Congratulations! You are in for a whirlwind ride.

Divide child’s soccer life into two sections U6 to U12 is the first section These are the foundational years. Solid technical training - lots of camps and time spent with one on one trainer gives most bang. Stay with upper NCSL and/EDP teams.

U13-U17 this is where ECNL and MLS Next discussion and real travel is worth it. Puberty doles its favors in many ways but that solid technical foundation should continue to shine for your player. Add strength and conditioning, tactics and increase speed of play. When you think the playing crowd is too easy move and find a new crowd.

Avoid most high school soccer. Supplement if not at MLS Next. (ODP, varsity at junior varsity ages) Give back to community.

Don’t be afraid to bolt! It’s a total racket but you generally can shift after Christmas.

Anonymous wrote:"If I'm not mistaken, if MLSnext is the goal, between those two clubs Bethesda is your only option. "

There are many, may kids on Bethesda's MLS Next teams that previously played for other clubs, including Potomac.

Yeah, this. If you're not on the top team of a MLS Next club when you're younger, it's really hard to move up, since the coaches don't see many, if any of the 2nd team games. They tend to do more recruiting outside of the program, when they play against and watch a really good player.

Assuming the coaching is good at your current clubs, supplement as follows:

- your kid practicing on their own on their individual skills (eg juggling, quick clean passes, dribbling, anything else that can be practiced on their own)
- high level small group training - find out where the top level kids do small group training
- one on one private coach

Get on the top team of your club and dominate or at least get plenty of playing time before you attempt to try out for an MLSNext team.

"If I'm not mistaken, if MLSnext is the goal, between those two clubs Bethesda is your only option. "

There are many, may kids on Bethesda's MLS Next teams that previously played for other clubs, including Potomac.

Reality check, he's got a long way to go before having anything to do with MLS next. Other kids started their soccer journey as soon as they could walk and have family members who are teaching them skills and watching soccer on TV all the time. Not to mention immigrant kids who come to the US at a young age with the ball attached to their feet who gets snapped up by local clubs. Just take it one step at a time.

Most clubs change coaches yearly.

Anonymous wrote:Hi! My 9 year old son plays soccer for a small club. He loves it and is in their second highest team. He has potential to continue to develop and keeps asking me how he can get more competitive. He wants to play in high school and tryout for MLS next.

I’m totally lost. What is the soccer journey for kids who want to keep growing in the competitive space?

What are things we should be doing now or what are mistakes to avoid?

We’re in MoCo so does that mean I should try and get him into Potomac or Bethesda?

Any advice would be helpful.

If I'm not mistaken, if MLSnext is the goal, between those two clubs Bethesda is your only option.

As a parent of two children who have gone through the travel soccer journey and on to playing college, I would say the biggest thing is the find the right environment for him to continue to enjoy the game and is challenging enough for continued development. While some clubs have better coaching cohesion than others, this is still going to require a good amount of research on your part.

* Go to a practice session before trying out, several if possible, are they focusing on the right things? If you don't know what a good session looks like, things will be harder - phone a friend.
* Watch a game or two of the team he's trying out for and see how they play, and how the coach behaves (maybe parents too )
* Figure out where they practice, is their schedule going to work for you and your son?
* Does the team participate in futsal? I think this is an important development tool, especially at the young ages

I would worry less about if he makes the 1st team vs finding the right coach. This will require you to research several coaches, especially if looking at multiple clubs. It's a year long commitment, so its worth the few extra hours to make the best decision you can. You should always have more than one option in mind - this is true even after you make a team.

Private training is good if you can afford it. Be wary of burnout. Again about finding the right coach.

You don't have to be at Bethesda. You can certainly tryout but if you don't get a first team offer it will be difficult for you to move up as they tend to favor players from outside for first team, even less talented. You cash tryout there at u11 or u12 for mls next. Potomac has ecnl, not mls next and their team has historically played in 2nd premier division (with bsc 2nd team) although this may be different at younger ages.

What ncsl or edp level does your team play in? If its not 1st in ncsl or at least 2nd in edp then you have train with stronger players. Unfortunately this means money on group trainings like passionsports or nextstar to be able to see where you should be. After seeing the level of others in 1st division, you can replicate the drills at home sometimes. Signup for a strong sam select team to do games with on the weekends and play a different position than normal. Watch 1st division games from your club or Bethesda or Potomac first team. If he's the best on his team, ask your club to train with first team once weekly.
The key is touches touches touches and increasing speed of play. Good luck.

Private coach.

Hi! My 9 year old son plays soccer for a small club. He loves it and is in their second highest team. He has potential to continue to develop and keeps asking me how he can get more competitive. He wants to play in high school and tryout for MLS next.

I’m totally lost. What is the soccer journey for kids who want to keep growing in the competitive space?

What are things we should be doing now or what are mistakes to avoid?

We’re in MoCo so does that mean I should try and get him into Potomac or Bethesda?

Any advice would be helpful.