Anonymous wrote:The stupidity here is amazing. Worrying about MLS vs ECNL or ASA vs Alexandria at age 12 (U13). Find a team in either league but focus on the quality of coaching and time on field for touches. Going to a team at that age for a league badge is not smart. Going to a team for either badge or league and only getting spare minutes at this age is moronic. Up to U15 or 8th / 9th grade should be playing at a high level and developing skills, field awareness on and off the ball, etc. if your goal is collegiate play then spend time with either league of ECNL or MLS. I would discount MLS only slightly not for to quality of players or teams - but longevity of the league. But in the short run, that does not matter.

I agree. Travel should start at U15. You can still have A, B, or C teams, but the +100 mile travel shouldn't start until U15, if you are in a large metro area like DC. I understand if you're in a smaller area and can't get competition. DC has plenty of competition at U12-U14. That is the make or break age group. Some kids don't develop through puberty or go off and do something else. Sending U10 kids 200 miles away makes no sense.

The stupidity here is amazing. Worrying about MLS vs ECNL or ASA vs Alexandria at age 12 (U13). Find a team in either league but focus on the quality of coaching and time on field for touches. Going to a team at that age for a league badge is not smart. Going to a team for either badge or league and only getting spare minutes at this age is moronic. Up to U15 or 8th / 9th grade should be playing at a high level and developing skills, field awareness on and off the ball, etc. if your goal is collegiate play then spend time with either league of ECNL or MLS. I would discount MLS only slightly not for to quality of players or teams - but longevity of the league. But in the short run, that does not matter.

Anonymous wrote:OP, is your son currently U13 (2008), or planning to try out for next year’s U13 (2009)?

I was going to ask the same question. My son is on an Arlington 2009 team and will be playing U13 next year. If OP's son is a good player but unlikely to make the top team (at either Arlington or Alexandria) he might benefit from the fact that Arlington has really good depth for the boys 2009 birth year. There is surprisingly little difference between the 2009 Arlington boys Academy, Red, and White teams. That means that there is a very solid group of players on the Red and White teams and those teams tend to play at a higher level than the second and third teams of most other local clubs.

The top 2009 boys Alexandria team is very strong and is definitely competitive with the top 2009 boys Arlington team. The Alexandria top team (Red) beat the Arlington Academy team recently, but the Arlington Red team beat Alexandria Red when they played in the Fall. Neither of the games were particularly close.

Arlington has not announced its coaching assignments for next year yet. Not sure about Alexandria.

I wouldn't think OP's son could go wrong with either club.

OP, is your son currently U13 (2008), or planning to try out for next year’s U13 (2009)?

To add to this, if you pick the shortest commute you may be able get in a carpool. That is real the real payback for being close.

Possibly, but after U12, we never had luck with that (we are in Alexandria). The problem is that fewer of the teams in the same age group practice at the same time, and so the people that we previously carpooled with were no longer in the same place and at the same time as us, and other people didn't live close enough for it to be that convenient. This has happened over multiple kids, so not a fluke thing.

OP, none of my kids were that good (just ok). We were happy with Alexandria, it was close, coaches were nice enough, but we may have been looking for something different than you.

Do we know who the coaches are going to be next year for Alexandria and Arlington 2008 Boys?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving back to the area, and I am considering having my son try out for Arlington instead of Alexandria (where he used to play). Which of these clubs is better, assuming he makes an equivalent level team. Not interested in hearing about Alexandria's finances, my interest is in finding the best fit to challenge and develop my kid.

Go with the club which has the shortest commute to practices.

Agree. Are you planning to buy or rent in Arlington? Or are you going to be trying to commute to practices from farther out in the DMV?

Location really is the driving force, particularly if you don't think kid is likely to make a first team. There is no need to add in hours in the car when good coaching and players can be found near home.

SYC and McLean are other options depending on where you plan to settle.

To add to this, if you pick the shortest commute you may be able get in a carpool. That is real the real payback for being close.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving back to the area, and I am considering having my son try out for Arlington instead of Alexandria (where he used to play). Which of these clubs is better, assuming he makes an equivalent level team. Not interested in hearing about Alexandria's finances, my interest is in finding the best fit to challenge and develop my kid.

Go with the club which has the shortest commute to practices.

Agree. Are you planning to buy or rent in Arlington? Or are you going to be trying to commute to practices from farther out in the DMV?

Location really is the driving force, particularly if you don't think kid is likely to make a first team. There is no need to add in hours in the car when good coaching and players can be found near home.

SYC and McLean are other options depending on where you plan to settle.

Anonymous wrote:We are moving back to the area, and I am considering having my son try out for Arlington instead of Alexandria (where he used to play). Which of these clubs is better, assuming he makes an equivalent level team. Not interested in hearing about Alexandria's finances, my interest is in finding the best fit to challenge and develop my kid.

Go with the club which has the shortest commute to practices.

Op here. Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:

We are moving back to the area, and I am considering having my son try out for Arlington instead of Alexandria (where he used to play). Which of these clubs is better, assuming he makes an equivalent level team. Not interested in hearing about Alexandria's finances, my interest is in finding the best fit to challenge and develop my kid.


What age group, and how good is your kid? Is he going to be pushing for a DC United spot, or not quite?

Age group in the title, U13. No, not a DC United spot. He's good, but if he returned to Alexandria I expect he would not be on the red team.

In that case I would suggest Arlington for a couple of reasons:

1. The Arlington 2008 team is relatively weak for Arlington, and certainly weaker than Alexandria's top team, so there might be a chance he could make it.
2. Arlington is a larger club, so there is less dropoff between the first and second teams for Arlington whose second team plays at a higher level than Alexandria's.

Worth noting that Alexandria has MLSNext which is overall a slightly higher level of competition than ECNL, but this won't affect you if you're not on the top team. Coaching at both clubs is pretty good (I don't know which coaches will be coaching which teams though) - but will likely be better on Arlington's top team than Alexandria's second team.

My kids have played at both Clubs over the years.

They are both solid Clubs with good coaching.

I found attending practices were the best way to judge fit and assess things. It's hard to get a feel at tryouts.

Will your son be a U13 next year or is he a current U13?

Alexandria's top team does MLSnext and Arlington's top team is ECNL.

Both have depth of player pool--though Arlington goes deeper down the age groups due to covering a wider area and more population.

We are moving back to the area, and I am considering having my son try out for Arlington instead of Alexandria (where he used to play). Which of these clubs is better, assuming he makes an equivalent level team. Not interested in hearing about Alexandria's finances, my interest is in finding the best fit to challenge and develop my kid.


What age group, and how good is your kid? Is he going to be pushing for a DC United spot, or not quite?

Age group in the title, U13. No, not a DC United spot. He's good, but if he returned to Alexandria I expect he would not be on the red team.

Anonymous wrote:We are moving back to the area, and I am considering having my son try out for Arlington instead of Alexandria (where he used to play). Which of these clubs is better, assuming he makes an equivalent level team. Not interested in hearing about Alexandria's finances, my interest is in finding the best fit to challenge and develop my kid.

What age group, and how good is your kid? Is he going to be pushing for a DC United spot, or not quite?

We are moving back to the area, and I am considering having my son try out for Arlington instead of Alexandria (where he used to play). Which of these clubs is better, assuming he makes an equivalent level team. Not interested in hearing about Alexandria's finances, my interest is in finding the best fit to challenge and develop my kid.