Anonymous wrote:So your kid made a travel team?
My take: they have too many teams now. The kids/families on the lower teams I've talked to were not happy with the return on investment--lack of attention.
In 2010/2011 there were just 4 teams per age group which kept the pool competitive and there was adequate attention/time/field space for the 4 teams.
Now in a lot of age groups--and especially the girl's side--they are just taking bodies to fill spots.
Additionally, with the birth year change kids were having to start travel soccer before I think is a developmentally/psychologically appropriate time for such structure (long seasons with 3Xweek practices, etc.). Many kids at this age want to play other sports too. This gets in the way of flag football, baseball, lacrosse, etc.
And, let me say, this isn't just Arlington. You could apply the same reasoning to MANY travel clubs in the area.
This post is correct. This issue has been discussed ad nauseam on the big soccer threads, as well as try out threads for a few years now. All the general points above are true. Specific to Arlington, unless you make the A or B team in Arlington, it is not worth it and I think parents are starting to pay attention. For players on the E or F team, they're assigned the most inexperienced coach, they pay exactly the same amount of money, yet they have to practice on field space that is 50% the size of the A and B Team. They will not cut to less than six teams because they need the money. On the girls side, they barely get enough players to field six teams so they take everyone who shows up. ADP is a far better value at these ages.