Anonymous
04/13/2021 09:45
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
OP why do you think rec coach is biased?
Sorry, I should have been more clear.
The coach is someone he and I are both close to, outside of soccer. So, the fact that the coach is calling me to tell me "he's great, he has so much potential, you should have seen his save in the second half!" doesn't carry as much weight in my mind, as it would if it was a new coach calling me after one game to tell me my kid is really good.
There is also PPA and Potomac Soccer. Go to a few spring practices at the various clubs and see what you like. Think about how serious of an environment you want your kid to play in. Going to one club may burn him out for various reasons. Find a club and coach that supports the environment you want you dc to be in.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 09:30
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:
OP why do you think rec coach is biased?
Sorry, I should have been more clear.
The coach is someone he and I are both close to, outside of soccer. So, the fact that the coach is calling me to tell me "he's great, he has so much potential, you should have seen his save in the second half!" doesn't carry as much weight in my mind, as it would if it was a new coach calling me after one game to tell me my kid is really good.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 08:01
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would also add that if your son wants to specialize in goalie, he might be able to jump ahead a little further than if he was just a regular field player. To play in the field you need a whole lot of different skills and a lot of experience with training, but to be goalkeeper you just need some goalkeeper training basics to get started. Teams are always looking for goalkeepers and if he's decent and has the athleticism, you can definitely find a team. If he does want to go in that direction Bethesda might be a good option because then the club provides goalkeeper training. MSI might but I don't know.
Please don’t have your kid specialize at age 10.
Do whatever you and your kid want to do. Like some other posters said, the great thing about goalie is teams at all levels always need them. Have him learn to use his feet as well too and to learn the game, especially the defensive game, as well as leadership. Nothing is more valuable than a keeper that directs the defense from the back and can use their feet to distribute and take pressure off of the D. Good luck.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 07:47
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would also add that if your son wants to specialize in goalie, he might be able to jump ahead a little further than if he was just a regular field player. To play in the field you need a whole lot of different skills and a lot of experience with training, but to be goalkeeper you just need some goalkeeper training basics to get started. Teams are always looking for goalkeepers and if he's decent and has the athleticism, you can definitely find a team. If he does want to go in that direction Bethesda might be a good option because then the club provides goalkeeper training. MSI might but I don't know.
Please don’t have your kid specialize at age 10.
Unfortunately there are 8 year olds who specialize in goalie. They do move up quicker since most kids don't like it.
DP. And if they specialize that early and don’t get equal training in non-keeper specific skills, it often shows later on, especially around U13/U14 when teams often need their keeper to play as more of a sweeper keeper as the field players are adjusting to the new field dynamics. Keepers that don’t get as much field training when they are younger often can’t hack it in that capacity.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 07:35
Subject: Re:Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
playing goalie doesn't look like it but for sure the toughest position to learn. At younger ages u9-u12 its more about just shot stopping. But if you dont specialize after that age you will need to put in a ton of extra work to develop the other aspects. Most parents and even soccer coaches if they didn't play at somewhat high level GK they dont know how to develop the position. The role of a goalie as you get older and expect to play anything beyond low level travel is the most involved position in soccer. If your son loves the position at that young of an age have him play goalie 1/2 game and rotate thru other position mainly defense and defensive mids for the other 1/2 of the game. This will help him learn how to control those position from the goalie position as he gets older.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 06:54
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:So, my 2010 birthday rec player spent a lot of time playing soccer in the backyard with the kids in our pod this year, and is now saying he'd like to be serious soccer player. His favorite position is goalkeeper. He's definitely got the right physical type for it, very tall, explosive strength, and the right personality as far as I can tell, doesn't mind pressure, fiercely competitive, but able to brush something off and get back in the game. He has been super active during covid, so he's in great shape. He's playing rec this spring, and his coach says he shows promise, but there may be some bias.
But I don't really know what serious soccer would look like. When people talk about "travel" soccer, what level of commitment are they talking about? Both time and money? How do you find a team? Is there something between travel and rec? Is it realistic to jump from rec to travel this late? What is the try out process? Also, besides general conditioning, and goalkeeping in the back yard, what else should he be doing.
