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Most likely, a U8 coach is not timing subs and tracking time at specific positions. At U8 they play small-sided so the ball is always close by every player and they will all get a lot of touches.
At U9 they move to a larger field (7v7) and its a completely different game... players definitely need to be rotated in 7v7 or they start to become more narrow-minded players and 1-dimensional if only playing the same position.
It's a volunteer / rec coach. Just let your player enjoy the game and sign him up for a training program, which is where he will actually learn skills. You don't learn any new skills during games, especially at U8. Players can't even process spatial information very well at that age and don't really understand positions or roles beyond 1 simple instructional point at a time.
Halfway through the season if your player keeps playing in the exact same position, then mention it in a nice way to the coach. That's all you need to do.
At U9 they move to a larger field (7v7) and its a completely different game... players definitely need to be rotated in 7v7 or they start to become more narrow-minded players and 1-dimensional if only playing the same position.
It's a volunteer / rec coach. Just let your player enjoy the game and sign him up for a training program, which is where he will actually learn skills. You don't learn any new skills during games, especially at U8. Players can't even process spatial information very well at that age and don't really understand positions or roles beyond 1 simple instructional point at a time.
Halfway through the season if your player keeps playing in the exact same position, then mention it in a nice way to the coach. That's all you need to do.
If I had more direct knowledge of the U12 boys DA scene, I'd rank them for you, but I have to say this one is out of my sphere 
When new teams are being formed for U9:
For a boy: Needs a certain level of foot skills and 1v1 ability (relative to other players trying out of course) plus speed of some type (physical speed, speed of play, speed of decisions with the ball, or something). Having 1 other good skill (passing or shooting) is a bonus.
For a girl: Needs some level of foot skills and certain level of attention span, can tolerate physical play, speed is a bonus.
You don't need to over analyze this. At U10 it is much different, though when players have been put through a training curriculum for an entire year.
For a boy: Needs a certain level of foot skills and 1v1 ability (relative to other players trying out of course) plus speed of some type (physical speed, speed of play, speed of decisions with the ball, or something). Having 1 other good skill (passing or shooting) is a bonus.
For a girl: Needs some level of foot skills and certain level of attention span, can tolerate physical play, speed is a bonus.
You don't need to over analyze this. At U10 it is much different, though when players have been put through a training curriculum for an entire year.
For the U13 boy question, I would go DA and just deal with the commute. Being around other good players will really push him to improve, plus hopefully the training is good.
Being on the local club's A team will always be an option, and if he's in DA for a year and for some reason you don't like it, they will take him back with open arms. If the DA a fit, then stay with it. Not every kid as an opportunity to be in a DA program, so if your son has it, try it out for a year and see how it goes.
For the question about an '06 girl - which area teams / coaches would I like?
I believe Arlington Red & White are doing well in this age group. The coach must be doing something right.
I may have mentioned DC Stoddert before... Karen Kelser is working the U11/U12 age groups and she is a very good teacher of the game to both to players and other coaches. I have a lot of respect for her expertise.
Loudon looks good, this fellow Dan Raben (never heard his name before, but read his bio) seems to know what he's doing with Loudon Red, the top team. - http://www.loudounsoccer.com/techstaff/ (scroll to bottom).
The loudon coaches for 06G Red, 06G Black, 06G White, and 06G Silver look pretty good on paper at least.
Mclean - nobody at U11 who I can really say the same track record of any of the people mentioned by name above. Who knows though, I haven't even seen the team in action.
SYA - CAROLYN RICE....If I had a daughter, I'd want her to play for Carolyn.
Bethesda - I think Sam Roos the daughter of Brad Roos. I'm sure she's been around soccer since age 1 and knows what she's doing.
SYC has Harry Okopu coaching the U11 girls, he is the technical director there.
That's about all that stands out to me at the moment.
Let's pretend commute distance is not a factor here - these would be my choices
1. SYA - Carolyn Rice, my #1 choice here.
2. Arlington - Team seems to be doing very, very well
3. Loudon - Quality age group staff coaches across the board, mutiple teams
4. DC Stoddert - Karen Kelser
5. Bethesda - Sam Roos, Bethesda has good girls teams every year
6. Mclean - Just because its McLean which traditionally is decent on the girls side
7. SYC - Technical Director is coaching the U11 girls
Being on the local club's A team will always be an option, and if he's in DA for a year and for some reason you don't like it, they will take him back with open arms. If the DA a fit, then stay with it. Not every kid as an opportunity to be in a DA program, so if your son has it, try it out for a year and see how it goes.
