It's kind of lame that DC can't accommodate a World Cup game, but Baltimore can. It's even more lame that we pretend that "we" will host a game in DC when Baltimore is a city in its own right. But at least we may have some games in Philly and Baltimore within driving distance.

https://wtop.com/soccer/2022/06/washington-gets-help-from-baltimore-in-world-cup-pursuit/

SoccerSkeptic wrote:There are so many factors. Which one is the closest, do you prefer one coach over the other, how good is the team, etc. All other things being equal, I'd do ECNL-R as long as it isn't Vilarreal and possibly new clubs joining next year. For 2008s in ECNL-R, Vilarreal is terrible and Stafford isn't good (but I'm guessing that isn't one of the teams you are considering). The others a pretty competitive with each other. Not too sure about new teams joining. The good thing about ECNL-R is all the league games are within northern virginia.

+1 All things being equal, my understanding is that ECNL-R may be a higher level of competition than NCSL; also a B team in ECNL-R is likely going to face stiffer challenges than a C team in NCSL. But that's all things being equal ... the coach and club distance certainly are major factors to consider as well.

novasoccer15324 wrote:the SYC parents were going crazy most of the game as far as I could tell

So in other words, a typical SYC game lol

DCpetunia wrote:This doesn't always work, BTW. DD did this, this year. Asked to practice with the team; did so every week or 6-7 weeks before tryout. Kept asking coach if ok to keep practicing, coach said yes, told her what to work on, said she was in the mix for a spot, come to tryouts. I didn't get too involved - didn't want to be a pushy parent. Ttryouts came, DD went to all sessions, tried out with the same team (club has 4 teams at her age group - 2007), wasn't moved down to a team lower than the one she practiced with. Tryouts ended 2 weeks ago, haven't heard a thing.

I suspect the worst. And maybe I should have forced the issue and asked for a more detailed assesment of her prior to tryouts. But also feel like the coach should have indicted if she wasn't really "in the mix" for a spot. I get that it is competitive, and they might not want to commit before the tryout in case a better player shows up. But come on, to go through all of that, not be pushy, and get no indication that she wouldn't make it, keep being invited back, then nothing at all? Unprofessional in my view. At least be clear that she would have a tough time making the team.

But let me know if I read it wrong, or handled it wrong.

I'm fairly certain that most clubs will let you know either way -- whether a player is offered a place on a team or not -- so maybe they are still working through the process; or maybe something got lost in the shuffle. I'd give them a friendly call to gently inquire as to when you might receive an answer.

DCUdad wrote:This is not true. DCU academy will have U14, U15 and U17 teams next year.

Why does DCU have a U15 and U17 year but no U16 team? That just seems odd.

Big if true. But I haven't heard anything about that other that this post.

Don't be too sure about getting "unlimited playing time" at the smaller club. Many clubs still try to allocate roughly equal playing time to kids at U10/U11. Even if your kid is the best one on the team, he/she may end up playing no more than any other kid on the team.

C3PO wrote:My 14 year old son has had what seems to me an insane amount of injuries during soccer over the past year. He has broken a bone, got a concussion, fractured a growth plate, and had some horrible bruises. Is this just what soccer is? Or is something wrong? My sport growing up was baseball, so I don't really know.

Sorry to hear that. I am curious - how long has he been playing soccer, and what kind of team is he playing for (high school? travel club? rec?). I suppose a broken bone and a concussion are incidents of bad luck (I broke my wrist playing football in high school; and I don't think folks were as tuned-in to the issue of concussions back then, I may have had one of those as well). The fractured growth plate thing I am not familiar with. Bruises do seem to come with the game.

My oldest soccer playing kid is 15 and has had the bruises but that's about it. I'm curious what other people's experience has been.

One of my boys played Super Y soccer at that age group last summer, and will do so again this summer. He enjoyed it.

The level of competition was higher than what you find in a typical rec-league; most of the players seem to be kids who play for travel teams during the fall/spring and want to keep playing during the summer. Of course, since there are a mix of players from different teams/clubs that come together to form Super Y teams, there isn't the same team-cohesion and so overall team play is probably not at the same high level as you find in most travel teams by the end of the spring season.

Invariably, some kids will be missing practices/games because of family vacations (the rosters are oversized to compensate for this) so that also plays a role in overall team cohesion.

Nonetheless, I found it to be a worthwhile experience for kids who really love soccer and want to play during the summer. I try to think of it as a substitute for playing pickup games (which isn't really an option these days) -- a few practices a week, and one game a week, so about 4-5 hours of soccer per week.

You didn't mention anything about your view of the coaches at Club B.