We're in Silver Spring, so we'd want a MD team.
OP why do you think rec coach is biased? Being a soccer goalie is tough at higher ages. Most teams have one goalie that plays the whole game. Selection for top teams is competitive. There is of course chance for injury. You seem to have some perspective on skill set needed to be a successful keeper. Agree with others who are emphasizing foot skills. Most teams will have keepers spend some practices doing drills same as field players. As a child I played both as a goalie and a field player but ultimately focused on being a field player.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 05:32
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would also add that if your son wants to specialize in goalie, he might be able to jump ahead a little further than if he was just a regular field player. To play in the field you need a whole lot of different skills and a lot of experience with training, but to be goalkeeper you just need some goalkeeper training basics to get started. Teams are always looking for goalkeepers and if he's decent and has the athleticism, you can definitely find a team. If he does want to go in that direction Bethesda might be a good option because then the club provides goalkeeper training. MSI might but I don't know.
Please don’t have your kid specialize at age 10.
Unfortunately there are 8 year olds who specialize in goalie. They do move up quicker since most kids don't like it.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 05:21
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would also add that if your son wants to specialize in goalie, he might be able to jump ahead a little further than if he was just a regular field player. To play in the field you need a whole lot of different skills and a lot of experience with training, but to be goalkeeper you just need some goalkeeper training basics to get started. Teams are always looking for goalkeepers and if he's decent and has the athleticism, you can definitely find a team. If he does want to go in that direction Bethesda might be a good option because then the club provides goalkeeper training. MSI might but I don't know.
Please don’t have your kid specialize at age 10.
+1. Have him get on a rec club and he should play all positions at that age if the club is smart. When it comes to Keeper, there will be kids who'll refuse to play keeper and your DS will get to play there more. It's critical as a budding keeper he plays the field at this age and for a couple years. Eventually the team will play back to the keeper and having some semblance of foot skills will make him much, much better all-around. There should be no specializing at this age to be the best teen player possible.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 03:52
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:You're probably better off with msi, it's the soccer league that is run by Montgomery county. There are three levels, recreational, classic, and premier.
Recreational is very low-key and mostly for fun and exercise and typically a volunteer parent coach. Players commit to the program for one season at a time. The two seasons during the year are the fall and the spring. One or two practices a week during the season. Recreational is open to anyone whose parents sign them up. You can have absolutely no skill, no athleticism, no motivation whatsoever, and you can be on a team. You won't find too many kids like that but this is a participation league where everyone gets a medal.
Classic is run pretty much the same way as recreational, except coaches are typically paid and have some experience developing players and have a better idea of what they're doing compared to the average recreational coach. Typically the coach has more soccer playing experience themselves, a coaching license, and actually knows what they're doing other than looking of drills online. This is for more committed players who want to improve and who may spend time outside of practice trying to get better, do some summer camps or play on their own outside of practice. This is for the more competitive player looking for a greater challenge. Two practices a week during the season, probably some form of off-season skills clinics or skills training, and encouraging players to go to a soccer camp over the summer or just keep getting better on their own. For these teams you have to attend to try out and find a team that is looking to pick up new players. If I were you I would start with classic if you're not really sure yet about your son's commitment level to the sport and you don't really know where he stands in terms of ability level. This is a good way to feel that out.
Recreational and classic both play in leagues that are run within Montgomery county. They do not travel outside of the county to play games and they do not play against teams from other soccer clubs, only other MSI teams.
Premier is the "travel" part of msi. Travel means that these teams play against other teams from other clubs around the DC Metro area. Some MSI teams play in League called national capital soccer league, which is basically based around the beltway. So your home games would be in Montgomery county and you're away games could be in nearby parts of Maryland or Northern Virginia. These are competitive teams where the players have been selected through a tryout process, and many of them have been training at least starting from the age of 8 with professional coaches if not earlier. You also find talented players who may not have had much coaching but who are highly skilled and play as much soccer as they can with their families or with other kids in their neighborhoods, commonly children who come from families with ethnic backgrounds or from other countries where soccer is the only sport that they follow. These kids have been playing soccer basically since they could walk and they are in love with the sport.