For the question about an '06 girl - which area teams / coaches would I like?
I believe Arlington Red & White are doing well in this age group. The coach must be doing something right.
I may have mentioned DC Stoddert before... Karen Kelser is working the U11/U12 age groups and she is a very good teacher of the game to both to players and other coaches. I have a lot of respect for her expertise.
Loudon looks good, this fellow Dan Raben (never heard his name before, but read his bio) seems to know what he's doing with Loudon Red, the top team. - http://www.loudounsoccer.com/techstaff/ (scroll to bottom).
The loudon coaches for 06G Red, 06G Black, 06G White, and 06G Silver look pretty good on paper at least.
Mclean - nobody at U11 who I can really say the same track record of any of the people mentioned by name above. Who knows though, I haven't even seen the team in action.
SYA - CAROLYN RICE....If I had a daughter, I'd want her to play for Carolyn.
Bethesda - I think Sam Roos the daughter of Brad Roos. I'm sure she's been around soccer since age 1 and knows what she's doing.
SYC has Harry Okopu coaching the U11 girls, he is the technical director there.
That's about all that stands out to me at the moment.
Let's pretend commute distance is not a factor here - these would be my choices
1. SYA - Carolyn Rice, my #1 choice here.
2. Arlington - Team seems to be doing very, very well
3. Loudon - Quality age group staff coaches across the board, mutiple teams
4. DC Stoddert - Karen Kelser
5. Bethesda - Sam Roos, Bethesda has good girls teams every year
6. Mclean - Just because its McLean which traditionally is decent on the girls side
7. SYC - Technical Director is coaching the U11 girls
I had a brief look through NCSL and CCL, and to be fair, there are probably a lot of good coaches out there that do a very good job, but I don't happen to know their name or how good they are.
The 3 coaches/programs that I'd recommend are (in no particular order)
Arlington (Mo Tayari - he is known to be an "intense guy")
DC Stoddert (Karen Kelser & Mandi Casares)
SYA (Mike Jorden)
I'm sure that other clubs with competitive teams year in year out have decent programs, so this is just the tip of the iceberg. This would be my starting point, though.
The 3 coaches/programs that I'd recommend are (in no particular order)
Arlington (Mo Tayari - he is known to be an "intense guy")
DC Stoddert (Karen Kelser & Mandi Casares)
SYA (Mike Jorden)
I'm sure that other clubs with competitive teams year in year out have decent programs, so this is just the tip of the iceberg. This would be my starting point, though.
.
Does DC Stoddert have several teams in your daughter's age group?
If so, contact the coach of the lowest level team to begin with and start there. The next thing to do is ask the coach if there is a GK trainer that he/she recommends.
Every club has a GK trainer somewhere on the staff or who lives close by and gets referrals from the coaches. Karen Kelser knows everyone, she is a good person to ask
Don't be shy about asking - decent goalkeepers are hard to find and GK trainers are always looking for new pupils, so people should be very helpful.
There are likely a few things your daughter has to learn before she steps on the field with a more competitive team and should have someone guiding her, not just be left out on her own to figure out how to play as a more advanced GK. The position is all about confidence.
My recommendation is Billy Warren (I believe he is based in Olney), if he is too far from you, then ask him if he would recommend someone closer to where you are.
He can probably give you some good advice also, as he knows the programs in your area.
(240) 593-9923 - Morningstar Soccer Services
Start with 4 sessions for someone to cover the basics. Then ask them for a progress report to see if she is a fit with the travel team, and if not yet, what she would need to improve on to get there. If she's ready, then great, and keep working with that trainer.
If so, contact the coach of the lowest level team to begin with and start there. The next thing to do is ask the coach if there is a GK trainer that he/she recommends.
Every club has a GK trainer somewhere on the staff or who lives close by and gets referrals from the coaches. Karen Kelser knows everyone, she is a good person to ask
Don't be shy about asking - decent goalkeepers are hard to find and GK trainers are always looking for new pupils, so people should be very helpful.
There are likely a few things your daughter has to learn before she steps on the field with a more competitive team and should have someone guiding her, not just be left out on her own to figure out how to play as a more advanced GK. The position is all about confidence.
