Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depending on the age group, Brit Am has some great coaches and quality of play is not much different to NCSL (has been our experience, at least)

I hope that you are right, but the age groups that I have seen of their MSI classic teams (2013/2014/2015 boys) are pretty bad which blows my mind because some of the teams that play in that league are neighborhood teams with volunteer/parent coaches and they still manage to destroy them.

It really varies and almost zero Brit Am teams compare to high level NCSL; maybe low level, which isn’t much different than Classic. I’ve seen Brit Am teams winless in low Classic divisions and undefeated in D1, so it just depends who they get. Some of their strongest teams have been groups of kids who went together from a school cluster. Their randomly made up teams have often not fared well and struggled to stay together from season to season, constantly turning over.

Anonymous wrote:Depending on the age group, Brit Am has some great coaches and quality of play is not much different to NCSL (has been our experience, at least)

I hope that you are right, but the age groups that I have seen of their MSI classic teams (2013/2014/2015 boys) are pretty bad which blows my mind because some of the teams that play in that league are neighborhood teams with volunteer/parent coaches and they still manage to destroy them.

Anonymous wrote:I know some of the Brit Am Classic teams have been playing in local tournaments, which may signal a move to EDP for that team. MD Fusion is similar to Brit Am in that their teams play mostly in select leagues but if they have a particularly strong team, they will take the team to EDP. MSI Classic is by grade (so they allow July-Dec birthdays of the previous year) — the teams just have to play up a year to the older birth year when they play in tournaments outside MSI.

This has been an unintended benefit of Classic. If your kid has a fall birthday, they can basically play “up” on a school year team that’s mostly kids from an older year. A way to provide a challenge without the headache of actually traveling.


I’m a soccer neophyte but I’ve found the level of play in classic pretty good - way different than rec at the same age.

Depending on the age group, Brit Am has some great coaches and quality of play is not much different to NCSL (has been our experience, at least)

Thanks, all! This is great info.

I know some of the Brit Am Classic teams have been playing in local tournaments, which may signal a move to EDP for that team. MD Fusion is similar to Brit Am in that their teams play mostly in select leagues but if they have a particularly strong team, they will take the team to EDP. MSI Classic is by grade (so they allow July-Dec birthdays of the previous year) — the teams just have to play up a year to the older birth year when they play in tournaments outside MSI.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks.

What’s the deal with MSI Academy?

This was year one of a totally new travel program that was a combination of existing Montgomery Rush teams (it folded), a few MSI teams (travel had fallen off over the years to the point I think they had zero girls teams and a handful boys), and some entirely new teams.

Their travel rates are extremely reasonable for what you get compared to other clubs, so that’s something I’d definitely consider vis a vis Brit Am depending what you’re looking for. They cost about the same.

Brit Am is a nice program and has been a Classic fixture for years. As long as I can remember you can count one or two teams per age in Classic. They’ll have to think about birth year and not just school year if moving to EDP. They also have a lot of little kid programs but don’t think that’s what’s being asked about.

You need to ask the Brit Am coach about the plans for that team. Traditionally they have only played in "select" leagues (MSI Classic or SAM Select), but word is that they will have some EDP teams in the fall.

"Academy" is the name MSI used to use for its travel program. Now it's just travel.

Thanks.

What’s the deal with MSI Academy?

As of a few years ago, they only offered MSI classic which the above poster correctly described as between travel and rec. They had no travel teams. However, at one time they were affiliated with Potomac Soccer which is travel because the Brit Am owner, Steve Knapman worked for Potomac Soccer. It wasn’t really a pipeline to PSA though. They just had joint marketing. I don’t think they are affiliated anymore.

I don’t know if they play any teams in EDP but they definitely play in the MSI Classic league, which is like a level between rec and travel. All MSI Classic games are in Montgomery County, so not nearly as much drive time.

Anyone know what the deal is with Brit Am? My daughter has been practicing with one of their teams, and I can’t tell if they’re true “travel” in the sense that the leagues like DC Soccer and PPA are. Definitely feels more “developmental?”