Playing time on a premier team is based on ability level, the coach will set expectations with you based on your player's position and ability level and factoring in the age group. When you commit to a premier team in other words a travel team, you commit from the end of the spring season for a full year until the end of the next year spring season. So it is a 12-month commitment. The fees are much higher than recreational and classic because you're paying for a professional coach, tournaments, and other fees necessary to run what is essentially a travel team. It is expected that players on this team are constantly striving to get better, or training on the road, attending clinics, or have a way to keep improving skill level in one way or another through their own means. This is a big commitment and is really only for players who know that soccer is their number one choice of sports or number one choice of extracurricular activities.
Keep in mind that the classic league is pretty sizable and there are some fairly good players in it who still don't quite have what it takes to play on one of the premier teams. MSI has a very large pool of players to select from so you have to be pretty darn good to make a premier team, especially going into the u12 year which your son is doing right now.
I would say that the premier level for MSI would be something aspirational, you are probably better off going with a classic team and testing the waters first.
Your other alternative is to try out Bethesda soccer club, instead of being a league in itself, Bethesda has numerous teams in each age group, and they put you on a team with players of similar ability. The higher level teams are some of the best in the area, your son would probably start off on a lower team and if he decides he wants to get better and commit to the sport and get a lot of training, he might be able to move up by one team level in a year if he really commits to the sport.
So again, two of your options are MSI classic and a lower Bethesda team. Bethesda can be frustrating because if you join then you see how many teams are above you and all of the Superstar players who have literally been doing nothing but playing soccer since they could walk. It's kind of frustrating when you are still in catch up mood and the players are so much better. But anyway your son needs to figure out where he is in the big scheme of things and find a team that's on his level and a starting point for his soccer journey.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 03:48
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:I would also add that if your son wants to specialize in goalie, he might be able to jump ahead a little further than if he was just a regular field player. To play in the field you need a whole lot of different skills and a lot of experience with training, but to be goalkeeper you just need some goalkeeper training basics to get started. Teams are always looking for goalkeepers and if he's decent and has the athleticism, you can definitely find a team. If he does want to go in that direction Bethesda might be a good option because then the club provides goalkeeper training. MSI might but I don't know.
Please don’t have your kid specialize at age 10.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 02:49
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
I would also add that if your son wants to specialize in goalie, he might be able to jump ahead a little further than if he was just a regular field player. To play in the field you need a whole lot of different skills and a lot of experience with training, but to be goalkeeper you just need some goalkeeper training basics to get started. Teams are always looking for goalkeepers and if he's decent and has the athleticism, you can definitely find a team. If he does want to go in that direction Bethesda might be a good option because then the club provides goalkeeper training. MSI might but I don't know.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 02:43
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
You're probably better off with msi, it's the soccer league that is run by Montgomery county. There are three levels, recreational, classic, and premier.
Recreational is very low-key and mostly for fun and exercise and typically a volunteer parent coach. Players commit to the program for one season at a time. The two seasons during the year are the fall and the spring. One or two practices a week during the season. Recreational is open to anyone whose parents sign them up. You can have absolutely no skill, no athleticism, no motivation whatsoever, and you can be on a team. You won't find too many kids like that but this is a participation league where everyone gets a medal.
Classic is run pretty much the same way as recreational, except coaches are typically paid and have some experience developing players and have a better idea of what they're doing compared to the average recreational coach. Typically the coach has more soccer playing experience themselves, a coaching license, and actually knows what they're doing other than looking of drills online. This is for more committed players who want to improve and who may spend time outside of practice trying to get better, do some summer camps or play on their own outside of practice. This is for the more competitive player looking for a greater challenge. Two practices a week during the season, probably some form of off-season skills clinics or skills training, and encouraging players to go to a soccer camp over the summer or just keep getting better on their own. For these teams you have to attend to try out and find a team that is looking to pick up new players. If I were you I would start with classic if you're not really sure yet about your son's commitment level to the sport and you don't really know where he stands in terms of ability level. This is a good way to feel that out.
