Anonymous wrote:Then if you follow the logic, a kid does not have to do C, D travel to make it to elite soccer. Move from rec at u9/u10 and several years of classic under the right training and then B team by U13/14 and then to ECNL/DA by U14/U15. It is a viable path of you can't manage travel. It is not travel by U10 or bust.

C/D travel is not a viable pathway to Elite soccer either. By the age 12/13 a C/D player is simply what you are. It might be a pathway to HS Soccer but not DA/ECNL. The speed of play at C/D will not adequately prepare a player for elite soccer within a year.

^^American football.

Anonymous wrote: At one classic tryout, the coach also coached at a major club and is still on the staff of that club. He was the one who opened my eyes. He was coaching his son on classic and said that with him coaching his son in classic, he was ensuring that his son was getting the better development than he would get at the large club.

This is a unicorn. And the guy is focused on his son developing, not yours. Of course his son is going to get better coaching under him when the coach can have all the other players working around his son's needs. I have never met a Classic volunteer coach who also coaches at a major club. It is weird how you are making broad generalizations based on this one really special set up. Most of the Classic volunteer parents I know played some other sport (not soccer), are nice people who like kids and enjoy spending time with their child and their child's friends, and picked up their coaching from MSI training sessions and online videos. The winning U11 team one year had a coach like this. Great dad, athletic and he played football as a kid.

Then if you follow the logic, a kid does not have to do C, D travel to make it to elite soccer. Move from rec at u9/u10 and several years of classic under the right training and then B team by U13/14 and then to ECNL/DA by U14/U15. It is a viable path of you can't manage travel. It is not travel by U10 or bust.

^^^ Not a single person disagrees that a kid can make a travel team at U13 after playing and saving money in Classic/Select. The disconnect is whether playing Classic/Select as a viable pathway to “elite” soccer meaning DA/ECNL. Nobody ever accused a clubs C/D team as being considered elite.

"A different question, though, is whether a C, D, E player from a mega club is better off at an A team in a small club. I asked that question a bunch of years ago and everyone advised us to go with the small club. It has definitely worked out well for us. "

This gets to a point that I have made about classic/select. There are alternatives to playing on the C, D or E teams on large clubs and one of those is playing for a smaller clubs or playing for a competitive classic/select team. Here are a few thoughts and experiences.

1. Maybe people don't understand the difference between rec and classic/select but my kids have played in both and done travel and classic/select is between rec and travel.

2. Families with more than two kids will have a very difficult time managing a travel schedule and the cost is an issue for many people? If you have three kids doing travel, you are paying $9,000 before considering travel and related expenses.

3. When we first moved to DC 5+ years ago, I took DC to several tryouts for travel and classic. At one classic tryout, the coach also coached at a major club and is still on the staff of that club. He was the one who opened my eyes. He was coaching his son on classic and said that with him coaching his son in classic, he was ensuring that his son was getting the better development than he would get at the large club. I remember him saying referencing the A team at his club and the level of competitiveness and coach was so much more superior that his kid would develop better in classic. His classic teams played up a year and did tournaments.

4. Competitive classic/select teams will play 8+ games a season plus tournaments. They will practice 2x a week and have a trainer come in for a skills training 1x a week.

5. It is possible to to use your savings from travel to do extra one-on-one training or clinics.

6. Classic/Select players will not have the same speed of play or skill level of players on McLean or Bethesda's U13 ECNL teams but if they are stars on a competitive classic/select teams they will have the ability to play on the B teams if they were on a classic team that played on tournaments and the player did extra training. I have seen it with my own eyes and if you ask travel coaches they will tell you that it happens. Again, I am not saying that it happens in every case but based on my experience, we will consider classic/select if the option is C or D team travel.

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:Geez, we need user IDs on here.

So anyway -- how good a player needs to be to make travel really varies. Some coaches will want to see legit ball skills. Some will just take athletes. But not paid professionals, of course.

Travel is a waste of time. Talented players should all go to MSI Classic, where the licensed parent coaches who played in college are. It’s totally not hit or miss.

I think this is meant as a joke. After watching three seasons of U11 highest division (2 kids) there were 3-4 advanced players, and 1-2 coaches who looked like they knew what they were doing. The others couldn't get their kids to play basic positions.

