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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So many generalizations, there are only a hand full of travel clubs with D, E , F teams at the early years, do you know the coaches and teams?  These things are so club and coach specific I don't know how you can make these crazy blanket generalizations.  I have kids going through Arlington and Alexandria travel now and have been impressed by both.  They both did developmental prior which was great but to compare it to travel is kind of silly in terms of field time, coaching, competition, etc.  I mean, travel has 17 games per season, vs 8 with select/developmental and about 15 more practice sessions.  Making up that extra playtime with private coaching would cost a fortune.[/quote]

I agree with this. I want to add that the competition in travel, even at the lower level teams, will be much stronger. I am certainly not arguing that you can't develop as a player by staying with development/select/rec all-star level teams. And if the landscape were to change the way RSD is advocating, where all but the most elite kids would stay in a hybrid kind of system or league, then I might have a different opinion. But if you are just starting out, and you have the means, I don't see how anyone could possibly argue that you are better off development-wise by staying in Rec. Only if you get lucky and hit the jackpot.

Just to add my own anecdotes, since everyone else is doing it, the kids I see joining travel for the first time at U12 and U13 -- the ones who are doing it successfully and getting playing time -- most of them are great athletes with good instincts and hard workers. But they clearly lack the ball skills of other players--it is obvious that they have a history of so many fewer touches on the ball. It is hard to make that up. I see one making great contributions on my kid's team at defense but he cannot hang on offense.

A different question, though, is whether a C, D, E player from a mega club is better off at an A team in a small club. I asked that question a bunch of years ago and everyone advised us to go with the small club. It has definitely worked out well for us.
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