Anonymous wrote:My son played for Arlington DA and I’ve never received an email, should I be concerned too?!
There appears to be some confusion here.
The OP appears to have been concerned about kids who attended Futstars being recruited to local clubs (presumably Arlington or Sterling?), and contrasted this with HP Elite who he claimed did not recruit. I'm not quite sure exactly what the OP thought was happening and why he thought it might be a problem. I doubt that kids attending futstars are getting unsolicited offers to join Sterling or Arlington for example based on their attendance at Futstars, but even if they were I'm not sure why it would be a problem.
This has now morphed into a suggestion that Futstars recruits kids from Arlington. This is very likely prohibited by the coach's contract with Arlington, in which case it would be unethical. However I also happen to know that this does NOT happen. If your kid plays for Arlington you wll NOT get an invite to Futstars unless you have either previously attended a Futstars course or made an enquiry or otherwise proactively indicated that you are interested in hearing about Futstars. This is also true for HP Elite and VDA/PWSI.
I also know that some parents send their kids to Futstars hoping to catch the coach's eye and get a spot on an Arlington academy team (and the same applies to HP Elite and PWSI/VDA). Again I don't see anything wrong with this, but I do know that Arlington recruits from anywhere and everywhere for the academy teams, there is huge demand, and the coaches will give the spots to the best players whether or not they have attended Futstars. Try outs are held and players of interest (maybe 8-10 out of 50+ for an age group) are then typically asked to attend several practices with the team before a decision is made. Attending Futstars does not short circuit this process - or at least not that I have seen. It does perhaps ensure that the coaches have a better feel for your ability level so making it more likely that a player who is good enough gets recognized for being good enough, but equally that a player who is not good enough is so recognized as well.
And finally FWIW - in my opinion both HP Elite and Futstars offer enjoyable and excellent training. I would heartily recommend either - and plenty of kids attend both.