Anonymous wrote:So many generalizations, there are only a hand full of travel clubs with D, E , F teams at the early years, do you know the coaches and teams? These things are so club and coach specific I don't know how you can make these crazy blanket generalizations. I have kids going through Arlington and Alexandria travel now and have been impressed by both. They both did developmental prior which was great but to compare it to travel is kind of silly in terms of field time, coaching, competition, etc. I mean, travel has 17 games per season, vs 8 with select/developmental and about 15 more practice sessions. Making up that extra playtime with private coaching would cost a fortune.

I agree with this. I want to add that the competition in travel, even at the lower level teams, will be much stronger. I am certainly not arguing that you can't develop as a player by staying with development/select/rec all-star level teams. And if the landscape were to change the way RSD is advocating, where all but the most elite kids would stay in a hybrid kind of system or league, then I might have a different opinion. But if you are just starting out, and you have the means, I don't see how anyone could possibly argue that you are better off development-wise by staying in Rec. Only if you get lucky and hit the jackpot.

Just to add my own anecdotes, since everyone else is doing it, the kids I see joining travel for the first time at U12 and U13 -- the ones who are doing it successfully and getting playing time -- most of them are great athletes with good instincts and hard workers. But they clearly lack the ball skills of other players--it is obvious that they have a history of so many fewer touches on the ball. It is hard to make that up. I see one making great contributions on my kid's team at defense but he cannot hang on offense.

A different question, though, is whether a C, D, E player from a mega club is better off at an A team in a small club. I asked that question a bunch of years ago and everyone advised us to go with the small club. It has definitely worked out well for us.

So many generalizations, there are only a hand full of travel clubs with D, E , F teams at the early years, do you know the coaches and teams? These things are so club and coach specific I don't know how you can make these crazy blanket generalizations. I have kids going through Arlington and Alexandria travel now and have been impressed by both. They both did developmental prior which was great but to compare it to travel is kind of silly in terms of field time, coaching, competition, etc. I mean, travel has 17 games per season, vs 8 with select/developmental and about 15 more practice sessions. Making up that extra playtime with private coaching would cost a fortune.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who wants specific names and coaches, there are names of clubs above. Are you looking for an introduction.

For the final time, if you belive that the C, D or E team at u10 is the way to go, the go for it. I have found that there are better alternatives. My only point is to encourage the OP to avoid the travel soccer industrial complex by exploring classic/select if their DC gets an offer to the c, D team.

So you can’t list any names or teams. Got it.

Well there’s quite plenty of them

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who wants specific names and coaches, there are names of clubs above. Are you looking for an introduction.

For the final time, if you belive that the C, D or E team at u10 is the way to go, the go for it. I have found that there are better alternatives. My only point is to encourage the OP to avoid the travel soccer industrial complex by exploring classic/select if their DC gets an offer to the c, D team.

So you can’t list any names or teams. Got it.

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who wants specific names and coaches, there are names of clubs above. Are you looking for an introduction.

For the final time, if you belive that the C, D or E team at u10 is the way to go, the go for it. I have found that there are better alternatives. My only point is to encourage the OP to avoid the travel soccer industrial complex by exploring classic/select if their DC gets an offer to the c, D team.

What if the C team coach is young but well qualified, a former player, and is very good with kids? Also, what if the club is well run and scheduled, plays/practices on flat, bermuda grass or turf fields instead of rocky/pothole filled elementary school yards? Sure, you may find one of the unicorn rec environments if you really look hard, but I'd wager you're just as likely if not more likely to find that situation on a big club C or D team.

To the poster who wants specific names and coaches, there are names of clubs above. Are you looking for an introduction.

For the final time, if you belive that the C, D or E team at u10 is the way to go, the go for it. I have found that there are better alternatives. My only point is to encourage the OP to avoid the travel soccer industrial complex by exploring classic/select if their DC gets an offer to the c, D team.

unless your neighbors are from Spain and their dad recently retired as a washed-up C team player from Barcelona who never made the big time but is still better than 99.99% of everyone else.

unless the pro coach knows how to teach 8 year olds how to strike the ball correctly and foot skills, putting them miles ahead of the other 8 year olds