Anonymous wrote:For our year they came to the Blue team (the level below the academy) and made the kids run sprints. The boys that consistently won were given an invite to go the academy for practice. Nothing about skills or technical knowledge. Was pretty disappointing to see.

Never seen anything remotely like that on the boys’ side. All of the academy 1and 2 players are skilled.

Anonymous wrote:For our year they came to the Blue team (the level below the academy) and made the kids run sprints. The boys that consistently won were given an invite to go the academy for practice. Nothing about skills or technical knowledge. Was pretty disappointing to see.

Wow.

For our year they came to the Blue team (the level below the academy) and made the kids run sprints. The boys that consistently won were given an invite to go the academy for practice. Nothing about skills or technical knowledge. Was pretty disappointing to see.

Op here..good info for a new family. thanks so much!

At U10 for the higher teams the technical skils become more even and you don't see as many huge gaps. At U8 and U9 you have kids who can barely dribble versus those who can juggle proficiently. At U10 it become more about strategy, teamwork, learning positions so it makes sense for some kids to return to their age group.

To the prior poster so do kids keep playing up in BSC? Is there any age where that stops and they go to their age group? I don't doubt kids playing up that is normal, but why would they then not play up again with U10?

Anonymous wrote:That is interesting about the playing up. It makes sense. So is U9 when most kids stop playing up and go to their age bracket? Or is this a cycle that sort of happens every year. There are 2 players on the U8 blue team now playing up. I guess it just goes to show the OP that there is a lot of movement and its not linear at all.

there are definitely at least a few kids (top teams) playing up on u9 this season

Anonymous wrote:I believe that BSC requires all of their current players to tryout every year to get on the rooster. Politics aside, they accept the best possible player whether it’s size, speed and/or skills from within or from other clubs.

Technically, yes, but I know lots of returning BSC kids, especially on the higher teams, that don't actually go.

Tons of movement at that age. It would make no sense for them to promote kids between U8 and U9 in such a linear fashion. It gets more stable around U12 I would say where teams are not being ripped apart but it's only 1-3 kids moving up or down from each team.

Even at U11 the top teams stayed pretty much the same but all the lower teams are hit or miss. The rankings mean very little. One of the "lower" teams is much better this year that one of the "higher" teams.

That is interesting about the playing up. It makes sense. So is U9 when most kids stop playing up and go to their age bracket? Or is this a cycle that sort of happens every year. There are 2 players on the U8 blue team now playing up. I guess it just goes to show the OP that there is a lot of movement and its not linear at all.

I believe that BSC requires all of their current players to tryout every year to get on the rooster. Politics aside, they accept the best possible player whether it’s size, speed and/or skills from within or from other clubs.

Keep in mind that U8 players aren't just playing in U8. A bunch of really good young kids are playing up, and then will show up on A1 for U9.
For example, when my kid made U9 A1, there were only four or five kids from his U8 Blue team. The rest had been playing on lower u9 teams.

I do not have direct information on this. My assumption would be that at this age there would be movement, plus some would stay. I also imagine that it varies year to year. I definitely don't think they just auto put kids on the same track year after year at this age and if that happens it is because they think that is the appropriate team for them. As the kids get older the roster gets larger, which also allows for more movement. At U8 they are so young I just don't think its some long term forecast for where a kid ends up. Others that have been on U8 and moved on to the older teams may have first hand knowledge.

based on my observation, there are more reshuffle among bethesda's lower teams, but little with top teams.

Not all but most top team players are very committed to soccer and work hard, and therefore they tend to stay at top teams.

Would a u8 blue kid generally move directly to acadamy 1 (a->a) and u8 orange move to acadamy 2 (b->b) or would u8 orange stay at orange? ( b->d). Or lastly, do the u8 teams really not matter and they will be completely reshuffled at u9 tryouts? Tia!