Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the above posters about the overhaul of the former academy program. My kid joined last year with the new in house management of travel and we're staying for next year. Right now, it seems to be a good entry point for a kid who wants to play competitively but you're not committed to flying your whole family around the country for tournaments. Who knows what will happen in the future, but for the price and what it offers, I think it has a lot of potential to keep growing and improving to match the top clubs in the area. It seems to attract a lot of good players whose parents are not interested in the cost and elitist BS of Bethesda, Potomac, etc.

So it's cheaper than Bethesda and Potomac? I doubt that. Also, my DD who is in HS plays ECNL will not be flying anywhere this year.

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the above posters about the overhaul of the former academy program. My kid joined last year with the new in house management of travel and we're staying for next year. Right now, it seems to be a good entry point for a kid who wants to play competitively but you're not committed to flying your whole family around the country for tournaments. Who knows what will happen in the future, but for the price and what it offers, I think it has a lot of potential to keep growing and improving to match the top clubs in the area. It seems to attract a lot of good players whose parents are not interested in the cost and elitist BS of Bethesda, Potomac, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Agree on all fronts. Some teams strong, some weak. At several ages on the girls side they’re already competitive with or stronger than Potomac, so there’s a lot of upside there in comparison.

Boys is tougher to crack with more MoCo options but also more players.

Anonymous wrote:MSI neglected its travel program for years to focus on rec and classic. There were some decent teams here and there, but those were the exceptions.

They brought in a new Exec Director a couple years ago and he is committed to rebuilding the program.

They still have a long way to go as a club, and some of the teams are particularly weak, but they've hired some strong coaches and they continue to invest in the travel program. MSI has a pipeline of players from rec/classic and access to some of the best fields in Montgomery County, so there is a lot of upside. But without access to ECNL/MLSN/GA/NA, there is a ceiling.

Anonymous wrote:It definitely was a hot mess a few years ago when DS played for them at u14. Every age group was run by a different organization. For example my son’s age group was run by Top Rank. I heard that after we left they decided to centralize it and run their own teams. But I also heard they merged with Rush so I’m not sure if that means all the current teams are former Rush teams or if that’s in just some age groups. I was trying to understand it myself a few months ago and was really confused.