Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a complicated landscape for new parents or those in the throes of helping find their child's potential level. Would love to see some constructive discussion (criticism or affirmation) of the original poster's list. Would also be worth considering how much to weight these distinctions against travel time to practice and games, differentials due to individual coaches, and at what age it matters.

It is complicated. I would suggest you ask a few questions and I will give you some straight answers.

In general, before 11v11 and really age 14-15, NONE of it matters. The best player in my son’s age group in the DMV is tiny and his squad did win not a game last season. He will get picked up by an academy in the next two years though unless he chooses to stay where he is.

If your kid is playing multiple sports and enjoying themselves, sit back and relax and ignore the pyramid. If they have ambitions of playing at higher and higher levels, my suggestion would be to attend a club neutral training session and start there:

False8, Futstars and HP Elite are few off the top of my head in VA.

Next Star, Ballerz and Limitless are a few out of MD.

From there, you can assess where you are, check out the badges on the backpacks and then start to make decisions on where to go. If your kid drowns in these environments, paying attention to the pyramid means nothing. Some clubs “win” but don’t develop. Some clubs develop but don’t “win.”

I will tell you plain and simple. Most of these DCUM parents focused on rankings and leagues will tank their kids career, especially before 11v11.

Development starts with you, the parent. Find a neutral training environment and then you can begin to learn where you child is on their development journey. If your kid is at the top of the food chain, find the best coach regardless of the league and club.

People worry about leagues when their child can’t take the ball out of the air, juggle 200+ times, pass, dribble and shoot efficiently with both feet or execute a Croqueta. I would figure out how to get your kid doing these basic things before I would worry about a league. Ask any questions though. I will weed through the snarky comments to give an honest opinion as I was once an overwhelmed newbie.

This is the biggest American scam.

The “multiple sports” scam. It is so misunderstood by parents and abused by sports and coaches to make parents believe by putting their kid in 2, 3 or 4 sports until 14 they’re “building a champion.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a complicated landscape for new parents or those in the throes of helping find their child's potential level. Would love to see some constructive discussion (criticism or affirmation) of the original poster's list. Would also be worth considering how much to weight these distinctions against travel time to practice and games, differentials due to individual coaches, and at what age it matters.

Will address the last part, "at what age this matters." From what I have heard at the bus stop, it seems to matter to parents yammering about their kid when the parent is about late 30s. But the older parents, say in their mid-40s know that this discussion is for clowns and don't partake. In summary, it matters to parents for about 5 years starting in their late 30s then most start to wise up to the scam.

As one of these mid-40s parents, I can say this is highly accurate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BOYS

1) MLS NEXT - because of brand, no legitimate proven track record due brevity of existence. Implementing QoS for U14 and below because we parents are crazy chasing wins and trophies for social media posts over genuine development of players (see DCU, BETHESDA, SYC, ALEXANDRIA)

2) ECNL - because has always been lauded as the top until MLS came and started squashing their club base little by little (see ARLINGTON, FVU, MCLEAN)

3) EDP - because they’ve held their own in the eastern seaboard for years being above NCSL and other glorified rec leagues in their respective states

4) NAL - where clubs that paid to use mls next brand have their so called MLSN-2 teams. No real affiliation to mls but they can in turn dupe unsuspecting parents (see VRSC, TSJ)

4) NCSL - because it’s a glorified rec league that allows all clubs in DMV to make three, four, or five teams per age group to keep the cash coming.

GIRLS

1) ECNL - because there genuinely isn’t a better league for females

2) GA - because they’re essentially two-three years old and if it weren’t for that odd ‘partnership’ with mls nobody would even consider them. They’re like the cheap tacky neighbor to extinct and defunct-due-P2P DA

3) who cares?

You need to get out more.

Like you? With an empty post? Laughable at best

Anonymous wrote:This is a complicated landscape for new parents or those in the throes of helping find their child's potential level. Would love to see some constructive discussion (criticism or affirmation) of the original poster's list. Would also be worth considering how much to weight these distinctions against travel time to practice and games, differentials due to individual coaches, and at what age it matters.

It is complicated. I would suggest you ask a few questions and I will give you some straight answers.

In general, before 11v11 and really age 14-15, NONE of it matters. The best player in my son’s age group in the DMV is tiny and his squad did win not a game last season. He will get picked up by an academy in the next two years though unless he chooses to stay where he is.

If your kid is playing multiple sports and enjoying themselves, sit back and relax and ignore the pyramid. If they have ambitions of playing at higher and higher levels, my suggestion would be to attend a club neutral training session and start there:

False8, Futstars and HP Elite are few off the top of my head in VA.

Next Star, Ballerz and Limitless are a few out of MD.

From there, you can assess where you are, check out the badges on the backpacks and then start to make decisions on where to go. If your kid drowns in these environments, paying attention to the pyramid means nothing. Some clubs “win” but don’t develop. Some clubs develop but don’t “win.”

