Anonymous wrote:No. I assume they're responsible people. They're all European, lefty Americans or Asian. I don't think any of them have a gun in their home. I may be the closest to gun-ownership, since I come from a European family who hunts.

guess what. there was an accidental shooting at my son's friend's house last fall that tragically injured another child and the mother is european. Stop with your bias...

As kids are getting older and closer to graduating high school we're looking to sell our house in NOVA and settle in the Annapolis area. I'm from DE/Eastern Shore and I loved being close to the water but do not have an interest in buying at a beach. Our dream is to have a destination, the waterfront that our kids and grandkids would want to visit. Any recommended neighborhoods on or near the Severn river?

DD is 12 y/o, in 6th grade (first year of middle school), and was unfortunately funneled to a different middle school from her best friends. They stayed in touch initially but as time has passed, the distance is growing. She tries to reach out and I try to remain superficially in touch with the moms and I try so positive for her and say things like "Teenagers are out of sight out of mind so it's not you", etc. I keep encouraging her to initiate and sure enough, the responses are not very engaging. She will send a group text and ask if anyone wants to hang out after school, no one responds and then she'll see on social media/snap chat that some of them were together. She's trying really hard to reach out and forge new relationships at her new middle school and while she's not being bullied or anything tragic, nothing seems to be evolving to anything substantial.

The second area is she's had so many rejections this year. She is a middle-of-the-road athlete (late bloomer) in all sports but is really coming into her own. For 6th grade, she was cut from her middle school soccer team (but made callbacks), basketball team (but made callbacks), AAU basketball team, and now travel soccer (but made callbacks). We live in a really competitive area and I realize the sports she is trying out for are very competitive.

I'm struggling with how to remain positive and upbeat for her. I keep telling her she'll find her path and her tribe and use examples of my friendships but she's losing hope. any insight is appreciated.

I'm just curious -why doesn't Arlington structure the soccer similar to Mclean. For example, why are returning players guaranteed a spot and newcomers who are potentially better than existing players left with fewer options. Seems paradoxical and not great for the organization to keep mediocre existing players over new stronger players. We just moved to the area, and I've seen a few girls on the lower teams and my daughter who is defense appears much stronger. Wish I know how challenging this process is because I would have insisted, she try out for a different league.

same experience for our daughter. she was pulled out and put on highest performance field. Please post if you get an update and I'll do the same. I wonder if they need more time to determine if current players are returning and how many spots they actually have. My daughter is a defensive player, so I think she's at a slight disadvantage considering there are fewer positions available.

OP, any word? We are now assuming we didn’t get a call back. It’s strange because my husband said my daughter did great and he’s not one to give compliments

My daughter tried out for the 13U and she had a pretty strong showing. She was told they would hear something in 1-3 days and we have not heard anything either. I'm actually getting concerned they're going to schedule a callback over the weekend which we can't do. Hope that isn't the case.

Anonymous wrote:DD is going into the 8th grade and has been playing club volleyball and is apart of the first team for a respected club team. She really wants to continue to play volleyball for a HS team. What schools should we put at the top of the list to consider during this upcoming admissions season?

I'd suggest your next step be looking into a travel team before deciding on a specific school. Travel VB is quite different than rec and she may learn she doesn't love it as much as she thought once she gets on a travel team.

DD is 12 y/o and is aging out of ADP this year. We've never pursued ASA travel mainly because we wanted her to play other sports. It was suggested that she try out for multiple organizations which is why we also registered for Mclean tryouts. Any thoughts about the differences in the organizations? Can anyone give me insight and/or recs for the best path for someone entering the travel world this late? We're prepared she may not make any team.