ADP is harder to make than travel...for girls it has always been that way and boys are just catching up...maybe 2010 boys was the first time when travel had to have second try outs to fill the their teams; whereas ADP for the same year was packed.

Parents have learned that ADP is a better investment; unless your DC places on top 2 for travel.

ADP is an awesome program for those that make it.

I don't think it matters which club she is in as much as the the coach she has. My dd played for on of the big clubs on their second team. We had an influx of ADP players come in and tryout and they were put on the team. Part of this was due to a desire to just take Arlington players away which was ridiculous, but it worked out. Many of the ADP players not only fit in, but excelled and now play on ecnl or da teams. Sure, some of them were out of their league, but so were some of the players who had been there for years (prob my dd, to be honest). Anyway, my point is, unless the club is very unstable and the team will likely fall apart, pick the coach, not the club

My daughter worked her way up to an Arlington White team after starting at the bottom when she joined the club at an older age, coming from a smaller club. She's leaving next season for a different club where she thinks she'll get more looks from college coaches than on Arlington White, but Arlington has been a very good experience. It's a big and well-organized club with lots of opportunities for different types of training. And as previous posters said, it can be hard to break in at older ages. There are so many players at tryouts that they take very few new ones (which is why my daughter decided to accept the spot on the bottom team when she realized how few new kids were offered spots at all in her age group). Arlington is pretty good about moving kids up and down based on their abilities work ethic, etc. each year. My vote is to take the travel spot and make the most of it.

If you have a mediocre DD then she should be able to play Arlington 2008 RED

Anonymous wrote:You can have her tryout with a smaller club to see if she can get on a higher level team. She will probably develop better than on a fifth string team in Arlington.

^^ this. And smaller clubs usually offer kids spots year after year- so no yearly will she/won’t she make a team stress.

Anonymous wrote:It totally depends on how much soccer she wants to play per week and if she wants to play travel at ASA down the road. If she wants to do ADP for a year or two it will be a great experience but will be difficult to make it back into Arlington Travel. A ton of ADP kids try out every year from U10-U12 but it seems like only a handful make it, and then to the bottom teams. Mine does travel on a lower level team and she loves it, but is really all about exercise and having fun to be honest. A few do go on from gold/silver to white/red over a few seasons but they are the exception rather than the norm.

Totally agree. Really depends on how much she enjoys soccer. Mine does not live and breathe it but does enjoy it and has good aptitude for it. Full bore competitive in a game but goofball enjoying her friends at practice. Also agree on it being harder to get into travel teams as time progresses - dang NoVA sports life!

Is this for 2011? Each year is different for ADP turnout for U9 at least. For 2009, they did not have enough girls show up to hold a tryout until they opened it up to 2010 to play up. For 2010 last year, there were 100 girls for 72 spots but it did include ~30 girls from 2011 that came to tryouts. My DD played ADP this past year and it was a great experience and great transition to go from rec to something more. For us, just adding another practice and having to tack on extra travel time for 5pm practices (our luck of the draw) was enough and not sure how we would have transitioned going straight to 3 practices from 1 rec practice the year before. Once we got the fall season time mgmt under our belt, and seeing how travel tryouts were this year, part of me wishes we had done travel from the start. However, I recognize that we were not ready mentally a year ago for the commitment and first go with any travel sports experience.

We have had a great experience with ADP and love our team. However, we found ADP to be a mixed bag of talent and competition level and thought it would have been more competitive. However, u9 travel also accepted most if not all of the 2010 U9 that tried out last year so likely it was a similar skillset between ADP/travel, at least at the start of the year. 5 girls from our ADP tried out for u10 2010 and they were in the top half of the team, 4 made it - 1 blue, 1 black and 2 gold. Another friend on another ADP team played ADP all year and did not make ASA travel (was on the cusp based on tryout observations) but made Mclean gold. Looks like a very small handful from other ADP teams we knew had similar results - a few make it, mainly in the lower teams and some don't. The one from our team that didn't make it didn't play ADP in the fall. She definitely would have made travel as U9 but I think the lack of just the 1 extra practice, more formal development, and more competitive play made a big difference IMO based on her energy and aptitude compared to other ADP teammates. Also more girls start moving from ADP to travel so again, more competitive pool added to returning travel players make it that much harder to break into travel the older it goes in u10-u11.

So, I wouldn't stick with rec. At minimum, do ADP but make sure to go hard (she is well rested, well fed, energetic and focused mindset going in etc) at ADP tryouts as each year is different regarding how competitive it may be (an earlier post said maybe 2011 won't be too bad at ADP tryouts but you never know). You know your daughter best and what would work best with your family. At the young age, the key is time playing with good coaches (if you have a great rec coach that really knows how to develop, may be ok but still a tougher road to get into travel later as each year passes). Having a good ADP parent coach along with the pool coach is important too - they can really learn a lot in ADP. We lucked out - a few other teams, a bit of a tougher road.

Rec by itself is harder because they don't have as much time and play to build on their skills in competitive environments. Also, a lot of the more competitive players leave rec for ADP or travel, thus further hampering development in rec league alone. In later years though, many drop back to rec from burn out or changing interests.

