Yeah but doesn't mean he plays. I've seen this with our team. Players who have been with the club, the team, the coach. They were good. They used to start but now with the new coach and with new players joining the team, they just ride the bench, and they are happy to do so cause they are still with the same team.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is with the same club he's been with since u-little. He's been on the top team for a few years and when he reached the age where MLS Next started he was offered a spot on the team.

Most of the boys on his team are also most homegrown -- most of them have been with the club playing on the top team (in the youth years before MLS Next) for several years now. We have a couple new kids that joined the first year of MLS Next, but not many.

Thanks to all who replied. It is so hard to know what is the best path. I want to believe that if a player is talented and works hard, they will be brought in, regardless of where they play, who they know. I think that it can happen. Some of the examples support that.

But it is hard to keep the faith, and as the coaches love to say, trust the process, given all the politicking / currying of favor that goes on in the region. How kids get pigeonholed, etc., don't get a real look.

Scouted by MLS Academy from lower level club for U15 age group. He is U18 now and there are very few kids there that have been there since earlier than U15, most have been scouted from other clubs over the past 2 years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids moved over on the late side.

U17 from ECNL teams. They played with the 2nd team and worked their *sses off to show themselves and move up by the time they hit U18.

At their club the first and second teams are very close to the same level and there is intense competition to move onto roster and get playing time. IT makes for much better players.

We were at another mlsnext club for awhile and they never made changes to the roster and the same kids have pretty much been there since U9. Moving up on merit not possible there.

This is correct. ASA is known for this, sadly.

+1 both ASAs . Arlington and Alexandria operate this way.

Anonymous wrote:My kids moved over on the late side.

U17 from ECNL teams. They played with the 2nd team and worked their *sses off to show themselves and move up by the time they hit U18.

At their club the first and second teams are very close to the same level and there is intense competition to move onto roster and get playing time. IT makes for much better players.

We were at another mlsnext club for awhile and they never made changes to the roster and the same kids have pretty much been there since U9. Moving up on merit not possible there.

This is correct. ASA is known for this, sadly.

My kids moved over on the late side.

U17 from ECNL teams. They played with the 2nd team and worked their *sses off to show themselves and move up by the time they hit U18.

At their club the first and second teams are very close to the same level and there is intense competition to move onto roster and get playing time. IT makes for much better players.

We were at another mlsnext club for awhile and they never made changes to the roster and the same kids have pretty much been there since U9. Moving up on merit not possible there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is with the same club he's been with since u-little. He's been on the top team for a few years and when he reached the age where MLS Next started he was offered a spot on the team.

Most of the boys on his team are also most homegrown -- most of them have been with the club playing on the top team (in the youth years before MLS Next) for several years now. We have a couple new kids that joined the first year of MLS Next, but not many.

All that’s wrong with us club soccer.

So many clubs have civil service arrangement where early in- you keep your position. No room for anyone better. They won’t cut.

Not true. Some kids have come and gone; some kids from lower teams have been moved up to MLS Next (while others have been moved down).

There is zero doubt in my mind that if a player tried out who was better than other kids on the team, he would have been offered a spot and someone would have lost their spot.

Of course, there's the close-call situation where a new kid might tryout and be evaluated to be roughly equal to a current player towards the bottom of the roster (the so-called "bubble player"); in such a case, it's natural that the club will stick with the bubble player they know and have seen over many games and practices and can judge his potential to move up in the pack, versus the new kid they've seen at a few tryouts who looks like an equivalent bubble player but they don't have as much data. Would you really expect it to be any different?

My kids has been on the other end of this too. When my kid was looking to move from his former club to his current club, he attended a tryout and was told "he's good, he need to improve on this or that thing, but this team has a lot of strong players, I can't say where we'll place him but it will either be on the first or second team." We thanked them and passed on that and stuck with his former team that year. Played futsal with the new club in the offseason, got to know the players more, got to show the new club what he could do. Next time tryouts came around, he was immediately offered a spot on the top team. He had to work his way onto the team as a new kid, sure. I was not surprised.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is with the same club he's been with since u-little. He's been on the top team for a few years and when he reached the age where MLS Next started he was offered a spot on the team.

Most of the boys on his team are also most homegrown -- most of them have been with the club playing on the top team (in the youth years before MLS Next) for several years now. We have a couple new kids that joined the first year of MLS Next, but not many.

All that’s wrong with us club soccer.

So many clubs have civil service arrangement where early in- you keep your position. No room for anyone better. They won’t cut.

My kid is with the same club he's been with since u-little. He's been on the top team for a few years and when he reached the age where MLS Next started he was offered a spot on the team.

Most of the boys on his team are also most homegrown -- most of them have been with the club playing on the top team (in the youth years before MLS Next) for several years now. We have a couple new kids that joined the first year of MLS Next, but not many.

Anonymous wrote:We bought our spot. Money talks. You’re in NOVA. Clubs can buy league spots. Players can buy team spots.

I think you’re trying to be clever but what in the world are you on about?

Anonymous wrote:We bought our spot. Money talks. You’re in NOVA. Clubs can buy league spots. Players can buy team spots.

Another thing for your kid to tell the therapist in 10 years

We bought our spot. Money talks. You’re in NOVA. Clubs can buy league spots. Players can buy team spots.

Tried out from an ECNL team at u14

Both of my kids were playing on the top team of their club when the club got accepted into MLSNext, when it first started up.

How did they join? Move up from a 2nd team at the club or join from the outside? What age? Thank you!