Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you - what club is closest to you? That can influence your options. Without knowing that, my recommendation is:

-Contact bottom travel teams at 2 closest local travel clubs and ask to attend some training sessions. Get feedback from the coach afterward as far as fit and recommendations. Maybe he makes one or is close and they may allow him to attend training occasionally.

Assuming he doesn’t make a team over the summer:
-Sign up for house soccer if current club is small, consider signup for house soccer at a close larger club
-sign up for rec skills training if the rec club offers it. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him at least a couple times per week.
-Sign up for Golden Boot or other weekly skills classes (HP Elite often only takes travel players). Depending on location there may be other soccer training companies near you. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him.
-Spend time with him dribbling, changing direction, and juggling.

The coaches will look for players that are comfortable on the ball, able to change direction or get past defenders, they will also look for speed and size. Ability/willingness to play in goal will also work in his favor.

OP here. We're in NoVA--Merrifield area.

PP. You have a bunch of options for travel then. In order: McLean, Vienna, Braddock Road, then Premier AC.

I would reach out now, most teams will have some sort of kickaround or practice by august. That will give you an idea of what could happen for the fall.

If fall is going to be recreation/house, then I would go with McLean for recreation. McLean offers both Recreation Skills and Recreation Goalkeeping training and is big enough on the boys side that there will be plenty of teams.

While people will say anyone with a checkbook can make a team, that’s not really the case with McLean and VYS. I don’t know the state of BRYC right now after this year and PAC depends on the age group, as they are their own animal.

I believe golden boot does training close to you if you want to go outside of clubs.

You can also do summer camps - McLean and VYs have them, I expect BRYC has something as well.

DaniRojas wrote:Typically you need at least $2,000 of experience.

lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you - what club is closest to you? That can influence your options. Without knowing that, my recommendation is:

-Contact bottom travel teams at 2 closest local travel clubs and ask to attend some training sessions. Get feedback from the coach afterward as far as fit and recommendations. Maybe he makes one or is close and they may allow him to attend training occasionally.

Assuming he doesn’t make a team over the summer:
-Sign up for house soccer if current club is small, consider signup for house soccer at a close larger club
-sign up for rec skills training if the rec club offers it. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him at least a couple times per week.
-Sign up for Golden Boot or other weekly skills classes (HP Elite often only takes travel players). Depending on location there may be other soccer training companies near you. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him.
-Spend time with him dribbling, changing direction, and juggling.

The coaches will look for players that are comfortable on the ball, able to change direction or get past defenders, they will also look for speed and size. Ability/willingness to play in goal will also work in his favor.

OP here. We're in NoVA--Merrifield area.

PAC (Premier Athletic Club) practices at Luther Jackson MS in Merrifield. Check them out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you - what club is closest to you? That can influence your options. Without knowing that, my recommendation is:

-Contact bottom travel teams at 2 closest local travel clubs and ask to attend some training sessions. Get feedback from the coach afterward as far as fit and recommendations. Maybe he makes one or is close and they may allow him to attend training occasionally.

Assuming he doesn’t make a team over the summer:
-Sign up for house soccer if current club is small, consider signup for house soccer at a close larger club
-sign up for rec skills training if the rec club offers it. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him at least a couple times per week.
-Sign up for Golden Boot or other weekly skills classes (HP Elite often only takes travel players). Depending on location there may be other soccer training companies near you. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him.
-Spend time with him dribbling, changing direction, and juggling.

The coaches will look for players that are comfortable on the ball, able to change direction or get past defenders, they will also look for speed and size. Ability/willingness to play in goal will also work in his favor.

OP here. We're in NoVA--Merrifield area.

McLean has a silver team that will be happy to take your money

Anonymous wrote:Where are you - what club is closest to you? That can influence your options. Without knowing that, my recommendation is:

-Contact bottom travel teams at 2 closest local travel clubs and ask to attend some training sessions. Get feedback from the coach afterward as far as fit and recommendations. Maybe he makes one or is close and they may allow him to attend training occasionally.

Assuming he doesn’t make a team over the summer:
-Sign up for house soccer if current club is small, consider signup for house soccer at a close larger club
-sign up for rec skills training if the rec club offers it. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him at least a couple times per week.
-Sign up for Golden Boot or other weekly skills classes (HP Elite often only takes travel players). Depending on location there may be other soccer training companies near you. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him.
-Spend time with him dribbling, changing direction, and juggling.

The coaches will look for players that are comfortable on the ball, able to change direction or get past defenders, they will also look for speed and size. Ability/willingness to play in goal will also work in his favor.

OP here. We're in NoVA--Merrifield area.

Typically you need at least $2,000 of experience.

It is a big jump (in time and cost in particular) to go from rec to travel. Some clubs have extra training sessions and/or development teams (that sit between rec and travel) that would be good to do for a year before trying out in the spring (also costs less collectively). That way, you can gauge his interest before making the commitment.

My daughter spent 2.5 years in a local developmental program and in the past year played for two teams (rec and development) before making travel at U12. She advocated for more training and games so we knew the commitment was coming from her, not just us.

Where are you - what club is closest to you? That can influence your options. Without knowing that, my recommendation is:

-Contact bottom travel teams at 2 closest local travel clubs and ask to attend some training sessions. Get feedback from the coach afterward as far as fit and recommendations. Maybe he makes one or is close and they may allow him to attend training occasionally.

Assuming he doesn’t make a team over the summer:
-Sign up for house soccer if current club is small, consider signup for house soccer at a close larger club
-sign up for rec skills training if the rec club offers it. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him at least a couple times per week.
-Sign up for Golden Boot or other weekly skills classes (HP Elite often only takes travel players). Depending on location there may be other soccer training companies near you. Watch the sessions, see what moves they teach, work on those with him.
-Spend time with him dribbling, changing direction, and juggling.

The coaches will look for players that are comfortable on the ball, able to change direction or get past defenders, they will also look for speed and size. Ability/willingness to play in goal will also work in his favor.

Maybe go to an msi classic team for the year, that’s close by with a good coach (if you’re in MoCo). Then do a lot of fun skills clinics and camps (not private training per) throughout the year, and then try a more serious travel team/club the year after.

Anonymous wrote:Much easier to make a travel team at a lower grade than as a teenager.

I think the opposite is true as kids on C and D teams start dropping soccer

Anonymous wrote:Much easier to make a travel team at a lower grade than as a teenager.

Anyone with money can get on a travel team at any age.