Recreational and classic both play in leagues that are run within Montgomery county. They do not travel outside of the county to play games and they do not play against teams from other soccer clubs, only other MSI teams.
Premier is the "travel" part of msi. Travel means that these teams play against other teams from other clubs around the DC Metro area. Some MSI teams play in League called national capital soccer league, which is basically based around the beltway. So your home games would be in Montgomery county and you're away games could be in nearby parts of Maryland or Northern Virginia. These are competitive teams where the players have been selected through a tryout process, and many of them have been training at least starting from the age of 8 with professional coaches if not earlier. You also find talented players who may not have had much coaching but who are highly skilled and play as much soccer as they can with their families or with other kids in their neighborhoods, commonly children who come from families with ethnic backgrounds or from other countries where soccer is the only sport that they follow. These kids have been playing soccer basically since they could walk and they are in love with the sport.
Playing time on a premier team is based on ability level, the coach will set expectations with you based on your player's position and ability level and factoring in the age group. When you commit to a premier team in other words a travel team, you commit from the end of the spring season for a full year until the end of the next year spring season. So it is a 12-month commitment. The fees are much higher than recreational and classic because you're paying for a professional coach, tournaments, and other fees necessary to run what is essentially a travel team. It is expected that players on this team are constantly striving to get better, or training on the road, attending clinics, or have a way to keep improving skill level in one way or another through their own means. This is a big commitment and is really only for players who know that soccer is their number one choice of sports or number one choice of extracurricular activities.
Keep in mind that the classic league is pretty sizable and there are some fairly good players in it who still don't quite have what it takes to play on one of the premier teams. MSI has a very large pool of players to select from so you have to be pretty darn good to make a premier team, especially going into the u12 year which your son is doing right now.
I would say that the premier level for MSI would be something aspirational, you are probably better off going with a classic team and testing the waters first.
Your other alternative is to try out Bethesda soccer club, instead of being a league in itself, Bethesda has numerous teams in each age group, and they put you on a team with players of similar ability. The higher level teams are some of the best in the area, your son would probably start off on a lower team and if he decides he wants to get better and commit to the sport and get a lot of training, he might be able to move up by one team level in a year if he really commits to the sport.
So again, two of your options are MSI classic and a lower Bethesda team. Bethesda can be frustrating because if you join then you see how many teams are above you and all of the Superstar players who have literally been doing nothing but playing soccer since they could walk. It's kind of frustrating when you are still in catch up mood and the players are so much better. But anyway your son needs to figure out where he is in the big scheme of things and find a team that's on his level and a starting point for his soccer journey.
Recreational is very low-key and mostly for fun and exercise and typically a volunteer parent coach. Players commit to the program for one season at a time. The two seasons during the year are the fall and the spring. One or two practices a week during the season. Recreational is open to anyone whose parents sign them up. You can have absolutely no skill, no athleticism, no motivation whatsoever, and you can be on a team. You won't find too many kids like that but this is a participation league where everyone gets a medal.
Classic is run pretty much the same way as recreational, except coaches are typically paid and have some experience developing players and have a better idea of what they're doing compared to the average recreational coach. Typically the coach has more soccer playing experience themselves, a coaching license, and actually knows what they're doing other than looking of drills online. This is for more committed players who want to improve and who may spend time outside of practice trying to get better, do some summer camps or play on their own outside of practice. This is for the more competitive player looking for a greater challenge. Two practices a week during the season, probably some form of off-season skills clinics or skills training, and encouraging players to go to a soccer camp over the summer or just keep getting better on their own. For these teams you have to attend to try out and find a team that is looking to pick up new players. If I were you I would start with classic if you're not really sure yet about your son's commitment level to the sport and you don't really know where he stands in terms of ability level. This is a good way to feel that out.