My first impression after reading through your list of pros/cons is that they're both good options, but I'd go with Club B.

- Having his best friend on the same team will be fun for your son;
- being able to carpool to practices/games will be nice for you; and
- 3 practices a week will give him more touches on the ball, which you seem to recognize is a good thing.

I would completely ignore anything about "loyalty" -- this is kids' sports and not that big of a deal. (Some of my kids play for one club, while some of them play for another club that's a better fit for them ... it's not a big deal at either club.) My kids don't go to school with any of the kids on their travel soccer teams, so that's not a big deal either. People move around a lot anyway in this area.

They both sounds like good options, but the fact that you don't really care for the coach at Club A was a big factor in my analysis.

Sheesh ... another layer of "elite" this or that? As if youth soccer wasn't already confusing enough lol.

UnidentifiedFlyingOboe wrote:What would you do in my place? Continue or stop travel soccer? TIA

I was in your position not so long ago, although my son was doing better academically than your son seems to be (not boasting, just providing a reference, he gets mostly straight As).

He ended up stopping travel soccer and played soccer for his high school instead, which he enjoyed. He also played a second sport in the spring (track) which he enjoyed less, but it was something new and a learning experience for him. (He didn't tryout for the basketball team during the winter, but in retrospect he says he wish he had and he might next year).

My son has decided to play house soccer with his former travel club during the spring, to keep his soccer skills up (with an eye toward next fall's high school soccer season) but has pretty much hung up his travel soccer cleats for good.

While it was his choice, I did gently nudge him in this direction and I think it worked out for the best. He made a bunch of new friends in high school through sports, and I think he enjoys representing his school on the field. I have fond memories of playing high school sports as well, so I'm glad that he's getting to experience it.

I think it's admirable that your son wants to keep up the commitment to his travel team, however, there are definitely other ways to look at it, such as, his school could benefit from him putting his soccer skills to work to represent his school on the field, etc. At some point, kids are going to split off down their own paths, and it doesn't mean he's a quitter or abandoning his teammates; things change year to year and it will be fine.

In the end, while that's how I would guide him, you want the decision to be his (so long as you're still wiling to pay for travel soccer) because otherwise, he'll complain about it (welcome to being a parent of a teenager lol).

Good luck!

This forum used to be lively and full of discussion when it was open/anon. While I understand that the change to require people create user accounts was well-intentioned (and I went along with it without complaint), I can't see any way to sugarcoat it --- it's been a complete failure. The board is dead. For whatever reason, it's just a step that people don't care to take; perhaps it's general laziness or perhaps it has to do with not wanting to create a pattern of posts that would allow others to guess at who their kid is (because mostly this has been a forum for parents of soccer players) but the reason is sort of irrelevant. The result is that the board is dead.

Even during the height of soccer season, there is basically zero discussion of anything. And it's a negative feedback loop: people stop visiting because there are fewer interesting posts to read; less people visiting means fewer people to potentially post new threads or comments to existing threads; etc.

It's true that people can post annoying or insulting things here on occasion, I had been following the board for a few years and never really saw anything egregious. There are many other forums on this website (e.g., check out some of the public school forums!) that face the same issues but do not require users create login accounts. Was this one really that bad?

In any case, I'm respectfully putting this out there so that the admin(s) can consider it. It's just a bummer to lose what used to be a lively forum for soccer in the DC metro area.

Anonymous wrote:We’re a new family at an area Catholic School in Archdiocese of Arlington and just found out that school doesn’t start next fall till after Labor Day!! In prior years, school started third week of August. I’ve asked why, but no clear answer was given. Is this normal now? Is the archdiocese reducing school days by 2 weeks?? Why?

All real Americans know that school should always start after Labor Day. August is peak summer.

Your daughter sounds like she'll be similarly situated to most of her peers trying out for soccer this spring. Every club and coach has their own way of doing things, but after going through tryouts with my kids over the years the best advice I have is to just tell your daughter to listen carefully to the coaches and demonstrate that she's mature and willing to listen/learn; and of course, to try her best and put in the effort or "work rate" at whatever drills the coaches are having the kids do at tryouts. Showing that she's well-behaved, eager to learn, and hard-working is the most important thing at this age, where most kids are trying out for their first competitive soccer team.

In terms of the drills, I've seen the "rondo" drill where one player is in the middle trying to intercept the ball while 4 or 5 other players try to complete passes through the center of the circle; there will probably be some brief 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 matchups; some passing drills; etc. During the course of the tryout the coaches will start to sift the kids into different groups of similar skill which is how they end up narrowing things down to the first team, second team, etc.

Good luck as you start your journey in kids' travel soccer. Enjoy it and have fun!