I will tell you plain and simple. Most of these DCUM parents focused on rankings and leagues will tank their kids career, especially before 11v11.

Development starts with you, the parent. Find a neutral training environment and then you can begin to learn where you child is on their development journey. If your kid is at the top of the food chain, find the best coach regardless of the league and club.

People worry about leagues when their child can’t take the ball out of the air, juggle 200+ times, pass, dribble and shoot efficiently with both feet or execute a Croqueta. I would figure out how to get your kid doing these basic things before I would worry about a league. Ask any questions though. I will weed through the snarky comments to give an honest opinion as I was once an overwhelmed newbie.

Pyramid scheme

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a complicated landscape for new parents or those in the throes of helping find their child's potential level. Would love to see some constructive discussion (criticism or affirmation) of the original poster's list. Would also be worth considering how much to weight these distinctions against travel time to practice and games, differentials due to individual coaches, and at what age it matters.

Will address the last part, "at what age this matters." From what I have heard at the bus stop, it seems to matter to parents yammering about their kid when the parent is about late 30s. But the older parents, say in their mid-40s know that this discussion is for clowns and don't partake. In summary, it matters to parents for about 5 years starting in their late 30s then most start to wise up to the scam.

What is the scam?

Anonymous wrote:This is a complicated landscape for new parents or those in the throes of helping find their child's potential level. Would love to see some constructive discussion (criticism or affirmation) of the original poster's list. Would also be worth considering how much to weight these distinctions against travel time to practice and games, differentials due to individual coaches, and at what age it matters.

Will address the last part, "at what age this matters." From what I have heard at the bus stop, it seems to matter to parents yammering about their kid when the parent is about late 30s. But the older parents, say in their mid-40s know that this discussion is for clowns and don't partake. In summary, it matters to parents for about 5 years starting in their late 30s then most start to wise up to the scam.

Anonymous wrote:BOYS

1) MLS NEXT - because of brand, no legitimate proven track record due brevity of existence. Implementing QoS for U14 and below because we parents are crazy chasing wins and trophies for social media posts over genuine development of players (see DCU, BETHESDA, SYC, ALEXANDRIA)

2) ECNL - because has always been lauded as the top until MLS came and started squashing their club base little by little (see ARLINGTON, FVU, MCLEAN)

3) EDP - because they’ve held their own in the eastern seaboard for years being above NCSL and other glorified rec leagues in their respective states

4) NAL - where clubs that paid to use mls next brand have their so called MLSN-2 teams. No real affiliation to mls but they can in turn dupe unsuspecting parents (see VRSC, TSJ)

4) NCSL - because it’s a glorified rec league that allows all clubs in DMV to make three, four, or five teams per age group to keep the cash coming.

GIRLS

1) ECNL - because there genuinely isn’t a better league for females

2) GA - because they’re essentially two-three years old and if it weren’t for that odd ‘partnership’ with mls nobody would even consider them. They’re like the cheap tacky neighbor to extinct and defunct-due-P2P DA

3) who cares?

You need to get out more.

This is a complicated landscape for new parents or those in the throes of helping find their child's potential level. Would love to see some constructive discussion (criticism or affirmation) of the original poster's list. Would also be worth considering how much to weight these distinctions against travel time to practice and games, differentials due to individual coaches, and at what age it matters.

Pretty accurate. I will post to stroke the OP ego and give "him" a dopamine hit since this could not come from a female.

Love the delightful sexism too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. This is useful for.....nothing.

Amazing they spent time to write that

Yet u still responded. Who’s the fool? lulz

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. This is useful for.....nothing.

Amazing they spent time to write that

Thanks. This is useful for.....nothing.

BOYS

1) MLS NEXT - because of brand, no legitimate proven track record due brevity of existence. Implementing QoS for U14 and below because we parents are crazy chasing wins and trophies for social media posts over genuine development of players (see DCU, BETHESDA, SYC, ALEXANDRIA)

2) ECNL - because has always been lauded as the top until MLS came and started squashing their club base little by little (see ARLINGTON, FVU, MCLEAN)

3) EDP - because they’ve held their own in the eastern seaboard for years being above NCSL and other glorified rec leagues in their respective states

4) NAL - where clubs that paid to use mls next brand have their so called MLSN-2 teams. No real affiliation to mls but they can in turn dupe unsuspecting parents (see VRSC, TSJ)

4) NCSL - because it’s a glorified rec league that allows all clubs in DMV to make three, four, or five teams per age group to keep the cash coming.

GIRLS

1) ECNL - because there genuinely isn’t a better league for females

2) GA - because they’re essentially two-three years old and if it weren’t for that odd ‘partnership’ with mls nobody would even consider them. They’re like the cheap tacky neighbor to extinct and defunct-due-P2P DA

3) who cares?