Reply to Moving to Area with U11

Forum Index » Soccer

Reply to "Moving to Area with U11 "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is all great input!  Thank you everyone for your understanding and thoughtful comments.  I knew about that Bethesda team and they seem to have a really good thing going developing the boy's side.  I've looked into the U11 top team and yes, they are very good from what I can tell without watching them play.  I'm glad someone confirmed they actually play the game well to win instead of punt and kick.

I hadn't really considered the idea of a second team, but that's a good point as well on the Bethesda side.  I think my son could play with the U11 top team, but is he good enough to remove a kid on a very good team who has been there on the current roster based on a couple of sessions?  Probably not, but working up from the second team is an interesting idea.  Especially if it is a strong second team.[/quote]

My U11 son has played against that Bethesda team and they are the real deal for that age.  It will be fun to watch what happens with that team if they continue to develop and stay together.  The coach was very good as well.  I know you said Pipeline was a little further, but we have always been impressed with them as well.  They appear to have a good thing going up there and now that they have ECNL I think that will help them keep kids together better.  Some of the Pipeline kids would go over to Baltimore Armour when they had DA and a partnership with SAC.  Not sure what happens now that the partnership is over, but Armour puts out some very solid teams/kids at the older ages.  Their latest recruiting class was insane, but could be a holdover of being the only old DA nearby.  I've honestly never been very impressed with SAC at the younger ages.  Their U11 team is good from what I know so you should be fine, but it's more hit or miss.  SAC is also a massive organization.  Not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, but they seem to have less focus at the younger ages and really start to care once the kids hit the Armour ages.  Just my impression and from what I have heard from parents I know with kids there.  I think they just started accumulated talent because they were the only DA in the area so talent just flocked there naturally.  Time will tell if that continues.

My recommendation if your kid is good enough and has the drive to succeed would be to take a look at Bethesda first and get a sense of the coaches and how your son stacks up there.  If it doesn't seem like a good fit go take a look at Pipeline, go do the drive during practice time though, and see how you like it there.  The drive alone may turn you off or may not.  We have a couple friends at the older and younger ages and they love it there. [/quote]

I'm not overly familiar with all of the local U11 teams, but here's a little input on SAC/Bethesda/Pipeline from someone who has had a kid in 2 out of the 3.

First off, what the poster above said is accurate. I'll expand a little.

The big advantage to SAC is the facility. I think it's fair to say that it's the nicest club based facility in MD. Soccerplex is larger/better, but doesn't belong to one club. The SAC complex tends to draw a lot of people into the club at the younger ages. As teams age onto full field, though, most practices and many games tend to move to local high schools and parks - which I frankly prefer as the parking at SAC is awful (if you go on a weekend, park in the gravel lot and walk the 3 minutes). The facility, though nice, does lose it's luster a little once you have sat in the parking lot for 40 minutes trying to get out. SAC has some good coaches, but it's inconsistent. The SAC U11 top team coach is good, and has coached that team since they formed. Not sure what happens when they transition to Armour, as he is not a current Armour coach. If your son is on the top team or a better player on the second team they will have a good shot at making Armour in the younger ages. The older ages obviously get more competitive, and even though the partnership with Pipeline broke down Armour is still attracting some very good players from outside the club. From Olney it's a straight shot up 108, with the only real traffic on the route being Clarksville.

Bethesda has some very good coaches, I think more consistent across age groups than SAC. They don't have a facility, so practices/games are at high schools, etc. I don't think that's a bad thing generally, but it can get cramped with 3 or 4 teams sharing a field sometimes. Also a pretty easy drive from Olney, especially if you are near 200 and don't mind paying the toll (this of course depends on where practice is, but 200 often worked out well for me).

Pipeline has some good coaches too. As a whole I'd put the coaching above SAC, below Bethesda. Of course every age group is different. I'm not too familiar with all the fields Pipeline uses, but I think they often use Baltimore Poly high school, which is probably an hour from Olney with no traffic. Once Covid is over and normal rush hour resumes - even if reduced due to more WFH - I wouldn't even consider that drive 3 or 4 days a week.

I'd recommend Bethesda, then SAC/Armour. If your son wants to move to Pipeline once he is older - these teams all seem to love poaching from one another (especially SAC/Armour and Pipeline).[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics