Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely. I've seen kids move from red to white back to red and/or a variety of other combinations.

I'm not sure what ate your child is, but remember that roster size increases as they get older and move from smaller 7v7/8v8 matches to 11v11. So you might have 11-12 on a u10-u11 roster but 18 on a u13 roster. So, a lot of the kids on blue will move up because some of the kids on white will fill up the red roster, etc.

In a developmental system, at U13, it wouldn't be just white kids moving to red. U9-U13 is a huge developmental time frame. If there are "legacy" players from 8 to 13, I'd be leery. Very little movement over 5 years would have me question the whole process.

Yes, correct. But Arlington tends to do that a lot. I don't think the same kids are on the top team at U16 that were there for U9, but I've seen a lot of U12 rosters be very, very similar to U9 rosters, and U13 adds a few new players from the second team.

Of course, DA will change this dramatically. But I was with ASA for a very long time and saw a lot of what was mentioned by the PP, which is not so developmental and more static. Hopefully, things have changed.

I have older kids and one younger. We saw almost no movement between teams from U9-U13 with the older 2 kids. Now the younger one saw drastic changes to the teams, but this was a direct result of the creation of the DA. The teams just essentially shifted upward---so kids in the past that would never have saw movement onto a red/white team pre-DA teams are now on one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely. I've seen kids move from red to white back to red and/or a variety of other combinations.

I'm not sure what ate your child is, but remember that roster size increases as they get older and move from smaller 7v7/8v8 matches to 11v11. So you might have 11-12 on a u10-u11 roster but 18 on a u13 roster. So, a lot of the kids on blue will move up because some of the kids on white will fill up the red roster, etc.

In a developmental system, at U13, it wouldn't be just white kids moving to red. U9-U13 is a huge developmental time frame. If there are "legacy" players from 8 to 13, I'd be leery. Very little movement over 5 years would have me question the whole process.

Yes, correct. But Arlington tends to do that a lot. I don't think the same kids are on the top team at U16 that were there for U9, but I've seen a lot of U12 rosters be very, very similar to U9 rosters, and U13 adds a few new players from the second team.

Of course, DA will change this dramatically. But I was with ASA for a very long time and saw a lot of what was mentioned by the PP, which is not so developmental and more static. Hopefully, things have changed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will always have more fun playing on a team where he/she is in the top third of the kids on the team. Look for a team where that happens. No he should not be way better than everyone else. But, top third level is about correct for fun and development.

Remember though that 90% of a player's development happens outside of games and formal club practices.

The bolded is key point for OP. If your kid wants to "move up" from a lower team to a higher team he/she will have to work harder and practice more than the other kids -- which means spending time on soccer skills outside of team practices, during days or weekends off from games and practice, during breaks in the season.

My kid moved from the C team at U9-U10 to the B team at U11-U13 and then to the A team at U14 because he wanted to put in the extra time to make it happen. Kid (not parents) must have promotion to higher team as a goal, and be willing to work at it over a long period of time outside of team practices to make it happen.

A lot of that movement is inherent due to the increase in roster size at the older age group (merging of teams), many kids burning out and dropping out by middle school, and for the DA pulling kids out of the A-C teams.

My kid's experience was not at Arlington/DA but rather another "big" club where new kids are coming in from outside at every age so any movement up a team is earned, not automatic, even with increases in roster size.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with comment on DA. Most of the kids my child started with have made a big jump up the chain at U12 because the age group had so many players jump onto the DA team.

In a sense it's marketing genius, all the angry customers can now say their kid is red, white, etc. since 26 players have been absorbed into the age group's DA.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will always have more fun playing on a team where he/she is in the top third of the kids on the team. Look for a team where that happens. No he should not be way better than everyone else. But, top third level is about correct for fun and development.

Remember though that 90% of a player's development happens outside of games and formal club practices.

The bolded is key point for OP. If your kid wants to "move up" from a lower team to a higher team he/she will have to work harder and practice more than the other kids -- which means spending time on soccer skills outside of team practices, during days or weekends off from games and practice, during breaks in the season.

My kid moved from the C team at U9-U10 to the B team at U11-U13 and then to the A team at U14 because he wanted to put in the extra time to make it happen. Kid (not parents) must have promotion to higher team as a goal, and be willing to work at it over a long period of time outside of team practices to make it happen.

A lot of that movement is inherent due to the increase in roster size at the older age group (merging of teams), many kids burning out and dropping out by middle school, and for the DA pulling kids out of the A-C teams.

Now these movements are happy even more frequently and dramatically since you are pulling 20-26 kids out of the A-D team pool. Lots of shifting upwards even without additional time practicing on their own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will always have more fun playing on a team where he/she is in the top third of the kids on the team. Look for a team where that happens. No he should not be way better than everyone else. But, top third level is about correct for fun and development.

