Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Alexandria regional teams are primarily for players on the top team. They rarely extend the invite for external players to join the teams (there is a lot of politics behind it). Honestly, it is not worth it. Coaches there are not Futsal coaches, with a few exceptions. And this club, as is known, does not invest in good coaches.

Arlington, on the other hand, has invested in actual Futsal coaches. The only problem might be schedule conflicts for those who play on ECNL teams, so not all the best players might choose to participate.

I hope this helps you!

Arlington last year had mostly 2nd teams players with some from ECNL teams except the 2011 girls team. I would suspect more or less of the same this year with mostly 2nd team kids with some top teams mixed in. You probably want to go to the tryout to see who show up for your kid age group.

That is what I saw in my DS age group. They were all second or third team players with a few outsiders. Where does the top team players play futsal or they don't?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Alexandria regional teams are primarily for players on the top team. They rarely extend the invite for external players to join the teams (there is a lot of politics behind it). Honestly, it is not worth it. Coaches there are not Futsal coaches, with a few exceptions. And this club, as is known, does not invest in good coaches.

Arlington, on the other hand, has invested in actual Futsal coaches. The only problem might be schedule conflicts for those who play on ECNL teams, so not all the best players might choose to participate.

I hope this helps you!

Arlington last year had mostly 2nd teams players with some from ECNL teams except the 2011 girls team. I would suspect more or less of the same this year with mostly 2nd team kids with some top teams mixed in. You probably want to go to the tryout to see who show up for your kid age group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Both Alexandria and Arlington will take the right players from outside but mostly kids within the club are the one showing up to tryout.

Sorry, butthis is totally not accurate for Alexandria.

Alexandria will take kids from outside the club.

Again, this is not valid. At U-13 and above (similar in lower ages), MLS Next players take the top teams; there is no room. The program is not worth it. There is tons of nepotism and a lack of good coaching. They will definitely take your money for the lesser teams, but overall, it is not worth it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Both Alexandria and Arlington will take the right players from outside but mostly kids within the club are the one showing up to tryout.

Sorry, butthis is totally not accurate for Alexandria.

Alexandria will take kids from outside the club.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Both Alexandria and Arlington will take the right players from outside but mostly kids within the club are the one showing up to tryout.

Sorry, butthis is totally not accurate for Alexandria.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Both Alexandria and Arlington will take the right players from outside but mostly kids within the club are the one showing up to tryout.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Alexandria regional teams are primarily for players on the top team. They rarely extend the invite for external players to join the teams (there is a lot of politics behind it). Honestly, it is not worth it. Coaches there are not Futsal coaches, with a few exceptions. And this club, as is known, does not invest in good coaches.

Arlington, on the other hand, has invested in actual Futsal coaches. The only problem might be schedule conflicts for those who play on ECNL teams, so not all the best players might choose to participate.

I hope this helps you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Alexandria regional teams are primarily for players on the top team. They rarely extend the invite for external players to join the teams (there is a lot of politics behind it). Honestly, it is not worth it. Coaches there are not Futsal coaches, with a few exceptions. And this club, as is known, does not invest in good coaches.

Arlington, on the other hand, has invested in actual Futsal coaches. The only problem might be schedule conflicts for those who play on ECNL teams, so not all the best players might choose to participate.

I hope this helps you!

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Anonymous wrote:There aren't a lot of futsal "clubs" or training teams around. The ones that come to mind are Alexandria (but SOOOO expensive), DC Hyper (The just care about winning), something in Waldorf (Insanity or Extreme or something like that. I've only heard of them), and PNC (Springfieldish I think). PNC is is year round or at least used to be.

As to overrated and injury prone....that is just stupid to say in my opinion. It might be overrated to them but it could be underrated to some. It requires different skill sets. I think the pros are...
- It's indoor so it's warm (however, Alexandria League has used outdoor fields even in the winter. We once had to shovel snow off of Fort Ward to play)
- It's FAST, so speed of play and transitioning is at it's peak.
- The 4 court players are always attacking and defending. No where to hide. Weaknesses are on display.
- Foot skills are critical.
- I think this is the most important...in futsal, you can make your own teams if you don't join one of the training groups I mentioned...So you can play with your friends. Roster are only 8-10 players so, for tournaments, you have Alexandria teams, DC Hyper, sometimes Richmond brings up a team or two, and then a bunch of local "All-star" teams that are a mix of top level kids from several clubs so it's really fun to watch the kids compete against each other. Teammates one day. Opponents the next. I like 3v3 stuff for similar reasons. PS: It's not like Alexandria and DC Hyper wins the tournaments either even though they train futsal 2-3 times a week in the winter.

Cons
- Expensive to join one of the groups above and get coached.
- If you aren't a "good" soccer player, you don't have many options. You won't make these top teams and you will get smashed if you enter an average team in any local tournaments.
- I don't really see any other cons.

My 16 year old has played futsal every summer and winter since he was around 7. We mostly just created teams with his friends and one of the dads coached. He loves it and still does. He prefers outdoors but it's a nice break for him. I think it's made him a better player but, if he trained just as much in regular soccer instead of futsal, I don't think there would be a drop off.

As to injuries...In all my years watching and coaching some. I remember one kid fall and hitting his head HARD on the wood floor that made my stomach turn. He turned out to be just fine, otherwise, I'm not sure what the one poster was talking about with injuries.

In summary...I ignore the people that praise futsal up and down and I ignore the people who hate on it. Play it if your kid likes it. It certainly won't hurt your player's soccer skills.

Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone hear from Alexandria wrt formation of futsal teams (think notice was supposed to go out last week)? And are Arlington futsal teams primarily Arlington (regular soccer) players or do they had outside/free agents?

Anonymous wrote:Arlington try outs were not good today. Level is low at DS age group.