My recommendation is Billy Warren (I believe he is based in Olney), if he is too far from you, then ask him if he would recommend someone closer to where you are.
He can probably give you some good advice also, as he knows the programs in your area.
(240) 593-9923 - Morningstar Soccer Services
Start with 4 sessions for someone to cover the basics. Then ask them for a progress report to see if she is a fit with the travel team, and if not yet, what she would need to improve on to get there. If she's ready, then great, and keep working with that trainer.
You can tell very early if a player is excited about playing soccer (or not) - even as young as 5. It helps when the kid has someone that is playing with them at home - sibling, parent, etc. and spending time with them or have a goal in the backyard. Then, when they are around other kids, they get very excited just to play. At age 5, there are some kids that see a soccer ball as something they can "play" with, and other kids look at it as an object from another planet. Soccer is a lot more fun when you know how to do things with the ball - dribble, shoot, etc. And, for some kids, just getting to kick something is fun! Its the only time they are every allowed to kick anything as hard as they can, and be encouraged to do so.
You have to start somewhere... but as a coach looking at players, you can tell as early as 5 which have a natural excitement and which don't yet. It can always be developed though, even with shy or uninterested children if the instructor sets up the right amount of fun and learning for the kids.
How often should a year group change coaches? I see some clubs try to change every year or two.
No magic formula here - soccer development is the same as school... you have a curriculum that you want the kids to master at certain ages that includes different components.
At younger ages, it is about mastering basic skills, developing basic foot skills, small-sided play (1v1-4v4 situations). Some coaches have a lot of experience teaching this and are better with the younger kids.
At older ages it becomes more about decision-making, speed of play, advanced skills, role within a formation, developing physical and mental strength/competitiveness, which is a completely set of concepts to teach. Some coaches are better at working with older players than younger ones.
So it comes down to the coach - some coaches want to stay with their team as it advances through the age groups, which is good experience for the coach, plus he/she knows the players well already. But sometimes the coach will go through trial and error if teaching a new concept or needs to take another level coaching license to understand how to design a particular type of training session. Some clubs make coaches rotate every 2 years - so you would coach a team for U9 and U10, then be reassigned somewhere else, or take on another 2 years with a new U9 team. There's no magic formula, but every coach has their strengths and usually is better with a particular age group than another. So you want your coach to have strong ability in the age group where your player is.
Some of the best coaches at older age groups (even former college coaches) are not all that great when they coach teams of younger players because they expect too much too fast. But they have a reputation to stand on.
Any reason behind why coaches don't start certain players in games? DC rarely starts in games but does end up with a lot of playing time...if that makes sense. Thanks
Most coaches will start what they think are their strongest players in each game. Why? because they think the other team is going to start THEIR strongest lineup, so they don't want to put their lesser developed players out there and have a couple of quick goals scored on the team in the first 10 minutes. Once the flow of the game starts, eventually the opponent's strong players will come out, and the coach will feel a little more confident in putting his lesser developed players into the game without exposing his team.
You never want to match up your least developed players directly with a group of the other team's best lineup... it goes downhill very quickly.
There are a couple of ways to start games:
1. Strongest lineup (the best players in their best positions) - for competitive tournaments or against opponents you know will cream you unless you maximize your team's strengths (not good for long term development, but a good experience once in a while)
2. Semi-strong (best players in rotated/mixed positions) - when playing a strong opponent in a league game, less developed players still play but limited and their weaknesses are counterbalanced by other stronger players on the field
3. Mixed (combination of strong and lesser developed players on the field) - best "default" for most games - this is where you allow your players to really develop more evenly across the board
4. Semi-weak (least developed players in strongest positions) - when playing a lower end team that is equivalent to your lesser developed players (if you have them) - let them play without as much pressure - they can afford to make mistakes and learn from them
5. Weakest lineup (the "least developed players" in their weakest positions) - when playing a team obviously weaker than yourself or that plays in a much lower league, or younger age group scrimmage situation
So the coach probably sees your player as a reliable contributor, but would not be a part of the "best" starting lineup for the team. It just means that your player hasn't proven himself yet as "better" than the other players who are starting. That comes down to what the player is doing in practice in comparison to those other players... coaches take mental notes all of time of how players do in practice. It's impossible for everyone to be on the starting lineup, so it's good that your player is playing a lot. So, you don't need to worry about anything.
