My DS has practiced with a few of these clubs. ASA was really underwhelming for him. Coaches were all really nice but he didn’t thin the training or the kids were that intense or serious. They are still mostly a winning team but individually, he didn’t notice any standouts.

Based on where DCU academy is recruiting from however, haven’t all those clubs have kids scouted into the academy? So they all can develop kids with pro potential.

Not sure about the dislike for SYC. DS has played against them and they are great competitors . The coaching may not be for everyone but seems to be a cut throat environment.

Not SYC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a wide area if you're looking from Baltimore all the way down to Springfield!

In my view, all of those clubs are at roughly the same level. The "best" for your kid will be highly subjective and dependent on the specific age group, coach, etc.

I disagree that they're all at the same level. Bethesda is far and away the best college recuitment pipeline for example, and SYC is worse than the others in almost every category.

My kid’s year SYC was far superior to ASA in college commits.

Neither SYC nor ASA can really be judged by college commits yet. They have only both just started in MLS Next (neither was a DA club) and were only awarded the older age groups last year. Which better develops kids that colleges wants, and just as important, builds the relationships to aid recruitment, we will only begin to see over the next five years or so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a wide area if you're looking from Baltimore all the way down to Springfield!

In my view, all of those clubs are at roughly the same level. The "best" for your kid will be highly subjective and dependent on the specific age group, coach, etc.

I disagree that they're all at the same level. Bethesda is far and away the best college recuitment pipeline for example, and SYC is worse than the others in almost every category.

My kid’s year SYC was far superior to ASA in college commits.

Anonymous wrote:SYC beats Alexandria in our age group.

That's such a silly comment for so many reasons.

Anonymous wrote:Depends on age group.

Disagree. Yes - every club has some coaches which are better than others so your kid's experience will vary from year to year. But some programs are consistently better than others on average - so unless you are planning to switch clubs every year then you should pick based on the overall assessment of the clubs.

Anonymous wrote:That's a wide area if you're looking from Baltimore all the way down to Springfield!

In my view, all of those clubs are at roughly the same level. The "best" for your kid will be highly subjective and dependent on the specific age group, coach, etc.

I disagree that they're all at the same level. Bethesda is far and away the best college recuitment pipeline for example, and SYC is worse than the others in almost every category.

Anonymous wrote:Depends on age group.

+1

SYC beats Alexandria in our age group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria

Really? I don't know much about the other clubs, but I don't often see updates about Alexandria kids playing in college. If they do its to some really small school that I've never heard of.

I'm not an Alexandria parent - but you wouldn't have seen that yet because Alexandria (along with SYC) is new to this level of soccer. There is no doubt they will be getting more kids into college going forwards. Even so Bethesda has built college relationships over decades and is far and away the best club in the area for getting kids into college and will likely remain so for the forseeable future.

Strongest teams on average? Probably Baltimore. Bethesda and Alexandria both compete well too. SYC not so much.
Infrastructure - Bethesda, Alexandria, Baltimore, SYC are all completely adequate.
Best at developing players - Alexandria followed by Baltimore and Bethesda
Best chance to go pro - none of them are developing players that will go pro, with possible very occasional exceptions which have more to do with the kid than the club
Best chance to go to college - Bethesda by a wide margin

I don't know enough about Achilles to comment so have left them out of the lists, as they have not been a factor at my DS's age group. The
general 'scoop' has been that they are very much a one man show more than a club with the capability to scale.

That's a wide area if you're looking from Baltimore all the way down to Springfield!

In my view, all of those clubs are at roughly the same level. The "best" for your kid will be highly subjective and dependent on the specific age group, coach, etc.

Depends on age group.

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria

Really? I don't know much about the other clubs, but I don't often see updates about Alexandria kids playing in college. If they do its to some really small school that I've never heard of.

Alexandria

Out of Alexandria, Achilles, Baltimore Armour, Bethesda, and SYC at the MLS-Next level:

1) Which club has the strongest teams on average?
2) Which clubs have the better infrastructure (practice fields, playing fields, coaches)?
3) Which one is best at developing players and giving talented players the opportunity to go to college or even pro?

If your son had the opportunity to play in any of these clubs, which one would you choose?