Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington DA parents and kids... nothing but a bunch of annoying snubs!

Ha. Omg. The op before you. Omg. Ha.

They are a “special” group over in Arlington. The fact they claim they play beautiful football, don’t pick for size and deletion individuals is pure comedy.

I don’t know - but our non- DA club beat both DCU and ASA DA in the Fall.

Pipeline 06 I assume? There's no doubt that Pipeline also has a very good team, which is why you are ranked #2 (I think?) in the country. But if you're going to use results as a measure you need to be fair and provide all the context, which is that Arlington uses pre and post season games to give development squad players playing time. So you played about 2/3 of the Arlington DA team (where the squad had basically had about two practices together and lacked arguably its three best players) and several players from the Red (top) travel team in a pre-season game and won. You played a stronger - but still not full strength - DA team more recently in the post season and lost.

I stand by my comments re the coaching, player selection and style of play at the Arlington DA. I'm not a professional soccer player, but I did grow up in a soccer playing country so nor am I totally ignorant.

In my opinion of Oscar is the best coach in the entire metro DC area. Not only does he have a really good vision of what he wants to teach as an ex professional player from Spain who learned to coach from some of the best in the business, but he really knows how to communicate and get the kids to understand what he's teaching. Most of his coaching happens on the training field but listening to him on the sideline is also a joy. It's not that he's not incapable of delivering a kick up the backside when it's needed - but his usual style is to ask questions during the game "Billy, what should you be doing now?" encouraging the players to solve problems themselves before something goes wrong, rather than the all too common "Billy, why did you do that?" after the fact, that so many coaches seem to think works as a form of motivation (hint - it doesn't). While it's certainly true that some players will get more playing time than others (this is DA after all), he works hard on developing all the players and gives everyone a decent amount of playing time and opportunities to grow. Having had three kids play soccer for I-don't-know-how-many-coaches I can tell you that no-one else has come close. The improvement of all the players, both individually and as a team, over the course of the season is really noticeable. For example the 06 team played Baltimore twice in the fall. The first game was the second or third game of the season and the team was still learning how Oscar wanted them to play. They also struggled with the size and speed of a couple of the Baltimore players. The result was 3-0 to Baltimore at half time and 3-1 at full time after a more competitive second half, but 3-1 was a fair reflection of the game itself. Two months later the next game was utterly different. Arlington won 3-0 in a game where Baltimore spent long periods without ever touching the ball and the score arguably didn't reflect how one sided the game was.

It is possible that your view stems from a period prior to Oscar Feliu taking over as director. His first year as director of Arlington DA was 2017-18. I can't speak to anything that happened before that period, and I would say that this is the first year that he's been able to fully put his stamp on the whole staff of coaches which has changed almost 100% in the last two years. Prior to that he actually managed to turn the perennially awful CYA into a decent club before one of those legendary NoVA suburban soccer club board-parent driven meltdowns occurred. They have subsequently and rapidly declined back to their previously established level of utterly awful.

I should also note that the development academy coaching is managed entirely separately from the travel program which I know nothing about and can make no recommendation either way.

FWIW I also know Oscar's view is that there are a number of really good teams in the metro area (of which Pipeline is certainly one) and they are not all DA clubs by any means.

For anyone considering other DA clubs in the area, leaving DC United out, I would rank them in the following order: Arlington, Baltimore, Bethesda, VDA. That's based on observation and playing against them though - more than the intimate knowledge ypu get from actually having a kid in the system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington DA parents and kids... nothing but a bunch of annoying snubs!

Ha. Omg. The op before you. Omg. Ha.

They are a “special” group over in Arlington. The fact they claim they play beautiful football, don’t pick for size and deletion individuals is pure comedy.

I don’t know - but our non- DA club beat both DCU and ASA DA in the Fall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington DA parents and kids... nothing but a bunch of annoying snubs!

Ha. Omg. The op before you. Omg. Ha.

They are a “special” group over in Arlington. The fact they claim they play beautiful football, don’t pick for size and deletion individuals is pure comedy.

*develop

But they do “delete” in favor of kids developed elsewhere in the older years. Most certainly

Anonymous wrote:Arlington DA parents and kids... nothing but a bunch of annoying snubs!

Ha. Omg. The op before you. Omg. Ha.

They are a “special” group over in Arlington. The fact they claim they play beautiful football, don’t pick for size and deletion individuals is pure comedy.

Arlington DA parents and kids... nothing but a bunch of annoying snubs!

I just found this thread and thought it might be worth adding my perspective as a parent of a boy who plays for Arlington DA, and has been offered a spot on DC United next year along wth several of his team-mates.