What do you think about players from other places who are quite obviously older than the rest of the children playing soccer? (i.e.: teams from some areas are enormous in height and weight, and sometimes look more like adult rugby players, than youth soccer players).
I think you see the disparity more on the boys side, with towering 11 year olds that have mustaches while others are still "little kids". There's not much you can really do about it when teams play each other - can you picture a team of boys all born in January 2006 playing a team of boys all born in December 2006? I'm sure it happens all the time. With pre-teenage boys you have to look at if the speed, skill, and physical level of the game and see if your son is in the right setting. Too easy or too hard, and he won't benefit. And it changes every year as the kids grow.
Eventually it evens out, but from 11-15 or so, you can't compare players by physical ability to see who is "better". you have too look at what they can do with the ball, which is not genetic. A 16 year old super athlete with no ball skills or touch cannot play at a highly competitive U17 team except as a backup goalie.
One of the best ways measure or evaluate players is TIPS (from the Dutch) - Technique, Insight, Personality, Speed.
Not size, strength, or kicking power. Often the 6-foot mustache kid is not developing technique, decision-making, or other elements of soccer because he's getting away with mowing kids over, and its working for now. But that won't work when every other kid also has their growth spurt.
You have to start somewhere... but as a coach looking at players, you can tell as early as 5 which have a natural excitement and which don't yet. It can always be developed though, even with shy or uninterested children if the instructor sets up the right amount of fun and learning for the kids.
How often should a year group change coaches? I see some clubs try to change every year or two.
No magic formula here - soccer development is the same as school... you have a curriculum that you want the kids to master at certain ages that includes different components.
At younger ages, it is about mastering basic skills, developing basic foot skills, small-sided play (1v1-4v4 situations). Some coaches have a lot of experience teaching this and are better with the younger kids.
At older ages it becomes more about decision-making, speed of play, advanced skills, role within a formation, developing physical and mental strength/competitiveness, which is a completely set of concepts to teach. Some coaches are better at working with older players than younger ones.
So it comes down to the coach - some coaches want to stay with their team as it advances through the age groups, which is good experience for the coach, plus he/she knows the players well already. But sometimes the coach will go through trial and error if teaching a new concept or needs to take another level coaching license to understand how to design a particular type of training session. Some clubs make coaches rotate every 2 years - so you would coach a team for U9 and U10, then be reassigned somewhere else, or take on another 2 years with a new U9 team. There's no magic formula, but every coach has their strengths and usually is better with a particular age group than another. So you want your coach to have strong ability in the age group where your player is.
Some of the best coaches at older age groups (even former college coaches) are not all that great when they coach teams of younger players because they expect too much too fast. But they have a reputation to stand on.
Any reason behind why coaches don't start certain players in games? DC rarely starts in games but does end up with a lot of playing time...if that makes sense. Thanks
Most coaches will start what they think are their strongest players in each game. Why? because they think the other team is going to start THEIR strongest lineup, so they don't want to put their lesser developed players out there and have a couple of quick goals scored on the team in the first 10 minutes. Once the flow of the game starts, eventually the opponent's strong players will come out, and the coach will feel a little more confident in putting his lesser developed players into the game without exposing his team.
You never want to match up your least developed players directly with a group of the other team's best lineup... it goes downhill very quickly.
There are a couple of ways to start games:
1. Strongest lineup (the best players in their best positions) - for competitive tournaments or against opponents you know will cream you unless you maximize your team's strengths (not good for long term development, but a good experience once in a while)
2. Semi-strong (best players in rotated/mixed positions) - when playing a strong opponent in a league game, less developed players still play but limited and their weaknesses are counterbalanced by other stronger players on the field
3. Mixed (combination of strong and lesser developed players on the field) - best "default" for most games - this is where you allow your players to really develop more evenly across the board
4. Semi-weak (least developed players in strongest positions) - when playing a lower end team that is equivalent to your lesser developed players (if you have them) - let them play without as much pressure - they can afford to make mistakes and learn from them
5. Weakest lineup (the "least developed players" in their weakest positions) - when playing a team obviously weaker than yourself or that plays in a much lower league, or younger age group scrimmage situation
So the coach probably sees your player as a reliable contributor, but would not be a part of the "best" starting lineup for the team. It just means that your player hasn't proven himself yet as "better" than the other players who are starting. That comes down to what the player is doing in practice in comparison to those other players... coaches take mental notes all of time of how players do in practice. It's impossible for everyone to be on the starting lineup, so it's good that your player is playing a lot. So, you don't need to worry about anything.
