Soccer Coach in Northern VA - Ask me anything

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[Post New]02/22/2017 00:47
quote
Anonymous
Coach here, not logged in. Can you provide a link and Ill look it over.
[Post New]02/22/2017 06:49
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
I'll only recommend camps that I have direct experience with that I can say are quality -

#1 - Soccer Academy
#2 - Golden Boot Soccer

There are many others in the area but I can't say how good they are one way or another since I don't have experience with them.


Hey, thanks for the recommendation, AMA Soccer Coach! We value referrals from our players and parents, but shout-outs from fellow professionals mean a lot to us as well.

- Amanda in the Golden Boot Soccer office


I'll send a shout out to GB, as well. I have two boys, one is a lower-end travel player who enjoys the game, but doesn't have a lot of passion or work ethic. The other is at the high-end of the spectrum with insane passion and a strong work ethic. Both have done Golden Boot camps in the past two years and both had great experiences. I really felt like there was good value in what I paid for both kids. All of the staff I interacted with were fantastic.
[Post New]02/22/2017 08:56
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
I'll only recommend camps that I have direct experience with that I can say are quality -

#1 - Soccer Academy
#2 - Golden Boot Soccer

There are many others in the area but I can't say how good they are one way or another since I don't have experience with them.


Hey, thanks for the recommendation, AMA Soccer Coach! We value referrals from our players and parents, but shout-outs from fellow professionals mean a lot to us as well.

- Amanda in the Golden Boot Soccer office


I'll send a shout out to GB, as well. I have two boys, one is a lower-end travel player who enjoys the game, but doesn't have a lot of passion or work ethic. The other is at the high-end of the spectrum with insane passion and a strong work ethic. Both have done Golden Boot camps in the past two years and both had great experiences. I really felt like there was good value in what I paid for both kids. All of the staff I interacted with were fantastic.


Wrong. I manage a 4th-grade baseball team and coach on a travel ballclub, and you can't serve both the lazy kids an dthe "high-end of the spectrum" (WTH does that mean? Just say "talented"). A smart program serves the top end kids, and then gets the rec kids to pay tuition to help the travel team. One drill I use in tryouts is to have my top pitchers practice brushback pitches against the kids who are going to get cut anyway. You're not risking any of your depth while you train your staff to own every inch of the strike zone (and a couple of inches off the plate as well!).

IN soccer, then, you could take your backup travel kids and have them practice against say fifteen rec kids (11 in soccer, right?). It's like when the best women's basketball programs would get a bunch of men to practice against them--the men were much better and the women had to step up their game. You can't use your own older travel team to "play down" for the purpose of the younger travel team, but if you stack the numbers (and say shorten the rec pitcher's distance to the plate) you can simulate stepped-up competition for the travel kid backups you're trying to develop.

Give a shout, Coach, if you want other advice.
[Post New]02/22/2017 09:09
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
I'll only recommend camps that I have direct experience with that I can say are quality -

#1 - Soccer Academy
#2 - Golden Boot Soccer

There are many others in the area but I can't say how good they are one way or another since I don't have experience with them.


Hey, thanks for the recommendation, AMA Soccer Coach! We value referrals from our players and parents, but shout-outs from fellow professionals mean a lot to us as well.

- Amanda in the Golden Boot Soccer office


I'll send a shout out to GB, as well. I have two boys, one is a lower-end travel player who enjoys the game, but doesn't have a lot of passion or work ethic. The other is at the high-end of the spectrum with insane passion and a strong work ethic. Both have done Golden Boot camps in the past two years and both had great experiences. I really felt like there was good value in what I paid for both kids. All of the staff I interacted with were fantastic.


Wrong. I manage a 4th-grade baseball team and coach on a travel ballclub, and you can't serve both the lazy kids an dthe "high-end of the spectrum" (WTH does that mean? Just say "talented"). A smart program serves the top end kids, and then gets the rec kids to pay tuition to help the travel team. One drill I use in tryouts is to have my top pitchers practice brushback pitches against the kids who are going to get cut anyway. You're not risking any of your depth while you train your staff to own every inch of the strike zone (and a couple of inches off the plate as well!).

IN soccer, then, you could take your backup travel kids and have them practice against say fifteen rec kids (11 in soccer, right?). It's like when the best women's basketball programs would get a bunch of men to practice against them--the men were much better and the women had to step up their game. You can't use your own older travel team to "play down" for the purpose of the younger travel team, but if you stack the numbers (and say shorten the rec pitcher's distance to the plate) you can simulate stepped-up competition for the travel kid backups you're trying to develop.

Give a shout, Coach, if you want other advice.


The first paragraph here seems like obvious parody. But I'm not sure about the second.
[Post New]02/22/2017 13:27
quote
asksoccernova
Member Offline
To whoever posted the "Wrong" comment:

Have you ever even played or coached soccer before? It really doesn't sound like it since you have to make a parallel to baseball as your example.

We are talking about summer camps, not a select team. If you have an axe to grind, grind it elsewhere.

Reading your comment lowers the credibility of your advice to zero because it reflects zero knowledge of the sport or how youth soccer even works.




If you have a summer camp (lets say 30-50 kids), typically the groups are broken up by age on the first day of camp.