It totally depends on how much soccer she wants to play per week and if she wants to play travel at ASA down the road. If she wants to do ADP for a year or two it will be a great experience but will be difficult to make it back into Arlington Travel. A ton of ADP kids try out every year from U10-U12 but it seems like only a handful make it, and then to the bottom teams. Mine does travel on a lower level team and she loves it, but is really all about exercise and having fun to be honest. A few do go on from gold/silver to white/red over a few seasons but they are the exception rather than the norm.

If your daughter is 2011 then she likely will make the ADP team. Any other year is more competitive to break into Travel or ADP due to all the returned players are likely getting their spots. Last year we saw a kid who made Black Travel but didn't make ADP so I would say ADP is much more competitive than Travel. ADP has been having more turnout than Travel. Personal experience, go with ADP rather Gold Travel, it's pretty much the same thing but ADP is a lot cheaper and more flexibility in terms of scheduling and all. With travel, little room to do anything else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter tried out for travel and made it, but barely (the last team). For all I know they may have accepted everyone. I’m trying to decide whether to let her do it or hold out and try for ADP. Does anyone have a sense of how competitive ADP is? I don’t know that she’d make it — we may have gotten lucky getting on the travel team. She could always stick with her rec team if neither works out, but I think we’ll be losing a good part of her rec team to ADP this year. Any advice? Our goals at this point are for her to be a part of a fun team and to become a better player— she likes soccer but I wouldn’t say she has a future as a college soccer star...

To be honest. More than a few of these "stars" at u13-15 flame out or just quit. Kids wont be who they are at age 10. They all develop at different rates. If your child wants to give travel an honest go its not a bad idea to do so. My daughter was in a similar spot as you when she was around that age. We went ahead and tried it out, she loved it and now is getting looks from scouts. Everyone is different but I would give it a go.

I think the answer depends on what your daughter wants to do. When you say that she "doesn't have a future as a college soccer star" - do you mean that she just isn't the best one out there, but really loves it anyway? Or do you mean that she likes soccer, but also loves a variety of things and she might be miserable doing soccer 4-6 days per week?

You didn't say, but I'm assuming your daughter is on the younger side of the process. To echo the comment above, my daughter barely made the 4th (last) team at u9, but she was "all-in", talking about wanting to play in college from the time she was ULittle, never had any interest in other sports as much as I tried. She was excited for the extra practices and at that age, the "status" of being a travel player. Now she is a pretty solid player, starting on a team in national showcases and getting looks from D1 schools at a very early point in the recruiting process. The "last" team of travel can be a money-grab in some instances, but it can also be a starting place for younger kids who maybe just aren't as big and fast yet, but given the right environment, develop into great players when they are older.

You can have her tryout with a smaller club to see if she can get on a higher level team. She will probably develop better than on a fifth string team in Arlington.

A travel coach told me that it’s just a money grab after third team.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter tried out for travel and made it, but barely (the last team). For all I know they may have accepted everyone. I’m trying to decide whether to let her do it or hold out and try for ADP. Does anyone have a sense of how competitive ADP is? I don’t know that she’d make it — we may have gotten lucky getting on the travel team. She could always stick with her rec team if neither works out, but I think we’ll be losing a good part of her rec team to ADP this year. Any advice? Our goals at this point are for her to be a part of a fun team and to become a better player— she likes soccer but I wouldn’t say she has a future as a college soccer star...

To be honest. More than a few of these "stars" at u13-15 flame out or just quit. Kids wont be who they are at age 10. They all develop at different rates. If your child wants to give travel an honest go its not a bad idea to do so. My daughter was in a similar spot as you when she was around that age. We went ahead and tried it out, she loved it and now is getting looks from scouts. Everyone is different but I would give it a go.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter tried out for travel and made it, but barely (the last team). For all I know they may have accepted everyone. I’m trying to decide whether to let her do it or hold out and try for ADP. Does anyone have a sense of how competitive ADP is? I don’t know that she’d make it — we may have gotten lucky getting on the travel team. She could always stick with her rec team if neither works out, but I think we’ll be losing a good part of her rec team to ADP this year. Any advice? Our goals at this point are for her to be a part of a fun team and to become a better player— she likes soccer but I wouldn’t say she has a future as a college soccer star...

It should be less competitive to get on ADP than travel, not more. Sounds like ADP is the right choice given her goals.

How old is she? If she's playing U11 or up, I would say stick with travel, even if she's on the bottom team. ADP is fine for younger kids, but eventually ADP needs to move up to travel, and it gets harder and harder to get on a travel team (from the outside) the older your kid is. In addition, the travel coaches will know your DD for next year's tryout session, which will be a huge benefit.

My daughter tried out for travel and made it, but barely (the last team). For all I know they may have accepted everyone. I’m trying to decide whether to let her do it or hold out and try for ADP. Does anyone have a sense of how competitive ADP is? I don’t know that she’d make it — we may have gotten lucky getting on the travel team. She could always stick with her rec team if neither works out, but I think we’ll be losing a good part of her rec team to ADP this year. Any advice? Our goals at this point are for her to be a part of a fun team and to become a better player— she likes soccer but I wouldn’t say she has a future as a college soccer star...