What do you think about players from other places who are quite obviously older than the rest of the children playing soccer? (i.e.: teams from some areas are enormous in height and weight, and sometimes look more like adult rugby players, than youth soccer players).
I think you see the disparity more on the boys side, with towering 11 year olds that have mustaches while others are still "little kids". There's not much you can really do about it when teams play each other - can you picture a team of boys all born in January 2006 playing a team of boys all born in December 2006? I'm sure it happens all the time. With pre-teenage boys you have to look at if the speed, skill, and physical level of the game and see if your son is in the right setting. Too easy or too hard, and he won't benefit. And it changes every year as the kids grow.
Eventually it evens out, but from 11-15 or so, you can't compare players by physical ability to see who is "better". you have too look at what they can do with the ball, which is not genetic. A 16 year old super athlete with no ball skills or touch cannot play at a highly competitive U17 team except as a backup goalie.
One of the best ways measure or evaluate players is TIPS (from the Dutch) - Technique, Insight, Personality, Speed.
Not size, strength, or kicking power. Often the 6-foot mustache kid is not developing technique, decision-making, or other elements of soccer because he's getting away with mowing kids over, and its working for now. But that won't work when every other kid also has their growth spurt.
Just email the coach you want to contact and say your player is interested in the team, ask when the next opportunity is for the player to be invited to a tryout, ID day, open training session, practice, or whatever.
Give a short intro about your player as to why his/her ability level is at a level that the coach would be interested in having a look at. That's all you need.
Coaches almost never turn down an opportunity to see a new player, they are always on the lookout for the next big thing and will look through dozens (including your player) to find that one standout. If they like your player along the way, you've got an opportunity.
If they turn you down to even have a look, that coach is a knucklehead because very talented players come can show up out of nowhere just by their parent emailing. A DA coach should be aware of that.
Give a short intro about your player as to why his/her ability level is at a level that the coach would be interested in having a look at. That's all you need.
Coaches almost never turn down an opportunity to see a new player, they are always on the lookout for the next big thing and will look through dozens (including your player) to find that one standout. If they like your player along the way, you've got an opportunity.
If they turn you down to even have a look, that coach is a knucklehead because very talented players come can show up out of nowhere just by their parent emailing. A DA coach should be aware of that.
The players that really lose out in large clubs are the ones that just missed the cutoff in playing for the best coach.
So, if a club has A/B/C/D teams and the same coach works with A&B and the other coach with C&D, you can bet that the A&B coach is better than the C&D one. The sign that a club is well-managed is when the difference in player development ability between the the #1 and #2 age group coaches is extremely small, or both are very good coaches in their own right. Teams at U9-U10 end up merging at U13 to form a single team, so in a decent club, the A/B coach is good and the C/D coach is also pretty good, because when the roster size expands to 18 and the "A" team needs another player or two, the first source of players is the "B" team, so those players need to keep developing. You never know which one of them will end up moving up to A later on from 12-18 years old, and some will, inevitably.
The problem is that good coaches who know their stuff want to coach a club's A/B teams and won't take a coaching position to work with C/D teams. Sometimes a club will just recruit another coach of an older age group within the club to coach C&D since he/she already has a primary team, its extra coaching hours, and they already have a proven reputation so parents know that their kids are being looked after and developed properly, AND that coach is happy and enthusiastic to take on the C&D team as part as their role at the club.
If there is a gap between the quality of coach #1 and #2 in the age group, the best player on C will miss out on a full year of better quality coaching and development progress just by a fraction of a rating on a player evaluation.
The teams should really be divided up according to where the "talent dropoff" is between groups of players, not just ranking them and dividing them into teams.
