I would save your money and try out for MSI Classic if you want competitive, sign up for Recreation level if you want less competitive. There are clubs that practice in Silver Spring for both the Classic and Recreation levels.

You could try MRM but there is a lot of kickball involved there. Your player might not enjoy their soccer at that club

Anonymous wrote:I highly recommend checking out Potomac Soccer. The tryouts start this week but you need to register. The coaches for u15 are great. I’m actually thinking of having my 2004 tryout as well. His select team disbanded. I have another son playing in a younger age group and we’ve been happy.

Thanks for this, my kid is checking them out and really enjoying the tryouts.

Achilles is a club started and run by the coach at St. John's College Prep school. Other than that, I can't tell you much more other than it's a small club.

Stoddert and Potomac are about the same. Stoddert looks like it has 2-3 teams in your sons age group. 2 in CCL and 1 in NCSL.

Bethesda is definitely a stronger club top to bottom.

OP here, thanks for the feedback! Looking at all of your suggestions, thank you. We live in very close-in Silver Spring, so all of these are within range (and all involve some driving / buses.) * Why are there no Silver Spring clubs?

As between DC Stoddert and Potomac, any major cultural differences? They have tryouts at the same time and both seem relatively similar as far as size / level of play / etc, yes? Rush Montgomery, too.

Is Bethesda much more competitive than those two or just better known? Also I saw something about Achilles on another thread, any where they fall in the mix?

We are thinking he should tryout for a just a couple of clubs now, and if those turn out not to be a good fit, we'll see if any NCSL or MSI classic teams put out calls for players after memorial day.

Also just curious what people think: Are the CCL and NCSL teams playing at a much higher level than SAM select teams at these ages? A lot of the SAM teams seem to cater to speakers of other languages, maybe 1st gen / immigrant players and parents. I wonder if the quality of play is much lower or if it's more of a financial / cultural split (or both.)

Also how competitive are local high school teams (public and private) as compared with the clubs? What's harder, do you think, to make the cut at Bethesda or at Whitman or Blair, for example?

Just trying to get the lay of the land, curious to hear what your perceptions are.

Thanks folks. Enjoy the weekend, much success to all the players / teams!

I highly recommend checking out Potomac Soccer. The tryouts start this week but you need to register. The coaches for u15 are great. I’m actually thinking of having my 2004 tryout as well. His select team disbanded. I have another son playing in a younger age group and we’ve been happy.

If you want to do travel, check out DC Stoddert too, their tryouts for his age are this week.

Ignore the above. Of he is serious, have him check out the local travel teams like Potomac, Bethesda or Rush. Where do you live?

MSI classic is a serious option. It all depends on what he wants.

just play on an MSI high school rec team. there are kids 9th-12th grade, and they are at the age where they don't really need a lot of training anymore, they just go out on the field and play.

A lot of competitive club players play in the high school division just for fun, and you have 18 year olds who have already finished high school and are attending MC who play in the high school division. so the competition level is pretty good.

Hi, sorry if this is duplicative. I'm relatively new to the area and trying to figure out what's next for my kid soccer-wise as he heads into high school.

We moved from out of the country last year and found a spot for my son on a team playing SAM select. He's an 04 but is playing U15/16 (so with 02s and 03s.) His team is undefeated, and he's a solid but not an elite player IMO. The coaching is not that great, but the kids are friendly and my son plays every minute of every game, which he loves.

I have a feeling the current club may not field a team in the fall, bc it's not a deep squad and some kids are going to leave to play HS in the fall. But no such announcement from the club (and wouldn't expect one until the last possible minute, to be honest.)

I'd like my son to be able to continue to play the sport he loves while developing as much as possible as a player.

Does anyone have any ideas of a club where this might be possible? We're in close-in suburban Maryland. I've just realized it's tryout season around here, so would be happy to hear any recommendations from those of you with more knowledge and experience. I'm looking at the tryout thread and it's informative but I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the acronyms! Thanks for your help.