Arlington was awarded the U17 expansion, and will likely get U19 in two years.

Since Oscar Feliu took over as director of the boys DA, the Arlington DA coaching program and philosophy is the best in the area hands down. This is evident in the way that all the teams play, especially the younger teams up to the 06 team. Under Oscar, Arlingon focuses on finding and developing kids into talented ball players, rather than just the best athletes. He also believes very firmly in playing every game the right way, and is perfectly willing to lose games while the kids learn.

Baltimore teams also play good soccer and usually appear well coached.

DC United on the other hand, despite having some very talented kids, seem inclined to select athletes ahead of soccer players - and then do not do a good job of developing either in terms of their indivdual talent, or in terms of their ability to understand the game, control the ball and make good decisions. It's very interesting that a poster earlier called out the Arlington 06 right winger as a talented player. He is an exceptionally talented player, quite possibly the most dangerous player with the ball at his feet and within thirty yards of goal between Philadelphia and Richmond. Last year he played for DC United, who first put him in goal and then cut him as they felt he was too slow. Playing for Arlington this year he scored more goals than any DC united player supposedly playing for a better team.

Somebody else mentioned the DC United Arlington 06 game played at the end of the last half season. The game ended up as 2-2 all draw. But the difference in style of playing was stark. DC United played almost the entire game with their whole team behind the ball, and trying to counter attack with quick, long balls whenever they managed to get possession. It's true that DC United had a player sent off in the first half, but they were playing the same way before that hapened too. DC United's goals came from a 35 yard attempt where Arlington's goalkeeper was out of position (likely because he was not used to facing strikers with enough power to pose any kind of threat from that range - credit to the DC stiker though he struck the ball very well), and a very questionable penalty. Arlington controlled the ball for the entire game, and created several opportunities through really nice passing - slicing the defense open as they had been doing since the third or fouth game of the season.

I believe DC United are keeping the younger teams practicing in DC - at least for next year - although they will eventually move to Arlington.

Will my son decide to move to DC? I'm not sure; it's a difficult decision. There are opportunities that come from palying for an MLS team which he won't get at Arlington. On the other hand, the coaching at Arlington is head and shoulders above that at DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a rumor that Arlington was going to get DA expansion for the boys. Right now they have full DA for girls but the boys only go U13, U14 & U15. From what I heard they are going to get at least U16/U17 next year, and possibly U18/19 as well.

Anyone "in the know" willing to confirm or refute this?

Their website does list upcoming Talent ID sessions for the 2020-21 season to include the 04 & 03 age groups - which would be U17 and U18 next year.

http://arlingtonsoccer.com/programs/development-academy/talent-id-boys

Your rumor seems to be correct. Arlington has been interviewing coaches for the new change.

Any updates on this? I had heard they were going to find out by Thanksgiving, but there's nothing on their website about it either way. You'd think if it was really happening they'd be advertising it, for recruitment purposes.

US Soccer controls the timing. They will make a nation-wide announcement of all D.A. changes upcoming.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a rumor that Arlington was going to get DA expansion for the boys. Right now they have full DA for girls but the boys only go U13, U14 & U15. From what I heard they are going to get at least U16/U17 next year, and possibly U18/19 as well.

Anyone "in the know" willing to confirm or refute this?

Their website does list upcoming Talent ID sessions for the 2020-21 season to include the 04 & 03 age groups - which would be U17 and U18 next year.

http://arlingtonsoccer.com/programs/development-academy/talent-id-boys

Your rumor seems to be correct. Arlington has been interviewing coaches for the new change.

Any updates on this? I had heard they were going to find out by Thanksgiving, but there's nothing on their website about it either way. You'd think if it was really happening they'd be advertising it, for recruitment purposes.

They may be waiting on the DA, which takes forever. On the girls' side, rumors were around long before the announcement, and originally it was for U17 but then the dA awarded them the full thing in the end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a rumor that Arlington was going to get DA expansion for the boys. Right now they have full DA for girls but the boys only go U13, U14 & U15. From what I heard they are going to get at least U16/U17 next year, and possibly U18/19 as well.

Anyone "in the know" willing to confirm or refute this?

Their website does list upcoming Talent ID sessions for the 2020-21 season to include the 04 & 03 age groups - which would be U17 and U18 next year.

http://arlingtonsoccer.com/programs/development-academy/talent-id-boys

Your rumor seems to be correct. Arlington has been interviewing coaches for the new change.

Any updates on this? I had heard they were going to find out by Thanksgiving, but there's nothing on their website about it either way. You'd think if it was really happening they'd be advertising it, for recruitment purposes.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t 395 becoming a toll road too?