Remember though that 90% of a player's development happens outside of games and formal club practices.

The bolded is key point for OP. If your kid wants to "move up" from a lower team to a higher team he/she will have to work harder and practice more than the other kids -- which means spending time on soccer skills outside of team practices, during days or weekends off from games and practice, during breaks in the season.

My kid moved from the C team at U9-U10 to the B team at U11-U13 and then to the A team at U14 because he wanted to put in the extra time to make it happen. Kid (not parents) must have promotion to higher team as a goal, and be willing to work at it over a long period of time outside of team practices to make it happen.

A lot of that movement is inherent due to the increase in roster size at the older age group (merging of teams), many kids burning out and dropping out by middle school, and for the DA pulling kids out of the A-C teams.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with comment on DA. Most of the kids my child started with have made a big jump up the chain at U12 because the age group had so many players jump onto the DA team.

In a sense it's marketing genius, all the angry customers can now say their kid is red, white, etc. since 26 players have been absorbed into the age group's DA.

A lot of those players from the DA when the DA roster gets cut again--will move down next year.

I don't what it does to the kid's psyche to be moved down again right after being moved up.

Agree with comment on DA. Most of the kids my child started with have made a big jump up the chain at U12 because the age group had so many players jump onto the DA team.

In a sense it's marketing genius, all the angry customers can now say their kid is red, white, etc. since 26 players have been absorbed into the age group's DA.

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will always have more fun playing on a team where he/she is in the top third of the kids on the team. Look for a team where that happens. No he should not be way better than everyone else. But, top third level is about correct for fun and development.

Remember though that 90% of a player's development happens outside of games and formal club practices.

The bolded is key point for OP. If your kid wants to "move up" from a lower team to a higher team he/she will have to work harder and practice more than the other kids -- which means spending time on soccer skills outside of team practices, during days or weekends off from games and practice, during breaks in the season.

My kid moved from the C team at U9-U10 to the B team at U11-U13 and then to the A team at U14 because he wanted to put in the extra time to make it happen. Kid (not parents) must have promotion to higher team as a goal, and be willing to work at it over a long period of time outside of team practices to make it happen.

Anonymous wrote:Definitely. I've seen kids move from red to white back to red and/or a variety of other combinations.

I'm not sure what ate your child is, but remember that roster size increases as they get older and move from smaller 7v7/8v8 matches to 11v11. So you might have 11-12 on a u10-u11 roster but 18 on a u13 roster. So, a lot of the kids on blue will move up because some of the kids on white will fill up the red roster, etc.

In a developmental system, at U13, it wouldn't be just white kids moving to red. U9-U13 is a huge developmental time frame. If there are "legacy" players from 8 to 13, I'd be leery. Very little movement over 5 years would have me question the whole process.

Once he gets to U12 and they start the Developmental Academy, he will shift back up.

All of the blue kids became white and the white became red and so on.

The problem here is that the Club is so big and they weirdly seem to place almost all of their assessment on the actual tryout vs. TDs assessing the kids all year.

So---the color is really irrelevant. Which coach is doing the best training? Is the kid having fun?

I found the environment in ASA to be too heavily focused on the inane color system that ended up making both parents and kids focus on the wrong things.

Your kid will always have more fun playing on a team where he/she is in the top third of the kids on the team. Look for a team where that happens. No he should not be way better than everyone else. But, top third level is about correct for fun and development.

Remember though that 90% of a player's development happens outside of games and formal club practices.

We had a son who was on White move to Blue in the past. Sure, it is a small hit to kids ego, and knowing the White team, son was as quick and skilled as just about any of the White players. He just seemed to never make the "Big" plays for the team, so frustrating as a parent. Son went from being one of the average players on the White team to a noticed player on the Blue team. It is now a lot more fun watching him be a "key" player that executes plays. Doesn't answer your question, but still a relevant experience.

Definitely. I've seen kids move from red to white back to red and/or a variety of other combinations.

I'm not sure what ate your child is, but remember that roster size increases as they get older and move from smaller 7v7/8v8 matches to 11v11. So you might have 11-12 on a u10-u11 roster but 18 on a u13 roster. So, a lot of the kids on blue will move up because some of the kids on white will fill up the red roster, etc.

At Arlington, going into third season with club. Kid is currently on White, but after last year's age shake up, had different coach and never "clicked" with the new coach- got along, but didn't quite understand what he was asking for at times. It's pretty clear from tryouts coach is going to push kid down to blue.

In general, does Arlington ever give a kid they downgraded another chance to move back up? Frankly, what we see at practices is a big gap between Red/White and the Blue/Black. This particular kid is pretty clearly Red/white talent, but not quite Red/white execution from the coaches POV.

So if we stay at Arlington, will kid be "that kid" who is a standout on blue, but will be heartbroken next year when passed over at tryouts?