Reply to How good does a kid have to be to make travel

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP here. I don't disagree with any of the statements above but I know of at least five coaches, one whom I met last week while sledding, that are former college players who coached or are currently coaching competitive travel soccer but are coaching classic/select. My DS's former travel coach who played professionally in LatAm and now coaches at a local HS, coaches a classic team because of its affiliation with the LatAm community.

I have seen talented players in classic. My DD played on a team where the coach had previously coached at both Bethesda/Potomac but had taken time off from travel while working as an assistant at a local DI soccer program and coached a classic team of girls who he taught in elem school. That team had three girls that are now playing for A teams at large clubs in the DMV.

The argument remains that there is no guarantee but a talented player in classic who is a star can show up and make a competitive non-ECNL/DA travel team and after getting used to the speed of play and playing in a more competitive setting can absolutely make an ECNL team within a year or two. Ask any travel coach and they will tell you that they have seen several of these cases.

Again, for those of us not interested in entering the insanity of travel soccer at U8, classic/select is a viable option if done the right way.

Anyone who says that it isn't possible has zero experience with a strong classic/select coach.[/quote]

I'm not from your area, but my daughter plays ECNL at one of the biggest clubs in New England and I can tell you 100% that there is not one player on any of our ECNL teams who was not playing Club soccer at u10/11.  Zero.

Now, I do know that the NOVA/DC area seems to have too many ECNL/DA teams, so maybe it is a bit easier to make those teams, but the "pathway" that you describe is incredibly uncommon...  Can it happen?  Sure...  But you'd have to have a kid who has incredible natural ability.  Also "getting used to the speed of play" is not something that happens overnight for kids.  The difference in speed of play between ECNL/DA and an "A" club team that plays in a regional league can be huge--let alone coming from one of those club's B, C, or D teams.

I'm not saying that there are not exceptions to the "typical" path, but it is incredibly unlikely that a kid will go from what you refer to as classic/select at U10/11 to ECNL/DA at u14/15.  Please don't sell this like it is something that would work for the masses.

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