There are a lot of different ways to do it, some are better than others, and every club has their own way of doing it (there's no one right way to divide players up into teams)
So, if a club has A/B/C/D teams and the same coach works with A&B and the other coach with C&D, you can bet that the A&B coach is better than the C&D one. The sign that a club is well-managed is when the difference in player development ability between the the #1 and #2 age group coaches is extremely small, or both are very good coaches in their own right. Teams at U9-U10 end up merging at U13 to form a single team, so in a decent club, the A/B coach is good and the C/D coach is also pretty good, because when the roster size expands to 18 and the "A" team needs another player or two, the first source of players is the "B" team, so those players need to keep developing. You never know which one of them will end up moving up to A later on from 12-18 years old, and some will, inevitably.
The problem is that good coaches who know their stuff want to coach a club's A/B teams and won't take a coaching position to work with C/D teams. Sometimes a club will just recruit another coach of an older age group within the club to coach C&D since he/she already has a primary team, its extra coaching hours, and they already have a proven reputation so parents know that their kids are being looked after and developed properly, AND that coach is happy and enthusiastic to take on the C&D team as part as their role at the club.
If there is a gap between the quality of coach #1 and #2 in the age group, the best player on C will miss out on a full year of better quality coaching and development progress just by a fraction of a rating on a player evaluation.
The teams should really be divided up according to where the "talent dropoff" is between groups of players, not just ranking them and dividing them into teams.
There are a lot of different ways to do it, some are better than others, and every club has their own way of doing it (there's no one right way to divide players up into teams)
These last 2 posts were mine - hadn't logged in
The 2008's (U9s) are a victim of the age group change from US Soccer last year.
Basically what has happened is that you have players who already played travel soccer (along with training) for a full year who were "held back" for a year at U9.
This has really messed things up, because you have players with a full year of experience mixed in with kids playing travel soccer (and with no advanced training yet) for the first time ever.
Its VERY obvious which players fall into which category when you see them in competitive games.
This favors large clubs because they have more players who are "repeating" U9 when in fact those players "should" be playing U10. I think this happened at Arlington, as one of their teams had a player at the Bethesda Thanksgiving tournament who was executing skills and decisions that aren't even taught to U9s because they don't have that level of spatial-reasoning ability developed yet after 1 season.
At that tournament, there were also girls playing in the U9 (2008) bracket who were dedicated goalkeepers and that you could tell had a lot of training, which doesn't add up for a player in their first season of U9 travel soccer.
Arlington -
1. Red
2. White
3. Blue
4. Black
5. Silver
6. Gold
One coach works with 2 teams.
2008s U9: If your player is not on Red/White, don't go to Arlington for U9. There is a major gap in the level of play between Red/White and the other teams. It will be REALLY hard to make Red/White unless your player is very, very good because players have been held back from playing U10 already with a year of experience.
2007s U10: Excellent coaching staff with Red/White and Blue/Black but I'm sure still very hard to make a good team because of so many players in Arlington, and players "held back" from U11 that played U10 last year.
Bethesda -
2008s U9 - you want to be on Academy Blue. Theres a big gap between Blue and White.
2009s U10 - don't know this age group very well but I would think its a competitive group since bethesda has its act together *most* of the time
Stoddert -
I don't know Stoddert as well at these age groups, but I've heard that U9 is not that competitive, while U10 is better organized.
Basically what has happened is that you have players who already played travel soccer (along with training) for a full year who were "held back" for a year at U9.
This has really messed things up, because you have players with a full year of experience mixed in with kids playing travel soccer (and with no advanced training yet) for the first time ever.
Its VERY obvious which players fall into which category when you see them in competitive games.
This favors large clubs because they have more players who are "repeating" U9 when in fact those players "should" be playing U10. I think this happened at Arlington, as one of their teams had a player at the Bethesda Thanksgiving tournament who was executing skills and decisions that aren't even taught to U9s because they don't have that level of spatial-reasoning ability developed yet after 1 season.
At that tournament, there were also girls playing in the U9 (2008) bracket who were dedicated goalkeepers and that you could tell had a lot of training, which doesn't add up for a player in their first season of U9 travel soccer.
Arlington -
1. Red
2. White
3. Blue
4. Black
5. Silver
6. Gold
One coach works with 2 teams.
2008s U9: If your player is not on Red/White, don't go to Arlington for U9. There is a major gap in the level of play between Red/White and the other teams. It will be REALLY hard to make Red/White unless your player is very, very good because players have been held back from playing U10 already with a year of experience.
2007s U10: Excellent coaching staff with Red/White and Blue/Black but I'm sure still very hard to make a good team because of so many players in Arlington, and players "held back" from U11 that played U10 last year.
