Anonymous wrote:DS is currently a 2nd-tier team player and has received a few offers. Soccer is his secondary sport, but he loves it and would be willing to prioritize it over his primary sport if he improves. What factors should we prioritize when choosing a club for kids around this age?
Should we focus on convenient practice/game location and time, having friends on the same team, the coach (for skill development), the possibility of moving up within the club, or the club’s reputation (well-established vs. smaller/newer clubs)? Thank you!

You are in DMV? Southern California?

You are at crucial age for getting on D1 track (trust me) you now should ask Dad friends what coach of the options you have who will take a bribe to place your kid on top team for U13. It really is that corrupt.

Coach and location are most important, in my experience. Unless the team is somehow especially toxic or your kid is very shy, they end up making friends regardless.

I have a kid who advanced really quickly in a short period of time. At this age, the team and coach are not relevant at all, mastery of the ball is. You can play pickup locally without a club and get better than 80% of the kids on high-level travel teams driving 1 hour on the Beltway 3x a week if your kiddo is spending AT LEAST 20 minutes a day with the ball. Advance that to two hours which may include playing after school with friends for an hour, recess for 30 minutes and 30 minutes of individual ball mastery work and you have created a future D1 player. The only thing you are removing is video games from his schedule and any other fluff. Unless your kiddo is athletically gifted, he has 1-2 years max to get away with dual sporting to be able to complete at 1st team area locally. With that information, allow him to make the best decision for him. Not sure why playing 2nd and 3rd teams are a bad thing though if he is enjoying other sports.

1 Coach - most impactful
2 Location - you have to drive there repeatedly
3 Club reputation - long term consideration
4 Friends - if this is important play rec
5 Possibility of moving up - this is a fallacy in most clubs

Anonymous wrote:DS is currently a 2nd-tier team player and has received a few offers. Soccer is his secondary sport, but he loves it and would be willing to prioritize it over his primary sport if he improves. What factors should we prioritize when choosing a club for kids around this age?
Should we focus on convenient practice/game location and time, having friends on the same team, the coach (for skill development), the possibility of moving up within the club, or the club’s reputation (well-established vs. smaller/newer clubs)? Thank you!

Location, friends and league(look the reduce travel times to games). Coach and club is unimportant specially if on the second team.

U12 is 9v9 and U13 is 11v11 so there will be some movement at most clubs. Key is fun + development. Coach central to both. Friends add to former. Short commute central to your own sanity.

Personally would rank in this order
1 Coach
2 Location
3 Friends
4 possibility of moving up - this is such an unknown, and frankly, unlikely at many clubs
5 club reputation (depending on what this means - if people warn you about it worth a listen - but everything depends on the coach)

DS is currently a 2nd-tier team player and has received a few offers. Soccer is his secondary sport, but he loves it and would be willing to prioritize it over his primary sport if he improves. What factors should we prioritize when choosing a club for kids around this age?
Should we focus on convenient practice/game location and time, having friends on the same team, the coach (for skill development), the possibility of moving up within the club, or the club’s reputation (well-established vs. smaller/newer clubs)? Thank you!