Some parents prefer paying the high tolls as opposed to spending hours in traffic.

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The problem with that argument is that they already have an huge recruiting advantage, just by virtue of being the only pro club in the area, and it doesn't seem to be helping.

They will lose that MLS name advantage when they move to Loundoun. No one cart their kids all the way out there in to that traffic hellhole to train. Therefore, Arlington DA should get a huge boost.

Around in circles we go. Most kids at DCU are not any closer to Arlington than other DAs viewed as comparable to or better than DCU. Dream on.

You think Maryland kids will go to Loundoun? At rush hour? Really?

Kids on my children’s team do. Kids from Bethesda, Silver Spring.

That is insane.

Parents of the kids playing on DCU think their kids are going to be pros or a D1 player at the least. They are not concerned about traffic. This club could go hours away and most parents would figure out how to make it work.

It's not just DCU. When my son played on a Bethesda DA team in the older age groups, there were kids from Woodbridge, Stafford, and Annapolis attending practices 4 nights a week. There are a lot of hard core soccer families out there.

Isn’t 395 becoming a toll road too?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
The problem with that argument is that they already have an huge recruiting advantage, just by virtue of being the only pro club in the area, and it doesn't seem to be helping.

They will lose that MLS name advantage when they move to Loundoun. No one cart their kids all the way out there in to that traffic hellhole to train. Therefore, Arlington DA should get a huge boost.

Around in circles we go. Most kids at DCU are not any closer to Arlington than other DAs viewed as comparable to or better than DCU. Dream on.

You think Maryland kids will go to Loundoun? At rush hour? Really?

Kids on my children’s team do. Kids from Bethesda, Silver Spring.

That is insane.

Parents of the kids playing on DCU think their kids are going to be pros or a D1 player at the least. They are not concerned about traffic. This club could go hours away and most parents would figure out how to make it work.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The problem with that argument is that they already have an huge recruiting advantage, just by virtue of being the only pro club in the area, and it doesn't seem to be helping.

They will lose that MLS name advantage when they move to Loundoun. No one cart their kids all the way out there in to that traffic hellhole to train. Therefore, Arlington DA should get a huge boost.

Around in circles we go. Most kids at DCU are not any closer to Arlington than other DAs viewed as comparable to or better than DCU. Dream on.

You think Maryland kids will go to Loundoun? At rush hour? Really?

Kids on my children’s team do. Kids from Bethesda, Silver Spring.

That is insane.

Maryland kids can go to Baltimore armour or Bethesda. Other dcu kids live near VDA and would probably have easier commutes to Loudoun for DCU than to Arlington in any event. These are not kids or families who are just doing travel soccer or DA to round out Johnny’s college app.

For Woodbridge/Dale City it takes 50-60 min to get to RFK in rush hour. The move to Loudoun will add about 10-15 min to that. Arlington is only about 30 min for them, but they are already passing that field on the way into DC to get to RFK, not to mention Howison which is right in their backyard. The added time to get to Loudoun is not going to be a deal breaker for them.

For anyone coming from MD or DC who has to take the 495/267 route, the traffic will be a nightmare on 495, pretty heavy on 267, and the cost will be outrageous. Taking 267 from the Beltway to Segra field will cost $10.55 at rush hour, and 9.50 getting back. That's $20/day x 4 day/week = $80/week. That's about $3000/year just in tolls. Then add in the gas wear/tear of the additional 300 miles/week (75 round trip each night). That's at least another $1K. Even for those coming from the Bethesda/Rockville/Silver Spring area it still means sitting in traffic for 2 - 2 1/2 hours a night. For those in DC itself, or north or east of the city (Ft. Washington, Waldorf, Laurel Bowie, ...) I just don't think its even feasible. Some could go to Armour instead, but Arlington would be a much closer option for many of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The problem with that argument is that they already have an huge recruiting advantage, just by virtue of being the only pro club in the area, and it doesn't seem to be helping.

They will lose that MLS name advantage when they move to Loundoun. No one cart their kids all the way out there in to that traffic hellhole to train. Therefore, Arlington DA should get a huge boost.

Around in circles we go. Most kids at DCU are not any closer to Arlington than other DAs viewed as comparable to or better than DCU. Dream on.

You think Maryland kids will go to Loundoun? At rush hour? Really?

Kids on my children’s team do. Kids from Bethesda, Silver Spring.

That is insane.

Maryland kids can go to Baltimore armour or Bethesda. Other dcu kids live near VDA and would probably have easier commutes to Loudoun for DCU than to Arlington in any event. These are not kids or families who are just doing travel soccer or DA to round out Johnny’s college app.