Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is not on the 1st or 2nd team, you might as well stay in Rec (esp clubs with 5 or 6 teams at each age). They are just taking your money, and taking you for a ride

Disagree. My kid started off on a 5th team, and now plays ECNL. She wound up far better than most of the first and second teamers years ago.

I think lower travel teams are great, and absolutely better than rec.

Agree with PP.

The advantage of travel -- even lower-level travel -- is professional coaching. You may not see much of a difference on the field 4 weeks into the season, but the kids are learning skills and game IQ that will bear fruit later (assuming you have a competent coach.) In rec, one or two skilled kids scores a bunch and makes the team look good. But learning real soccer - passing, formations, channels, positioning - takes time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is not on the 1st or 2nd team, you might as well stay in Rec (esp clubs with 5 or 6 teams at each age). They are just taking your money, and taking you for a ride

Disagree. My kid started off on a 5th team, and now plays ECNL. She wound up far better than most of the first and second teamers years ago.

I think lower travel teams are great, and absolutely better than rec.

How do you end up on ecnl? What she on the pre-academy team?

What do you mean? She’s 14 now, but her club still has a variety of teams. Top team plays in ECNL, but lower teams are NCSL.

Sorry, to clarify, she got moved up over the years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is not on the 1st or 2nd team, you might as well stay in Rec (esp clubs with 5 or 6 teams at each age). They are just taking your money, and taking you for a ride

Disagree. My kid started off on a 5th team, and now plays ECNL. She wound up far better than most of the first and second teamers years ago.

I think lower travel teams are great, and absolutely better than rec.

How do you end up on ecnl? What she on the pre-academy team?

What do you mean? She’s 14 now, but her club still has a variety of teams. Top team plays in ECNL, but lower teams are NCSL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is not on the 1st or 2nd team, you might as well stay in Rec (esp clubs with 5 or 6 teams at each age). They are just taking your money, and taking you for a ride

Disagree. My kid started off on a 5th team, and now plays ECNL. She wound up far better than most of the first and second teamers years ago.

I think lower travel teams are great, and absolutely better than rec.

How do you end up on ecnl? What she on the pre-academy team?

Also disagree. My daughter is on the third team and they practice 3x per week and I can see her getting better. Much more than rec.

Anonymous wrote:If your child is not on the 1st or 2nd team, you might as well stay in Rec (esp clubs with 5 or 6 teams at each age). They are just taking your money, and taking you for a ride

Disagree. My kid started off on a 5th team, and now plays ECNL. She wound up far better than most of the first and second teamers years ago.

I think lower travel teams are great, and absolutely better than rec.

The term "travel" has a certain expectation of being a better level of play. It might be worth checking with the team manager - what league, where will they travel to, are there tournaments involved? Once you know those details you will have a better sense of the level of play. Travel could be that you "travel" no more than an hour away to play another team that's like a rec team. Or travel could be on a plan to a tournament.

Anonymous wrote:If your child is not on the 1st or 2nd team, you might as well stay in Rec (esp clubs with 5 or 6 teams at each age). They are just taking your money, and taking you for a ride

+1

If your child is not on the 1st or 2nd team, you might as well stay in Rec (esp clubs with 5 or 6 teams at each age). They are just taking your money, and taking you for a ride

Wait until you get humiliated at a tournament… good times, makes you realize there are some super great teams out there and you’re not anywhere close to being on one! You’ll see the differences soon enough!

If you are on Arlington's 6th level team that is true.

What league? Travel teams span quite the range.

DC was on a Rec team for a few years (ES ages). First season on travel and I can’t see that the play is that much better (on average).