Recreational and classic both play in leagues that are run within Montgomery county. They do not travel outside of the county to play games and they do not play against teams from other soccer clubs, only other MSI teams.
Premier is the "travel" part of msi. Travel means that these teams play against other teams from other clubs around the DC Metro area. Some MSI teams play in League called national capital soccer league, which is basically based around the beltway. So your home games would be in Montgomery county and you're away games could be in nearby parts of Maryland or Northern Virginia. These are competitive teams where the players have been selected through a tryout process, and many of them have been training at least starting from the age of 8 with professional coaches if not earlier. You also find talented players who may not have had much coaching but who are highly skilled and play as much soccer as they can with their families or with other kids in their neighborhoods, commonly children who come from families with ethnic backgrounds or from other countries where soccer is the only sport that they follow. These kids have been playing soccer basically since they could walk and they are in love with the sport.
Playing time on a premier team is based on ability level, the coach will set expectations with you based on your player's position and ability level and factoring in the age group. When you commit to a premier team in other words a travel team, you commit from the end of the spring season for a full year until the end of the next year spring season. So it is a 12-month commitment. The fees are much higher than recreational and classic because you're paying for a professional coach, tournaments, and other fees necessary to run what is essentially a travel team. It is expected that players on this team are constantly striving to get better, or training on the road, attending clinics, or have a way to keep improving skill level in one way or another through their own means. This is a big commitment and is really only for players who know that soccer is their number one choice of sports or number one choice of extracurricular activities.
Keep in mind that the classic league is pretty sizable and there are some fairly good players in it who still don't quite have what it takes to play on one of the premier teams. MSI has a very large pool of players to select from so you have to be pretty darn good to make a premier team, especially going into the u12 year which your son is doing right now.
I would say that the premier level for MSI would be something aspirational, you are probably better off going with a classic team and testing the waters first.
Your other alternative is to try out Bethesda soccer club, instead of being a league in itself, Bethesda has numerous teams in each age group, and they put you on a team with players of similar ability. The higher level teams are some of the best in the area, your son would probably start off on a lower team and if he decides he wants to get better and commit to the sport and get a lot of training, he might be able to move up by one team level in a year if he really commits to the sport.
So again, two of your options are MSI classic and a lower Bethesda team. Bethesda can be frustrating because if you join then you see how many teams are above you and all of the Superstar players who have literally been doing nothing but playing soccer since they could walk. It's kind of frustrating when you are still in catch up mood and the players are so much better. But anyway your son needs to figure out where he is in the big scheme of things and find a team that's on his level and a starting point for his soccer journey.
Anonymous
04/13/2021 00:52
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
Anonymous wrote:BSC
As in I am Bar S..t Crazy?
Anonymous
04/13/2021 00:49
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
BSC
Anonymous
04/13/2021 00:30
Subject: Talk to me like I just arrived from another planet.
So, my 2010 birthday rec player spent a lot of time playing soccer in the backyard with the kids in our pod this year, and is now saying he'd like to be serious soccer player. His favorite position is goalkeeper. He's definitely got the right physical type for it, very tall, explosive strength, and the right personality as far as I can tell, doesn't mind pressure, fiercely competitive, but able to brush something off and get back in the game. He has been super active during covid, so he's in great shape. He's playing rec this spring, and his coach says he shows promise, but there may be some bias.
But I don't really know what serious soccer would look like. When people talk about "travel" soccer, what level of commitment are they talking about? Both time and money? How do you find a team? Is there something between travel and rec? Is it realistic to jump from rec to travel this late? What is the try out process? Also, besides general conditioning, and goalkeeping in the back yard, what else should he be doing.
We're in Silver Spring, so we'd want a MD team.
But I don't really know what serious soccer would look like. When people talk about "travel" soccer, what level of commitment are they talking about? Both time and money? How do you find a team? Is there something between travel and rec? Is it realistic to jump from rec to travel this late? What is the try out process? Also, besides general conditioning, and goalkeeping in the back yard, what else should he be doing.
We're in Silver Spring, so we'd want a MD team.