Bethesda -
2008s U9 - you want to be on Academy Blue. Theres a big gap between Blue and White.
2009s U10 - don't know this age group very well but I would think its a competitive group since bethesda has its act together *most* of the time
Stoddert -
I don't know Stoddert as well at these age groups, but I've heard that U9 is not that competitive, while U10 is better organized.
At a tryout, each evaluator will have a clipboard or sheet with players names and numbers. There will generally be 4 categories to mark next to each player, either:
TIPS (Technique, Insight, Personality, Speed)
https://www.soccerxpert.com/soccertips/id1201.aspx
or
Technical, Tactical, Physical, Psychological
... or something similar to that.
You could also see something like:
Dribbling
Passing
Shooting
Game Awareness
Speed
Ball Control
Each player is a mix of attributes, so you don't go into the tryout looking for something specific. You just observe the players, and any attribute that really jumps out at you as unusually high gets a positive mark.
Things I personally look for at U9/U10:
What does a player do when they receive the ball
Does the player have the skill and confidence to take players on 1v1
Do they have foot skills, or signs of potential ability to develop foot skills
Can they turn and change directions with the ball quickly
Can they make an accurate pass while under pressure
Can they take 2 players on at once
Are they scoring goals and do they have the desire to score goals
Are they pressuring the other team on defense and do they have a high work rate
Is their speed of play faster or slower relative to the other players on the field
Does the player create plays, or do they slow the game down or lose the ball as a result of mistakes
Players that can do even 1/3 of things well are very easy to spot. Players that can't do any of these well are also easy to spot.
It really comes down to is the player increasing the level of play by being on the field, keeping it at the same level, or lowering it?
TIPS (Technique, Insight, Personality, Speed)
https://www.soccerxpert.com/soccertips/id1201.aspx
or
Technical, Tactical, Physical, Psychological
... or something similar to that.
You could also see something like:
Dribbling
Passing
Shooting
Game Awareness
Speed
Ball Control
Each player is a mix of attributes, so you don't go into the tryout looking for something specific. You just observe the players, and any attribute that really jumps out at you as unusually high gets a positive mark.
Things I personally look for at U9/U10:
What does a player do when they receive the ball
Does the player have the skill and confidence to take players on 1v1
Do they have foot skills, or signs of potential ability to develop foot skills
Can they turn and change directions with the ball quickly
Can they make an accurate pass while under pressure
Can they take 2 players on at once
Are they scoring goals and do they have the desire to score goals
Are they pressuring the other team on defense and do they have a high work rate
Is their speed of play faster or slower relative to the other players on the field
Does the player create plays, or do they slow the game down or lose the ball as a result of mistakes
Players that can do even 1/3 of things well are very easy to spot. Players that can't do any of these well are also easy to spot.
It really comes down to is the player increasing the level of play by being on the field, keeping it at the same level, or lowering it?
Maryland camps - Try out any of the UMBC summer soccer camps or UK Elite.
There are a lot of programs in Maryland to choose from, try different camps and see which ones you (and your player) like.
If your son is one of the top 2-3 on his team, then he should start getting some additional training this spring and try out for a travel team in May/June if he's moving from U8 to U9.
Start asking around about travel programs in your area and additional training this spring.
There are a lot of programs in Maryland to choose from, try different camps and see which ones you (and your player) like.
If your son is one of the top 2-3 on his team, then he should start getting some additional training this spring and try out for a travel team in May/June if he's moving from U8 to U9.
Start asking around about travel programs in your area and additional training this spring.
ASIST tournament -
If a team has been training over the winter 2x per week, then great.
If they have been training outdoors, even better, then go for it.
If a team has been training indoors or minimally over the winter, expect a lower level of play. In the younger age groups U9-U12 it will be evident which teams have been training over the winter and which teams haven't.
Some teams will be ready to play, and some will be completely unprepared because ASIST is so early in the spring.
If a team has been training over the winter 2x per week, then great.
If they have been training outdoors, even better, then go for it.
If a team has been training indoors or minimally over the winter, expect a lower level of play. In the younger age groups U9-U12 it will be evident which teams have been training over the winter and which teams haven't.
Some teams will be ready to play, and some will be completely unprepared because ASIST is so early in the spring.