. |
Anonymous
maybe. I had a kid in a different program in a similar situation and it's miserable for the kid, especially if they are playing well for the higher team in games. The can see that they are better than kids on the higher team, and kids on the higher team can see the same thing. The club wouldn't make a promotion mid season, so the kid got stuck between two teams. They offered the high team after the season, but DD hated the club by that point so we moved on. |
Anonymous
| Mixed messaging sucks for both kid and parent! Why coaches think it is ok to do is ridiculous. |
Anonymous
There’s so much variable here, including if she’s about to move to an older age where there’s even more team separation, or younger. If younger, then consider if she’d start on the white team and play majority of those minutes vs some less playing time on higher roster. Do the practice times conflict for your teams which makes more understandable why they wouldn’t send DD to red practices, or would she have an extra practice with red which might be more doable? Consider talking with the coach and asking what they’re hoping to see her work on. Age will also determine where she’s going to end up in the ARL system, or staying with ASA. If she’s a 2009 or 2011, then next year rosters expand and there might be openings for her on the Red team at ASA. Age will also tell you how you’re going to find placement at ARL or anywhere else, how good are those teams she’ll be competing to make? Is DD competitive in the game against the ARL white team in her bracket? They have a couple really talented younger teams which leads to fairly talented 2nd & 3rd teams on relative basis. Kids develop and improve from those levels to the top team all the time as they grow, work on their own, whatever. Good luck - hope your DD finds a place she enjoys. |
Anonymous
| In the end, it's about results, but those results also put their girls in great D1 programs. |
Anonymous
Lol no. Getting a NT call up gets you to a great D1 program. Switching between the top of the 2nd team and the bottom of the 1st really does nothing. Usually the top 4 of the 2nd team are interchangeable with the bottom 1/2 of the first team. |
Anonymous
I think you're having a difficult time reading my sentence of seventeen words. I'll expand on it: Arlington Soccer has a primary focus on results; while they still dedicate time and effort to develop a player's game, it's about results in the end. This model makes it difficult for some players, but it's been really effective for others, as Arlington Soccer routinely puts girls in great D1 soccer programs. |
Anonymous
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Some of the recent commitments:
George Washington, UNCG, Syracuse, Georgetown, American, Syracuse again. |
Anonymous
There also are clubs that put less emphasis on results and prioritize development over results and also routinely put girls into great D1 soccer programs. IMO, for the OP, if its results/wins you want, then sounds like ARL is a better fit. But it is just moving from one model to another that is similar in terms of the pool system. If you think that movement is disruptive, request to have your kid stay on whatever "color" she is at in the beginning of the season for the duration or look for other alternatives, like bridge teams or smaller travel programs that don't have player movement like that. But if she is at 7v7 or 9v9 maybe hang on and once the # of field players increase see if she gets moved ot the higher color--maybe that is what they are planning to do. Ask them. |
Anonymous
| Back to the original topic. What does your DD want to get out of soccer? Usually, it ends up as either socially focused or competition focused. If it’s mostly social, local is probably better. If it’s competitive, this forum has all sorts of opinions. |