Any players who are much more physically developed for their age group or advanced in skill and ability will get moved up to the next higher group.
Players who are obviously new to soccer, are purely recreational players that haven't had any training yet, or if for some reason are very emotionally sensitive may be moved down to the next youngest age group if its a better fit for them.




[Post New]02/23/2017 09:12
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Coach here, not logged in. Can you provide a link and Ill look it over.


Thanks. They would be very convenient- i.e. easy drive and kid is a 3 grader- development stuff.

http://www.dcyouthfutbolclub.org
[Post New]02/25/2017 22:46
quote
asksoccernova
Member Offline
The program looks fine to me - no red flags.

It looks to serve kids that are anywhere from:

New to soccer
Recreational level
"Academy" level (recreational kids that want to train in order to improve)
Travel "lite" - kids that can compete at the level of play available in and around the DC metro area
[Post New]02/28/2017 22:11
quote
Anonymous
Arlington ASIST tournament, What say you?
[Post New]03/01/2017 08:26
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Arlington ASIST tournament, What say you?


No different than any other tournament. Mainly other CCL teams at this one--quid pro quo. They'll return the favor at the McLean tournament in a couple weeks.

Better competition at Bethesda (more selective) and MD tournaments (higher quality of teams).

Hosts tend to play down a bracket to snag wins.
[Post New]03/01/2017 10:29
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Arlington ASIST tournament, What say you?


No different than any other tournament. Mainly other CCL teams at this one--quid pro quo. They'll return the favor at the McLean tournament in a couple weeks.

Better competition at Bethesda (more selective) and MD tournaments (higher quality of teams).

Hosts tend to play down a bracket to snag wins.


WTF do you want at U9-U12 for a tournament? You clearly put way to much stock into the tournaments.
[Post New]03/01/2017 12:46
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Arlington ASIST tournament, What say you?


No different than any other tournament. Mainly other CCL teams at this one--quid pro quo. They'll return the favor at the McLean tournament in a couple weeks.

Better competition at Bethesda (more selective) and MD tournaments (higher quality of teams).

Hosts tend to play down a bracket to snag wins.


WTF do you want at U9-U12 for a tournament? You clearly put way to much stock into the tournaments.


Dude, I'm not the one that asked the question. Fwiw--it's much better run and organized than the McLean one.
[Post New]03/01/2017 13:07
quote
Anonymous
I know you're northern va, but do you have any suggestions for summer camps for U8 boy in Maryland (preferably Anne Arundel or Howard Counties)?
He's only done rec/county teams so far, but he loves it and is consistently one of the top 2 or 3 on his team (but not the tippy top "woah he's amazing" standout)
[Post New]03/01/2017 13:21
quote
Anonymous
Are you Sarah Frazier's "Dan"?
[Post New]03/02/2017 07:32
quote
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
I'll only recommend camps that I have direct experience with that I can say are quality -

#1 - Soccer Academy
#2 - Golden Boot Soccer

There are many others in the area but I can't say how good they are one way or another since I don't have experience with them.


Hey, thanks for the recommendation, AMA Soccer Coach! We value referrals from our players and parents, but shout-outs from fellow professionals mean a lot to us as well.

- Amanda in the Golden Boot Soccer office


I'll send a shout out to GB, as well. I have two boys, one is a lower-end travel player who enjoys the game, but doesn't have a lot of passion or work ethic. The other is at the high-end of the spectrum with insane passion and a strong work ethic. Both have done Golden Boot camps in the past two years and both had great experiences. I really felt like there was good value in what I paid for both kids. All of the staff I interacted with were fantastic.


Wrong. I manage a 4th-grade baseball team and coach on a travel ballclub, and you can't serve both the lazy kids an dthe "high-end of the spectrum" (WTH does that mean? Just say "talented"). A smart program serves the top end kids, and then gets the rec kids to pay tuition to help the travel team. One drill I use in tryouts is to have my top pitchers practice brushback pitches against the kids who are going to get cut anyway. You're not risking any of your depth while you train your staff to own every inch of the strike zone (and a couple of inches off the plate as well!).

IN soccer, then, you could take your backup travel kids and have them practice against say fifteen rec kids (11 in soccer, right?). It's like when the best women's basketball programs would get a bunch of men to practice against them--the men were much better and the women had to step up their game. You can't use your own older travel team to "play down" for the purpose of the younger travel team, but if you stack the numbers (and say shorten the rec pitcher's distance to the plate) you can simulate stepped-up competition for the travel kid backups you're trying to develop.

Give a shout, Coach, if you want other advice.


I stand by my comments on Golden Boot. WTF does your travel baseball team have to do with my comments on soccer camps? But I am glad to hear that you're using your less talented players as cannon fodder for your pitchers. Now there's a great development philosophy that's sure to instill the love of the game in those players. That's sarcasm in case your baseball-sized brain didn't pick up on it. I'll also try to avoid phrasing like "high end of the spectrum" next time around. Talented would've worked just as well, so thanks for pointing that out.

Camps can accommodate groups of kids at different levels if the staff is good. I think GB did a good job of that and both of my kids enjoyed their experiences at a few different GB camps they did.
[Post New]03/02/2017 13:26
quote
asksoccernova
Member Offline
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.
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