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[quote=Anonymous]I'm a parent of an ASA MLS Next player, have been at another MLS Next club and have some experience and friends at other ECNL/MLS Next Clubs in the area.

We've been generally pleased with ASA.  There are many strengths.  On the administrative side, they are very organized and communicative, especially in comparison with other clubs.  Practice locations and schedules are steady and the fields are good.  It would be great to have more space, but every club struggles with this.

The coaching is solid for most age groups.  The 2010's (current U15) have had issues with coaching over the years (replaced the last two mid-season), but otherwise it's strong.

As for politics, meh.  I think there are certain parents who feel like they have a direct line to the administration because they have multiple kids in the program or have been boosters/volunteers and can get things changed, but I haven't seen that play out with team selections or playing time.  Maybe I'm just missing it.  I have trust in the coaches and administration to see past that stuff, but understand that sometimes they have to make business decisions.  It's certainly not better at Arlington.

I think their play style is a positive, when they stick to it.  Generally, they try to utilize space, create overloads, keep the ball on the ground, play out of the back, etc.  For us, this is a definite advantage over SYC who, while very successful, play a style that relies on their athletic dominance.

Re: training.  Stark contrast to SYC who will incorporate more individual drills into their training.  ASA focuses nearly solely on "tactics." They vary their training to include possession drills (like rondos), possession games (by zone), positional/zonal scrimmages, etc.  They will do very little in the way of drills for individual skills like finishing, long range passing, or 1v1s.  They'll tell you they want to emphasize decision making over particular technique.  But not pattern play.

I think they'd be well served to add strength and conditioning and skill training to improve the individual players, build a sense of team through the grind of it, and to let parents know they're serious about developing individuals as well as team.  Other programs I'm familiar with have a 4X per week practice schedule that incorporates one day of conditioning and one day of technical/small-sided work.  I would prefer that.  The kids try to get this work in on their own, but it is tough with 4 practices and often two games per week.

I could go on.  All-in-all a good organization that could be great at the MLS Next Level if they focused on the competitiveness, intensity, and skill of it.

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